A network of former Thai berry pickers has urged the government to suspend sending Thai workers to work as berry pickers in Sweden and Finland due to a pending investigation on a human trafficking case.

Thai berry pickers on 25 July filed a letter with government offices in Chaiyaphum Province to express their concerns to 3 involved ministries: Labour, Justice, and Foreign Affairs. These Thai workers legally went to work in these countries but fell victim to human trafficking. Some were required to sign loan contracts with the companies without being informed of the interest rate or total money they had to repay, leading them to work for free.

The statement said Thai workers have been recruited to be berry pickers in Finland and Sweden since 2005. The job caused a total of more than 10 billion baht damage to Thai workers and many families have been in debt that they still have not been able to repay.

In addition, over 700 Thai workers fell victim pending investigation and they have yet to receive compensation from the two countries.

The workers reiterated that the case is not only about the companies under investigation but also the problems with the law governing labour protection and the policy of sending Thais to work abroad.

They strongly urged the 3 ministries to protect Thais’ interests by suspending the sending of Thai workers to work as berry pickers in Sweden and Finland until justice is brought to the victims and proper measures to protect Thai workers are implemented.