Thailand as a regional haven for human trafficking

[webfact]

REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Thailand as a regional haven for human trafficking
Kavi Chongkittavorn
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Throughout the past five months, a total of 426 asylum-seekers from Central Asia landed in various parts of Thailand. These new arrivals were unusual and different from the Rohingya arriving in boats from the Andaman Sea, a pattern set over the past few years.

Thai authorities were perplexed by the Turkic-looking undocumented visitors, who were detained in Songkhla, Chiang Rai and along the Thai-Cambodian border. Last year, 88 were detained at Bangkok's immigration office. Just a few days ago a dozen more were apprehended.

Various reports identified them as Uighur Muslims originating from Xinjiang, China. They had been smuggled overland to northern Thailand through a labyrinth of networks arranged by international traffickers. From Kunming, they were transported to the borders with Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, attempting to enter Thailand. All would have a rendezvous in Songkhla, southern Thailand, before their journey would have ended with a border crossing to Malaysia, from where they hoped to go to Turkey.

The recent influx of Uighurs to Thailand has been due to two unrelated developments. The exodus to Thailand is a new one, which comes about due to tighter border administration among members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisations, especially those bordering China such as Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which literally sealed off the traditional trafficking route.

Secondly, after the Malaysia Airline MH370 tragedy and suspicion of strangers, the Malaysian government has cracked down on foreign Muslim refugees, forcing them to flee into Thailand.

Among human traffickers, Thailand is known as a haven due to its easy access, the weak law enforcement and border controls. Authorities working in collusion with traffickers near and far ensure that their victims' illegal entries are carried out in systematic ways in various parts of Thailand. Prior to their arrival in the Kingdom, transit countries normally turned a blind eye to avoid future complications of having to deal with these asylum-seekers.

Those who have shown up in Songkhla, according to local officials, comprised women and children - each family has parents along with three-four children. Diplomats from the Turkey's and China's embassies recently met and talked with them, trying to determine their backgrounds. At the moment, they are under the care of the Thai government, pending confirmation of their identities. Thailand has sought assistance from the International Organisation of Migration, which has been helping the Rohingya refugees stranded here.

Influx of the Uighur

Muslims and other displaced persons in the South cannot be viewed in isolation because some have crossed over from Malaysia, where the demand for labour is very high. Human traffickers have used the porous Thai-Malaysian border to repatriate undocumented migrant workers from Myanmar, Bangladesh and Central Asia to the Thai border. Once they are found inside Thailand, they continue to be subject to exploitation by local officials and international human smugglers. Only the asylum seekers from North Korea receive better treatment. Once they arrived at the Thai border in Chiangsaen, Chiang Rai, they would immediately come under the care and protection of the South Korean government, which would accept their resettlement. As the Uighur Muslims continue to make their way to Thailand, the battle with human traffickers has taken a new twist. The US government will issue its annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) in June with an assessment of the country's efforts to fight against human trafficking, especially involving the Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.

Last week, major human rights and refugee organisations urged Washington to punish Bangkok for not doing enough to combat human trafficking. Worse, they cited evidence of complicity between local authorities and traffickers.

Currently, Thailand belongs to the "Tier 2" watch list since the past four years. The pending report could have a devastating outcome if it is downgraded to Tier 3, with possible sanctions from the US government. In past years, Thai authorities have strengthened law enforcement and pursued trafficking cases vigorously.

Last year alone a total of 483 persons were prosecuted out of 386 trafficking cases, compared to 64 persons out of 38 cases in 2010. To Thailand's critics, it was too little too late.In addition, the ongoing domestic political turmoil rubs salt into the wounds because the Thai government has to cope with multiple external pressures in taking care of thenew arrivals and pressure for their forced repatriation.

However, the plight of the Rohingya dominates the discourse on human trafficking internationally for the time being. Besides Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia also suffer greatly from the influx of Muslim asylum seekers. Attempts to forge a regional approach with Myanmar and Bangladesh have failed.

Since the 1970s Thailand has had a long history of settling nearly 3 million refugees and displaced persons from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Now it hosts more than 4 million migrant workers, most of them illegal. Even though Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, it cooperated with various UN agencies and foreign countries in those difficult decades. The time has now come for Thailand to sign the convention. Concerned Thai authorities, in particular the Ministry of Interior, are still hung up with a myth that such a deal would increase the influx of refugees.

The truth is displaced persons and refugees will continue to come to Thailand nonetheless. International criticism often targets Thailand for the unhealthy conditions and inhuman exploitation that illegal immigrants face, ignoring the refugee-producing countries.

Thailand, like Pakistan and other developing countries, has to host large numbers of refugees relative to its economic base. The 1951 convention enables UN agencies and foreign governments to help defray unfair criticism and to determine the status of refugees and assist in repatriation and settlement. As of now, with increased asylum-seeker arrivals, Thailand should take more responsibility for determining the status of refugees.


-- The Nation 2014-05-12

[NongKhaiKid]

I thought LoS was the HUB for everything not a haven ?

Does this mean we will now be bombarded with ' Haven ' headlines ?

[EricBerg]

Corruption is a many splendored thing. The government isn't exactly a role model for lower authorities. It's grab as much as you can.

Thailand desperately needs a fresh new start. Perhaps a new anti-corruption agency can be formed. Give a few undisputed clean people a budget and a free hand in how to proceed in collecting complaints from the communities and names from the bad people. If the new lawmakers can adjust the present not working anti-corruption laws. There can be follow-up. And make the finances of such an institution transparent. It's more or less how at one time the FBI started.

But first the country needs a working government.

