The Department of Special Investigation will meet operators of fishing trawlers operating outside Thai territorial waters to discuss ways to combat human trafficking.
Deputy national police chief Chatchawal Suksomjit, in his capacity as DSI chief, said he would call the meeting next week as part of the junta's efforts to combat forced labour.
The DSI, which has been responsible for handling human trafficking cases, will find ways to tackle this problem in the fisheries sector after the US State Department's latest Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report demoted Thailand from the Tier 2 watch list to Tier 3, the lowest ranking.
Human trafficking was found to be rampant on fishing trawlers outside Thai territorial waters as those trawlers go to sea for long periods, making crew members feel they were forced to work, said Pol Gen Chatchawal. This resulted in a shortage of workers in this sector.
He would ask trawler operators to change the way they use labour by rotating workers going out to sea every six months instead of one year. He believed this measure could solve the problem.
A survey found no forced labour problems in the fishing sector in Samut Sakhon as labourers went out to the sea in the morning and returned in the evening of the same day, he said. After changes are made, trawler operators and skippers must be held responsible if forced labour was found on their vessels, Pol Gen Chatchawal said.
In Chanthaburi, many Cambodian migrant workers registered for work at two one-stop-service centres in the province which opened yesterday as part of the NCPO's moves to regulate migrant labour.
Sa Kaew governor Phakkharathon Thianchai said the province's one-stop-service centre at Rong Klua border market was ready to provide services to migrant workers when it opened today.
The governor said the service centre, which opens from 9am to 5pm, could issue 3,000-4,000 temporary migrant labour cards a day.