Thailand has joined hands with the United States Agency for International Development to enhance its system protecting victims of human trafficking in the fishing industry. Both parties have signed a deal to improve the communication systems onboard ships for quicker assistance.
The Ministry of Labour, the Department of Fisheries, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Bureau for Asia on the enhancement of communications and emergency reporting systems for workers onboard fishing vessels.
This MoU covers the installation of a location tracking system, using applications on smartphones operating on satellite signals. This new system fixes the issue of lacking cellphone signal coverage.
The MoU also covers additional cooperation between these agencies, which is an important pathway toward the prevention of human trafficking, a subject that has been put on the national agenda list by the government.
Thai authorities have established operational teams for the screening of migrant workers in fisheries in 22 seaside provinces. The country has set up Team Thailand to push forward its effort to eliminate forced labor and human trafficking, with an ambition to be moved to Tier 1 on the U.S. Trafficking in Persons report. (NNT)
