International Justice Mission - New Research Studies on Migrant Workers’ Experience - Feb ‘25
International Justice Mission (IJM) is a member of the Seafood Task Force’s External Stakeholder Advisory Group (ESA). In this news update, Andrey Sawchenko, IJM’s Regional Vice President and STF Co-Lead speaks about new research on Migrant Workers’ Experience and the Justice System’s Response to Cross-Border Labor Trafficking in Thailand.
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Accurate data about realities experienced by workers is foundational to buyer confidence in the sustainability of their supply chains. Even so, large, publicly available studies of vulnerable worker populations are rare, and so the data is valuable for all supply chain stakeholders.
International Justice Mission, through its Thailand partner IJM Foundation, launched two research studies on migrant workers’ experiences and the Thai justice system’s response to cross-border labor trafficking at the Partnering to End Forced Labor event co-hosted by the Thai Ministry of Labor on January 21, 2025. The studies, completed in December 2022 and funded by the Walmart Foundation, were commissioned by IJM and endorsed by the Royal Thai Government.
The Study on Safety, Health, and Labor Exploitation Risks among Myanmar and Cambodian Migrants in Thailand (2022) found that of 1,282 migrant workers surveyed, 17% experienced forced labor, 29% experienced abusive employment practices and 3% endured threats of or actual physical violence to make them to something they did not want to do at work. Only 18% of those who experienced unfair or illegal treatment by employers reported those abuses to authorities. Fishing sector workers exhibited the highest rate of forced labor among those surveyed at 24%.
While earlier estimates of labor exploitation in the fishing sector were higher (eg, 38% likely trafficked in IJM’s 2016 study, conducted using different methodology) and indicate some progress, the latest findings underscore the urgency of further improving migrant worker protection to fully restore confidence in Thailand’s fishing sector and other key industries.
The second study, Justice System’s Response to Cross-Border Forced Labor and Trafficking in Thailand (2022), found that despite the Thai government’s progress in supporting anti-human trafficking efforts, migrant workers continue to face challenges in accessing the justice system due to practical and structural barriers such as language, discrimination, debt bondage, lengthy processes, and a lack of knowledge of regular migration pathways, all of which further exacerbate their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse.
Migrant vulnerabilities are especially high in the fishing sector, which is why the STF and civil society have strongly supported robust legal protections for fishing workers.
Key recommendations from the studies and from government representative panelists included:
- Increase the identification and investigation of TIP/FL cases by eliminating barriers faced by migrant workers in making complaints to government agencies;
- Raise awareness among migrant workers of labor rights, including how and where to make complaints;
- Intensify government efforts to pro-actively identify more cases of forced labor and labor trafficking;
- Strengthen collaboration between government agencies and NGOs with the mindset of “One Thai Team” to make the system safer for vulnerable migrant workers; and
- Ensure a holistic approach to supporting migrant workers.
Police Colonel Narong Theswiboon, Deputy Commander of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATPD) of the Royal Thai Police, delivered a keynote speech at the study launch, emphasizing that tackling challenges of victim identification requires enhanced interagency collaboration, continued capacity-building, and victim-centered approaches, an idea driven home by the powerful testimony of a woman from Myanmar who had experienced forced labor in Thailand.
Panelists affirmed the Thai government’s commitment to strengthening its forced labor and labor trafficking response. Agencies represented included theMinistry of Labor’s Command Center on Prevention of Labor Trafficking; Department of Labor Protection and Welfare; Department of Special Investigation; Office of the Attorney General’s Department of Trafficking in Persons Litigation; and Ministry of Social Development and Human Security’s Division of Anti-Trafficking in Persons.
As government oversight towards worker protection increases, both IJM and STF are demonstrating commitment by partnering with the Ministry of Labor and Department of Fisheries to train Port In Port Out (PIPO) teams and other frontline labor officers in 2024 and 2025 to improve detection of forced labor indicators and appropriate action and referral.
If government and business continue to treat migrant worker protection as an urgent priority, enforcing standards of decent work, future studies will show more progress in the fishing sector and across the board in Thailand.
Andrey Sawchenko – Regional Vice President – International Justice Mission & Seafood Task Force ESA Co Lead. Feb 2025