![]() If this can happen to Andy, who has a British passport and the support of the world behind him, what chance do they have to stand up for their rights, they ask? Many migrant workers with whom he works closely with have been devastated by the verdict. When I spoke with Andy, he was adamant that we should not think that this case was just about him. That business enterprises take a stand in support of a human rights defender is unprecedented. The Foreign Trade Association, which represents 1,500 European companies, said it considered his guilty verdict “a sad setback for human rights”. The UK’s Ethical Trading Initiative expressed “serious concerns” over the guilty verdict. ![]() Several organisations in Europe have publicly stated their support for Andy. Without people like Andy, who exposes challenges and proposes workable solutions, Thailand’s export industries are at risk and that ambition to reach consumer markets in Europe is unlikely to be achieved. Andy has been keeping an eye on Thailand’s own pressure cooker, voicing the concerns of millions of migrant workers, who are invaluable to the Thai economy but remain unorganised and without their own voice. He says that civil society can play a role like unlocking the lid on a pressure cooker, just as the heat is increasing and the cooker is about to explode. Maina Kiai, a UN special rapporteur, has warned about closing space for people to engage with governments. He has been instrumental in building a dialogue between European companies and Thailand’s labour intensive export industries. Thai and international companies have therefore turned to civil society for assistance – and one of those people they have asked for assistance is Andy Hall. Some companies have stopped purchasing from the country altogether.īut boycotts do not help to solve the problems and Thailand is too big an exporter for most businesses to replace in the short term. Independent auditing of Thai factories has become more frequent. Diminishing trust has led to business enterprises changing their attitudes towards the country, which has become subject to increased scrutiny. He is just as convincing in Thai as he is in English.The exposure of human rights violations, human trafficking and forced labour has cast a shadow over Thailand’s reputation over the last decade. He is just as comfortable at the grassroots level, listening to migrant workers talk about their real-life challenges, as he is working within international forums, and on high-level diplomatic and media terrains. He has lived in Thailand for more than 10 years and knows the domestic media, key civil society and business actors well. Andy is everything that a good human rights activist is: loud, persistent and undoubtedly annoying to those who end up on the wrong side of his criticism. ![]() The court verdict is a clear sign that Thailand wants to stop Andy’s work and his criticism of conditions in the country’s labour-intensive export industries, which contribute so much to the Thai GDP. ![]() Still, in a surprise to the whole world, Andy was found guilty, even seemingly for events that didn’t appear on the charge sheet he was indicted for. I testified that Finnwatch was responsible for both writing the report and publishing it – not Andy Hall. Thai companies testified that Andy’s research was beneficial to improving labour practices. He was personally accused of defaming Natural Fruit, distributing Finnwatch report’s findings on the internet and creating serious business impacts and loss of face for the company.ĭuring the long court hearings over this summer, Finland’s largest retailer, S Group, who had stopped purchasing from Natural Fruit, testified that their decision had not been because of the Finnwatch report, but because Natural Fruit refused internationally recognised social responsibility audits. But rather than fully engaging with us as we prepared it, they instead sued Andy for his research. Natural Fruit denies the allegations in the report. Without people like Andy, who exposes challenges and proposes solutions, Thailand's export industries are at risk
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