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Background: Thailand is one of the world’s largest exporters of shrimp. Each year the Thai shrimp<br />
industry exports hundreds of thousands of tons of shrimp (worth roughly $1 billion) to the United States,<br />
its largest export market. The shrimp are raised on farms, peeled, cooked, processed and packaged by a<br />
low-paid workforce that is made up almost entirely of migrant workers from Burma, Cambodia and<br />
Laos. The unemployment rate in Thailand has been below 1% for years, leading to massive inward labor<br />
migration. Up to 10% of the Thai labor force immigrated from Burma, Cambodia, or Laos, and the<br />
majority of those workers are in labor-intensive export industries such as seafood processing, agriculture<br />
and garment manufacturing. The U.S. State Department highlighted problems in Thailand’s fishing<br />
industry in its 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report.<br />
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The International Labor Rights Forum is an advocacy organization dedicated to achieving just and<br />
humane treatment for workers worldwide. For more information, please visit www.LaborRights.org.
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