Report says human trafficking, mostly for prostitution, still rife in Thailand 

By KAS CHANWANPEN 
THE NATION

 

(File photo) A man is arrested for arranging sex trade in Bangkok.

 

HUMAN TRAFFICKING remains a serious issue in Thailand – with most cases involving prostitution – despite years of efforts to tackle the menace by the military government, a report released yesterday by rights groups reveals.

 

The report by Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) and Anti-Labour Trafficking Project (ALT), focusing on the situation in 2016 to 2017, said cases of labour trafficking were lower because they might not have been discovered or reported yet.

 

According to the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, Thailand prosecuted 333 human trafficking cases in 2016 and 302 cases in 2017. Of those, 244 and 246 respectively related to prostitution, involving persons being lured or forced into the sex trade. The rest involved other types of labour, including those in the industry and fishery sectors.

 

The report said that work in sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and industry are mostly remote and obscure and it is therefore difficult for authorities to track down labour trafficking.

 

The report also suggested that the low number of cases was more due to poor record-keeping and lack of cooperation among involved agencies and authorities, and not reflective of the actual situation.

 

Following the presentation of the report yesterday, agents working in the field shared the challenges they faced in dealing with the issue. This is seen as the reason for the country’s failure to be taken off the Watch List of the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report in 2016-17. However, Thailand’s status was upgraded to Tier 2 this year. The country was in the lowest Tier 3 in 2014 and 2015.

 

Prawit Roikaew, a prosecutor specialising in human trafficking cases, said the country had passed legislation and legal amendments as the TIP report was in the spotlight. But problems lay in how authorities implemented the laws, he said.

 

“We see this effect where authorities are torn between pressing many charges or none at all,” he said. “Some people think that because we have all these laws, we should have more cases. Others resort to hiding the truth for fear of being transferred. None of these truly comply with the law.”

 

Somchai Homlaor, a lawyer and HRDF president, pointed out a similar issue of authorities rushing to prosecute cases and taking them to court. Despite the superficial enthusiasm, in reality a rushed job meant the investigation was not thorough, he said. 

 

Ultimately, the traffickers ended up being acquitted due to insufficient evidence, he said.

 

“Rather than focusing on quantity, we should look at the end result of the cases,” the lawyer said. 

 

Pol Lt-Colonel Suphat Thamthanarak, director of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI)’s division handling human trafficking cases, said that although the division was set up last year to deal with the issue, it did not have authority to take action in cases of flagrant violations.

 

Mostly, the division had to rely on NGOs to bring in victims to start a “special investigation”, as the name of the unit suggested, he said.

 

“The division now has 40 personnel and we plan to do 20 cases this year,” he said. “Now, we have 10.”

 

Suphat said that he thought it was a good idea to set up a special task force to tackle human trafficking, like the Narcotics Control Board for drugs.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30351252

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-08-02

"...Somchai Homlaor, a lawyer and HRDF president, pointed out a similar issue of authorities rushing to prosecute cases and taking them to court. Despite the superficial enthusiasm, in reality a rushed job meant the investigation was not thorough, he said. Ultimately, the traffickers ended up being acquitted due to insufficient evidence, he said. “Rather than focusing on quantity, we should look at the end result of the cases,” the lawyer said..." 

 

I think Kh Somchai's comments in the paragraph above are an excellent summation of the Thai legal system. Make a lot of noise (occasionally and with plenty of warning), give press conferences, have photo ops and claim victory. However, any 'results' are superficial and temporary at best.

 

Rinse and repeat.

 

 

Edited August 1, 20187 yr by Samui Bodoh
Lack of coffee

Before anyone mounts high horses about the farang bar scene, note that very few, if any, cases of trafficking are for the farang night scene. Most if not all are related to the local scene.

There is no reason to force people into the farang scene when the monetary rewards are so high. They have more than enough "volunteers".

Edited August 1, 20187 yr by thaibeachlovers

25 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Before anyone mounts high horses about the farang bar scene, note that very few, if any, cases of trafficking are for the farang night scene. Most if not all are related to the local scene.

