Human Trafficking: A Challenge ofThailand and the World Community
By Wanchai Roujanavong

1

I. Introduction
Human trafficking or trafficking in persons (TIP) is a heinous and widespread crime
occurring around the world in nearly every society. It is considered to be a form of modern
day slavery that causes suffering to victims who have been treated as badly as slaves in thepast. The majority of human trafficking crimes are transnational and most of them involve,
are operated or are controlled by organized criminal groups. 2 This crime generates such ahuge amount of money for the traffickers that it is ranked second after drug related crimes.
The complexity, international characteristics, and human aspects involved in humantrafficking plus the lack of efficient laws, the lack of understanding of this crime by law
enforcement officers, the powerful influence of organized criminals and the weakinternational cooperation among relevant countries make human trafficking a very low risk
but very high profit crime.

Trafficking in persons poses one of the biggest challenges to the world community offinding efficient and practical solutions to fight this serious crime against humanity. This
paper will endeavour to highlight this crime, its modus operandi and solutions being used andthat should be used to fight this crime in order to help the victims of human trafficking frombeing forced, assaulted, exploited, tortured or even killed by the traffickers or exploiters. The
paper will also demonstrate the need for modern legislation, strong political will and high1

Wanchai Roujanavong is Director General of the International Affairs Department, Office of the Attorney General of Thailand
In accordance with the UN’s definition of organized criminal group provided in the UN Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime or the Palermo Convention2

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determination of law enforcement officers to fight this crime, the need to have sufficientmeasures and incentives to persuade the victims to cooperate with law enforcement officers,
and the need to enhance international cooperation in order to make the suppression of TIP an
attainable goal.

All the above mentioned challenges are very serious challenges that countries aroundthe world have encountered, so countries must work together to abolish this crime in the samemanner used to suppress and abolish slavery in history. The author strongly believe that if
we were able to work together to eradicate the slave trade and slavery in the past, the global
community can likewise work together again to put an end to human trafficking. It is ourduty to take part in this battle to eliminate this crime against humanity for the betterment of
the global community.

II. Definition and Types of TIP

A. Definition of TIP
Human trafficking has been defined in the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress andPunish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children as:(a) ‘Trafficking in persons’ shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer,harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or otherforms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or
the position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits
to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the
purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation2

(b) The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set
forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of themeans set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used;(c) The recruitment, transportation, transfer, habouring or receipt of a child for the
purpose of exploitation shall be considered ‘trafficking in persons’ even if thisdoes not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article;(d) ‘Child’ shall mean any person under eighteen years of age. 3

This definition of human trafficking is a bit complicated, but it covers all the acts that
constitute TIP and is viewed as a fairly complete definition to identify trafficking in persons
in modern society. The importance of the definition is that 124 countries are States Parties tothis Protocol 4 and more countries are going to ratify the Protocol in the future. The Protocol
requires States Parties to incorporate the definition prescribed in the Protocol into their own
laws and to punish human trafficking in accordance with the definition of the Protocol. In
other words, the definition in the Protocol has become the universal definition of humantrafficking since countries around the world use the same or similar definition to combat
human trafficking. Having the same meaning for the same crime leads to the establishment
of offences of TIP with the same or similar elements, which benefits all parties dealing withthe crime and makes international cooperation in the fields of information sharing, prevention,
suppression, mutual legal assistance and extradition less complicated.

3
4

Article 3 of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Person, especially Women and Children.
Status as at 26/09/2008 as published in the UNODC website.

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Many countries have enacted or amended their domestic laws based on the Protocolso that their laws do not only cover the definition of TIP but also other obligations prescribedin the Protocol. Thailand has also enacted a new legislation based on the Protocol. However,instead of incorporating the definition into the law, it used the definition to create offences ofTIP, enabling Thailand to comply with all the compulsory obligations in the Protocol. The
new law is called “the Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking Act of 2008” (theAnti-Human Trafficking Act). This new Act creates offences in accordance with the Protocol
and the main focuses of the Act are on the protection of and the giving of assistance tovictims while prescribing severe penalty for traffickers and those who take part in trafficking.
The Act provides many measures to fight human trafficking in various forms.

B. Types of TIP in Thailand
Trafficking in persons in Thailand can take various forms. There are 3 main types oftrafficking in persons in Thailand, namely for exploitation through the prostitution of others
or other forms of sexual exploitation, for forced labour or services and slavery or practices
similar to slavery, and for exploitation through begging.

1. TIP for Sexual Exploitation
In Thailand, trafficking for sexual exploitation in the form of prostitution or in otherforms is the most prevalent form of trafficking. This phenomenon does not only happen in
Thailand but in the rest of the world as well. According to the UNODC’s “Global Report on
Trafficking in Persons”, the most common form of human trafficking (79%) is sexual
exploitation. The victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls. The
second most common form of human trafficking is forced labour (18%), although this may be4

a misrepresentation because forced labour is less frequently detected and reported thantrafficking for sexual exploitation.5

Prostitution has been dubbed “the world’s oldest profession”, employing voluntary
and trafficked sex workers. The differences between voluntary prostitution and exploitationof prostitution of others are that voluntary prostitutes consent to sex work for money, while
trafficked victims are forced, coerced, or under undue influence into prostitution. If one
visits a place for prostitution, such as a brothel, one might assume that the prostitutes there
are voluntary prostitutes. However, many methods are used to force and control unwilling
prostitutes so that they cannot refuse providing sexual services to customers and appear
voluntary.

One method of control commonly used by traffickers is claiming an excessive amountof debt from the victims, which is known as “debt bondage”. Many victims are deceived
with the promise of a decent and well-paying job in a foreign country, such as in a factory ora restaurant, but end up being sold to brothel owners and forced to work as prostitutes underdebt bondage. Such victims are often forced to pay back at least twice the amount of moneythat the brothel owners paid to buy them from the traffickers.

Some women go abroad having been informed correctly that they will work in thecommercial sex business. Such initially voluntary prostitutes believe that they will work withfreedom of movement and receive fair share of earnings from the sexual services they
provide. Some pay for their own travel costs, but often traffickers pay for all the travel costs
and expect the debt to be paid back by these women. What these women are not told is that

5

UNODC’s “Global Report on Trafficking in Persons” published in February 2009, pp 50.

5they will be in heavy debt bondage, kept in detention with no freedom of movement, andreceive no payment until all their debt paid off through their services.

These victims

normally come from poor families in rural areas with low education and are easily deceived.
These vulnerable women had originally looked forward to having a well-paid job and werewilling to take a risk in an unknown land, but instead became victims of human trafficking.

Another method of control is by placing the victim in a helpless situation. Once theyreached the destination in a foreign country, the victims tend to be very vulnerable and totallydependent on the traffickers or the exploiters.

They are unfamiliar with the area, thelanguage, the culture and the legal system in that country. Their passports and money are
confiscated by the exploiters, and the victims are detained in brothels under the control ofpimps or mama-sans. Moreover, they are told that without a passport they are consideredillegal immigrants and would be arrested by the police if they ask them for help. Under these
conditions, the victims are trapped and discouraged from escaping.

