The Permanent Secretary of Labour, Mr. Pairoj Chotikasathien, spoke about the United States Department of State’s Trafficking In Persons Report 2024 on June 24, whereby Thailand maintains the Tier 2 status, which is the same as last year. The report compiles data on human trafficking from 186 countries and economies. According to the report, Thailand’s efforts to solve human trafficking are increasing. Thailand does not meet minimum standards completely in eliminating human trafficking, but significant efforts have been made to do so. The government has demonstrated an overall push for efforts compared to the previous reporting period on issues such as the number of human trafficking investigations, prosecutions, and the number of victims being screened and referred for services. There have been investigations into government officials accused of involvement in human trafficking cases and greater separation of victims who are migrant workers, including separating victims of exploitation in the fishing sector. The court has ordered an increase in compensation for victims and opened a victim separation service center, for example.
The United States also has important suggestions for Thailand’s operations in relation to the Ministry of Labour, such as increasing efforts to identify and protect victims who have entered Thailand after being exploited through forced labour, fully enforcing the national referral mechanism (NRM), and reflective recovery period, and proceeding with opening a sorting center. It also suggests adopting a victim-centered approach and considering psychological trauma, including during interviews and labour inspections by a multidisciplinary team, enforcing labour protection in the fishing industry and various trades. This includes electronic payment options and a ban on sea transfers, including screening forms for forced labour or services and labour trafficking in persons from the Ministry of Labour, and the Ministry’s screening form MSD to follow the same guidelines and train frontline officials to have adequate understanding.
Mr. Pairoj continued that the prevention and suppression of human trafficking in Thailand has three main agencies. The Ministry of Labour is the main agency on the “prevention side.” In the past year, it has driven actions to prevent and solve human trafficking in many areas. For example, there have been important developments in prevention, upgrading the Secretariat of the Human Trafficking Prevention Command Center to be a division-level agency, able to command flexibility in operations to drive the Ministry of Labour’s policy to prevent human trafficking in labour. It enforces standard operating procedures (SOP) for initial screening of potential victims of forced labour or services, and increases the ability of officials to enforce laws related to human trafficking. It has increased the number of labour inspectors for at-risk labor groups such as foreign workers, child workers, and fishing sector workers to receive protection according to the labour law and work under employment conditions according to international principles. The Ministry of Labour works with relevant agencies to drive the said policy, including labour inspections at PIPO centers in 22 coastal provinces, qualitative labour inspections in general establishments and inspections of establishments that are at risk of using child labour, forced labour, and human trafficking. It has encouraged business establishments to adopt good labor practices, such as carrying out cooperation projects with the United States in the field of prevention. In addition, the Ministry of Labour has worked with private sector organizations in law enforcement and continuous support for defense missions.
” Thailand was ranked Tier 2 in the Trafficking In Persons Report by the US Department of State, the same as last year. We must praise officials in all sectors who have worked together and made efforts to eliminate human trafficking in all its forms. The Ministry of Labour is responsible for prevention. The Labour Minister, Mr. Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, has given importance to and urged officials in all departments to commit to solving such problems more efficiently to ensure that human trafficking disappears from Thailand as soon as possible,” concluded Mr. Pairoj.
