On 16 September 2013, Mr. Sek Wannamethee, Director-General of the Department of American and South Pacific Affairs, participated in a launch event of the Good Labour Practices (GLP) Program for the Shrimp and Seafood Processing and Fishing sector in Thailand collaboratively organized by the Ministry of Labour’s Department of Welfare and Labour Protection, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives’ Department of Fisheries, and the International Labour Organization at the Rama Garden Hotel, Bangkok. The event was co-presided by Mr. Siriwat Kajornprasart, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives and Mrs. Pranin Muttaharach, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour, with over 300 participants representing multi-sector partners including government agencies, representatives of the seafood industry, representatives of workers organizations, members of civil society groups, the Ambassadors of Finland, Spain, South Africa, Myanmar, Cambodia and representatives of the U.S. Embassy and the Embassies of Japan, Australia, and Germany.   

The key contents and principles of the GLP Guidelines comprise of standards related to child labour, forced labour, working conditions issues, occupational safety and health and worker welfare. The GLP guidelines take international core labour standards as their guiding principle while being based on existing Thai labour laws and regulations.

The GLP Program is an effort under an umbrella of a four-year program starting in 2010, which is financially supported by a $9 million commitment from the U.S. Department of Labour through the International Labor Organization’s office in Thailand. The GLP Program is a combination of activities promoting understanding and principles of good labour practices in shrimp and seafood industry through development of specific GLP guidelines and capacity building and training in Thailand for aquaculture farms, primary processing workplaces, local and export processing and packing factories, and fishing boats. Their development process, dissemination and application are collaboratively done by Government, industry, workers organizations and NGOs in the sector. At the moment, the GLP guidelines for primary processing workplaces has been issued through the Ministry of Labour’s Ministerial Notification on September 13, 2013.