Thai seafood faces EU ban over forced labour

Human trafficking and forced labour is rife across Thailand’s fishing industry, according to a report presented to the European Parliament yesterday.

It disclosed that fishermen, mainly from Burma and Cambodia, are being trafficked into bonded labour, forced to work in dirty and dangerous conditions, and chronically underpaid.

The UK is the biggest European importer, buying about £135million worth of Thai seafood in 2015. Thailand now faces the prospect of an EU ban on its seafood exports if it fails to clean up the industry.