FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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US trafficking report: When doing the right thing just ain't enough

US trafficking report: When doing the right thing just ain't enough

We are very surprised by this year's report, which seems to be making blatantly political decisions that we consider will have a really detrimental impact on both the integrity of the report and progress in the global fight to end modern slavery."

No, this response to the US State Department’s 2015 Report on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) did not come from the government of Thailand. It came from Melysa Sperber, director of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking.
“I would say that this year had the biggest cases where politics seem to have gotten involved,” commented David Abramowitz, vice president for Policy and Government Relations at Humanity United. “Here are some cases where there are really serious and significant concerns that the Department seems to be ignoring in order to pursue other interests.” 
“Disappointed,” chimed in Democrat Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey. “The Administration turned a blind eye to the facts.”
In Bangkok, Premier Prayut Chan-o-cha offered a dignified response to a TIP ranking that puts Thailand in the same league as North Korea, Libya, Syria, Russia, Algeria and other 18 backwater countries.
“It’s their report, not ours,” he said, “They can do whatever they want. We, for our part, will continue to do our very best in combating human trafficking. Some facets of the problem can be rectified quickly, some not.”
Deputy Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai echoed those words:
“Regardless of the view of the US, Thailand will continue to fight human trafficking. It’s not doing what the US wants, it is doing the right thing.”
To be fair, the current government, in its short time in office, has done more than all its predecessors combined to combat this crime against humanity. For the first time, high-ranking and influential government officials have been arrested for aiding and abetting the traffickers. The war on human trafficking has been made a national priority. Existing laws have finally been enforced, resulting in a spike on prosecutions. New laws have been promulgated to tighten the noose on traffickers. A registration process for migrant workers is finally in place, so that the 1.6 million foreign labourers are now legally entitled to the same protection as Thai workers. The government has enacted and enforced regulatory measures in the fishing industry to close loopholes for human trafficking. It has sought cooperation with neighbouring countries, both bilaterally and regionally, to arrive at concerted and effective measures and action plans for human rights protection.
Still, the US State Department insisted that Thailand had not “fully complied” with the minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s, and was not making significant efforts to do so. 
Meanwhile, Washington quite expediently upgraded certain countries with blatant human trafficking problems, making them eligible to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which the US is championing as the new framework for trade across the Pacific. The reason for the push can be found in a remark President Obama made to Congress when he underscored that if the US is not the one writing the rules, “China will”.
An epiphany, isn’t it?
The TIP Report is not unlike its obnoxious older brother, the “Section 301” trade sanctions: On paper it sounds right and fair, but in practice it is being used for the self-serving political purposes of the US administration. These sanctimonious rules, written by the US, have had their legitimacy and credibility crushed by the Master of the Universe itself after it realised that they do not serve its other international interests.
Thailand has fallen out of favour with Washington ever since the military coup last year. The singular focus of the US and the West was on elections, which they blindly equate with democracy. They ignored the facts and the dreadful national state of affairs that led up to the events of May 22. We were indisputably on the brink of becoming a “failed state”.
Punch drunk amid an onslaught of political and economic challenges, Thailand did not join the TPP talks. Spurned by the West, we ran straight into the arms of China. The Eagle and the Elephant have downgraded their ties from “estranged” to “divorced”. The new Silk Route is now our road to who-knows-where.
The US has forgotten that right after 9/11, tanks rolled onto the streets of upscale Georgetown in Washington while naval ships patrolled the Potomac River, ordered to shoot on sight any suspicious craft. The security threat was dire for the US, and the government did what it had to do to maintain public safety and peace. In Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1993, the US sent Black Hawk helicopters to hunt down notorious terrorist suspects. So, it seems disproportionate – even a case of double standards – for Washington to harshly condemn a military takeover in Thailand that produced precisely no casualties, and to continue to chastise and penalise the country with every tool at its disposal.
While Washington placed Thailand on the lowest rung of the human-trafficking ladder, the Global Slavery Index 2013 called the US – a self-appointed Tier 1 member – a major destination country for internationally trafficked individuals. In this report on 162 countries, the US was ranked 134th for the prevalence of slavery, with 60,000 people enslaved. 
Should those in Washington ever want a more accurate reflection of their behaviour towards Thailand, we would like to recommend Peter Schweizer’s 2005 book, “Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy”.
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