There is no reason to force people into the farang scene when the monetary rewards are so high. They have more than enough "volunteers".

 

Agree... It's amazing when you live outside the main tourist spots, or just travel the country, how many girlie bars there are in the small towns/villages.

They are everywhere and in numbers that you wouldn't think necessary for such small towns !!

Even if the tourist "hotspots" were ever cleaned up, they could never get rid of the business in Thailand, just too much local demand it would seem...

Edited August 1, 20187 yr by cornishcarlos

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The report said that work in sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and industry are mostly remote and obscure and it is therefore difficult for authorities to track down labour trafficking.

Almost every building site in Chiang Mai is packed with illegals.

Illegal shanty towns housing them regularly spring up just out of town.

There's one currently in the narrow road from 'Love Boat' to Canal road, 100m from Canal road.

Hardly remote or obscure.

Edited August 1, 20187 yr by BritManToo

File photo??  When was this taken?  How about some "up to date" photos!  

We all know Somchai is the biggest fanny rat.

Ladies in all small and large towns throughout Thailand.

serving the community.

 

Edited August 2, 20187 yr by stanleycoin

1 minute ago, stanleycoin said:

We all know Somchai is the biggest fanny rat.

tarts in all small and large towns throughout Thailand.

serving the community.

 

Rotfpmsl.....555!

https://www.business-anti-corruption.com/country-profiles/thailand/

Very intense and accurate pointing, awesome!

4 hours ago, webfact said:

cases of labour trafficking were lower because they might not have been discovered or reported yet

 

That's how govt targets are achieved. Do keep up.

 

Looks like he was going to come clean with that amount of soap on the table?

OMG? That's news for me.

I thought the entire South East Asian region is rife with that business ?

Prostitution is rife in Thailand?

Where is it?

I thought that the hot chicks in the mini skirts were just friendly!

 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

But problems lay in how authorities implemented the laws, he said.

Yeh you got that one right.

4 hours ago, webfact said:

“We see this effect where authorities are torn between pressing many charges or none at all,” he said. “Some people think that because we have all these laws, we should have more cases. Others resort to hiding the truth for fear of being transferred. None of these truly comply with the law.”

We'll ask for a bribe, then we don't have to go to court!

 

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Ultimately, the traffickers ended up being acquitted due to insufficient evidence, he said.

Or vise versa. Innocent people go to prison for nothing. What a sham!

 

 

3 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

Agree... It's amazing when you live outside the main tourist spots, or just travel the country, how many girlie bars there are in the small towns/villages.

They are everywhere and in numbers that you wouldn't think necessary for such small towns !!

Even if the tourist "hotspots" were ever cleaned up, they could never get rid of the business in Thailand, just too much local demand it would seem...

Absolutely.  I live in the sticks and it amazing the number of "resorts" available in just a few km of the highway be here.  And that doesn't include the bars with Xmas tree lights on the slip roads before and after every town.

That´s exactly what we needed this moring. Life is just not the same since they banned finger pointing. Lucky they still have the archieve for ligthen up a boring day.

22 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Very intense and accurate pointing, awesome!

The pointers look like some of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse or something Terry Pratchett would dream up.

So the pointing ladies are basically saying: "That's the very bad guy who trafficked us, look how trafficked we are! Now we are not trafficked anymore because the long arm of the Thai police has finally caught him!!"

50 minutes ago, faraday said:

Rotfpmsl.....555!

I had to google that one 

1 hour ago, PatOngo said:

Very intense and accurate pointing, awesome!

this must be added to the “Thais pointing at things” Facebook Page immediately .

SAME SHIT DIFFERENT DAY, when the powers to clearly know about the level of human trafficking and the number of illegal immigrants, yet only comes into the news when it suits them. Thai Visa has run similar stories on many occasions trying to get the government to wake up, but to no avail..just saying it's old news boys and girls.

"Report says human trafficking, mostly for prostitution, still rife in Thailand"

?

I am surprised and outraged about this unbelievable piece of news!

