DN:Interview Patima Tungpuchayakul

Patima Tungpuchayakul, featured in GHOST FLEET, has committed her life to rescuing South East Asian victims of human trafficking. Her efforts have secured freedom for thousands of men who have been forced to work against their will and earned her a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017. Based in Thailand, in 2004, she co-founded the Labour Protection Network (LPN) along with her husband Sompong Srakaew. She works with small group of activists who have risked their lives to find justice and freedom for enslaved fishermen.

We recently emailed with Patima with help from an interpreter.

DN: What were some of the scariest moments during production of GHOST FLEET?

Patima: The entire time, I was worried that I was going to lead the film crew and my staff into a situation in which everyone is killed.

DN: Is there anything you’d like our readers who have not seen the film yet to know before they watch?

Patima: Please watch this documentary from the perspective of someone who consumes seafood. There is something you and all of us can do to alleviate their abuses, and it starts with your choices.

DN: How many rescue missions have you been on? Was it different having a film crew along?

Patima: Over 15 years, I have rescued approximately 13,000 individuals, and we organize at least one mission a month. When I return home, I will be leading a mission in Thailand’s Surathani province to rescue approximately 83 victims of human trafficking displaced from Eastern Myanmar.

During the missions in which I’m accompanied by film crew or other media, the missions themselves feel safer because local authorities feel threatened by international exposure. But once the crews are gone, I and LPN are exposed to increased pressure from the same authorities, who blame us for bringing greater visibility to these issues.

DN: Do you think a documentary film can help bring about an end to forced labor?

Patima: Specifically, the rescue operations depicted in the Ghost Fleet documentary were to rescue victims of slavery, not forced labor. Victims were forced to work day and night, were given no options to leave the ship, their lives were always on the line if they disobeyed, and they didn’t even have the rights to cremate or bury their friends who had succumbed in these harsh conditions. This is how much power was held by these commercial fishing companies. It is appropriately called slavery.

The documentary raises greater awareness that this is slavery, and gives validity to the message and mission of LPN.

DN: What would you like to our readers to know about the migrant forced labor situation in Thailand since the film has been released? Has the situation improved or worsened?

Patima: The situation remains critical and urgent despite the growing awareness generated by Ghost Fleet. The Thai government has in the past couple of years reconsidered policy around migrant labor, but legislation takes a long time, and transformative changes have not trickled down to the labor force, including migrant labor. Thailand is one of the top fish producing nations in the world and is the world’s leading exporter of shrimp. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that the US imports more than 80% of the fish it consumes. Greater demand for cheap seafood means a greater need for slave labor. As long as this drives consumer choices, forced labor will remain a problem globally.

DN: Can you share thoughts on the men in the film who elected to stay behind in Indonesia. Is this a common choice?

Patima: For those who remain, it is their choice to remain or to stay. LPN gives them the option to contact their familiies through LPN, to let them know that they are still alive and to maintain hope that one day they will return.

Those who choose to return are motivated by the likelihood of collecting the wages owed to them and legal documents to move about freely, so they can continue to pursue a livelihood on the seas and return to Indonesia legally if they wish. LPN helps them through this process. In 80% of cases, LPN successfully helps these men recover their wages, but it is rarely 100% of what is owed, and more often comes as a lump payment that represents only a fraction of wages owed and nowhere near a true compensation of the abuse and trauma they experienced.

Awareness through the documentary and other means puts pressure on these companies to do the right thing in our negotiations with them.

DN: If readers want to get involved in your cause, what do you recommend?

Patima: Our work is ongoing and gets harder every year – please consider donating to us at www.lpnfoundation.org. Please tell your family, friends and colleagues about our cause and to join us in any way they can to spread awareness and to support our rescue missions, our rehabilitation services and ongoing psychological care for rescued slaves, and our education centers for the children of migrants.