A small proportion of victims of human trafficking are subject to other forms ofsexual exploitation beside prostitution. For example, some girls are sold off to marry withaging men for a period of time (six months to one year or more) for a considerable sum ofmoney. These sexual exploiters pay money to the parents, the traffickers, in the pretext ofdowry. In actual fact, these girls are sent off to become sex slaves of those aging men.

Due to the complex situations described above, law enforcement officers havedifficulty in distinguishing between voluntary prostitution and forced prostitution. Even
though voluntary prostitution and human trafficking are illegal under the laws of mostcountries, the severity of punishment for each differs. Prostitution is considered to be an

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immoral offence and a public nuisance that has existed in society since ancient times.
Voluntary prostitution is normally tolerated by law enforcement officers in most countries
due to it being a petty offence and/or because of corruption. On the contrary, humantrafficking is a very serious crime against humanity and carries severe penalty.

Identifying who is a voluntary prostitute and who is a victim of trafficking is not aneasy task. Thus, law enforcement officers need intensive training to look for the traits of theuse of force, deception, coercion, detention, undue influence or any other means that compel
women to work as prostitutes. If any of such means have been used, then the women are
victims of human trafficking and not voluntary prostitutes and the traffickers and their
exploiters must be arrested and charged with the offences of trafficking in persons.

2. TIP in the Forms of Forced Labour and Slavery
The victims of trafficking in the category of forced labour or services and slavery orpractices similar to slaery are often considered as illegal economic migrants. There are morethan two million illegal migrants in Thailand. A few of illegal economic migrants becomesvictims of human trafficking. Most of these victims are men and women living in rural areas
in poverty and look forward to finding a well-paying job in an urban area or in a foreigncountry. The majority of them have low education and no skills required by high-standard
jobs. When the traffickers offer them a well-paying job in other countries, providing false
information about the income and/or conditions of work, the victims ignorantly accept and do
whatever the traffickers tell them.

When they cross the border, some victims are sent to factories with high walls andlocked gates and some are sent to farms. The factory or farm owners who paid the traffickers

7to smuggle them then deduct the amount paid from the salary earned by the workers. These
factories or farms are often unhygienic and requires hard labour that very few local people
would accept. During the initial stage the workers are prohibited from leaving the workplaceand in some cases are detained within the factories or farms until the amount paid to thetraffickers is fully deducted. Even after this repayment, the workers receive less than theminimum wage set forth in the labour laws and regulations. These illegal immigrants end up
underpaid and work long hours with deficient sanitation and indecent living condition.

Besides factories or farms, the massive fishing industry in Thailand employs a lot of
foreign migrants (both legal and illegal migrants) as part of the ships’ crews. It is an honest
business like other industries and most of them are good employers who hire migrants withgood pay and fair work conditions. However, few greedy owners of fishing trawlers exploit
illegal migrants. The victims of this form of trafficking comprise quite a small minority ofthe several hundred thousand of foreign workers who worked willingly in the fishing industry.
Additionally, they are considered to be illegal economic migrants not victims, until the facts
concerning the exploitation were revealed to the authorities.

Another form of forced labour is domestic servitude. Many domestic servants arebrought by the traffickers from their countries of origin to the countries of destination anddelivered to the masters for a price. The majority of domestic workers receive fair treatment
and pay. However, some domestic workers become victims of trafficking when they are
exploited by their masters using violence, sexual assault or sexual harassment, or others
illegal means. In some cases, the workers are not allowed to go out of the house or are
violently abused, while receiving low wages for their work.

8In a case of trafficking for domestic servitude with violent exploitation, a 14 years oldgirl was hired from a remote rural area in Thailand to work as a domestic worker in the houseof the defendant. The victim was forced to do house work from 4.30 a.m. until midnight
everyday without adequate rest, food or wages. The victim was not allowed to leave thehouse. In various occasions, the female exploiter used violence against the victim by beating
her on the head, back and knees with a wooden stool, stabbing her chest with an iron rod, andother means of violence which inflicted serious wounds, bruises and some severe bleeding on
the victim. This exploiter was arrested and prosecuted. The exploiter was convicted with 9
years and 42 months of imprisonment and was ordered to pay compensation of 200,000 Baht
(approximately US $6,330) to the victim. The verdict was affirmed by the Appeal Court. 6

3. TIP in the Form of Forced Begging
The begging business in Thailand generates good income for beggars. According tomany studies and surveys conducted by the Ministry of Social Development and Human
Security (MSDHS), media and NGOs, it has been found that begging earns on average US$1,000-2,000 per month, which is over two to four times the salary that the average recent
Thai university graduate makes. Many beggars live a normal life off the street. When they
go to work as beggars, they don ragged clothes, changing their appearances to appeal to thesympathetic nature of the passersby. Because of the good income of this business, traffickers
take advantage of the opportunity to earn easy money by bringing infants, children, aged
persons or lame persons from neighbouring countries to work as beggars. Forced begging,
however, is one of the most visible forms of human trafficking.

6

The information of this case was from the verdict of the Appeal Court in the Criminal Case No. 12213/2552, Public Prosecutor v.
Wipaporn Songmeesap

94. TIP for the Removal of Organs
In accordance with the definition set forth in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress andPunish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, removal of organs is one
form of human trafficking to collect human body parts. It is an expansive undergroundbusiness in line with the progress of medical knowledge.

The transplantation of

malfunctioning organs, such as livers and kidneys, is a normal medical procedure used tohelp human beings live longer. However, the buying and selling of such organs are illegal inmost countries. The only legal means of getting a new organ to replace the old ineffective
one is through donation, but the demand is overwhelmingly higher than the supply.

For the rich who do not want to be part of the a growing waiting list and wait year
after year with little hope of getting a suitable donated match, the only means to get theorgans is to buy from an illegal market through illegal clinics or hospitals willing to perform
such illegal operations for money. Orders are sent to traffickers (in developing countries) to
procure the organs with the necessary qualities. The traffickers will kidnap young persons
and take them to illegal clinics for removal of the ordered organs. The traffickers then
immediately deliver the collected organs to the clinics or hospitals that will perform
transplants for the rich. Such sale of human organs taken from a living person in suchmanner is classified as an offence of TIP in the law of all States Parties to the Trafficking
Protocol. Nevertheless, the crime of organ theft from living person is not widespread because
the alternatives of stealing and illegally buying human organs from the deceased are alreadyquite big businesses around the world. 7 However, there is no report of human trafficking forthe removal of organs in Thailand.

7

See editinternational.com/read.php?id=47ddb by Ron Laytner Copyright 2009 Edit International.

10III. Situation of Trafficking in Thailand
Countries can be classified by the problems of TIP that they encounter, i.e. as asending country or country of origin, as a receiving country or destination country, or as atransit country. Most countries have one status, few countries have two statuses and it is rare
to find countries with all three statuses. Thailand is one of the rare countries that is facedwith all three statuses of TIP.

