On June 1, 2022, Deputy Permanent Secretary of Labour and Spokesperson to the Ministry of Labour, Mr. Wannarat Srisuksai, joined the academic discussion on “Looking Back and Forth: Preventing and Solving Trafficking in Persons in Thailand.” Representatives from several agencies participated in the discussion, including representatives from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the Ministry of Labour, representatives of the Royal Thai Police, Thai representatives on Women’s Rights from the ASEAN Commission on Promotion and Protection of Women’s Rights and Children’s Rights. The meeting took place at the Pakorn Angsusing Meeting Room, 2nd Floor, Department of Social Development and Welfare, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security.
Mr. Wannarat said that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister and Minister of Defense General Prayuth Chan-ocha, and the Ministry of Labour under the supervision of Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, have an important policy to drive anti-human trafficking operations. For the Ministry of Labour, the Labour Minister, Mr. Suchart Chomklin, has responded to the said policy and placed importance on driving the operation to achieve clear and concrete results, especially in the prevention and resolution of forced labour or service operations and human trafficking in labour. The Ministry of Labour has an important role in protecting and promoting workers’ work security and good quality of life. They are the main agency responsible for preventing forced labour missions and human trafficking in Thailand. The Ministry of Labour is determined to prevent and solve the problem of human trafficking, including the problem of immigrants and the abuse of foreign workers, which are important policies of the Ministry of Labour.
Mr. Wannarat also spoke about the Ministry of Labour’s mission of preventing and addressing important labour trafficking problems. At present, the Ministry of Labour has worked with relevant agencies to drive the policy, including labour inspections at the PIPO centers in 22 coastal provinces. He spoke about qualitative labour inspections in general enterprises and workplace inspections at risk of child labour, forced labour, and labour trafficking, the implementation of cooperation projects with foreign countries and international organizations, and the relaxation for foreign workers of the three nationalities to stay in the Kingdom to work temporarily during the Covid-19 outbreak, and the establishment of the center to issue CI, operating from January 10 to August 1, 2022. He also spoke about supporting enterprises to implement Good Labour Practices (GLP), upgrading the Labour Trafficking Prevention Command Center to a divisional level to provide directives to streamline operations and the appointment of the Task Force Against Human Trafficking in Labour.
“The problem of forced labour or service, and human trafficking in labour in Thailand, is an important policy of the Ministry of Labour. It is responsible for “prevention,” which includes network partners and government agencies. We need to work together to develop preventive measures and create a project to effectively prevent and solve human trafficking problems in labour so Thailand can be upgraded to Tier 2 in 2022. I would like to remind Thai and foreign workers wishing to travel to work abroad and traveling into Thailand to please contact the Ministry of Labour to ensure that you receive your entitled benefits and have employment and living conditions according to international principles,” concluded Mr. Wannarat.
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Division of Public Relations
1 June 2022
