Thai companies move on human rights, but worker gaps remain

New research from Mahidol University finds that leading Thai companies are adopting human rights policies and oversight, but migrant workers still report poor conditions and weak grievance access. The study argues businesses must move beyond compliance if they want to meet rising global expectations and protect long-term value.

Why it matters: - Business and human rights is becoming a core issue for corporate governance, ESG reporting, and investment decisions. - The gap between policy and workers’ lived experience can expose companies to legal, operational, and reputational risk. - Migrant workers are central to Thailand’s economy, so their treatment affects supply chains in construction, agriculture, seafood processing, and manufacturing.

What happened: - Dr. Nattavud Pimpa, an associate professor at the College of Management, Mahidol University, released research on how leading Thai corporations are applying the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. - The study combines an analysis of Thailand’s top listed companies with participatory research involving migrant construction workers. - The research was discussed in Bangkok after Human Rights concerns were raised to Pimpa by the Office of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand in mid-2025. - The paper will be featured in the next volume of Frontiers in Sustainability Journal (Q1).

The details: - Many leading Thai companies have adopted human rights policies. - Board-level oversight has improved across the companies studied. - Human rights due diligence is increasingly being added to supplier management. - Migrant construction workers reported poor living conditions, occupational health risks, and limited access to grievance mechanisms. - The research argues that sustainability reports alone cannot capture human rights performance. - The United Nations Guiding Principles rest on three pillars: the state’s duty to protect, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, and access to effective remedy. - Those principles are now a global benchmark for responsible business conduct. - The UNGP framework is also shaping legislation, ESG reporting, and investment decisions worldwide. - Migrant workers face language barriers, uncertain legal status, limited bargaining power, and restricted access to grievance systems. - The study says effective human rights due diligence needs continuous learning, stakeholder dialogue, and context-specific risk assessment. - The research calls for companies to listen to workers, suppliers, local communities, and civil society organisations. - Pimpa said meaningful stakeholder engagement is good management, not just good governance.

Between the lines: - The findings suggest Thai companies may be advancing on paper faster than they are improving conditions on the ground. - The emphasis on migrant workers points to a broader truth: the people most exposed to abuse are often the least visible in corporate reporting. - The study frames human rights not as a separate compliance task but as part of how companies manage resilience, risk, and long-term value. - The business school angle signals a push to build human rights into management training, not treat it as a niche topic.

What's next: - Business schools are being urged to weave business and human rights across the curriculum. - Students should be trained in human rights due diligence, social risk assessment, community engagement, and responsible governance. - The study calls for more experiential learning with businesses, NGOs, labour organisations, and local communities. - Thai companies will likely face more pressure to show measurable improvements, not just written commitments. - Collaboration among businesses, government, civil society, and universities will be needed to move from compliance to genuine respect for human dignity.

The bottom line: - Thailand’s corporate human rights progress is real, but the research says lasting credibility will depend on whether companies improve workers’ daily lives, not just their policies.