A Labour Ministry campaign will begin soon in an attempt to have Thailand dropped from a human trafficking watch-list in order to lift export restrictions on sugar cane, shrimp, garments and fish, Department of Labour Protection and Welfare chief Panich Jitjaeng has said.

Sugar cane would hopefully be the first product to have restriction lifted, he said, adding that the process for garments, shrimp and fish would take time.

Panich said the campaign was initiated by Labour Minister General Surasak Kanjanarat, who vowed in his inauguration speech recently to address the US State Department placing Thailand on the lowest tier in its Human Trafficking in Persons report this year. Thailand went from tier 2 watch list to tier 3.

He said while the effort to have the restriction lifted on sugar cane and the garment sectors were under way, the department would conduct a survey to get updated on work and living conditions faced by migrant crews on fishing trawlers and finding facts on fishing industries in 22 coastal provinces.

Through a department survey last year, 630 businesses that ran fishing trawlers were inspected and 605 of them passed the criteria on lawful employment and working conditions. The businesses had 8,223 workers.

Panich said another 564 fisheries-related coastal businesses were inspected and 561 of them passed the criteria. The businesses had 33,844 workers.

The operations that failed the criteria had not allowed workers to take annual leave and had not registered staff. He said the language barrier was the main obstacle preventing immigrant workers being registered and communicating with them over their legal rights.

Trawlers with more than 20 crew members must be registered to receive labour protection, but most trawlers had less than 20, he said.