Thailand’s Position on the U.S. State Department’s 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report

[webfact]

 

By Tarin Angskul

   

BANGKOK (MFA) - On 1st July 2021 at 13.00 hrs. (EDT), the U.S. State Department released the 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report (2021 TIP Report), ranking Thailand on the Tier 2 Watch List, down from Tier 2 the previous year.

 

Noting the ranking, Thailand finds it disappointing that the Report does not reflect fairly the significant efforts and concrete progress Thailand has made in combatting human trafficking. The TIP Report, after all, unilaterally makes an evaluation from the U.S.’ own view point, and by no means represents any international standard.

 

The Royal Thai Government attaches great importance to combatting human trafficking, which is on the national agenda. All measures taken by Thailand are meant for the betterment of Thai society, raising our standards in protecting and preventing Thai citizens and foreign nationals in Thailand, including migrant workers, from falling victim to human trafficking.

 

Over the years, progress has evidently been made and sustained efforts have borne tangible outcomes. In 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand’s achievements in key areas included (1) Prosecution – Efficacy has increased, with a decreasing trend in the length of time spent on the completion of the prosecution process. More than 90 percent of the submitted cases were adjudicated by the Court within one year while more than 67 percent of offenders were handed severe sentences, i.e. imprisonment of 5 years or more.

 

Complicit officials were also punished and online human trafficking, a rising form of trafficking during the pandemic, was cracked down on; (2) Protection - Victim-centred and trauma-informed care approaches continue to be undertaken to protect victims of human trafficking, while partnership with civil society orgnizations in supporting victims with shelter and services were encouraged and strengthened; (3) Prevention - Migrant workers from Cambodia, Laos PDR and Myanmar were granted an extended period of stay in Thailand until 31st March 2022 as part of the COVID-19 pandemic measures.

 

240,572 migrant workers who registered under this provision have received protection and welfare in accordance with relevant laws and regulations; thus minimising their risk of falling prey to human traffickers. New laws were also enacted to, among other things, raise the standard of living and facilities of fishing boats as well as facilitate the seabook registration process for migrant fisheries workers.

 

Capacity-building and training programmes were held regularly through various channels to enhance the efficiency of law enforcement officers and promote awareness among the vulnerable groups of the risks of human trafficking and possible exploitation in different forms.

 

The Royal Thai Government remains resolute in advancing its efforts in prevention and suppression of human trafficking to safeguard human dignity in line with the human rights and humanitarian principles which Thailand has long cherished and upheld. Thailand stands ready to enhance cooperation with various partners in a constructive manner, both domestically and internationally, with a view to ultimately eradicating the scourge of human trafficking and forced labour in all forms.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2021-07-02

 

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[JoePai]

ranking Thailand on the Tier 2 Watch List, down from Tier 2 the previous year.

 

Sorry not understand - so they stayed the same?

[Thomas J]

As a U.S. citizen I would suggest that they ought to look to their own activities that have led to a large amount of human trafficking.  By all accounts, the magnet created by the current open border policy has led to swarms of people many of them become entrapped in human trafficking by the criminals who represent themselves as agents to safely escort these people to the border. 

[BobinBKK]

Does anyone really care what the Thai government thinks? I for one do not!!!

[RichardColeman]

17 minutes ago, Thomas J said:

As a U.S. citizen I would suggest that they ought to look to their own activities that have led to a large amount of human trafficking.  By all accounts, the magnet created by the current open border policy has led to swarms of people many of them become entrapped in human trafficking by the criminals who represent themselves as agents to safely escort these people to the border. 

Yes, creepy whispering Joe has completely lost the immigration plot !

[Thomas J]

39 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

es, creepy whispering Joe has completely lost the immigration plot !

He certainly has been among the worst but the reality is that this has been going on at the border for decades under both Republican and Democratic administrations.   In addition to the human trafficking it brings the gangs, and drugs across to.  If the people felt they could not get in, they would not come.  The lack of enforcement is just a magnet that pulls people to cross the border and it exposes them to exploitation by traffickers.  As said, the USA seems to stand on a soap box and preach to the rest of the world about human rights and trafficking when its own policies encourage it.  Take Nike, there is no prohibition against importation of their products despite a good share of them being made in sweat shops.  It is the old adage people who live in glass houses should not throw stones. 