...or in other words: no $4!t, Sherlock!? 

Prostitution is the biggest employer in Thailand.. has been for years we all know that, whether it's go go bars or massage parlours all are providing employment & riches for all concerned with services given to locals and farangs alike.

Thai girls are lured away from home by the chance to earn good money at a resort type location instead of back home earning  a pittance slaving away in a paddy field or similar., they tend to know where the good operators are and stick together.

However it's the immigrant girls who are in danger, coming into an unknown country to look for work, they don't know the territory and get scammed by unscrupulous owners... Thai enforcement knows where & how it works, but sometimes they themselves are too near to the problem to want to solve it...

It really is time that human rights organisations and ngos acknowledge the fact that a great deal of the people allegedly trafficked into the sex trade or various other trades are willing participants. They only cry foul when they are caught to avoid being prosecuted. To my understanding a person being trafficked comes under the definition of someone that was taken and forced to work against their will. This is not the situation in most cases. Most of the alleged trafficed persons are back at the same job a week after being "saved " .  Unless they can prove they were taken against their will, then they should be prosecuted also. 

 

4 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

Agree... It's amazing when you live outside the main tourist spots, or just travel the country, how many girlie bars there are in the small towns/villages.

They are everywhere and in numbers that you wouldn't think necessary for such small towns !!

Even if the tourist "hotspots" were ever cleaned up, they could never get rid of the business in Thailand, just too much local demand it would seem...

That is true with regards to the number of 'girlie' bars you find up-country. However, in all the years I have been living in central Thailand, and all the bars I have visited, whether setup for visitors or locals, I truly have never seen any girls that have had the appearance of being forced to work or under duress (outside of that to be expected) by management in any of those bars/establishments. Duress possibly coming from external sources (financial/supporting), but not from the establishment itself. But to clarify, I worded that to read the bars I have visited; I am well aware of other businesses run differently.

 

I base the above on my belief in reading character in people; perhaps I am just being the naive foreigner in this case? Which could be quite possible as I don't even know now-a-days the definition or parameters that cover trafficking. It appears anything to do with the sex trade is now covered, whether the participants are forced or not.

 

One great line in the OP was that the efforts of the anti-trafficking should not be based on quantity of cases but rather focused on definite results. If they could adapt to a plan like that, following it to the top, they, IMO, would achieve so much more. But that would need someone in charge that is not intimidated by rank and file.......................

 

 

Speaking of which, did Ken Albertson/Boomerangutan beat his rap?

1 minute ago, chrisinth said:

That is true with regards to the number of 'girlie' bars you find up-country. However, in all the years I have been living in central Thailand, and all the bars I have visited, whether setup for visitors or locals, I truly have never seen any girls that have had the appearance of being forced to work or under duress (outside of that to be expected) by management in any of those bars/establishments. Duress possibly coming from external sources (financial/supporting), but not from the establishment itself. But to clarify, I worded that to read the bars I have visited; I am well aware of other businesses run differently.

 

I base the above on my belief in reading character in people; perhaps I am just being the naive foreigner in this case? Which could be quite possible as I don't even know now-a-days the definition or parameters that cover trafficking. It appears anything to do with the sex trade is now covered, whether the participants are forced or not.

 

One great line in the OP was that the efforts of the anti-trafficking should not be based on quantity of cases but rather focused on definite results. If they could adapt to a plan like that, following it to the top, they, IMO, would achieve so much more. But that would need someone in charge that is not intimidated by rank and file.......................

 

 

 

I live in the south... But not a tourist destination... There are plenty of girlie bars in every town and village.

Whether they are supplied by trafficking/forced labor, I have no idea but they are there...

14 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

I live in the south... But not a tourist destination... There are plenty of girlie bars in every town and village.

Whether they are supplied by trafficking/forced labor, I have no idea but they are there...

There is no denying that they are there, everywhere, I am certainly not disputing that. What I am uncertain of is the parameters that define 'trafficking'.

Ah, the pointing is back, missed it. This time by a gang of Michael Jacksons, nice touch.