2007 Trafficking in Persons Report - Center for Women Policy Studies

districts enabled 8,335 children, approximately 70
percent of whom were removed from child labor, to
enroll in school.
THAILAND (Tier 2)
Thailand is a source, transit, and destination country
for men, women, and children trafficked for the
purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor.
Regional economic disparities drive significant
illegal migration into Thailand, presenting traffickers
with opportunities to force, coerce or defraud
these undocumented migrants into labor or sexual
exploitation. Women and children are trafficked
from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, People’s Republic of
China (P.R.C.), Russia, and Uzbekistan for commercial
sexual exploitation in Thailand. A number
of women and girls from Burma, Cambodia, and
Vietnam transit through Thailand’s southern border
to Malaysia for sexual exploitation primarily in
Johor Bahru, across from Singapore. Thai and hill
tribe women and girls are trafficked internally and
to Japan, Malaysia, South Africa, Bahrain, Australia,
Singapore, Europe, Canada, and the United States
for sexual exploitation. The denial of Thai residency
to ethnic minority women and girls who reside
in Thailand’s northern hills makes them more
susceptible to trafficking and delays repatriation
due to lack of citizenship. Widespread sex tourism
in Thailand encourages trafficking for sexual
exploitation.
Following voluntary migration to Thailand, men,
women, and children, primarily from Burma, are
trafficked into involuntary servitude in agricultural
work, factories, construction, commercial fisheries,
domestic work, and begging. Thai laborers working
abroad in Taiwan, Malaysia, the United States, and
the Middle East often pay excessive recruitment fees
prior to departure, which may facilitate debt bondage
— a form of trafficking. Children from Burma,
Laos, and Cambodia are trafficked to Thailand for
begging and exploitative labor, including fishing
and fish processing. A report published in late 2006
by the ILO and a government university found that
significant percentages of undocumented migrant
workers, including children, in four key sectors of
the Thai economy (fishing, construction, commercial
agriculture and domestic service) are victims
of involuntary servitude at the hands of Thai
employers.
The Government of Thailand does not fully comply
with the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking; however it is making significant efforts
to do so. The government sustained impressive
efforts to address trafficking for sexual exploitation
but did not improve substantially in responding to
incidents of labor trafficking. In September 2006, the
Thai police raided a shrimp-processing factory and
rescued 800 Burmese men, women, and children,
many of whom were subjected to conditions of
involuntary servitude, physical and psychological
abuse, and confinement inside the premises through
the use of barbed wire fences and document confiscation.
Thai authorities classified 66 of the females as
trafficking victims and provided them with appropriate
shelter and psycho-social counseling services.
However, an undisclosed number of the males were
removed by police and deported to Burma without
being interviewed to determine if they were victims
of involuntary servitude. Five months later, all three
factory owners were arrested and face criminal charges
in addition to a civil suit and regulatory fines. The
factory, which has in one past case exported shrimp
to the United States, remains in operation. Current
anti-trafficking legislation in Thailand only applies to
trafficking resulting in sexual exploitation and fails to
criminalize bonded labor or trafficking perpetuated
against men. Thailand has drafted comprehensive
anti-trafficking legislation that criminalizes all forms
of trafficking and provides protection to men. It
should pass and enact that legislation at the earliest
opportunity. Thailand should show greater will to
prosecute and convict exploitative employers and
labor traffickers.
Prosecution
The Royal Thai Government demonstrated clear
progress in its law enforcement efforts to combat
sex trafficking and collaborate with civil society to
investigate cases; however, the government has not
yet demonstrated progress in law enforcement efforts
to combat labor trafficking. Thailand criminally
prohibits trafficking for sexual exploitation through
its 1997 Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in
Women and Children Act, which prescribes penalties
that are sufficiently stringent and that are commensurate
with penalties prescribed for rape. Trafficking
for labor exploitation is not criminally prohibited
and penalties prescribed for forced labor violations
tend to be administrative rather than criminal and,
therefore, are not sufficiently stringent. A draft law
was finalized during 2006 that will allow for prosecution
of all forms of trafficking and provides greater
protection, care, and compensation for victims; it
awaits passage by the legislature. Government law
enforcement resources are generally inadequate to
cope with the magnitude of trafficking. Political
uncertainty since the September 2006 military coup
T H A I L A N D
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