The Royal Thai Government has intensified its efforts to combat human trafficking and the proliferation of scam centers. However, the latest American report on human trafficking highlights the challenges faced by Thai authorities in completely eliminating this phenomenon.
- Thailand remains on Tier 2 in the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report, showing improvement in investigations and prosecutions but still falling short of fully meeting the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking.
- Positive steps included an increase in trafficking investigations and prosecutions, as well as the identification and referral of more victims to support services.
- The report highlighted ongoing challenges, such as the need to better identify and protect trafficking victims exploited by online scam operations, address corruption and official complicity, and ensure consistent and quality services for victims across the country.
The 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report by the United States maintains Thailand’s Tier 2 status for the third year, noting improvements in investigations and prosecutions. Positive steps include increased trafficking investigations, prosecution, and victim identification, but criticism remains for the treatment of trafficking victims exploited by online scams.
The report recommends proactive measures to address official complicity, improved victim protection, and stronger anti-trafficking efforts. Thai authorities aim to achieve Tier 1 status and emphasize the need to address the rise of the scam industry and online trafficking operations.
The report also states that Thailand, along with Vietnam and Malaysia, will continue to be on the Tier 2 watch list until they have fully met the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking.
While some countries, such as Singapore and the Philippines, manage to move up to level 1, those classified at level 3, such as Brunei, risk being subject to international sanctions such as restrictions on foreign aid or loans from multilateral development banks.
However, the results are not entirely discouraging for the Thai authorities either. The report underlines the considerable efforts made in the fight against trafficking, notably through the drastic increase in the number of investigations and prosecutions, as well as in victim identification and care.
These positive results had already been presented in the Royal Thai Government’s Country Report on Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts for 2023, which highlighted key measures taken during the year, including “a nationwide implementation of National Referral Mechanism (NRM) that is more agile, integrated and victim-centered, vigorous prosecution of human trafficking crimes, even involving complicit officials, as well as the provision of comprehensive assistance and protection to victims”.
Thailand’s Three Ps policy (prosecution, protection and prevention)
Thailand’s Three Ps policy (prosecution, protection and prevention) has enabled agencies to collaborate more closely, ensuring a better response to trafficking. But as the government itself says, these results would not have been possible without the intervention of bilateral and even multilateral policies with neighboring countries.
The Thai authorities, for example, have cooperated closely with Myanmar on the prosecution of illegal employment. No fewer than 525 Thais have been repatriated in the space of a year, victims of this traffic. In terms of protection and prevention, Thailand has received support from foreign organizations such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), as well as from international coalitions such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The report issued by the Thai authorities also took stock of the failures in the efforts to prevent human trafficking and had even included in its future action plan the recommendations made by the recent American report. Among the recommendations are measures to penalize officials accused of complicity in human trafficking.
The American report recommends heavy prison sentences, by way of example. Finally, the rest of the efforts must focus on the victims and their care. Rather than unjustly penalizing them for illegal acts committed as a direct consequence of trafficking, authorities are advised to take their well-being into account by providing treatment and care adapted to the trauma they have experienced.
If Thailand continues in this line and puts more emphasis on the recommendations made, it will be on track to achieve Tier 1 status next year, as Varawut Silpa-archa, the Minister of Social Development and Human Security, hopes. The long-term objective is, of course, to be removed from the list of countries affected by human trafficking.
