Supermarket Slave Trial

Supermarket Slave Trial

2014, Crime  -   27 Comments
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Ratings: 8.95/10 from 161 users.

Prawn, or shrimp if you're American, was once a luxury and now it's an everyday pleasure. Cheap for us to buy, the human cost of their production is unbelievable. This is the story of globalized slavery and how giant international supermarkets like Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour, Morrisons and Iceland are selling shrimps fed by slave labor.

Thai fishing industry is rife with abuse, torture and summary executions. Thailand is the world's largest supplier of shrimps. The six-month Guardian investigation has traced the complex food chain from the boat to the supermarket shelf, proving for the first time that the low price of the shrimps on your plate depends on slave labor.

Late at night a cargo boat slips into one of Thailand's busiest ports. On board is a man who hasn't seen land in over 18 months. Like many Thai ports this is a hub for human trafficking where international network of slave traders often buy and sell migrants onto Thailand's illegal fishing boats... and he isn't safe.

The last time he was back on land he was tricked and sold onto another boat. This time his freedom has been bought by a local charity for just £450. Terrified and confused and unaware that he is free he fears that he's about to be trafficked again. Even free he's still afraid to show his face on camera.

A former monk from Cambodia was also a part of the invisible migrant workforce that props up Thailand's multi-billion-dollar shrimp industry. Each year thousands of migrants pay brokers large sums of money to smuggle them into Thailand in search of a better life. With his parents struggling to feed six children he left Burma to help provide for his siblings. After his mother died he was abandoned by his father. He lived as a pagoda boy until he left rural Burma as a teenager.

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Jimbo
Jimbo
3 years ago

I dont eat prawns. but I hope others who do watch this & vote with their pocket. check the source.

tamsyn
tamsyn
5 years ago

I live in Thailand and can tell you every time we see the 'EU gives/maintains Yellow Card' we laugh. The Thais won't do anything unless they are Red Carded and I can't believe the EU doesn't know this. So it's mutually beneficial The Thais 'have been warned' again, and EU businesses keep getting to buy cheap slave produced seafood. Shameful. Only the Red Card will stop this. Btw, every time I see it's a bloody Vimeo my heart sinks, I'm posting this whilst waiting for it to keep loading. And some suggest Vimeo as an alternative to YouTube. Pfft.

bodyworker
bodyworker
7 years ago

Apparently this was a documentary viewed at the New York state mental institution.Judging from the comments there appears to be a shortage of antipsychotic medication.

Heather
Heather
8 years ago

I wish they told us of a charity that FREES these slaves so we can give $$. I want to free a slave.
When all is said and done....there is a GOD who all men will give account to.
Breaks my heart how many people are so evil and make these horrible choices.

bluetortilla
bluetortilla
9 years ago

Slavery- any kind of slavery- is the gravest of crimes against humanity and if you believe in punishment, should incur the severest of penalties. Slavery is injustice at the peak of putrefaction, and we shall never rest until it utterly stamped out from this earth.
I am not sure how I feel about punishment as justice, I don't think I agree with that angry sentiment, but I am sure that I am for whatever means it will take to rid our world from slavery.

TheDanishViking
TheDanishViking
9 years ago

Finally a problem you can do something about. By local shrimp!

Shadowblur
Shadowblur
9 years ago

....These supermarkets are now cooperating against the
slavery, they knew and turned a 'blind eye' to this slavery for many years, now that they’re in the spotlight, they want to clear themselves as fast as possible. They don't want to lose their customers of course, get a dirty name. I know I'm stating the obvious, but like other giant corps, they don't want publicity, to be singled out.

mycial
mycial
9 years ago

I don't care about big supermarket Wal-Marts etc..Americans are very greedy & shellfish people. Most of them don't care & if you forward this documentary to a American they would say its false. But you must remember that this planet is build on slavery. A prison planet the illusion that your free because your not in shackles is completely artificial.

Sharon Swainson
Sharon Swainson
9 years ago

A terrific documentary!

Eric Lawson
Eric Lawson
9 years ago

Good Documentary.Never was aware of this . I will not by shrimp from these places again !!!!!I always said slavery is alive and well this is just one more example !!!Sad !!

Tripp John
Tripp John
9 years ago

Who eats shrimp? Disgusting, like eating rats.

MrNukem
MrNukem
9 years ago

Here in the USA at Walmart at least the frozen shrimp is labeled where it is harvested from and the bags of shrimp from the USA is only $1.50 - $2.00 more than imported, just take a few moments to read the label and buy USA harvested shrimp. I have been for the past few years just to support American fisherman. Best way to fight back against these kind of abuses as an individual is to not buy it, enough of us do that and a real difference can be made.

sonibvc
sonibvc
9 years ago

Its all about demand for cheap products! I dont know how is it in the USA but in the UK its all about "a penny saved is a penny earned"....everyone wants cheap things and then complains of the quality or the way it was sourced...you cant have your cake and eat it too! Nobody here questions how something can be delivered at a lower price than it was 10 years ago! Something along the chain needs to give in so that you can get your unreasonable demand!

Jo McKay
Jo McKay
9 years ago

What is wrong with us? John Lennon said "It's easy livin if your eyes are closed". Sure for the big fishing industry (legal almost as bad as the 'ghost' fisheries) it is about the need or lust of money, but what is with the overwhelming justification in human beings who support this insanity-destroying ourselves by making our planet uninhabitable for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren?
Arguing for sanctions against poor governments is ludicrous. 'You' and 'Me' supporting any 'business' who force unsafe and unsustainable practices for cheap 'product' including food are the ones who need to wake up! and 'they' the bullies who feed us (and their pockets) need to be criminalized, not just sanctioned! The over fishing must stop; destruction of oceans and forests and fresh water reserves and air purity, clearly must all stop. Yet most of the signs point to our ultimate suicide pact through gluttony, an inability to delay gratification or feel responsible in any way to make things better for future generations. In a time when many can be connected to the whole world, we are dis-connecting from our relationship to it.

Lenny
Lenny
9 years ago

On a side note, !@#$ the Tea Party.

Patrick Adrien Varencaus
Patrick Adrien Varencaus
9 years ago

precious lifes in the name of the mighty $$$ :(

cyberfrank
cyberfrank
9 years ago

incredible that it still happens today, not only women are slaves there, they are pretty retarded!

~Oliver B Koslik Esq
~Oliver B Koslik Esq
9 years ago

Tragic... "The Land of Smiles" ain't looking so smiley.

I see the same mentalities of psychotically violent people in everyday life. It's unfortunate that such people are not only able to prosper, but as well encouraged or enabled.

+1 TDF!