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Tilmeldt: 03.07.09
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Thailand
The Situation
Thailand is a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking.
Source
Thai and hill tribe women and girls are trafficked to Japan, Malaysia, South Africa, Bahrain, Australia, Singapore, Europe, Canada and the United States for sexual and labor exploitation. 1 Many women are girls are trafficked by international criminal syndicates. 2 Many Thai are lured to Taiwan, Malaysia, the United States, and the Middle East by labor recruiting agencies and are forced into involuntary servitude because of the high debt owed to the agencies. 3
Within the country women were trafficked from the impoverished Northeast and the North to Bangkok for sexual exploitation. However, internal trafficking of women appeared to be on the decline, due to prevention programs and better economic opportunities. Women also were trafficked to Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Bahrain, Australia, South Africa, Europe, and the United States chiefly for sexual exploitation but also for sweatshop labor. Men were trafficked into the country for commercial fisheries and farm, industrial, and construction labor. Prosecution of traffickers of men was complicated by the lack of coverage in the law. 4
Transit
A number of women and girls from Burma, Cambodia, and Vietnam transit through Thailand's southern border to Malaysia for sexual exploitation primarily in Johor Bahru, across from Singapore. 5 Anecdotal evidence also points to an increase in trafficking of foreign migrants for sexual exploitation. Burmese, Khmer, Lao and ethnic minority girls/young women have been reported trafficked in border areas and into major urban centres and sometimes through Thailand to third countries such as Malaysia, Japan and destinations in Europe and North America. 6
Destination
Thailand is a destination country for men, women, and children who are trafficked from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, People’s Republic of China, Russia, and Uzbekistan for sexual and labor exploitation. 7 Children are trafficked for commercial sex and forced labor in begging, fishing, and fish processing. Sometimes entire families were trafficked for forced labor in sweatshops. 8 Many Burmese victims voluntarily migrate to Thailand and are later coerced into work in agriculture, factories, construction, commercial fisheries industries, begging, or as domestic servants. The ILO and a government university reported that fishing, construction, commercial agriculture and domestic service are the industries with the most documented migrant workers in forced labor, including children. 9 In September police raided a shrimp processing factory in Samut Sakhon and found more than 100 Burmese workers who had been held on the premises against their will. The traffickers were loosely organized small groups, with Burmese, Laotian, Cambodian, and Thai individuals who transported victims along the Thai border for forced labor. 10
Internal Trafficking
Thailand is a country with internal trafficking of women and children for commercial sexual exploitation, and labor trafficking.
Causes
There are many causes of human trafficking in Thailand. 11 Many argue that Thailand is a destination for human trafficking because of its relative affluence in the Greater Sub-Mekong Region.
The Thai Government
The Thai Government was placed in Tier 2 in the 2007 U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report for not fully complying with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but making significant efforts to do so. There are reports of local government officials who are complicit in trafficking. 12 Since the September 2006 military coup, Thai government efforts to combat trafficking remain uncertain.
The 1997 Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Women and Children Act criminalize trafficking for sexual exploitation. Penalties range from imprisonment for a year to life and fines of $50 to $1000. Penalties for trafficking of children between the age of 15 to 18 range from 3 to 15 years of imprisonment and a fine. Penalties for trafficking children under the age of 15 ranges from five to 20 years of imprisonment and a fine. 13 Male victims are not included in the victim protection provision of Thai laws for trafficking. There are no laws that criminalize labor trafficking and the trafficking of men. A draft law which allows for prosecution of all forms of trafficking was finalized in 2006 but awaits passage in the legislature. 14
Prosecution
The Government of Thailand reported 88 arrests in cases brought against traffickers in the period from September 2005 through February 2007, involving a total of 100 victims. No public officials or law enforcement officials were arrested for being complicit in trafficking in 2006. 15
Protection
The Thai government provides victim protection to foreign victims of sex trafficking and Thai citizens who have returned from trafficking situations abroad. The government supports shelters where victims receive psychological counseling, food, board, and medical care. The government also collaborates with the International Organization for Migration to set up transit facilities and shelters. The government does not adequately identify its trafficking victims; males have been deported without interviews to determine if they had been trafficked. The government allocated 500 million baht for trafficking victim care in 2005 but only 100 million baht has been authorized since. In 2006, IOM returned 343 people to their home countries, including 245 Laotians, 85 Cambodians, and 13 Burmese. Trafficking victims receive some legal assistance from NGOs and the Department of Welfare. 16
Prevention
The Thai government supports an array of projects to prevent human trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation and sex tourism. The government disseminated handbooks in Lao, Burmese, Khmer, and Thai to educate migrant workers on restrictions on labor broker fees and regulations for foreign guest worker programs. 17 The government also supported programs to prevent trafficking of children by funding vocational training programs for high school students. 18
International Cooperation
The Thai government has signed anti-trafficking memorandums of understandings with Cambodia and Laos. 19
Recommendations
The U.S. Department of State recommended that the Thai government should pass and enact that legislation at the earliest opportunity. 20
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