Thailand's international reputation is suffering due to widespread allegations of labour abuse in the fruit processing and fishing industries. Just two years ago, Thailand was the second largest economy in ASEAN, and stood on the brink of signing a landmark Free Trade Agreement with the EU. Now, that FTA has been shelved indefinitely whilst the junta is in power.
As EurActiv.com revealed in November, after hopes a swift EU-ASEAN FTA faded, the Commission looked around for individual ASEAN nations to sign the first bilateral deals with.
They chose Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand. But with the overthrow of a directly-elected government going against the ethos of the ‘Trade for All’ policy of including human rights and the environment in all future trade deals, the European Commission had no choice but to suspend talks with Bangkok.
Allegations of abuse in the fruit tinning industry abound, but it seems that Thailand response is to shoot the messenger, rather than deal with the problems at source.
One activist, British lawyer Andy Hall conducted interviews with workers at a tinned fruit plant which exports to the European drinks market, for a Finnish NGO.
It found examples of forced labour, child labour, unlawfully low wages and long hours.
Although he had no part in writing the subsequent report, “Cheap Has A High Price”, Hall is now facing a 12-day trial in May on seven counts of criminal and civil defamation.
If found guilty, Hall could face eight years in prison. He is also being personally sued for 7 million Euro.
UK and Finnish diplomats and monitoring the case, and it has been the subject of loud condemnation in the European Parliament, with UK MEP Glenis Willmott (Labour) championing Hall’s case.
