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The ASEAN Services Employees Trade Union Council (ASETUC), a network of trade unions in the ASEAN region, seriously concerns on Bangkok Criminal Court’s sentencing of British labour rights researcher Andy Hall to three years’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, on 20 September 2016.

“We, as trade union leaders in the ASEAN Region, expressed our deepest concerns that this prosecution of Andy Hall may signify a more violence directed to human rights defenders,”  said Mohammad Shafie Mammal, ASETUC General Secretary.

The Bangkok Criminal Court handed Andy Hall of the Migrant Workers Rights Network (MWRN) a guilty verdict of criminal defamation and Computer Crimes Act charges in relation to the alleged serious human rights violations of migrant workers of the  Natural Fruit Company, a pineapple wholesaler that supplies the European Union, over a 2013 report of Finnwatch, a Finland-based watchdog group.

ASETUC was concerned about the increasing number of legal cases brought against human rights defenders in Thailand, to name:  Mr Somchai Homalaor, Ms Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, Ms Anchana Heemmina and Ms Sirikan Charoensiri. This year alone 10 human rights defenders, including eight women, have been charged with criminal offences for reporting human rights violations.Human rights defenders are the vital cogs to advance the cause of workers’ rights for the most and highly vulnerable and marginalised sectors, such as migrant workers.  There is a rise of mobility across the ASEAN region and Thailand alone has more than 3 million migrant workers, mostly from Myanmar, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).  Migrant workers are prone to various forms of exploitation and violence with only Indonesia and Philippines as a party to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. 

ASETUC is supporting the UN Human Rights Regional Office statement that instead of prosecuting Mr Hall, it would have been more appropriate for the Thai government to conduct an independent and thorough investigation into the serious allegations raised in the Finnwatch report.  It must protect and promote Human Rights Defenders’ essential role in democracy, development and governance.

It is equally concerning that the Migrant Workers Rights Network (MWRN), an organisation that Andy Hall is advising, may potentially face lawsuits from a chicken supplier in Thailand. A meat industry website recently reported that Thammakaset intends to sue the organisation which assisted 14 migrant workers from Myanmar to launch a lawsuit just earlier in September against the chicken supplier and its buyer. The supplier alleged cancelled business orders from overseas due to media coverage of the workers'plight suffering labour abusive conditions. It is known that MWRN had empowered and helped the workers to assemble the grounds of their case.

“We uphold the principle that workers’ rights are human rights.  All concerned stakeholders, specifically governments of countries of destination have moral and legal obligation to protect migrant workers and their families.  They should not be traded off with profit and efficiency,” said Apolinar Tolentino, Regional Representative of Building and Wood Workers International – Asia Pacific Region (BWI-AP), an ASETUC organisational member. 

"Instead of pursuing legal cases against human rights defenders helping workers to claim their rights, the Thai Government should view this as an opportunity to seriously address the gap in labour standards and what is happening on the ground. By doing so, Thailand can show it has the necessary leadership and will to reform her food supply industries into one that is rights-respecting, and one that the world can assuredly do business with" said Christopher Ng, Regional Secretary of UNI Asia Pacific Regional Organisation.

Together with all other human rights organisations, ASETUC calls on the Thai government to withdraw all charges against Mr. Hall and all other human rights defenders in respond to its obligations under international laws.