EXPLORING COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE APPROACHES TO ADDRESSING TRAFFICKING AND FORCED LABOUR OF MIGRANT WORKERS IN THAILAND’S FISHERIES INDUSTRY

Abstract

Thailand’s fishing industry has been in the global spotlight in recent years with continued international attention on human rights abuses taking place on fishing vessels and in fish processing areas. Recently, the Thai Government, suppliers and retailers have been spurred to action to eliminate forced labour and human trafficking from seafood supply chains, including collaborating through new multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs). This paper explores different examples of collaboration between the public sector, industry and civil society to combat forced labor and trafficking in Thailand’s fishing industry. This research uses a conceptual framework based on collaborative governance to conduct qualitative research using case studies of select MSIs. Through this research, I identify the main contextual drivers, motivations – individual and shared – among the different stakeholders as well as their capacity for joint action. There seems to be widespread acceptance among private sector, public sector and civil society actors that collaboration is necessary to effectively address the issue of human trafficking and forced labour in seafood supply chains, but there is limited empircal research to support these claims. The central argument of this paper is that it is necessary to understand the conditions that give rise to, facilitate, or inhibit, cross-sectoral collaborative arrangements, particularly where they intend to address complex, multi-scaAle governance issues. The intention of this paper is to help address this knowledge gap, drawing on case studies of the promising MSIs emerging to address forced labor and human trafficking and uphold the rights of those working in Thailand’s fishing industry.