Human rights defenders are urging the government to amend the legal definition of exploitation and stop prosecuting whistleblowers to solve problems outlined in the US Trafficking in Persons report.
Published: 2/08/2015 at 06:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
Human rights defenders are urging the government to amend the legal definition of exploitation and stop prosecuting whistleblowers to solve problems outlined in the US Trafficking in Persons report.
The TIP report — which again ranked Thailand as one of the worst offenders on Tier 3 — recognised efforts to thwart trafficking over the past year but criticised the inefficiency of the official response.
The Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) is now warning widespread confusion about how to implement the 2008 Anti-Human Trafficking Act is partly to blame for the poor response.
The foundation said the legislation is “rooted in ambiguity” in how it defines exploitation, elements of human trafficking and law enforcement, making it impossible to bring perpetrators to justice.
“While efforts are being made by the Thai state to tackle human trafficking, there have been reports of Thai officers accepting bribes from human trafficking rings,” the HRDF said.
The victim screening process is also fraught with practical challenges, the Thai NGO said, while the definition of exploitation must be amended to reflect the Palermo Protocol to protect victims, under the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime.
If the UN definition were adopted, that would grant law enforcement officers greater discretion during operations, the HRDF said.
The 2008 act seeks to protect whistleblowers, but the Royal Thai Navy is still pursuing a libel case against Phuketwan journalists Alan Morrison and Chutima Sidasathian.
The navy claims the journalists defamed it by republishing part of a Reuters article which claimed government officials were complicit in trafficking Rohingya migrants.
Abby McGill, campaigns director for the International Labour Rights Forum, said work to suppress trafficking over the past year had been “largely cosmetic”. She also condemned the use of criminal defamation charges to suppress journalists and rights defenders.
“We hope [the Tier 3 status] will underscore the urgent need to reform immigration and labour laws so they uphold the human rights of migrant workers, one of the most vulnerable populations to human trafficking,” Ms McGill said.
About the author
Writer: Achara Ashayagachat
Position: Senior Reporter