A. As a Country of Origin
Many Thai women are trafficked to work overseas. In many previous cases
where Thai women were trafficked abroad, victims were told that they were in debt bondage
of approximately US $75,000 or more. Moreover, the victims had to pay interest and all the
expenses incurred during their time working at the brothel, e.g. food, clothes, cosmetics,
room, etc. All of these expenses would continuously be added to their debt and in turn theywould have to sleep with even more customers to get out of the increasing debt bondage. The
normal practice is that each prostitute has to render services to at least 500 customers in alimited period of time before she would receive her share from the services. If she cannot
service 500 customers in the set period of time, the number of minimum customers would beraised. If the victim refuses to work as a prostitute, she would be detained without food until
she yield to the demands of the procurer and mama san. In some cases the victim is assaulted
or raped until she gives in.

The main destinations for Thai victims of trafficking are Japan, Germany, the UnitedStates, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, etc. The most frequent destination ofThai victims is Japan. Each year, approximately 25,000 Thais overstay their tourist visas in

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Japan, and approximately 90% of them are females8 . These victims tend to be undereducated,
ignorant, and easily deceived. The following case example demonstrates how ignorant one
actual victim was. One woman was lured with a promise of well-paid job in a restaurant in“America” (the US). When she checked in at the airport, she noticed that the destination wasSouth Africa instead. Out of suspicion, she asked the trafficker why she was going to South
Africa, not America. She was told that South Africa had a common border with America, sothey had to fly to South Africa first and then take a bus to America. The victim believed
what she was told and ended up in a brothel in Johannesburg, South Africa. 9

Some of the victims are deceived to pay for their own travel and other expenses inadvance. One victim, who was told that she could work in a restaurant but was instead soldto be a prostitute in South Africa, mortgaged her father’s land for 40,000 Baht (approximately
US$ 1,300) to pay the trafficker. Upon arrival in South Africa, she was sold to a Thai mamasan and was forced to pay back the money the mama-san paid to the traffickers by sleepingwith 500 customers at the rate of 200 Rands (approximately US$25) per 45-minute session.
After being rescued from the brothel, she told that she was strictly under the control of themama-san the entire time and had no liberty to speak to others except her customers. She
used a mobile phone of one of her customers to call the Thai Embassy in Pretoria and was
rescued by the Thai Embassy and the special taskforce of the South African police. 10

The modus operandi of traffickers of thai women has grown more and more
complicated because traffickers have to counter more stringent prevention measures of thedestination countries, particularly stricter immigration control. The facts of one particular8

The information was from a confidential official report of a Japanese government agency of which the author was not allowed to reveal thename of the agency.
9
The information derived from statement given to an investigator by a victim in a trafficking case.
10
The information derived from live interview of a Thai girl and two other Thai victims by the author in Pretoria, South Africa in August
2011.

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case in which traffickers brought several Thai women to sell to brothels in Japan on several
occasions provide good examples to help us understand the strategies used by traffickers.

In this case the main trafficker opened a travel company with 4-5 staff. He andanother female trafficker advertised that they could arrange for women to work in karaokebars or restaurants in Japan and that the victims would receive high income. Many victims
believed their advertisement and fell prey to their lies. His staff arranged shelter, passports
and air tickets for the travelling of the victims. The main trafficker and another female
trafficker took turn trafficking victims to Japan several times. The traffickers knew that if
they took the victims directly to Japan, there was a high tendency that the Japaneseimmigration would not allow them to enter Japan and would deport them. The possibility ofentry came as a result of making all the victims look like genuine tourists by taking themround-trip from Malaysia to Singapore and then booking a flight from Malaysia to Europe via
Japan. They toured several countries in Europe (France, Germany, Switzerland etc.) and thenboarded the plane back to Malaysia via Japan. While they were waiting for transit in Japan,
the traffickers told the victims not to board the connecting plane. The plane took off withoutthem. Then they notified Japanese immigration officers that they had missed their connecting
flight and applied for a temporary permit to leave the airport to stay in a hotel while awaiting
the arrangement for the next flight. Once they received temporary visas, the trafficker soldthe victims to several brothels in Japan for a considerable amount of money and only the
trafficker returned to Thailand. The victims were detained in the brothels and told that they
had to work as prostitutes to pay back a debt of 5,000,000 Yens before they could be freed,
receive some share of the income, and return home. These two traffickers and their staff
were prosecuted in Bangkok Criminal Court. The main trafficker was convicted with 39
years imprisonment while the female trafficker was convicted with 28 years imprisonment.

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Their two staff were convicted with 6 years and 14 years imprisonment respectively. 11 The
Office of the Attorney General of Thailand sent a request to the Japanese authorities for the
extradition of one brothel owner in Japan of Taiwanese nationality for prosecution in
Thailand.

B. As a Destination Country
Although Thailand is a developing country, it is relatively more economicallyadvanced than some of its neighboring countries.

Thus, many illegal immigrants fromneighboring countries have entered into Thailand for better paid jobs than those in their homecountries. Another reason they come to Thailand is to escape from fighting within theircountry. It is estimated that more than 2,000,000 illegal immigrants are in Thailand working
in the construction sector, the fishing and seafood industries, factories, restaurants, and inhouses as domestic workers. The majority of these migrants workers are Burmese and otherethnic minority groups from Myanmar.

The methodologies used in smuggling illegal immigrants across the border into
Thailand, in some cases, are dangerous. In many instances, the victims are hidden in a
vehicle in order to avoid inspection by law enforcement officers at the border or along thetravel routes. Several victims have died of suffocation due to being packed in cramped
spaces, placed under heavy loads of goods, or put in an air-tight container with amalfunctioning air conditioner.

A considerable number of female illegal immigrants have been brought to work incommercial sex businesses, e.g. brothels, massage parlours, bars, and karaoke bars. Victims
11
The information of this case was from the testimonies of 11 victims in the verdict of the Criminal Court of Bangkok case number
1316/2552 (2009) Public Prosecutor v. Theerapong or Pa-Kack Khemthong et.al.

14are told by the exploiters that if they ask for assistance from the police, they will be arrested,
imprisoned and deported because they are illegal immigrants.

One interesting case of trafficking foreign women into Thailand for sexual
exploitation is the case of surrogate mothers who produced children for customers. In 2011,a Taiwanese gang was busted for using Bangkok as the base for committing this type ofcrime. They established an illegal company, rented two houses, and advertised their service
on a website. Their service was to produce a child for a couple or any persons who wanted achild but faced fertility difficulties. After the customers sent sperm or sperm and eggs to thisgang, the medical process of producing a baby began. To locate surrogate mothers, the gang
cooperated with traffickers in Vietnam to lure young women to Bangkok with a promise ofdecent and well-paying jobs.

Once the women had arrived in Bangkok, their travel

documents were confiscated, and they were told that there were no other jobs except assurrogate mothers for hire. The victims had no choice but to accept the offer. The victims
were taken to a private hospital to perform the medical process of artificial insemination or
the implantation of fertilized eggs into the victims’ uteruses. The victims carried the fetuses
until birth.

Throughout the duration of the pregnancy, they were locked up in the two rented
houses. In order to help them pass the pregnancy period comfortably, the exploiters provided
the surrogate mothers with computers with internet connection, one of which was used by avictim to contact the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok for help. The result was that all ofthese women were rescued by the MSDHS and the Thai police, and many traffickers werearrested.