[chainarong]

The majority of their beloved ASEAN countries excel in this type of business , Thailand is just one , however this rudderless country has bigger problems to sort out this week,so I suggest that the press concentrate on that issue, achieve one thing at a time..

[noitom]

headline should have been "Thailand Is" rather than Thailand As. However, it is a surprisingly good effort on the part of this Thai writer.

[wandasloan]

Corruption is a many splendored thing. The government isn't exactly a role model for lower authorities. It's grab as much as you can.

Thailand desperately needs a fresh new start. Perhaps a new anti-corruption agency can be formed. Give a few undisputed clean people a budget and a free hand in how to proceed in collecting complaints from the communities and names from the bad people. If the new lawmakers can adjust the present not working anti-corruption laws. There can be follow-up. And make the finances of such an institution transparent. It's more or less how at one time the FBI started.

But first the country needs a working government.

Why not just advertise for a man on a white steed?

I think you mean that the country needs something like an Anti-Money Laundering Organisation, a 7th Division Anti-Narcotics Division, a National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and a woman prime minister fresh out of a well-known, publicly listed company with absolutely no background in politics.

I think you mean Thailand needs what it's already had (and still largely has, the political leader aside). Why didn't we all think of that?

Amlo among many agencies does just as you say. The NACC among several such organisations is tainted only because of its one-sided investigations, not because of dishonesty or internal corruption. There are numerous police divisions that make Eliot Ness look very touchable. Yingluck personally was as non-corrupt as it's possible to be.

Your call to do the same thing all over again is, indeed desperate. One man (or woman) isn't going to solve all problems, as the king of Thailand says over and over again. You simply cannot find a better person, a more unifying leader, a better example than the king, who is at the top of the state. Not only is he proof that the man-on-the-white-horse is hooey, he has said so for more than 50 years, that the whole nation has to be involved in whatever is the goal, or it will fail.

The PROBLEM with Thailand is the faith in the man on the white horse. Most of those people behind the ridiculous Suthep these days voted for Thaksin in 2001 because he was going to save the country. Almost all of their rage is simply buyer's remorse.

.

[Thaiisnotrequired]

Which Turkey's embassy, again?

[ChrisY1]

"Last year alone a total of 483 persons were prosecuted out of 386 trafficking cases,"

If this many people were prosecuted in one year.....I've never seen a report of these cases, and how did they manage to have trials for all these people, when the courts are backlogged up to 2-3 years!

IMO suspicious figures indeed.

[allan michaud]

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Corruption is a many splendored thing. The government isn't exactly a role model for lower authorities. It's grab as much as you can.

Thailand desperately needs a fresh new start. Perhaps a new anti-corruption agency can be formed. Give a few undisputed clean people a budget and a free hand in how to proceed in collecting complaints from the communities and names from the bad people. If the new lawmakers can adjust the present not working anti-corruption laws. There can be follow-up. And make the finances of such an institution transparent. It's more or less how at one time the FBI started.

But first the country needs a working government.

Sad to say the chances of that happening in the next century are both slim and fat.

[Chang_paarp]

I thought LoS was the HUB for everything not a haven ?

Does this mean we will now be bombarded with ' Haven ' headlines ?

Yes we must applaud the author for not using the "hub" word and coming up with a more appropriate word.

Otherwise it was a well written piece with a number of very valid points that need to be addressed, as it is highlighting some things that the Thai authorities would prefer just fade away.

[mijan24]

Which Turkey's embassy, again?

Take your pick although they did mention China - no wonder as they described the people as Turkic looking but undocumented.

Raised the thought what is Turkic looking? The reult from Google says they could be from quite a few places:

The Turkic peoples are a collection of ethnic groups that live in northern, eastern, central, and western Asia, northwestern China, and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family.[10] They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds. The term Turkic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of peoples including existing societies such as the Turkish people, Azerbaijanis, Chuvashes, Kazakhs, Tatars, Kyrgyz, Turkmens, Uyghurs, Uzbeks, Bashkirs, Qashqai, Gagauz, Yakuts, Crimean Karaites, Krymchaks, Karakalpaks, Karachays, Balkars, Nogais and as well as past civilizations such as Göktürks, Kumans, Kipchaks, Avars, Bulgars, Turgeshes, Khazars, Seljuk Turks, Ottoman Turks, Mamluks, Timurids, Khiljis, and possibly Karasuk culture, Huns and the Xiongnu.

Geez certainly opens ones eyes with articles such as this doesn't it.

[wandasloan]

"Last year alone a total of 483 persons were prosecuted out of 386 trafficking cases,"

If this many people were prosecuted in one year.....I've never seen a report of these cases, and how did they manage to have trials for all these people, when the courts are backlogged up to 2-3 years!

IMO suspicious figures indeed.

While I would never recommend you see it from the wrong end, drop by the Criminal Court in your area some day — or the nearest one where either "refugees" or foreign overstayers are common — and go to the room processing immigration cases. Then you will revise the last line of your post.

Justice is very much like a sausage factory, and not just in Thailand.

.

[bigbamboo]

Regional haven?

I prefer hub.

[ggt]

Thars money to be made in them thar illegals...to hell with the law...lets make us some mo money...

[razer]

"militants from its western region of Xinjiang?, who are holed up in a lawless tribal belt, home to a lethal mix of militant groups, including the Taliban and al Qaeda." http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/14/us-pakistan-uighurs-idUSBREA2D0PF20140314

Thailand should be on guard. Malaysia harbors radical Islamist and now they are trying to infiltrate from China?

[uptheos]

Haven has a sort of innocent Fred Astaire tone about it.

Haven.....I'm in haven