Source: http://www.thailawforum.com/articles/rights-of-refugee-children-in-thailand-6.html
Timestamp: 2019-08-24 20:21:22
Document Index: 95351989

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1', 'art 12', 'art 13', 'art 14', 'art 22', 'art 23', 'art 11', 'art 18', 'art 34', 'art 29', 'art 31', 'art 27', 'art 28', 'art 25', 'art 10', 'art 16', 'art 17', 'art 28', 'art 30', 'art 3', 'art 4', 'art 4', 'art 4', 'art 5', 'art 5', 'art 7', 'art 6', 'art 8', 'art 6', 'art 9', 'art 6', 'art 8', 'art 7', 'art 8', 'art 11', 'art 8', 'art 22', 'art 19', 'art 20', 'art 18', 'art 22', 'art 18', 'art 19', 'art 20']

1 AHRD
This declaration is soft law, it is therefore not legally binding but rather reflects political intention to act a certain way.194
The General Principles of the Declaration include inter alia the right to equal recognition and protection from the law. It also asserts that the rights of inter alia children, vulnerable and marginalised groups are integral and indivisible part of human rights and that the principle of non-discrimination and avoidance of double standards and politicisation should always be upheld.195
Absolute rights contained within the AHRD concerning the target populations include inter alia freedom from arbitrary arrest,196 freedom from slavery and trafficking,197 freedom from torture,198 freedom of thought, conscience and religion199 and freedom of expression.200
Qualified rights, concerning the target populations include inter alia right to life,201 and right to a nationality.202
Article 34 asserts that ASEAN member states may determine to what extent they allow economic and social rights to non-nationals.203 This includes access to basic health care and medical facilities,204 right to an education,205 freedom from social and economic exploitation206 and right to an adequate standard of living.207
There is no reporting process or monitoring regarding this declaration. The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights focused on the drafting of the AHRD but does not act as a monitoring mechanism.208
2 The Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT)
In 2004 the six Governments of COMMIT, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Lao PDR, Cambodia and Burma, signed an MOU against trafficking in persons.209
Provisions pertinent to the target populations include inter alia: obliging States to apply labour laws protecting the rights of all workers,210 making available to victims legal assistance and information in a language they understand,211 ensuring victims are not held in detention,212 providing all victims with shelter and appropriate physical, psychosocial, legal, educational and health care assistance.213 The use of the word 'appropriate' in the last provision makes it a qualified and not absolute right.
The MOU committed the member States to develop sub-regional plans of action.214 The MOU called for the establishment of a monitoring system for the implementation of the subregional plans of action, with a minimum of an annual senior officials meeting (SOM).215 The first sub-regional plan of action had no monitoring and evaluation framework. The second
sub-regional plan of action was designed with joint targets and time lines to be monitored and reported at the SOM. This same method was used for the third sub-regional plan of action. The UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) performs the role of Secretariat and is mandated to provide monitoring support to activities under COMMIT.216
C BI-LATERAL LAW
1 Memorandums of Understanding and Agreements
The Agreement with Vietnam and the MOU's with Lao PDR and Cambodia state that both parties shall ensure the implementation of their laws in conformity with the international conventions to which both States have acceded to or ratified, the MOU with Cambodia and the Agreement with Vietnam make specific mention of the CRC.217
The agreement with Vietnam and MOU's with Lao PDR, Cambodia and Burma assert that State parties shall provide educational and vocational training programmes and improve social services, such as employment, income generation and health care for children vulnerable to trafficking, to reduce their risk of being trafficked.218
The MOU's with Cambodia and Burma, and the Agreement with Vietnam assert that victims shall be treated as such and not be considered violators of immigration law.219 The MOU with Lao DPR asserts that parties shall provide temporary housing in accordance with the policies of each country.220 The Agreement with Vietnam as well as the MOU's with Burma and
Cambodia assert that victims shall be put under the care of the relevant Ministry with shelter and protection provided, qualified by doing so in accordance with the policy of each country.221 The Agreement with Vietnam and MOUs with Cambodia and Burma assert that victims have the right to claim compensation.222
The MOU with Burma states that child sensitive procedures should be put in place and applied throughout the process of protection, judicial proceedings and repatriation.223
Each of the three MOUs and the Agreement's implementation is monitored by a joint task force or joint working group between the parties.224 Implementation is reviewed every three years with Burma225 and Lao PDR226 and every five years with Vietnam227 and Cambodia.228
The next chapter will analyse domestic laws in Thailand pertinent to the above explored international, regional and bi-lateral obligations. Looking at rights under hard law, with reference to the rights in soft law under the AHRD. Soft law rights will not be separated from hard law rights as all the rights in the AHRD are reiterated in hard law and thus have hard law status elsewhere. Secondly; protective measures, expressed in the above international, regional and bi-lateral law, regarding trafficking will be explored, focusing on preventive measures, protection of trafficked children and judicial proceedings.
