This document contains the Seafood Working Group (SWG)’s comments concerning Taiwan’s ranking in the United States Department of State’s upcoming 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. Convened by Global Labor Justice-International Labor Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF), the SWG is a global coalition of 26 labor, human rights, and environmental non-governmental organizations to hold governments and companies accountable and drive change.

This report identifies entry points for the Seafood Working Group – a global advocacy coalition – and its international members to support the local movements in Taiwan that are pushing for legal and industry reform and to end forced labor in the fishing industry. It includes a profile of the industry and the workforce, a mapping of the brave local labor movements and their demands, and practical guidelines to help international advocacy organizations engage.

The Seafood Working Group, a global coalition of labor, human rights, and environmental non-governmental organizations, recommended that Thailand be downgraded to ‘Tier 2 Watch List’ since it does not fully meet the minimum standards set forth in the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 and did not make sufficient progress to address trafficking in persons in 2019. The Working Group’s report relied on consultations with frontline worker organizations and documented 23 potential labor trafficking cases.