Abuse abides as lawmakers flout own rules

Abuse abides as lawmakers flout own rules

It was indeed a close call. Had it not been for a last-minute intervention by a law reform agency, Thailand's new labour regulations would have still condoned the use of child labour in the fishing industry.

Over the past decade, Thailand's fishing industry has been hit hard by a series of scandals over the use of child and slave labour. The most gruesome tragedy came in 2006 and involved a boat called Prapas Navee, when the crew was abandoned at sea, resulting in 39 deaths.

The government has also received international condemnation for its failure to fight against human trafficking rackets which supply trawlers with slave labour.

Coupled with widespread use of child labour by seafood processing factories, the 264-billion-baht fishing and seafood industries are facing the threat of boycotts from the two biggest importers, the European Union and the United States.

The new labour regulations, however, are blind to these problems.

Labour authorities should have known that 18 is the minimum working age set by international treaties. The labour authorities should also have known that Thai labour law prohibits subjecting children to dangerous work situations. After all, they wrote it themselves.

Yet the Labour Ministry's new labour regulations say it is OK to hire 15-year-old workers if their parents are also working on that same trawler.

More surprisingly still, this seriously flawed regulation received a green light from the Council of State, the legal arm of the government.

Are they blind to labour abuse?

As a ministerial regulation, it only needs cabinet approval to become legally effective. The Labour Ministry was about to send it to the cabinet for approval as a matter of course when the Law Reform Commission of Thailand shouted "Stop!"

Commissioner Sunee Chaiyaros said this new regulation violated international treaties on child labour, reduced migrant workers' rights from standard legal protection, and lacked input from the stake-holders.

Under question, she added, is the power of the bureaucracy to issue ministerial rules that actually violate the purposes of the main law they are under.

Following the commission's letter to the prime minister asking the cabinet to delay its approval, the Labour Ministry has withdrawn its draft regulations for a review and promised to heed the commission's concerns on child labour, workers' rights and the need for public hearings.

Up to now, the issuing of ministerial regulations was considered an internal matter. This has given officialdom absolute power to write the rules to preserve the status quo.

Ministerial rules often betray the main laws' original purposes. A case in point is the legal status of children born in Thailand but who do not have Thai citizenship.

The amended nationality law says the children's status should be determined by ministerial regulations set by the Interior Ministry. Its original purpose was to give children some kind of legal existence and access to legal rights.

As it turned out, the Interior Ministry's regulations brand these children as illegal immigrants and subject them to immediate deportation. It does not matter if their parents are legal workers.

The review of labour regulations governing the fishing industry will set precedents for the need for public input before ministerial regulations are issued. This is a positive change that should be followed at other ministries.

But for this particular regulation, setting the minimum working age at 18, though necessary, cannot solve the problems of labour abuse in fishing.

For starters, the regulations lack teeth if there are no provisions to punish the employers who violate labour laws and who are accomplices of human trafficking. There are none now.

Also, the regulations must give migrant workers the right to stay in Thailand while fighting court cases against abusive employers.

At present, labour law says once the employers terminate job contracts, migrant workers must leave the country immediately. It also forbids migrant workers changing employers and restricts their freedom of movement.

Regarding the fishing labour regulations review, a very small war has been won. But if the oppressive main labour law still stands, there is no chance to win the big battle against labour abuse.


Sanitsuda Ekachai is Editorial Pages Editor, Bangkok Post.

Sanitsuda Ekachai

Former editorial pages editor

Sanitsuda Ekachai is a former editorial pages editor, Bangkok Post. She writes on human rights, gender, and Thai Buddhism.

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