Thailand taps tourists to fight human trafficking and keep the country smiling

Beh Lih Yi

 

A banner with a message warning against human trafficking at Bangkok's main Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand on March 28, 2018. THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION/ Beh Lih Yi

 

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - At Bangkok’s main Suvarnabhumi airport, a video repeats scenes of tourists visiting Thailand’s sunny beaches and its vibrant nightlife, but at the end comes a warning.

 

“Human trafficking and slavery are against the law in Thailand. Perpetrators will be severely punished,” it says, followed by a hotline number for people to report cases.

 

From airports to shopping malls, Thailand is ramping up a campaign targeting tourists in its latest effort to keep the country free from human trafficking, as officials eye better international ratings.

 

The Southeast Asian nation is consistently ranked as one of the world’s best tourists destinations. Government data showed Thailand welcomed a record 35 million visitors in 2017, and forecasted it to rise to 37.6 million this year.

 

But it has also come under the international spotlight in recent years over what rights groups describe as widespread human trafficking, including women forced into selling sex and fishermen trapped in conditions akin to modern slavery.

 

The U.S. State Department last year left Thailand on a Tier 2 Watchlist - just above the lowest ranking of Tier 3 - in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, saying it had not done enough to tackle human smuggling and trafficking.

 

Eyeing a better ranking, the government has vowed a clean-up. In recent months, it partnered with airlines and charities to warn visitors against involvement in trafficking, while urging them to spot and report potential cases.

 

“Every effort is important,” Weerachon Sukhontapatipak, a Thai government spokesman told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

 

“We are doing our best,” he said. “Therefore we hope the situation in Thailand will be better, and it will be recognized by the international community.”

 

A growing number of countries around the world are turning to the tourism sector to help combat human trafficking, including training frontline hotel and airline staff to spot the signs.

 

There has also been a rise of “advocacy tourism”, where holiday-makers sign up travel packages to learn about issues like modern slavery.

 

IN-FLIGHT VIDEOS, HOTEL TRAININGS

 

At Thai airports, banners greet visitors with warnings that human trafficking could “destroy” the country. A video flashes the message: “Keep Thailand the Land of Smiles for all”.

 

The government has also enlisted Thai Airways to show anti-trafficking in-flight videos on its international routes since February, said Nuttavika Tamthai, a spokeswoman for the national carrier.

 

In shopping malls, cinemas and train stations across the capital, Bangkok, videos show visitors how to look out for signs of human trafficking.

 

Some highlight sex exploitation, while another shows a child begging under a separate campaign called “Can You See Me?”.

 

“This is a step in the right direction,” said Malina Enlund from the anti-trafficking group A21, which has partnered with Thai authorities on the campaign since mid-2017.

 

“The Thai government alone cannot solve the problem. We need the hotel groups, we need the tourists, we need everybody who can to join in,” Enlund said.

 

The Australia-based group is training hotel staff in Thailand’s seaside resort of Pattaya - a hotspot for sex tourism - on how to spot trafficking signs.

 

The Thai tourism body said in March that Thailand is aiming to move forward as a “quality destination” and it strongly opposed any form of sex tourism.

 

An estimated 425,500 people live in conditions of modern slavery in Thailand, according to the Global Slavery Index 2016 by charity Walk Free Foundation, including migrant workers from Cambodia and Laos and women exploited in the sex industry.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-4-17

Because 99.9% of human trafficking in Thailand is done by tourists, they sure are the group that needs to be "tapped"...

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

The Thai tourism body said in March that Thailand is aiming to move forward as a “quality destination” and it strongly opposed any form of sex tourism.

Yeah sure........Bullshit walks....and money talks.....

 

 

To be crystal clear do you need a work permit to keep the country smiling ?

lol... just imagine hypothetically if by any chance a lucky tourist discovered the truth and evidence about someone on the top of the ladder - he/she would perform suicide within 24 hours, while broke bones and tied own hands behind back

How is the policeman who exposed trafficking and fled to Australia at fear for his safety?

I really would like to know. Was there follow-up from Australia or any international body?

The headline makes me laugh, and I'm not a tourist.

Slavery is alive and well in the Thai HiSo (not so) households. Maids, cooks, gardeners, drivers getting paid paltry salaries and working long hours...

From Saudi to the UK and especially the USA human trafficking exists on a massive scale in various forms. Thailand just gets targeted because of it visible night live in two cities, non of whom the participants are trafficked.  Anyway that sign has been up for over a year....maybe two. The story is a nonesense. The real crime here is something quite different.

Hotel, airline staff and tourists must be far more curious than the local flatfoots. 

They only need to write the message in Thai language.

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“Human trafficking and slavery are against the law in Thailand. Perpetrators will be severely punished,”

...unless trafficking and slavery are performed by 'influential figures' also known as the untouchables. If the above held a grain of truth, some industries here would be non existent.

What Bull Shit will they say next all the Whore houses near the little bus station are run by Thais not tourists TIT

Tourists and hotel staff expected to step up and do the job, as the powers that be are lost too deep in the pockets of the traffickers.

What's wrong with you lot.  you now dam well its the tourists fault

all this trafficking business,  in Thailand. 

 

12 hours ago, JOC said:

This is totally a reputable establishment and nothing to do with the topic frankly...

They are perfectly in the clear, they have WIFI :)

“Human trafficking and slavery are against the law in Thailand. Perpetrators will be severely punished,” it says, followed by a hotline number for people to report cases.

 

So why not start with the guys at the top? The ones who not only permit this to happen, but more than likely profit from it? Arrest them all. Lock them up!

12 hours ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Deliberate misdirection to cover their own guilty consciences, implicit involvement and financial interests.

 

Seriously, how are tourists going to assist with slavery in pineapple producers factories or on Thai fishing vessels?

 

Andy Hall tried to expose it and was taken to court, and found guilty of defamation.

 

Why would any tourist visiting this corrupt and despotic country risk a spell in jail for telling the truth? 

 

This place and its people get stupider and more ridiculous by the minute. 

So much truth in that post Father Fin....................

 

There should be a cautionary note on all their posters as to the hidden pitfalls in being a temporary ambassador against human trafficking and reporting your observations.