Thailand has joined hands with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to enhance its system of 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 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the 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 cell phone 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. They also set up Team Thailand to push forward efforts to eliminate forced labor and human trafficking, with ambitions to be moved to Tier 1 on the US Trafficking in Persons report. (NNT)
