European firms decry trial of British activist

ABOVE: Andy Hall participates in a worker’s rights march in Thailand in 2013. Photo: Twitter

A group of major European companies has voiced alarm at the trial of a British activist who could be imprisoned in Thailand for his investigation into alleged labor abuses in the kingdom’s food industry.

Andy Hall faces several civil and criminal lawsuits submitted by Prachuap Khiri Khan-based fruit processor Natural Fruit in response to accusations of forced and child labor, unlawfully low wages and long hours.

“We are greatly worried and concerned about this negative development,” United Nordic, an alliance of food companies from northern Europe, said in a letter to the Thai Food Processors Association.

“We do believe that this development can further hurt the Thai food industry,” the letter added.

United Nordic CEO Steinar Halvorsen told AFP that the group “will not accept such legal actions against journalists or other individuals that investigate and publish reports about human rights in Thai factories or any other factory worldwide.”

“We consider the right way to handle such criticism to be presenting facts and engaging in constructive dialogue with all parties involved,” he added.

Hall, who made the allegations in a report last year for Finnish rights watchdog Finnwatch, is due in court in Bangkok on Sept. 2 on a defamation charge linked to an interview he gave to the Al-Jazeera television network about the case.

The activist’s passport has been confiscated by Thailand which is now under military rule pending his trial.

If convicted in the first trial he could face one year in prison. More serious charges under the computer crime act which carries up to seven years in jail for each count are due to be heard later in September.

Natural Fruit, a major supplier to the European drink market, is also seeking $10 million through a civil suit.

 

‘Exploited citizens’

Hall denounced the charges as “judicial harassment.”

In emailed comments to AFP, he said they “reflect the ongoing punitive, risky and restrictive environment in which migrant rights activists have to work in Thailand.”

“On the ground, protecting migrant rights remains dangerous and very challenging. Migrants remain too often silent second-class and exploited citizens despite their crucial role for Thailand’s food export industry.”

A Natural Fruit factory in southern Thailand was investigated for a Finnwatch report called “Cheap Has a High Price” because it produced pineapple concentrate for Finnish supermarkets’ private label products, according to the watchdog.

In a statement Finnwatch called on Thailand, the world’s largest pineapple producer, to change its approach “instead of issuing threats and exploiting workers.”

“Otherwise, there is a danger companies and consumers will no longer want to buy Thai products,” said executive director Sonja Vartiala.

Earlier this month nearly 100 international and national labor and human rights groups and NGOs sent a joint letter to members of the Thai Pineapple Industry Association calling on them to urge an end to the lawsuits by its member Natural Fruit.

Migrant workers, particularly from Myanmar and Cambodia, help keep major Thai industries from seafood to construction afloat, but they often lack official work permits and are paid below the minimum wage.

Thailand’s junta triggered an exodus of Cambodian workers following a May coup with its threat to arrest and deport illegal laborers, although thousands have since returned.

Story: AFP



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