Their networks in Vietnam were also arrested by the Vietnamese authorities

through cooperation between Thai and Vietnamese cooperation. The case is now awaiting15

trial in the Criminal Court of Bangkok. The victims have been brought to testify in Court
already 12 and have been repatriated back home with the children born from the surrogate
process. 13

Labour exploitation of illegal immigrants is another problem in Thailand. The Thaigovernment, for the purpose of regulating these illegal immigrants, allows them to register as
legal immigrants who can work legally for a fixed period of time. Up to November 2011,
1,248,064 14 from two millions illegal immigrants or around 60% came out to register. The
problem is that the illegal immigrants do not want to pay the 2,000 Baht (approximately US$70) fee for medical examination, health insurance and registration. Some employers also do
not want to pay this cost because the illegal immigrants might move to another factory assoon as they obtained the working permits.

The problem of forced labour stems from the fact that the owners of factories
employing illegal immigrants have to pay smugglers to smuggle these illegal immigrants into
Thailand. 15 The amount paid for smuggling is deducted from the salary of the immigrants.
Some illegal immigrants, after working for a couple of days, change their minds about
working and ran away. To prevent illegal immigrants from escaping, some factory owners
detain them in the factories until the smuggling debt is fully deducted. Upon complete
payment, the owners then allow them stay outside the factory and come to work during
working hours. Such detention against their will is considered to be exploitation constituting
a trafficking offence. The Ministry of Labour has been working hard to solve the problem of

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All the victims had been brought to give testimonies in the Criminal Court of Bangkok ahead of the trial in accordance with a special
measure in the Anti-Trafficking Act and the Criminal Procedure Code. The testimonies of all the victims are kept in deposition by the Court
and will be retrieved to be used in the trial of the case later on.
13
See Bangkok Post: http//202.172.225.42/news/local/223392/Taiwanese-arrested-over-surrogate-mums
14
The number is from the statistics, updated on 23 November 2011, of The Information and Planning Division, Department of Employment,
Ministry of Labour.
15
The cost of smuggling an illegal migrant from a neighbouring country into Thailand is approximately US $300 in 2011.

16

forced labour in factories, and the result so far is satisfactory. Several factory owners werearrested, prosecuted and convicted with severe penalty.

On September 16, Thai police and immigration authorities raided a shrimp processing
factory in Samut Sakhon based on the information provided by workers who had escapedfrom the factory. The factory was built with 16-foot high, barbed- wire capped walls and had
an internal closed-circuit television system. The authorities found 280 migrant workers
inside the compound living in unhygienic condition who had to work long hours. Afterinterviewing all the workers, 63 women and 3 men were identified as victims of trafficking
and were taken to shelter for protection. The factory owner and other two exploiters werearrested and prosecuted in the Criminal Court of Bangkok.

During the trial the three

exploiters made an agreement with the victims and paid 3.6 million Baht (approximately US$ 120,000) to the 66 victims for unpaid wages and compensation. All three offenders wereconvicted with 20 years imprisonment. 16

All the victims had received their wages andcompensation and had been reintegrated back to Myanmar with the cooperation between theThai and Myanmar government agencies in accordance with the MOU between Thailand andMyanmar on Human Trafficking.

Besides for factory work, labour exploitation of illegal immigrants in the fishingindustry is much more complicated and is not easy to solve. Working in a fishing trawler ishardship work in which crew members must face unpredictable Mother Nature in the wildseas. The labourers have no fixed working hours and have to work in the damp and limited
space of the ship. It takes a lot of endurance to get used to the severe conditions of this kindof work. Due to the hardship faced, some fishing trawlers cannot find enough seamen to man
16

The information of this case was extracted from the verdict of the Criminal Court of Bangkok in the Criminal Case No. 4154/2553 (2010),
Public Prosecutor v. Ranya Praew et al.

17the boats, therefore, some owners use every possible way to put the minimum number ofworkers onboard to operate their trawlers. Each boat needs approximately 15 – 30 crew
members depending on the type and size of the boat, illegal immigrants are persuaded,brought, bought, lured, deceived or even kidnapped onto some fishing boats departing before
they can change their minds. Victims constitute the small minority among voluntary crew
members who have been working for a long time in the fishing industry.

In many of the cases being investigated, the victims have stated that they wanted toquit after the first try but were not allowed to leave the boats because the money paid to thetraffickers (US $250-330) had not been fully deducted from their salary. Some boats had notcome to shore for a whole year. Supply ships provide these trawlers with food, fresh water,fuel and other necessities on high sea, as well as take the caught fish back to shore. Thus, theworkers had no chance to leave the boats. If they resisted and did not work, violence was anormal means of coercing them to work. 17

In response the Thai government has seriously tackled this problem and established asubcommittee to solve the problem of forced labour in fishing trawlers. The
recommendations to solving the problems will be forwarded to the National Committee forPrevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking, chaired by the Prime Minister, forconsideration and implementation.

Last but not least, many children and elderly persons from Cambodia are trafficked
into Thailand to be beggars. Investigation in some cases revealed that the modus operandi ofsuch traffickers, who mostly were illegal immigrants themselves, was to lure the victims

17

The information was from the statement of a victim in a human trafficking case.

18

away from their home. Some infants were purchased from the parents and brought illegally
across the border to be used in begging. Each trafficker controls several beggars placed in a
rented house. In the mornings, the traffickers take them by car and place each of them on aparticular spot. The traffickers return to collect them in the evenings, and each victim would
have to beg to make approximately $35 per day. All the money earned was confiscated by
the traffickers. The trafficker normally takes half of the money earned from the beggars, plus
the cost of rented house, food and other expenses. In case of children, many of them aregiven only a small portion of the money earned. If the beggars try to escape or hide themoney earned, or earn less than the minimum amount of money set by the trafficker, theywould be punished by several means including assault. It was found that approximately 80%
of beggars in Thailand are illegal immigrants. 18

C. As a Transit Country
Thailand is located in the center of the South East Asia region and strategically is a
travelling hub of the region, providing a variety of international flights to nearly everywherein the world. These are some reasons why Bangkok is a place traffickers use to traffic
victims to other countries around the world. Chinese human traffickers and smugglers ofillegal migrants use Thailand as a transit place for transporting trafficking victims and illegal
migrants from the southern part of China. These Chinese migrants and/or victims aretransported via Myanmar into the northern part of Thailand and then to Bangkok. It is easier
to use this route than to go through the vast Chinese land in the north-eastern parts of Chinathat have a lot of travel restrictions from city to city. Bangkok has a considerably big China
Town area; a great numbers of Thai people are of Chinese ancestry. Once these migrants
and/or victims reach China Town, it is easy for them to blend in with the local people. They18

In a major roundup of beggars throughout Bangkok on the charge of being beggar that caused nuisance to the public several years ago, theauthority found that around 80% of the arrested beggars were Cambodian illegal immigrants.

19

are kept in shelters while waiting to get counterfeit passports to fly out of Bangkok to otherdestinations around the world, e.g. USA, Europe, UK, Canada, Australia, etc.

