Event Description

SEA Junction hosted the launch of a regional report, “Toward Fair Seas,” under the Ship to Shore Rights South East Asia programme on the working and living conditions of migrant workers in the fisheries and seafood processing sectors. Based on a large-scale baseline survey, the report documents ongoing decent work deficits across the region, including cases of forced labour, debt bondage, wage theft, excessive working hours, unsafe conditions, and gender-based discrimination. The study highlights structural challenges affecting migrant workers and points to the urgent need for coordinated efforts to promote safe migration and improve labour standards in Southeast Asia’s blue economy.

The event took place at SEA Junction on 24 February 2026 from 17.30 – 19.00. The event was  livestreamed on SEA Junction’s Facebook page (@SEA-Junction) For this launch, we were joined by the following:

Speakers:

  • Benjamin Harkins, Ship to Shore Rights Southeast Asia, International Labour Organization
  • Daniel Lindgren, Rapid Asia

Commenter:

  • Roisai Wongsuban, Human Rights Advocate

Moderator:

  • Rosalia Sciortino, IPSR and SEA Junction

Organizers

SEA Junction, established under the Thai non-profit organization Foundation for Southeast Asia Studies (ForSEA), aims to foster understanding and appreciation of Southeast Asia in all its socio-cultural dimensions- from arts and lifestyles to economy and development. Conveniently located at Room 407-8 of the Bangkok Arts and Culture Center or BACC (across MBK, BTS National Stadium), SEA Junction facilitates public access to knowledge resources and exchanges among students, practitioners and Southeast Asia lovers. For more information see www.seajunction.org, join the Facebook group:  http://www.facebook.com/groups/1693058870976440/ and follow us on blue sky and Instagram @seajunction. 

Rapid Asia Co., Ltd. was founded in February 2010 and is registered in Thailand. Rapid Asia specializes in social research and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) consulting, helping clients to find evidence for change, whether changes in policy or beneficiary behaviour. Rapid Asia’s vision is to help social development clients to achieve sustainable change, anywhere in the world by consucting research and producing evidence. For more information see: www.rapid-asia.com 

Ship to Shore Rights South East Asia is a multi-country, multi-annual initiative of the European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN), implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with International Organization for Migration (IOM) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Its overriding objective is to promote regular and safe labour migration and decent work for all migrant workers in the fishing and seafood processing sectors in South East Asia. For more information, see https://shiptoshorerights.org/.

International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice through setting international labour standards. For more information, see https://www.ilo.org/.

Photographer: Worapon Rattanawarawong