A Myanmar court has jailed four Thai fishermen for up to six years for illegally fishing in its waters, but has suspended their sentences and is likely to repatriate them early next month as a gesture of friendship, officials said.
The four men were aboard one of several Thai fishing boats that were caught fishing inside Myanmar waters on November 30. During the encounter, which saw the Myanmar Navy fire warning shots at the boats, one of the Thai vessels was detained and dragged to port in Myanmar, with 31 crewmembers aboard, which also included 27 Myanmar nationals.
While Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said that it was “inconclusive” as to whether the Thai fishing boats encroached on Myanmar’s territorial waters, Thailand’s Ministry of Defense appeared to admit that the fishing vessels had strayed 4-5.7 nautical miles (7.4-10.6 kilometers) inside Myanmar’s territorial waters close to the southernmost tip of Myanmar on Thailand’s Andaman Sea coast.
The Thai Foreign Ministry announced on December 6 that the four fishermen were released in the southern Myanmar town of Kawthoung and “were due to cross over a border inlet there to Thailand’s Ranong town,” as BenarNews reported.
But the four men appear never to have arrived. According to a Thai media report cited yesterday by Radio Free Asia, a court in Kawthoung sentenced the boat’s captain to five years in prison for illegal fishing in Myanmar waters and another year for illegally entering Myanmar territory. The three other Thais were each sentenced to three years in prison for illegal fishing and an additional one year for illegal entry. It reported that all of their sentences had been suspended in order “to maintain good international relations” between the two neighbors.
Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai confirmed yesterday that following meetings between diplomats from the two sides, the Thai fishermen could be released from Kawthaung on January 4, Myanmar’s Independence Day.
In all of the Thai media attention surrounding the fate of the four Thai crewmembers, that of the 27 Myanmar nationals aboard the boat has largely been forgotten. According to RFA, the men have been sentenced to four years in prison with a fine of 200,000 kyat ($95).
RFA quoted Ye Thwe, the president of the Fishers Rights Network, as saying that the fishermen should not be held responsible for the failures of the Thai maritime authorities, who use a system to monitor fishing and ensure that it is conducted legally, nor for the transgressions of the Thai owners and operators of the fishing fleet. Unlike their Thai counterparts, these crewmembers will not be eligible for release in the interests of “good relations.”
The Thai fishing industry has long been accused of a host of forced labor practices, in some cases amounting to virtual slavery. According to a 2018 report by the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, migrant fishing workers from neighboring countries, mostly Cambodia and Myanmar, who are not eligible for Thai labor law protections, “are often trafficked into fishing work, prevented from changing employers, not paid on time, and paid below the minimum wage.”
In the case of the 27 fishermen detained on November 30, they now have to serve lengthy prison sentences for their misfortune in crewing a Thai boat that strayed, willingly or otherwise, into Myanmar’s territorial waters.