191 'Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the
Protocols Thereto' (n188)
192 Malcolm N. Shaw (n91) 93-94
193 Oona A. Hathaway 'Do Human Rights Treaties Make a Difference?' [2002]Yale Law Journal 1935, 1978
194 Malcolm N. Shaw (n91) 118-119
195 AHRD (n90) art 1-9
196 Ibid art 12
197 Ibid art 13
198 Ibid art 14
199 Ibid art 22
200 Ibid art 23
201 Ibid art 11
202 Ibid art 18
203 Ibid art 34
204 Ibid art 29
205 Ibid art 31
206 Ibid art 27(3)
207 Ibid art 28
208 ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, 'About' <http://aichr.org/about/> accessed 10
209 UNIAP, 'COMMIT: The Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking' <http://www.notrafficking.
org/commit.html> accessed 10 July 2014
210 COMMIT MOU (n93) art 25
211 Ibid art 10
212 Ibid art 16
213 Ibid art 17
214 Ibid art 28,31
215 COMMIT MOU (n93) art 30
216 It should be noted: UNIAP provides only one monitoring report, referring to achievements between 2005 –
2007, available only in the Vietnamese language. UNIAP, 'COMMIT: The Coordinated Mekong Ministerial
Initiative Against Trafficking' (n209)
217 Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government
Women and Children (n94) art 3, Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom
of Thailand and the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia on Bilateral Cooperation for Eliminating
Trafficking in Children and Women and Assisting Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 4, Agreement Between the
Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on
Bilateral Cooperation for Eliminating Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and Assisting
Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 4
218 Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government
Women and Children (n94) art 4, 5, Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the
Kingdom of Thailand and the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia on Bilateral Cooperation for
Eliminating Trafficking in Children and Women and Assisting Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 5,6,
Agreement Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam on Bilateral Cooperation for Eliminating Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and
Children and Assisting Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 5
219 Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government
and Assisting Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 7, Agreement Between the Government of the Kingdom of
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and Assisting Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 6,
Children (n94) art 8
220 Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government
Women and Children (n94) art 6
221 Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government
and Assisting Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 9, Agreement Between the Government of the Kingdom of
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and Assisting Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 6(2),
Children (n94) art 8(b)
222 Agreement Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government of the Socialist
Children and Assisting Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 7, Memorandum of Understanding Between the
Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia on Bilateral
Cooperation for Eliminating Trafficking in Children and Women and Assisting Victims of Trafficking (n94)
art 8, Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the
and Children (n94) art 11
223 Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government
Children (n94) art 8(e)(f)
224 Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government
Children (n94) art 22, Agreement Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government
of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam on Bilateral Cooperation for Eliminating Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children and Assisting Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 19, Memorandum of
Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 20, Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the
Kingdom of Thailand and the Government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic on Cooperation to
Combat Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (n94) art 18
225 Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government
Children (n94) art 22(6)
226 Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government
Women and Children (n94) art 18(6)
227 Agreement Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government of the Socialist
Children and Assisting Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 19(d)
228 Memorandum of Understanding Between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government
and Assisting Victims of Trafficking (n94) art 20(d)