A Thai activist dedicated to improving the lives of workers in the fishing sector has been honoured by the US State Department for her work in the fight against human trafficking.
Apinya Tajit, deputy director of the Stella Maris Seafarer's Centre, is one of six people named as "2022 TIP Report heroes" by the US agency.
She has worked for the non-government organisation for more than seven years and helped hundreds of fishermen in Thailand and other countries, according to the Trafficking in Persons Report released on Tuesday in Washington. She also devoted herself to educating students and the public, to raise awareness about child trafficking, and helped anti-trafficking authorities, it said.
Kari Johnstone, acting director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, praised Ms Apinya for her tireless efforts to end human trafficking.
She was honoured "in recognition of her heartfelt and unwavering persistence in advocating for workers exploited in forced labour, particularly in the fishing industry, assisting victims with their reintegration into society, and sharing her expertise with government officials and anti-trafficking authorities," the US official said during the introduction.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said all people honoured in the report have helped improve lives of people around the world.
Ms Apinya told VOA Thai she was not the only hero in Thailand. All non-government organisation members working to help people were heroes, she said.
"All hard-working NGO members are heroes," she said.
Stella Maris is an international NGO set up in Scotland in 1920 to help people working in the maritime industry and workers in the fishing sector.
Ms Apinya is the third Thai to receive the award, following Sompong Srakaew in 2008 and Boom Mosby in 2017.
Mr Sompong founded the Labour Rights Promotion Network in 2006 to help migrant workers and Ms Boom set up the HUG Project to help children at risk in Chiang Mai.
Thailand was promoted to Tier 2 from the Tier 2 Watch List in this year's report.
