BANGKOK, 26 June 2014 – The Ministry of Labour is looking to put in place a more thorough alien workers registration system, to regain confidence from the international community following the United States’ relegation of Thailand to Tier 3 on its human trafficking watch list.
Department of Labour Protection and Welfare director-general Phanit Chitchaeng indicated on Wednesday that in addition to the improved registration system, the Ministry of Labour will check existing records on migrant workers and also encourage participation from businesses and other sectors in the tackling of the unregistered labour issue.
Mr. Phanit said inbound migrants were of primary concern, thus the labour system needs to ensure that these individuals were working legally, so they would be entitled to legal protection like their Thai counterparts. He also commented on labour in the fishing industry, which recently drew fire for the reported prevalent use of forced labour. Mr. Phanit said these cases were fishing operations conducted away from the Thai waters. A labour coordination center for the fishing industry has already been established to allow officials to work with the fishing operators in addressing this issue.
