For 18 years, around 100,000 Thai farmers have travelled across continents to work as berry pickers in Finland and Sweden, believing it offered an opportunity to earn more money than they could through traditional farming in Thailand. Instead, they were subjected to unfair treatment and many came home empty-handed or bound with debt to the berry companies. To this day, their journey to seek justice is still ongoing, as they continue to advocate for fair treatment and accountability from the berry companies and relevant parties that exploited them.

<p>(New York, December 11, 2014) – Thailand’s military government should cancel a plan to encourage prisoners to work on fishing boats given the widespread abuses in the Thai fishery sector, Human Rights Watch said today.<br /><br />On December 4, 2014, Labor Minister Gen. Surasak Kanchanrat announced a plan to send 176 prisoners whose prison terms are up within one year, and who agree, to work on fishing boats in Samut Sakhon province, Thailand’s major fishery hub. The Labor Ministry said 2,830 male detainees in Samut Sakhon Prison are eligible to participate.<br /></p>