Globally, trade in fish products continues to reach record highs, and developing countries now contribute over half of the value of total exports. Within this expanding world market, Thailand has emerged as a major supplier, with the value of its seafood exports reaching US$6 billion in recent years. A significant contribution to the industry’s growth is given by the migrant labour force.
Shortages of Thai workers willing to work on fishing vessels, emerging simultaneously with expanding structural differences in population demographics and economic development between Thailand and its neighbouring countries, have transformed fishing crews to predominantly consist of migrant workers from Cambodia and Myanmar.
Several hundred thousand women and men migrant workers are now employed at different levels within the seafood supply chain in Thailand, working precariously under various temporary labour migration regimes and constrained living and work conditions.
Recognizing the contribution of migrant workers to Thailand’s society and the blue economy, the exhibition “Not Just Labor; Migrant Photo Voices from Thailand Fisheries” gives them a platform to showcase their “photo voices”. Photos taken on their mobile phone by migrants from Cambodia and Myanmar, who are now living in Phuket, Chantaburi, and Phang Nga to work in the fishing and seafood industry, will be on display from May 14 to 26, 11am to 7pm, at the Curved Wall, 4th floor of BACC.
The exhibition, organized and curated by SEA Junction with support of the International Labour Organization (ILO)’s Ship to Shore Rights South East Asia initiative funded by the European Union, shows the often-overlooked side of the migration story, taking a peek at migrants’ lives beyond work.
The migrants with their photos capture their overall day-to-day existences full of taxing, entertaining or simply mundane events, of interaction with their natural and social surroundings, and of dreams and expectations about the future. The message the photo voices (and the exhibition’s title) convey, is that migrants are more than just labour and more than the sum of the difficulties and exploitation endured.
Moreover, the photos also show how migrants’ lives have become interconnected with the larger Thai society, demanding more suitable integration policies. Against the dehumanized portrayal of migrants as faceless ‘other’, this exhibition celebrates their identity, agency, personality and other features of our shared humanity.
This comprehensive appreciation of migrants’ experiences and aspirations, is essential to create an inclusive and more equitable society that upholds everyone’s human dignity. (See further https://www.ohchr.org/en/migration/reframing-narratives-migration).
At the opening on May 14 at 5.30-7 pm, a panel will be held, composed of the following moderator and speakers:
Speakers
- Benjamin Harkins, ILO Technical Adviser, Ship to Shore Rights Southeast Asia Initiative
- Sureeporn Punpuing, Associate Professor, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University and Director Mahidol Migration Center (MMC) at IPSR
- Chit Htoo, Executive Director, Foundation for Education and Development (FED)
- Sayan Chuenudomsavad, Photographer and photography instructor, Bangkok Tribune News
- Khin Hnint San, Language Facilitator, Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF)
Moderator
- Rosalia Sciortino, Associate Professor, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University and Director SEA Junction
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