The Maritime Executive
A group of international labor, environmental and human rights organizations, including Human Rights at Sea, has sent a letter to Karmenu Vella, the E.U. Commissioner for fisheries, maritime affairs and environment urging the Commission to to maintain pressure on Thailand on human rights abuses in the nation’s fishing industry.
The aim is to convince Thailand to build upon positive reforms that have recently been made to its fishing industry, to ensure that the reforms have longevity and to address the structural problems that facilitate both illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and human rights abuses.
The letter asks the Committee to take human rights into account when assessing Thailand’s seafood sector. It also says that to demonstrate sufficient progress, Thailand should implement a time-bound action plan focused on effective enforcement to ensure substantial, measurable progress toward a legal, sustainable and ethical seafood industry.