Thailand, Malaysia, Venezuela Among Worst Human Trafficking Centres

[Flashermac]

WASHINGTON - The US State Department downgraded Thailand, Malaysia and Venezuela on Friday to its list of the world's worst centers of human trafficking, opening up the countries to possible sanctions and dumping them in the same category as North Korea and Syria.

 

The three countries were all downgraded to the lowest "Tier 3" status in the US State Department’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report as they did not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

 

Thai officials repeatedly expressed confidence their country would be upgraded, submitting a 78-page report to the US government in April to make its case.

 

The downgrades could cause some multinational companies to reconsider investments in industries accused of using trafficked labor such as fisheries, a lucrative business in Thailand, the world’s largest exporter of shrimp.

 

The countries could also lose US non-humanitarian and non-trade-related aid, and they could face US opposition to help from international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

 

The report said the majority of trafficking victims in Thailand - "tens of thousands ... by conservative estimates" - were migrants from neighboring countries "forced, coerced, or defrauded into labor or exploited in the sex trade." A significant number were trafficked into the fishing industry, garment production and domestic work.

 

The State Department also cited media reports of "trafficking-related complicity by Thai civilian and navy personnel in crimes involving the exploitation" of Rohingya Muslims who have fled Myanmar by the tens of thousands over the past year.

 

Those reports included a Reuters story in December that documented a clandestine Thai policy to remove Rohingya from immigration detention centers and deliver them to traffickers and smugglers waiting at sea. Many Rohingya were then ferried back to brutal trafficking camps in Thailand, where some died.

 

The State Department said that not only had the government "systematically" failed to prosecute trafficking into the fishing industry, but the Thai navy had also filed defamation charges against two journalists who reprinted reports of complicity of civilian and naval personnel in exploitation of Rohingya asylum seekers from Myanmar.

 

That was a reference to criminal defamation charges filed by Thailand’s navy against two journalists at Phuketwan, a small English-language news website based in Phuket, which published selected excerpts from a July Reuters report.

 

The Reuters report, based on interviews with people smugglers and more than two dozen survivors of boat voyages, revealed how some Thai naval security forces worked systematically with smugglers to profit from the surge in Rohingya fleeing Myanmar to escape religious persecution.

 

The Thai navy has also filed a criminal complaint against two Reuters journalists, alleging violations of the Computer Crimes Act. Reuters has not been charged and stands by its reporting, a Reuters spokesman said.

 

"We have seen interlocutors who we think are actually trying hard, but of course that gets dragged down by the widespread official complicity," US Ambassador at-Large Luis CdeBaca of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons told Reuters.

 

"It’s kind of like an anchor that is holding the folks who seem to be wanting to make a difference back."

 

"IMPUNITY"

 

Thailand, Malaysia and Venezuela promote themselves as modern, fast-developing countries, but their Tier 3 ranking puts them among the world’s most lawless, oppressive and dysfunctional.

 

A third of Tier 3 countries, among them Mauritania and Yemen, also appear on the United Nations list of least-developed nations. Many Tier 3 countries (Syria, Central African Republic) are at war; others (Zimbabwe, North Korea) are dictatorships.

 

In the year ended March 31, the period covered by the report, the Thai government said it had made "significant progress" in combating human trafficking. It cited data that showed it convicted 225 people for this crime in 2013, compared with 49 in 2012, among other measures.

 

But despite frequent media and non-governmental organization reports documenting forced labor among migrants, the State Department report said, the Thai government "demonstrated few efforts to address these trafficking crimes."

 

"Impunity for pervasive trafficking-related corruption continued to impede progress in combating trafficking," the report said.

 

The report found Malaysia had made "inadequate efforts to improve its flawed victim-protection regime" and had investigated fewer trafficking cases in 2013 than in 2012. The Malaysian downgrade had been largely expected.

 

The report said Venezuela was making insufficient efforts to combat sex trafficking and forced labor as it had failed to come up with a written plan to bring it into compliance with minimum standards for eliminating trafficking.

 

Cabeza de Baca said the White House would make a decision on possible sanctions against Thailand, one of its oldest Asian treaty allies, within about 90 days.

 

Last month, Washington canceled some security cooperation projects with Thailand to protest against the country’s military coup on May 22.