The

improvement of the security of passports by using new technology has effectively reduced
the numbers of Chinese victims of human trafficking and smuggled illegal migrants frombeing transited through Bangkok.

IV. Legal Measures Used to Combat TIP
Thailand uses several legal tools to fight human trafficking, namely the Prevention
and Suppression of Trafficking in Persons Act, the Penal Code 19 , the Criminal Procedure
Code, the Child Protection Act, the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act, the AntiMoney Laundering Act, the Witness Protection Act, the Labour Protection Act, theExtradition Act and the International Cooperation in Criminal Matters Act. However, themajor legal tool used to fight human trafficking in Thailand is the Prevention andSuppression of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008 (the Anti-Human Trafficking Act).

The Anti-Human Trafficking Act was drafted based on several UN instruments, i.e.
the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (the Palermo Convention) and
its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women andChildren (the Trafficking Protocol), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and its
Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, and the ILO Convention on the Worst Forms ofChild Labour. The Anti-Human Trafficking Act translates the UN definition of trafficking inpersons provided in the Trafficking Protocol into various offences of human trafficking in
Article 6. It also strictly follows the aims and purposes of the Trafficking Protocol inproviding effective protection and assistance to victims of trafficking.

19
Most of human trafficking offences are also offences under the Penal Code, for example the Penal Code Articles 283 and 283 have similar
contents with the offences of human trafficking for sexual exploitation.

20

The Anti-Human Trafficking Act also provides that all offences under the Act shall be
predicate offences under the Anti-Money Laundering Act. This means that the authorities
can seize, freeze, and confiscate proceeds of crime derived from human trafficking from thepossession of a trafficker when the trafficker is arrested and charged with a human trafficking
offence. Confiscation of the proceeds of crime using anti-money laundering measures isrecognized by law enforcement agencies worldwide to be one of the most effective tools tofight not only drug traffickers but also human traffickers because all traffickers work solely
for money. Therefore, confiscation of all the assets derived from committing trafficking
offences is as strong of a deterrent as imprisonment. However, the Anti-Money Laundering
Office (AMLO) has been paying more attention to confiscating properties of drug traffickers
more than human traffickers. Officers of AMLO should be trained to better understandhuman trafficking in order to understand the severity of this crime, to raise their awarenessand to enhance the effectiveness of anti-money laundering measures against the humantraffickers.

On the aspects of providing assistance and protection to the victims of trafficking, theMinistry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS) has the duty to provide
assistance as appropriate to the victims. The assistance provided are food, shelter, medical
treatment, physical and mental rehabilitation, education, training, legal aid, the safe return tothe country of origin or domicile, and assistance with the legal proceeding to claim
compensation according to the regulations. In doing so, the officers have to take humandignity, sex, age, nationality, race, and culture of the victims into consideration. 20

The

officials of the MSDHS have to provide protection for the trafficked persons under their care

20

The Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008, Article 33

21and they have to provide safety protection to the family members of the trafficked persons as
well. 21 In cases where the victims are willing to give statement or testify as witnesses in thecriminal proceeding, the victims are protected under the Witness Protection Act of 2003.

In giving assistance to victims of human trafficking in accordance with the
Trafficking Protocol and Articles 33 to 39 of the Anti-Human Trafficking Act, the MSDHS is
the main agency in implementing these Articles. In practices, when exploited persons arerescued and are identified as victims, they are placed under protection in one of shelter homesof the MSDHS. At the shelter home, social workers take care of the victims by providingthem with food, clothes, and shelter. Medical examination and care by physicians are also
provided for the victims throughout the time they are in the shelter home. Physical andmental treatments are available for the victims that need healing. Education and vocational
training are also available for the victims in the shelter home to equip them with knowledge
and vocational skills. The victims have access to information on the progress of their cases
and legal aid for getting compensation from the traffickers or exploiters. There is no time
limit for the assistance, and it is provided until the victims are safely repatriated back home.
The Thai government allocates a budget to the MSDHS to provide all the assistance. In
giving assistance to the victims, their human dignity, sex age, race, nationality, and cultures
have to be taken into consideration. In case the victims are willing to cooperate with theauthorities in criminal litigation and have to stay in Thailand for a long time, the MSDHS cangrant them rights to legally stay and work in Thailand by informing the Immigration Bureau
to grant the victims temporary visas and the Ministry of Labour to issue the victims work
permits.

21

The Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008, Article 36

22In order to successfully convict human traffickers the cooperation of the victim in
giving information, statements and testimonies throughout the criminal proceeding is verysignificant. The reason for such significance is that the crime was committed against thevictims; therefore, the victim is the most important eyewitness in the case to tell the court of
how s/he was trafficked and exploited. Without the testimony of the victim, it is very difficult
to convince the court to severely convict the traffickers in accordance with the severity of thepunishment prescribed by the Act. Thus, it is very crucial to encourage the victims tocooperate with the authorities in the criminal proceeding. However, criminal proceedings ofinvestigation, prosecution, and trial normally take a long time, and the victims do not want to
sit idly in the shelters throughout this long process. To provide incentives for the victims tocooperate with putting the traffickers in jail, the authorities can grant the cooperative victims
permission to legally stay in Thailand temporarily and can allow them to work with atemporary work permit. Victims can then make use of their time waiting through the longlegal process by working legally.

Cooperative victims receive temporary visas from

Immigration and temporary work permits from the Ministry of Labour.

One thing sexual exploited victims are afraid of is their identity and involvement in
the sex industry being exposed to the public through the media or other means of transmittingof information. Since the victims were seriously exploited by the traffickers, they do notwant to be re-victimized by the media. They do not want the people in their community toknow what they have been through. The general public would forget the names and faces in
the news after a few seconds. On the other hand, for the people who know the victims, thepersonal information of the victim would remain in their minds forever, and they will neverforget the fact that the victims have been sexually exploited and have been in commercial sex
businesses. This exposure destroys the victims’ dignity and honour in their communities

23because being in the commercial sex businesses (even involuntarily) is shameful. After such
exposure and stigmatisation, it is extremely difficult for victims to reintegrate into theircommunities and to lead a normal life again.

Due to the immense effect on the lives of the victims, the right to privacy of thevictims is extremely important, and officials have to take into consideration this right.
Officials have the duty to protect the victims’ privacy to the best of their ability. In every
stage of the process, the information about the victims must be kept secret and shall beknown only among those officials who have duty to work with the victims. The importanceof maintaining the privacy of the victim is reflected in the Article 56 of the Anti-Human
Trafficking Act, which stipulates that whoever violates the right to privacy of the victim isliable to six months of imprisonment. The purpose of this article is to prevent the media fromexposing the victims to the public. 22 It is observed that this article is very effective inpreventing the media from publishing information that will lead to identifying the victims.
With their right to privacy being strictly protected, it has been easier to persuade andencourage the victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation to cooperate with the authorities
in prosecuting the traffickers.

