Thailand amends labour regulations

BANGKOK, October 7 (TNA) - Thailand's amendments of labour regulations, aimed mainly at protecting fishermen, solving alleged human trafficking, forbidding those aged below 18 from working in local businesses and making skippers to become employers, are on gradual progress, Sunee Chaiyarose, Chairwoman of a subcommittee on labour reform, told journalists on Tuesday, after a meeting of agencies concerned to discuss and work out the draft regulations, that several existing labour regulations have already been revised and will then be forwarded to the Cabinet for further consideration. Sunee said, if approved, the Labour Ministry's revised regulations will be issued to solve the problems of alleged human trafficking and workers' rights abuse, reportedly found mostly in the fishing industry, and to forbid those aged below 18 from being employed on fishing boats. Sunee said that the draft regulations also specifies skippers as employers because fishermen always have problems with the skippers while travelling in the sea. Besides, the amended regulations also call on employers to formally register fishermen although they change jobs frequently, aimed at solving the alleged problem of human trafficking. On June 20, 2014, the United States downgraded Thailand in its annual Trafficking in Persons Report to “Tier 3” after holding the Kingdom on its Tier 2 warning list for four consecutive years. Washington has accused five Thai business sectors, including shrimp, textiles, sugarcane, pornographic materials and fisheries, of using child and forced labour. (TNA)