 

In April, US lawmakers called on the Obama administration to punish countries that do too little to fight trafficking, including Thailand and Malaysia, and said Myanmar - another country Washington has been seeking to boost ties with - should not receive a waiver to avoid sanctions over its record.

 

Friday’s State Department report said that while Myanmar did not fully comply with minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, "it is making significant efforts to do so."

 

 

http://www.nationmul...f-30236790.html

[Flashermac]

Note that this is based on last year, 2013, when Pheu Thai was in charge. Let's see how the junta responds to this. In a way, maybe they already are:

 

Southern Police Inspect Fishing Boats In Search Of Human Traffickers

 

 

SATUL — Marine police in Satul province inspected fishing boats manned by Burmese workers today to look for potential human traffickers and drug use.

 

The inspection was overseen by Prayoon Rattanasenee, deputy governor of Satul, and carried out by a combined force of police officers, Royal Thai Navy servicemen, and social workers.

 

The officials selected fishing boats at random off of Thailand’s western coast and boarded them to inspect their crews. According to Mr. Prayoon, the inspection found no breach of laws on any of the boats.

 

Mr. Prayoon told Khaosod that the officials want to ensure the welfare and safety of workers on Thai fishing boats, especially migrant workers.

 

"Many agencies in Satul are enforcing strict measures to monitor the condition of workers' lives, food, residences," Mr. Prayoon said. "We are also working to root out the human trafficking network in the fishing industry. It's a major problem in Satul province."

 

The search came after a series of events have brought Thailand's weak record of combating human trafficking into global spotlight. Earlier this month, the British newspaper The Guardian revealed that more than 200,000 Burmese migrants are trafficked into Thailand to work as slaves in the Thai seafood and fishing industry. According to the investigative report, thousands of Burmese migrants pay brokers to help them cross the border and find work in Thailand, but are instead sold on to "slave vessels" and subject to deplorable working conditions and abuse.

 

Days later, Thailand incurred a fresh wave of criticsim from human rights groups after it was the only country to vote against a U.N. treaty requiring countries to punish perpetrators of forced labor.

 

Before reversing its decision, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the country voted against the protocol because “Thailand has to seriously consider her own readiness to implement such an instrument, in conformity with relevant Thai laws.â€

 

After a week of bad press, Thai officials are now bracing themselves for another blow. The US State Department is set to release its annual human Trafficking in Persons report (TIP) on Friday, and Thailand is expected to drop down to the lowest rank. If Thailand is downgraded to Tier 3, it may face economic sanctions and the withdrawal of financial aid.

 

In the past week, over 200,000 Cambodians have fled Thailand out of fear that the Thai military regime is preparing to crackdown on migrant workers.

 

However, deputy governor of Satul Mr. Prayoon said he has not received any reports of migrant workers in Satul heading back to their home countries. Most of the migrant workers in Satul are from Myanmar, not Cambodia.

 

Mr. Prayoon also urged operators of fishing boats in Satul who have not legally registered their migrant workers to do so in the near future.

 

 

http://en.khaosod.co.th/detail.php?newsid=1403179696&section=13

[radioman]

I recall a report, BBC I think, where they visited fishing boats with a Thai navy inspection team. The fishermen were almost exclusively Burmese and spoke no Thai. The boat captains, Thai, spoke both Thai and Burmese. The naval officers spoke no Burmese. They had a Burmese translator but he wasn't brought along on the boat trips. So the Thai navy personnel used the boat captains to translate for them. They reported no problems and all the fishermen were very happy. I recall that the Thai officer in charge thought there was absolutely nothing wrong with this

[Flashermac]

I can believe it. Years ago, when I was in the English dept of Srinakarinwirot University (then offering only teaching degrees), instructors from other faculties would also evaluate the English majors doing their student teaching. However, most of them they had no idea about EFL methodology and also spoke very poor English. As a result, they graded the student teachers on their appearance and handwriting.

[Flashermac]

 

The human trafficking works both ways. These Thai women were fortunate enough to escape after becoming victims of a Thailand-Mideast network which lures women into advertised jobs in Bahrain, then forces them into prostitution.

 

 

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/416486/washington-downgrades-thailand-over-human-trafficking