BANGKOK, Thailand \u2014 Their condition recalls dark tales from the 18th century: underfed men lorded over by seafaring captains who pay them nothing and maim the disobedient.<\/p>\n
Yet these forced labor abuses play out on Thai-owned fishing trawlers each day. And the victims \u2014 typically destitute men from Myanmar or Cambodia lured by coyotes full of false promises \u2014 continue to wash ashore with accounts of torture and casual homicide.<\/p>\n
For years, US officials have urged Thailand, one of America\u2019s closest Asian allies, to rid its $7.3 billion fisheries export industry of these abuses. Though carried out on lawless seas, these crimes risk entangling supermarkets in America, where one in six pounds of seafood is imported from Thailand.<\/p>\n
So far, these persistent abuses have hurt Thailand\u2019s reputation but little else. That may change: if one more year passes without major strikes against Thai trafficking syndicates, the US State Department will be forced, by law, to hit Thailand with sanctions.<\/p>\n
For four years running, a US State Department annual \u201cTrafficking in Persons\u201d report has labeled Thailand with its next-to-worst ranking. This year\u2019s report, released this week, painted a similarly bleak portrait of Thailand\u2019s efforts to fix what the report called \u201cpervasive trafficking-related corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n