A British migrant workers' rights activist and lawyer has returned to Thailand where he could potentially face up to US$10 million in libel damages and a two-year prison sentence.

The initial charges were brought by fruit processor Natural Fruit last year against Andy Hall, for broadcasting the content of the report he co-authored for Finnwatch, 'Cheap has a high price: Responsibility problems relating to international private label products and food production in Thailand'.

Natural Fruit added another claim to the mix in May, following an interview Hall gave to international news broadcaster Al Jazeera.

"It was a 30-minute interview and they've just basically taken the clip that Al Jazeera released and prosecuted me with it," Hall told www.freshfruitportal.com.

"It's absolutely ridiculous. They have to look at the whole clip, they have to look at the whole case, they have to get all the evidence of what I said to Al Jazeera and then file a case if they think it's defamation."

Andy Hall (second from left) with Migrant Worker Rights Network (MWRN) members.

At 9am tomorrow (June 18), Hall is expected to be escorted from Bangna police station in Bangkok to the Attorney General's office in Chaeng Wattana to learn whether the Al Jazeera-related claims will be prosecuted in court.

Click here for more background on Hall's situation.

Hall emphasized none of the cases against him were before court yet, and that he now had the support of the Thai Frozen Foods Association (TFFA) and the Thai Tuna Industry Association (TTIA) who have guaranteed his bail.

Finnwatch praised the commitment of these two groups, in order to "support the work of human rights activists who carefully investigate rights abuses for the benefit of society".

"TTIA and TFFA are committed in our ethical standard policy to work with responsible NGOs like Finnwatch based on good faith and transparency," TTIA president Dr Chanintr Chalisarapong said in a release.

"We shall support and assist the Finnwatch team in Thailand being able to work independently and efficiently with the objective to enhance and improve the migrant labour conditions in the tuna and shrimp industry in Thailand."

However, despite pledges of support in private from some fruit companies who aim to improve migrant worker rights standards, key representative body the Thai Food Processors Association (TFPA) has taken a neutral stance on the matter and has not offered bail.

"I think that generally there's this denial of any problems. I've been a researcher at university, I believe my research is respectable. I'm not somebody who makes things up, I'm not somebody who blows things out of proportion...I'm also confused why they [TFPA] haven't supported me," Hall said.

"I think it's clear that there’s a segment of the Thai industry that’s really against what I’m doing, and the work that I’ve been doing for 10 years in Thailand.

"It's one company that filed the case but I believe there's much more behind it. Whether it be related to senior government officials or others, I believe Natural Fruit is just the face...the attempt to get me to stop doing the work that I'm doing, and to get me to leave the country."

Despite this, Hall still feels progress has been made on some fronts.

"I'm very active with a number of key exporters to the western market, and I'm finding that companies are increasingly willing to engage with me and seek advice on issues," Hall said.

He cited Vita Food Factory as one example, saying the company had reached out to him and Finnwatch to address serious issues in its factories.

Hall told www.freshfruitportal.com that after working on migrant rights issues for so many years, it was only once the Finnwatch report came out that he felt the stength to engage the industry.

"It's really highlighting to the international community that someone like myself who hasn’t got any benefits from the work, who’s essentially someone who’s a human rights activist who has committed his life to addressing these issues, is providing a voice to migrants," he said.

"If they can treat me like this, how can they treat migrant workers?"

He said that generally speaking, buyers in western markets still hadn't really done much to improve auditing systems in Thailand to ensure the ethical treatment of migrant workers.

"I don't feel that they’ve made any effort to reach out to migrant workers, to try to understand the real conditions in the factories, to get over this ineffectiveness of their audit systems, which really haven't been able to bring any of these abuses that are going on to the fore and to get it into their systems.

"Whenever I do interviews with workers, 99% of workers tell me that auditors never to speak to them. Even when auditors do choose people, those people are told what to say in advance, they’re notified in advance that an audit’s going to happen.

"At the end of the day I’m not for a boycott, I’m not for sanctions or any of these really strong measures against Thailand, but I believe there should be a timeline and people should say to Thailand, 'you need to improve these issues, they need to be addressed. There’s a timeline for that and if you don’t do it there's going to be be serious action'."

Hall added that British and European Union diplomats had offered him very little support or encouragement, and that he had been more engaged with the Finnish and U.S. embassies.

"The U.S. Embassy have always worked way closer with me because of the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report – it's obviously a huge issue and that’s going to come out in the next couple of days.

"Thailand is likely to be - from what I’ve heard from diplomatic sources - relegated to tier three, which is going to be a very serious issue."

He added the new political situation in Thailand could potentially be positive for the treatment of workers, but to date it had felt like more of a crackdown, with more than 100,000 Cambodian workers fleeing the nation.

"I think the fact the Junta has come out and said 'we’re going to address these migration issues' is a very good thing, because at the end of the day the migration system in Thailand is absolutely chaotic," he said.

"There's no system, there's no policy, no rule of law, so if the Junta is going to make improvements to this and benefit all people, it'll be great, but the worry is that they’re going to do it only from a national security perspective and not from a perspective of human rights."

When asked why he was returning to Thailand when he could easily avoid the country's courts, Hall said it was just part of his life's work.

"If you ask me why I’m going back, well it's simply the work that I’ve been doing and also I think that it's important, because it's a new strategy for me. I’ve spent almost a decade doing this work, and it’s only with the last couple of years that I’ve started to focus on trade and the links with consumer markets, that I’ve found my work having more impact and being more effective.

"It's not nice though to have publicity about yourself. It’s not nice to have your name in the media as someone who’s in trouble, who’s being harassed, someone who has problems. I want to work on migrant issues and I want to be a spokesperson, to speak up for migrant workers in Thailand until they can provide their own voice.

"I’m working a lot to empower community organizations to have their own voice – MWRN (Migrant Worker Rights Network), which is the organization I work for, is becoming increasingly vocal and confident, which is all Myanmar workers themselves."

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