According to the Anti-Human Trafficking Act, the officials not only provide
protection but will also work with the victims and the prosecutors in order to getcompensation for the victim from the traffickers. As provided in Article 35 “In cases where

22

Article 56 states:
Whoever commits or undertake to have the following acts been committed shall be liable for the punishment of imprisonment notexceeding six months or a fine not exceeding sixty thousand Baht, or both;(1) taking a picture, circulating a picture, printing a picture, recording or airing voice of any person, at any stage, which maylead to the identification of the trafficked person;(2) publishing or disseminating the content appearing in the course of inquiry of the inquiry official or the course of hearing of
the court, which may make the other person to know the first name and last name of the trafficked person, or the family
members of such trafficked person, through whatever type of information communication media;(3) publishing or disseminating the content, picture or voice, through whatever type of communication media, disclosing
personal history, place of living, place of work, or place of education of the trafficked person.
. . .

24

the trafficked person has the right to compensation for damages resulting from thecommission of trafficking in persons and expresses his/her intention to claim compensation,
the Public Prosecutor . . . being informed by the officials of the MSDHS shall, on behalf ofthe trafficked person, claim for compensation thereof.” 23

The prosecutor will petition the

court that tries the trafficking case to give order for the offender to pay compensation to thevictim at the end of the criminal case in the judgment made by the court. Many victims havereceived compensation through this process. In the past before the criminal procedure wasamended to allow claim for compensation in a criminal court, the victim had to file a separate
lawsuit in a civil court for compensation through a very complicated and time consuming
procedure; thus, very few victims of compensable crimes have made the effort to filecomplains in civil courts.

Another important protection measure that Thai officials provide to the victims isimmunity from some illegal activities committed by the victim during the trafficking process.
Once a trafficked person is verified to be a victim of trafficking through the screening andclassification processes, the investigator is barred from charging the victim with the offence
of entering, leaving, or residing in Thailand without permission under the laws on
immigration. S/he will not be charged with the offence of giving false information to
officials or forging or using forged travel document under the Penal Code. The victim will
not be charged with the offence of being a prostitute under the Prevention and Suppression of
Prostitution Act or the offence of being an alien working without a work permit under
employment laws. The victim can be charged with the above mentioned offences only withpermission in writing from the Minister of Justice. 24 So far, the Minister has never given any
permission to charge a victim of trafficking with the above mentioned offences.

23
24

The Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008, Article 35
The Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008, Article 4125

Since human trafficking is a type of modern slavery and is considered a very serious
crime, the Anti-Human Trafficking Act prescribes a heavy penalty of 4-10 years of
imprisonment for traffickers. If the victim is a child over 15 but not over 18 years, thepenalty is 6-12 years of imprisonment; if the victim is not over 15 years, then the penalty is 815 years of imprisonment. 25

Apart from the Anti-Human Trafficking Act, the Penal Code has been effectively
used against trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Many traffickers have been heavily

sentenced with long term imprisonment under the Penal Code. One serious offence in the
Penal Code is the offence of “procuring a person for sexual gratification of another person”
which has very similar criminal elements as the offence of human trafficking for sexual
exploitation. This provision in the Penal Code can be applied to charge, prosecute andconvict human traffickers as well. Procuring a person even with consent of the procured
person is an offence punishable with 1-10 years imprisonment. If the consenting person is achild aged 15-18 years, the penalty is 3-15 years of imprisonment. If the child is under theage of 15 years, the penalty is 5-20 years of imprisonment 26 .

However, if threat, force,

deception or extortion is used against a procured adult, the penalty is hasher (5-20 years of
imprisonment). To procure a child age 15-18 years with the use of threat, force, deception or
extortion the penalty is 7-20 years of imprisonment. If the procured child is under 15, thepenalty is 10-20 years or life imprisonment. 27 A person who knowingly receives a procured
person will be punished with the same penalty as the procurer. 28

25

The Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008, Article 52
The Penal Code of Thailand Article 283
The Penal Code of Thailand Article 283 bis.
28
The Penal Code of Thailand Article 283 and Article 283 bis.
26
27

26

It is obvious that the penalties prescribed in the Penal Code are more severe thanthose in the Anti-Human Trafficking Act. Nevertheless, both laws are used against thetraffickers. Whenever, a trafficker for sexual exploitation is arrested, s/he is charged withboth the trafficking offence in the Anti-Human Trafficking Act and the procuring offence in
the Penal Code. It is the duty of the court trying the case to choose the law that has the more
severe penalty to convict the trafficker. Moreover, if the trafficker has trafficked victims on
several occasions, each incident would be convicted separately as one count of offence, andthe penalty of each count is added to the other counts. Thus, many traffickers have been
convicted with considerably long term imprisonment. In the case mentioned in 3.1 where
two traffickers brought several women to Japan and sold them to several brothels, theCriminal Court of Bangkok convicted the first and the second defendants with totals of 39
and 28 years of imprisonment respectively. 29

V. Prevention
Prevention is widely accepted as the best way to solve the problem of humantrafficking. The Thai government has paid much attention, allocated a large budget, andmade much effort to fight human trafficking, in particularly on prevention. Many prevention
programs and measures have been actively implemented.

According to the Anti-Human Trafficking Act, MSDHS is the key agency which acts
as the coordinating agency in gathering and integrating efforts of all other agencies involvedin the combat against human trafficking. Every Thai government in the last decade has
placed the policy to fight against human trafficking, as well as the policy against narcotic
drugs, in its top agenda. The government set up two committees at the national level, in

29

The verdict of the Criminal Court of Bangkok in the case number 1316/2552 (2009).

27

accordance with the Anti-Human Trafficking Act. The first committee is the Committee forPrevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking (PHT Committee) and the second
committee is the Committee for Coordinating and Monitoring the Performance in Prevention
and Suppression of Human Trafficking (CMP Committee).

The Committee for Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking (PHT
Committee) is the highest level committee and is chaired by the Prime Minister. The
members of the PHT Committee comprises of one Deputy Prime Minister, seven otherrelevant Ministers, 30 and four experts on the human trafficking issue. The main functions of
the PHT Committee are to provide recommendations to the Cabinet concerning thegovernment’s policy on the prevention and suppression of human trafficking, and on therevision of laws, rules and regulations to better combat human trafficking. It also has theduty to lay down strategies and measures and guidelines for the prevention and suppressionof human trafficking. 31 The PHT Committee has to organize at least three meetings per year
as prescribed by the Anti-Human Trafficking Act.

The Committee for Coordinating and Monitoring the Performance in Prevention andSuppression of Human Trafficking (CMP Committee) is chaired by a Deputy Prime Ministerand its member comprises of the Minister of Social Development and Human Security, theAttorney General, the Police Commissioner-General, 8 Permanent Secretaries from 8 relevant
ministries, 6 Director-Generals and 8 experts on the human trafficking issue. The mainfunctions of the CMP Committee are establishing plans to prevent and combat humantrafficking and monitoring the implementation of the plans, laws, rules and regulations and30
The seven Ministers who are members of the Committee are the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister ofTourism and Sports, the Minister of Social Development and Human Security, the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Justice, and theMinister of Labour.
31
The Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008, Articles 15 & 16.

