Thailand remains Tier 3 in new US trafficking report

ABOVE: Rescue workers inspect human remains dug from graves May 6 about one kilometer from the site where shallow graves containing 26 bodies were found May 1 near the town of Padang Besar in the southern province of Songkhla. Photo: AFP

 

Thailand will remain at the lowest level among nations inadequately fighting, or in some cases abetting, human trafficking in an updated report this evening from the US State Department.

Saying the Thai government is not meeting “the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, and is not making significant efforts to do so,” the US State Department’s updated global report on human trafficking slammed Thailand as “a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking.”

When that’s how your entry in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Person’s report begins, don’t expect too much.

On the high seas:

“Brokers and employers reportedly continued to confiscate identification documents. Thai, Burmese, Cambodian, and Indonesian men are subjected to forced labor on Thai fishing boats; some men remain 331 at sea for several years, are paid very little or irregularly, work as THAILAND much as 18 to 20 hours per day for seven days a week, or are threatened and physically beaten. Some victims of trafficking in the fishing sector were unable to return home due to isolated workplaces, unpaid wages, and the lack of legitimate identity documents or safe means to travel back to their home country. 

On official complicity:

“Media sources in 2013 reported corrupt Thai civilian and military officials profited from selling Rohingya asylum seekers from Burma and Bangladesh into forced labor on fishing vessels. Some Thai police removed Rohingya men from detention facilities in Thailand and sold them to brokers that transported them to southern Thailand; some were forced to work as cooks and guards in camps or sold into forced labor on farms or in shipping companies. Credible reports indicate some corrupt officials protect brothels and other commercial sex venues from raids and inspections; collude with traffickers; use information from victim interviews to weaken cases; and engage in commercial sex acts with child trafficking victims.”

On silencing criticism:

“Senior government officials repeatedly expressed their strong commitment to combating trafficking. However, the prosecution of journalists and advocates for exposing traffickers, and statements discouraging media reporting on trafficking crimes undermined some efforts to identify and assist victims and apprehend traffickers. “

Really long sentence advice to Thailand:

“Prosecute officials allegedly complicit in trafficking, and convict and punish those found guilty; increase efforts to identify, prosecute and convict traffickers, including those who subject victims to sex trafficking, debt bondage, or forced labor in Thailand’s commercial and export oriented sectors; increase understanding of labor trafficking and debt bondage indicators among labor inspectors and law enforcement; designate prosecutors who specialize in human trafficking cases; significantly increase efforts to proactively identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable populations, particularly migrants, deportees, refugees, persons in prostitution, and stateless people; increase training for marine police and navy to detect and stop human trafficking at sea; improve the consistency for victim identification, screening, and interview procedures, and prioritize the rights and safety of potential victims; investigate and improve labor recruitment practices for migrant workers; process and approve all legal status applications at the national, district, and provincial level in a timely manner; continue to increase the availability of interpretation services across government agencies with responsibilities for protecting foreign migrants, refugees, and victims of trafficking; enhance government capacity to implement laws and regulations by providing effective training, especially at state and local levels, and increasing staff dedicated to implement the law; cease prosecuting criminal defamation cases against researchers or journalists who report on human trafficking; establish an environment conducive to robust civil society participation in all facets of human trafficking; allow adult trafficking victims to travel, work, and reside outside shelters in accordance with 332THAILAND provisions in Thailand’s anti-trafficking law; increase incentives for victims to cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases, including by providing legal alternatives to the deportation of foreign trafficking victims to countries in which they would face retribution or hardship; develop additional specialized services for child sex trafficking victims and ensure their cases progress quickly; increase anti-trafficking awareness efforts directed at employers and clients of the sex trade, including sex tourists; make efforts to decrease the demand for exploitive labor; continue to increase regional cooperation on anti-trafficking efforts; and improve migrant workers’ rights, legal status, and labor migration policies to minimize the risk of trafficking.”



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