Govt moves to tackle human trafficking
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Fishing boat GPS part of measures to lift rating next year; US 'too judgemental'
The government has taken measures to improve Thailand’s rating in the United States’ Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report for next year, officials said yesterday.
Thailand was ranked the lowest at Tier 3 in the TIP report released this year, which means the Kingdom does little to nothing to protect people from being trafficked or in prosecuting traffickers. The report is the US government’s key diplomatic tool to engage foreign governments on the issue of human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
Focusing on possible abuse of migrant workers on trawlers, new measures just introduced, include equipping trawlers with more than eight workers with a GPS system, Varaporn Prompoth, an expert at the Department of Fishery, said.
“If the trawler leaves [the port] with 10 workers and returns with eight, then they will have to explain what happened to the other two. Were they thrown overboard or tortured?” Varaporn told the 13th National Symposium of Justice Administration at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.
However, he acknowledged that Thailand could do little to ensure workers’ safety in international waters.
Other measures include holding a hearing about human-trafficking problems at 22 coastal provinces with shrimp-processing plants, as well as running roadshows in the US and France to show that Thailand is taking the problems of human trafficking and labour exploitation seriously.
Witchu Vejjajiva, director of the North America Division at the Foreign Ministry, commented that the US tends to be too sweeping in its judgement on human trafficking in the Kingdom.
He said the Foreign Ministry was trying hard to convince the US State Department that the situation in Thailand is not as bad as it appears.
He noted that Thailand had increased the punishment for human traffickers and offered compensation to victims in a bid to improve the situation.
He acknowledged, however, that the US looked into many other areas, such as whether the hotline for trafficked persons had interpreters and if people rescued were offered adequate shelter and an opportunity to earn a living. Other areas that need improvement include boosting public awareness about the human-trafficking problem.
While the situation has improved since the TIP report was released earlier this year and many markets have now resumed buying Thai fishery products, Witchu urged vigilance and said negative foreign reports worsen the situation.
Pol General Chatchawan Suksomchit, permanent secretary of the Justice Ministry, admitted yesterday that Thailand still had a lot to do, adding that the Kingdom is an independent country.
“Though the situation [of human trafficking] exist, we’re not their colony,” he said, referring to the US.