28

the performance of relevant agencies and officials in preventing and fighting this crime. Bothcommittees have set up several sub-committees to perform various functions as needed andreport back to the committees. The overall effect is that the issue of human trafficking in allof its aspects can directly reach and be dealt with by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. 32
The CMP Committee has to organize at least six meetings per year.

Through these two committees, the highest level authorities in government
administration, i.e. the Prime Minister, ministers, permanent secretaries, and other senior
officials, closely deal with and tackle the problem of human trafficking as a highly prioritizednational agenda and with considerable budget and support from various government agencies.
Moreover, these committees are beneficial to the combat of human trafficking because theawareness of the highest level authorities has been raised high enough to understand the
problems and the seriousness of human trafficking.

The MSDHS has the duty to propose prevention programs to the PHT Committee andhas the duty to implement the prevention programs.

Many campaigns have been

implemented throughout the country in this decade. However, the victims have the tendency
to believe the traffickers who have some connection with their relatives or peers in theirvillages more than the government’s campaigns. Many NGOs have also put a lot of effort inworking with vulnerable groups in various parts of the country on campaigns and raisingawareness of potential victims on the danger and ploys used by the traffickers. Despite these
efforts, the traffickers still manage to convince the victims that they will get good and decent
jobs with better pay abroad. Traffickers also make victims believe that they will not be theunlucky ones to fall into a trafficking ring.

32

The Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008, Articles 22 & 23.

29

Education is a highly effective measure in human trafficking prevention. About ten
years ago, the compulsory education in Thailand was raised from 6 to 9 years with 12 yearsof free education throughout the country. Moreover, the government has provided educationloans with very low interest rates to all students who have financial difficulties and want tofurther their study in colleges. Students who take out such loans have the duty to pay backthe loans in installments after graduation and finding employment and income. This measure
helps keep women in schools and colleges, encouraging higher education with goodprospects for their future. More educated women would then be less likely to fall for thetactics used by human traffickers.

VI. Suppression
Suppression is a very essential measure to fight against human trafficking. The goal
is to incapacitate the human traffickers and their networks by jailing them and preventing
them from continuously trafficking other victims while concurrently creating a deterrent
effect on the traffickers. However, suppression of human trafficking is not easy due toseveral difficulties in the suppression process.

A. Criminal Process in TIP Cases
The criminal process against the human traffickers is the same as the process used forprosecuting other serious crimes. When the police or officials of Department of Special
Investigation (DSI) receive information from MSDHS, NGOs, victims, the victims’ relatives,
or any individual, stating that someone is being trafficked, a rescue operation will belaunched to extract the victim and to arrest the traffickers and exploiters. The victim will beinterviewed by the police and the social welfare officials of the MSDHS to determine if s/he30

is an actual victim of trafficking. After verifying classification as a victim, the victim will betaken to a shelter house of the MSDHS and cared for by the social workers. The victim will
be interviewed to obtain information so that the authorities can arrest the traffickers and those
involved with human trafficking.

The traffickers and the exploiters will be prosecuted incourt when the trial dates are set. However, as in other countries, the criminal process takes
quite a long time, possibly up to one to two years, due to the backlog of cases awaiting court
trail. This time factor is a big obstacle to the suppression of human trafficking.

Since the most important witness in a human trafficking case is the victim, whowitnessed the abuse and exploitation firsthand. The prosecutor needs the testimony of thevictims in court in order to convince the court of what had happened. With the victim’s
testimony, the court will not hesitate to punish the traffickers severely. However, there areseveral factors that deter victims from giving testimony in court. Most of the victims areundereducated, ignorant, and come from rural areas. They do not know nor understand thecomplicated legal process and do not want to be involved in such a very complicated andlengthy process in intimidating environments like in court. Victims of sexual exploitation
feel shame about their experience and just want to forget the incident as soon as possible andcontinue with a normal life. Having to wait for a long period of time before they can give
their testimonies in court and get on with their lives bother victims so much that many decide
not to cooperate.

Another important factor is that victims are afraid of the traffickers who the victims
believed are influential persons or organized criminals and who can harm the victims andmembers of their families. Even though the authorities can arrange for the victims to beunder a witness protection program, the victims still do not fully believe that they and their31

families will be safe. If the authorities cannot convince victims to cooperate and testify incourt, their cases will end in failure and the traffickers will be acquitted due to the lack ofevidence.

B. The Difficulties and Challenges in Handling TIP Cases
From the author’s experience as a prosecutor in conducting criminal cases for decades,
the author found that handling a human trafficking case is much more difficult than handlinga drug trafficking one. The reasons are due to many factors. In a drug trafficking case, themost important piece of evidence is the narcotic drug, which never changes its characteristics
during arrest, investigation, prosecution or trial. All that is needed is to send the seized drug
for lab testing to prove that it is a narcotic drug. The drug does not need food, clothes, shelter,
physical and medical care, and other human necessities. What it needs is only a small spacein a safe place, and it can stay dormant for years awaiting trial. When the trial dates arrive,the prosecutor presents the drug in front of the judge as evidence together with the report ofthe lab test. The drugs never deny being drugs, and the drugs traffickers are severely
convicted due to clear evidence.

Handling a human trafficking case is extremely more difficult. First of all, theofficials must try their best to gain the trust of the victims to reveal their true story. Beyond
revealing their experience, the officials also have to convince and encourage the victims tocooperate with them in investigation, prosecution, and trial. The officials have to provide
food, shelter, clothes, physical and medical care, protect their safety, and provide many otherhuman needs. As humans, they cannot patiently stay for years in a shelter without activities
awaiting trial. They or their parents might be threatened or bribed by the traffickers or their
networks. Some victims might disappear or change their story during the trial.

32

Going through the long and tough examination and cross examination by theprosecutor and the defense lawyer is not a pleasant experience at all.

Thus, it isunderstandable why most victims do not want to cooperate and instead just want to forget
their painful experience as soon as they can. The officials cannot force them to cooperate,and cases have had to be dropped because the lack of evidence.

To solve the problem of the lengthy wait to give testimony in court, the Anti-Human
Trafficking Act provides the following solution to the problem. The Anti-Human Trafficking
Act authorizes the court to take the testimony of the victim of trafficking even before the caseis indicted in court. The court will keep the testimony of the victim in deposition until theoffender is prosecuted and the trial begins. Then the court will retrieve the testimony of thevictim and use it as the witness testimony in the case. Article 31 of the Anti-Human
Trafficking Act states:

In case of necessity for the benefit of prevention and suppression of trafficking
in person, before prosecuting the offender to the Court, the public prosecutor byhimself or by receiving a request from an inquiry official, may bring the traffickedperson or a witness to the Court and file a petition specifying all the facts alleged tohave been committed and the necessary cause why the testimony must be taken
promptly.
In case the initiation to testify in Court is of the trafficked person or witness,after such person informed his intention to the public prosecutor, the publicprosecutor shall immediately submit a petition to the Court.

33

Having received the petition under paragraph one or two, the Court shall takethe testimony of the witness promptly. During the taking testimony, if an interested
person in the case files a petition to the Court citing a reason or necessity to crossexamine or to appoint a counsel for cross-examination, the Court may grant
permission . . .
If the alleged offender is indicted later as a defendant with the charge of any
offence stipulated in Chapter 1, the deposited testimony of the witness shall be
admitted as evidence in the trial and in making judgment of that case.

