Thailand's upgrade is premature: rights groups

They are the Washington-based International Labour Rights Forum and Southeast Asia-based Fortify Rights.  

Thailand was removed from the lowest ranking in the annual TIP Report. Last year, it was designated as Tier 3 for its failure to take adequate measures to combat human trafficking. It was upgraded one ranking to the Tier 2 Watch List in the 2016 report.

In a statement from the International Labour Rights Forum, a letter signed by human rights-oriented organisations was sent to US Secretary of State John Kerry, saying the move would “undermine international efforts to significantly and permanently improve working conditions among migrant workers in Thailand."

“We are very disappointed at this decision, which does not, in our view, accurately assess the situation on the ground,” said Judy Gearhart, executive director of the International Labour Rights Forum, one of the organisations that signed the letter. “Migrant workers are still one of the most vulnerable groups in the country to human trafficking, and Thailand has not shown any indication that it intends to allow migrant workers greater access to fundamental rights that would protect them from exploitation.”

The organisations' concerns involve mainly illegal workers in the seafood industry. Thailand was alleged of failing to make any progress on one of the most critical drivers of human trafficking: an informal and exploitative network of labour brokers who funnel migrant workers from neighboring countries into low-paying jobs and lock them into debt with high fees.

In the report, Malaysia was kept at Tier 2 Watch List and Myanmar was downgraded to the lowest status. 

Fortify Rights said the report objectively downgraded Myanmar but failed to accurately assess Thailand and Malaysia’s efforts to combat human trafficking.

“Myanmar’s downgrade is overdue. The military has long been one of Southeast Asia’s worst perpetrators of human trafficking,” said Matthew Smith, chief executive officer at Fortify Rights. “The military is an unreformed institution, continues to use forced labor with impunity, and needs to do more to end the practice.”

To this day, Thailand maintains a “help on” or “push back” policy with regard to refugees arriving by boat, Fortify Rights said. Thailand also continues to indefinitely detain Rohingya refugees and survivors of trafficking in inhumane conditions in poorly equipped detention facilities as well as government-run shelters.