Discrimination during COVID-19: Assessing migrant workers’ vulnerability to forced labor in Thailand’s seafood industry
1
Issued Date
2024-01-01
Resource Type
ISSN
01171968
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85194886499
Journal Title
Asian and Pacific Migration Journal
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Asian and Pacific Migration Journal (2024)
Suggested Citation
Lee J., Rogovin K., Musikawong S. Discrimination during COVID-19: Assessing migrant workers’ vulnerability to forced labor in Thailand’s seafood industry. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal (2024). doi:10.1177/01171968241247649 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/98667
Title
Discrimination during COVID-19: Assessing migrant workers’ vulnerability to forced labor in Thailand’s seafood industry
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Author's Affiliation
Corresponding Author(s)
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Abstract
Between 2020 and 2022, Thailand instituted a series of policies to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many of the regulations were rooted in structural discrimination against the migrant population. This paper reveals how the discriminatory nature of the government’s policies heightened the vulnerability of migrant workers in Thailand’s commercial fishing and seafood processing industries. COVID-19 containment measures and immigration policies, coupled with the exclusion of migrant workers from social protection programs, inadvertently subjected migrant workers in Thailand’s seafood industry to increased risk of forced labor. At the same time, further restrictions on freedom of association rights and the weakening of labor inspections during the pandemic hampered workers’ ability to report labor abuses and the government’s ability to identify and remedy cases of forced labor.