With this measure, many victims need not wait long to testify in court. Foreign
victims can be repatriated back to their country after their testimonies are taken into
deposition of the court. In some cases where authorities can demand compensation from
offenders, the compensation is paid to them with cooperation between Thailand and thecountry of origin. In labour exploitation cases, the MSDHS files a complaint to the Labour
Court on behalf of the victim in each case to collect unpaid wages in addition to thecompensation for damages in the Criminal Court.

In cases where victims cooperated with the authorities and appeared in court to testify
as an eyewitness, there is a high tendency for the traffickers to be convicted. Thus, working
to persuade and encourage the victims to cooperate with the authorities is the key to successin combating human trafficking. However, getting victim cooperation is not an easy task
because the traffickers are also aware of the importance of the victims’ testimonies. Thus,
traffickers try every way they can to prevent victims from being the witnesses in the case.

34

In one particular case, two females were deceived into going to London to work in a
Thai restaurant. Once they reached London, they were detained and forced to take nudephotos, both with and without sexual activities. They were told by the traffickers that if theyescaped and went to the police, the pictures would be posted in their village so that everyonein the village would know that they had been in the prostitution business. Nonetheless, thetwo victims escaped and sought help from the Thai Embassy in London. The embassy sent
both women back home to Thailand and notified officials at MSDHS to receive and lookafter them at the airport. 33 However, the two victims gave their statements to the police but
did not want to cooperate further and were unwilling to identify the traffickers. Thus, theircase had to be dropped and they were sent back home.

According to the standard practice of MSDHS, if victims do not want to cooperate
and are unwilling to identify the traffickers, then the victims, particularly foreign victims, aretaken to a shelter home. There social workers work with the victims and explain to them
their rights and the benefits they would receive, e.g. protection, compensation, unpaid wages,
the legal visa and work permit, etc., in hopes of persuading them to work with the authorities
in arresting and convicting the traffickers. If the traffickers are not arrested and put in jails,
they will recruit other persons to be victims, continuing the vicious circle of humantrafficking. The best and most efficient solution is to arrest, prosecute and punish thetraffickers severely. In case the victims still do not want to cooperate, safe repatriation isarranged for them.

Safe repatriation to send victims back to their home or country of origin is anotherimportant aspect of protection. In order to make sure that they safely reach home, the33This information is from the statements given by one of the two victims to the police investigator.

35

MSDHS have concluded several MOUs on cooperation to fight against human trafficking
with many neighbouring countries, i.e. Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam. Thus,
the repatriation process is well coordinated between the relevant officials of both countries
involved with the safety of the victim being the most important point of consideration.

C. Gaps in Cooperation between the Countries of Origin and Destination
One of the main challenges in the field of suppression of transnational humantrafficking is the lack of coordination among law enforcement agencies of the relevant
countries. Often when a victim is rescued and a trafficker is arrested in the country ofdestination, no information is given to the country of origin. Thus, the trafficker in the
country of origin is not arrested and prosecuted. Likewise, when a victim returns home andthe authorities in the country of origin are informed of the trafficking and exploitation, no
information is sent to the country of destination. In some cases, the information is sharedwith the other country involved, but without victim information and details about thetraffickers and exploitation, the authorities do not have enough information to make an arrest
or initiate a criminal case. International cooperation, therefore, is very important and plays avery crucial role in eliminating the whole human trafficking syndicate.

In establishing effective international cooperation to combat human trafficking, anagreement is needed so that the authorities of the two countries can share information, act inconcert, reveal and provide evidence in the case, give mutual legal assistance (MLA),
extradite non-national traffickers, or simultaneously prosecute the traffickers in bothcountries using the same set of witnesses and evidence. The agreement can be made in theform of a treaty, MOU, or in any other form that will render successful cooperation. Apartfrom the agreement, knowing your counterparts in another country and trusting in each other36

are very essential to fruitfully combat against transnational human trafficking, particularly
those committed by organized criminal groups.

International cooperation should be done both through formal and informal channels.
In investigation, in which speed is essential, informal cooperation should be used to collectthe information needed to arrest the traffickers and to provide assistance at this stage.
However, once formal evidence or documents are required for trial in court, the formal MLA
is the only means to obtain admissible evidence from another country.

Thus, closeinternational cooperation is vital in fighting transnational human trafficking.

Extradition is another means that can be used to suppress the traffickers. Even thoughmost of the countries that use the Civil Law system do not extradite their own nationals forprosecution in another country, they can still prosecute their own people who committed a
trafficking offence in a foreign jurisdiction. However, there are many instances where thetraffickers or the exploiters are not the citizens of the requested country and, can be extradited.
From the author’s experience, particularly with cases of trafficking for sexual exploitation,
the traffickers and the exploiters tend to be of the same nationality as the victims. Many of
the so called mama-sans in Europe, South Africa and elsewhere are women who wereoriginally trafficked to work as prostitutes in the foreign country. These women have stayed
there long enough to upgrade themselves to be mama-sans or procurers or even brothel
owners. They tend to traffick women from their own country to work for their commercial
sex businesses. In such cases, the traffickers or exploiters should be extradited so that boththe traffickers and the exploiters can be prosecuted in their own country.

VII. Conclusions

37

Human trafficking or trafficking in persons is a very heinous crime that seriously
erodes human dignity, inflicts serious wounds, and instills unforgettable traumas in the mindsof the victims. Humans should not be for sale, and the international community has the moral
obligation to prevent and suppress this crime.

Prevention and suppression should be

exercised by modernizing and strengthening national laws and regulations, by putting all
available efforts to prevent and suppress this crime, and by working together and assistingeach other to assist and protect victims and to arrest traffickers.

Furthermore, theenhancement of international cooperation is needed so that the traffickers are punished nomatter where they are.

Human trafficking is classified as a crime against humanity. However, it is not easy
to abolish this crime from our global community because it is a very low risk crime thatyields a huge amount of money to traffickers. Human trafficking is a low risk crime in theeyes of the traffickers because the fight against human trafficking is very much dependent onvulnerable victims, who tend to be ignorant, undereducated, and afraid of the traffickers.
Some victims and their families have been intimidated or bribed by the traffickers. The
majority of the victims of sexual exploitation do not want to live with the painful memories;
they just want to start a new life.

The criminal justice system, on the other hand, wants clarity, solid evidence, andvalid witness testimony. This system is afraid of making mistakes. Thus, each criminal casetakes a considerably long time, which is discouraging for the victims. Government officials
have difficulties with taking care of and protecting the victims for the long period of time
until the case is finalised.

38Moreover, international cooperation has not been developed well enough to fighttransnational human trafficking. Many gaps and obstacles exist and remain for the worldcommunity to tackle before it can effectively combat this heinous crime. One single nation
cannot efficiently fight transnational human trafficking alone, therefore, strong international
cooperation is the key to success. We all have to work together to achieve the goal ofabolishing human trafficking similarly to the way the world community successfully
abolished the slave trade and slavery of prior centuries.

39