[DLock]

You can't put out a "plan" the night before the US report is released and expect it will absolve you of all sins...

 

Fail.

 

[herfiehandbag]

18 minutes ago, DLock said:

You can't put out a "plan" the night before the US report is released and expect it will absolve you of all sins...

 

Fail.

 

Yes, I must confess it did cross my mind this morning, as to why the sudden interest in human trafficking.I suspected actually that a horror story as about to break regarding ghastly conditions in the locked down camps and factories. Then I got carried away with excitement over TVFs new image, along with the thrills and spills from Phuket!

[ClaySmc]

2 hours ago, JoePai said:

ranking Thailand on the Tier 2 Watch List, down from Tier 2 the previous year.

 

Sorry not understand - so they stayed the same?

 I was confused as well. But if you look at the map, the legend shows the 4 tiers, with Tier 2 Watchlist being between Tier 2 and Tier 3 -- so some kind of warning before they fall to the bottom, hence "watchlist".

[jingjai9]

The theme I see here is that public officials are in most cases at the root of any social problems Thailand tries to combat and eradicate. The corruption is so deep-rooted in the culture it seems virtually impossible to fix. 

 

I am not sure if corruption is as serious of an offense in Asian countries as it is in western countries and I do not mean that in a pejorative sense. People often pay tribute to get things done. I think the problem is when government officials "privatize" their occupational positions and profit from it without consideration for whom it may impact and injure.

 

 

 

[Cake Monster]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

The Royal Thai Government attaches great importance to combatting human trafficking, which is on the national agenda. All measures taken by Thailand are meant for the betterment of Thai society, raising our standards in protecting and preventing Thai citizens and foreign nationals in Thailand, including migrant workers, from falling victim to human trafficking.

I dont think that I have ever read such a crass statement in all my entire life

They are lucky not to be placed on the Red List IMO

[Misterwhisper]

3 hours ago, JoePai said:

ranking Thailand on the Tier 2 Watch List, down from Tier 2 the previous year.

 

Sorry not understand - so they stayed the same?

In the next report they'll be ranked Tier 2, another tier down from this year's Tier 2, I fear.

[ikke1959]

It reflects the reality.. Look how they treated the migrant workers in the Covid Camps.. the smuggling of people from Birma and Malaysia and probably Cambodia, what is happening in the fishing, shrimp and chicken industry.( there was documentary from the Dutch T.V. last year) And that is only the tip of the iceberg.

[Misterwhisper]

Thank you, Thai government in association with the always trustworthy and entirely unbiased NNT. Full of deflections and pointing the blame finger at others as usual, your statement reads exactly like something the Chinese Communist Party would release. You've learned well from them. Congratulations!

 

I wonder if Burmese slave workers on Thai fishing trawlers will rather believe the TIP report or the Thai government deflection piece.

[ArcticFox]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Noting the ranking, Thailand finds it disappointing that the Report does not reflect fairly the significant efforts and concrete progress Thailand has made in combatting human trafficking.

Perhaps Thailand needs to be more efficient in their efforts.
You can work hard or work smart.  Efforts that don't result in improvement simply are not good enough.  Try efforts that result in quantifiable improvements.  Difficult to do when corruption and human-trafficking go hand-in-hand.  Maybe more effort should be focused on endemic corruption? Whining about it doesn't make it go away.

[ArcticFox]

12 minutes ago, ArcticFox said:

Perhaps Thailand needs to be more efficient in their efforts.
You can work hard or work smart.  Efforts that don't result in improvement simply are not good enough.  Try efforts that result in quantifiable improvements.  Difficult to do when corruption and human-trafficking go hand-in-hand.  Maybe more effort should be focused on endemic corruption? Whining about it doesn't make it go away.

 

And Thailand whines it's "disappointed." 
Can you imagine how disappointed some migrant pressed into slave-labor feels or a young woman forced into prostitution feels. Personally I don't care about Thailand's butt-hurt feelings of 'disappointment' or loss of face.  Do a better job and quit whining.

[Caldera]

Consider yourself lucky, Thailand, I'd rank you Tier 3. The trafficking of migrant workers seems worse than ever, and so is their appalling treatment.

 

Then there's slave labor in the fishing industry, and Thais are being trafficked abroad to work as well. A human trafficking hub if there ever was one!