Course of Study in the Curriculum of some schools in Chiang Rai

A fountain of misery
Published: 7/03/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: NewsTackling a problem at its source is obviously a better strategy than letting it grow to the point where it becomes unmanageable. With this in mind, the British Embassy this week donated some 20,000 brochures through Thai government agencies in an awareness campaign against international human trafficking and the 700,000 people around the world known to have fallen victim to it.

Similar motivation has seen human trafficking introduced as a course of study in the curriculum of some schools in Chiang Rai to discourage hilltribe girls from being lured into the flesh trade. In recent weeks, it has also focused media attention on rescuing abused child maids trafficked here from Laos and Burma, underage labourers on fishing trawlers and trying to help the Rohingya boat people who are not even welcome in their own country.

There is no doubt that women abducted into forced prostitution and men coerced into servitude undergo the most horrific of human experiences. Such a despicable trade can only be sustained by callously exploiting the desperation bred of poverty. There can never be too loud an outcry against such wrongs.

Last June a tough new law to combat traffickers came into force and extended its protection to all those in danger of becoming victims of prostitution, pornography, sexual abuse, forced labour or the trade in human organs. It increased the punishment meted out to traffickers, spared victims from prosecution and concealed their identities. It also frees high-ranking police officers from having to obtain search warrants when actively in pursuit of suspected human traffickers and while rescuing their victims.

Now, nine months later, it would be encouraging to see police and public prosecutors making proper use of this law. Thailand has long had to suffer the shame of being branded an international people trafficking hub because gangs illegally trading in sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and other forced labour activity are either based here or use the country as a transit route.

Collusion has long been suspected between the corrupt influential figures behind the trafficking and their equally corrupt law enforcement counterparts. The new law was intended to dissolve such relationships, put the culprits in jail and make it clear that any tolerance that ever existed was at an end. If these goals have been achieved the accomplishment has been shrouded in secrecy. If they have not, then why enact important legislation if it is not going to be enforced?

This law also targets the exploitation of job-hunters, who sometimes pay 200,000 baht or more to get employment overseas. With no cash reserves, these job-seekers mortgage their land with the job-brokers, who charge them extortionate interest rates on the money they borrow. Once in a foreign country and with no money or knowledge of the local language, these workers often find out that their job description has changed. Fearful of losing their land, they have no choice but to accept what the foreign employers give them. Sometimes they lose everything.

Last year, in a six-month anti-trafficking operation across the United Kingdom, 528 people were arrested in 188 police raids. The majority of the 167 victims were found to have come from Southeast Asia, with about 30% of the cases involving Thais, either as traffickers or victims.

At present, such a coordinated response is the best way to tackle trafficking on this scale. The future lies in getting the message across to the vulnerable before the trap springs shut and they become the victims.

BANGKOK POST