Blame the coup for Thailand's Tier 3 rating woes

The coup might be a political instrument for him and other elite to seize power to run the country - but it is not the perfect solution to solve all of Thailand’s problems. On the contrary, it is a major part of the problem and an obstacle to many solutions.

Human trafficking has existed in Thailand for a long time, long before the United States Department of State created the TIP report 15 years ago. As long as people keep moving, it is not easy to eliminate human trafficking. Unless all states allow the free movement of people, human trafficking will exist. The stricter a border is controlled, the more there are traffickers to facilitate the border crossing.

Migration from immediate neighbouring countries and far away is the result of people wanting to seek better lives or refuge in Thailand. By law, they perhaps are not qualified to obtain any permission to arrive, live or work in Thailand. They are mostly undocumented. In many cases, they are stateless. The only way for them to enter Thailand is to buy trafficking services.

How can traffickers bring their customers into the Kingdom without the cooperation of border control and security officials? Of course, the boundary line is long and the ocean is huge - but officials are also many. Traffickers normally use the same methods and routes as ordinary travellers to arrive in the Kingdom. In many cases, as reported by media and social workers familiar with the issue, traffickers pay officials to pave the way. Military officers, even high ranking four-star generals, are involved, if not heading the trafficking syndicates.

The military coup d’etat, which Prayut staged in May last year to topple an elected civilian government, not only destroyed the rule of law but also provided a safe haven for corrupt security officials. The junta empowered soldiers to control everything beyond examination.

Two Phuket-based journalists were sued for defamation by the Navy for reporting the involvement of naval officials in human trafficking in 2013. The Navy and the junta never listened to many appeals to drop the case against the two journalists. Prayut himself demanded a television journalist to report herself to security officials after a scoop on forced labour in Thai fishery trawlers.

Prayut gets furious every time he is asked by reporters about the involvement of military officers in human trafficking. The TIP report took note of these issues and cited that such action undermined efforts to combat human trafficking.

The report called again this year for the military government to “cease prosecuting criminal defamation cases against researchers or journalists who report on human trafficking”.

The decision to prosecute a senior military officer in connection with trafficking in the Rohingya case was too late as the US had already closed the consideration of information after March 2015. The reasons for the slow move remain unknown - but they left out for next year’s report what Prayut’s administration had done and therefore Thailand remains in Tier 3 for another year.

Analysts and some government officials believe that the relations between Thailand and US, which became sour after the May 22 coup, influenced the TIP report. 

The Foreign Ministry might be able to maintain communication with the US State Department but the signal is very poor and Washington is not in the mood, at least for now, to clear it.