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THE ROLE OF BUSINESS TO SUPPORT THE WORK OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS – A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE ANDY HALL Andy Hall is a migrant worker rights consultant who currently lives in Nepal and is focusing on promoting ethical recruitment of migrant workers in Asia. Andy tweets @atomicalandy
Cheap Has a High Price,1 a report published by NGO Finnwatch in 2013, investigated risks of forced labour, human trafficking, child labour, low wages and other human rights violations in labour intensive export sectors in Thailand. I worked as the research coordinator on this project which exposed, amongst other things, serious human and labour rights violation allegations against a predominately migrant workforce at a pineapple processing factory in Prachuap Khiri Khan province in southern Thailand. In response to the report, Natural Fruit Company, which owned the factory, filed multiple criminal defamation and other civil and criminal charges 2 against me alleging an intention of harming the company and causing financial loss. The Office of the Attorney General later joined as co-prosecutor with Natural Fruit in the criminal proceedings. I decided at the time that I would not pursue bail against these unjust charges. I thought spending years in a Thai jail to await a verdict that would eventually vindicate me was the only principled way to protest this abusive and intimidating treatment. I felt I was relatively privileged, because
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER | VOLUME 28: ISSUE 1 – MAY 2019
so many activists in Thailand disappear or are assassinated3 for similar work. Researching alleged human rights abuses should never be a crime. I felt I had to take a firm and public stand in order to highlight the risks that human rights defenders face. But as the months passed I realised that there were other ways to draw attention to, and help put an end to, the abuse of the domestic legal system to harass and silence human rights defenders. I did not need to be a martyr to protest this injustice. Instead, I could engage the business sector to take their responsibilities under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights seriously by responding to these strategic lawsuits against public participation (or ‘SLAPP’ cases). This could help distinguish companies who are willing to support the work of human rights defenders at risk from the ones who are not. I therefore approached the Thai Tuna Industry Association, Thai Frozen Foods Association and Thai Union Group, who agreed4 to cover the bail surety for my release from detention pending trial. In the years that followed, global media attention helped to galvanise change to combat the systematic exploitation of migrant workers in Thailand that our research uncovered. But this publicity also led to an increase in SLAPP cases filed against me, colleagues at the Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN) 5 and 14 migrant workers who filed a complaint with the national
