U.S. CONSULATE GENERAL CHIANG MAI NOVEMBER 13, 2015 Trafficking in Persons

Trafficking in Persons Report  188 countries and territories included in the 2015 Report.  Annual report to monitor efforts to prosecute and prevent trafficking as well as protect TIP victims, including both adults and children.  A diplomatic tool that provides an overview of human trafficking in each country and evaluates government efforts to combat the problem.

Combating Trafficking: Three P Approach  Prevention:  Public awareness raising and education  Protection:  Identify and protect victims  Provide assistance  Encourage government-NGO cooperation  Prosecution:  Outlaw all forms of trafficking  Investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers  Law enforcement training

STATISTICS Some estimates: 20 million victims of human trafficking globally In 2014, Less than 45,000 victims identified (44,758 ) Less than 6,000 traffickers convicted (5,776) *** A $32 billion dollar industry

Trafficking vs. Smuggling? TRAFFICKINGSMUGGLING An Element of Force, Fraud, or Coercion (actual, perceived or implied) OR under 18 years of age involved in commercial sex acts. The person being smuggled is generally cooperating. Forced Labor and/or Exploitation.There is no actual or implied coercion. Persons trafficked are victims.Persons smuggled are complicit in the smuggling crime; they are not necessarily victims of the crime of smuggling (though they may become victims) Enslaved, subjected to limited movement or isolation, or had documents confiscated. Persons are free to leave, change jobs, etc. Need not involve actual movement of the victim. Facilitates the illegal entry of person(s) from one country into another. No requirement to cross an international border. Smuggling always crosses an international border. Person must be involved in labor/services or commercial sex acts, i.e., must be "working". Person must only be in country or attempting entry illegally.

TIP Report Tier 1: Countries whose governments fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. Tier 2: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards. Tier 2 Watch List: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards, AND:  the number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant  there is a failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons from the previous year; OR,  the determination that a country is making significant efforts was based on commitments to take additional steps over the next year. Tier 3: Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.

OVERVIEW Thailand (Tier 3*) is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking.Tier 3*  Many of the trafficking victims within Thailand— tens of thousands of victims, by conservative estimates—are migrants from Thailand’s neighboring countries who are forced, coerced, or defrauded into labor or exploited in the sex trade.  The majority of Thai victims identified during the year were found in sex trafficking. Child sex trafficking, once known to occur in highly visible establishments, has become increasingly clandestine.  A significant portion of labor trafficking victims within Thailand are exploited in commercial fishing, fishing-related industries, low-end garment production, factories, and domestic work; some victims are forced to beg on the streets.

ACHIEVEMENTS Achievements since 2013: Thailand ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in 2013 Denied entry to 79 known foreign sex offenders Opened seven fishing labor coordination centers The government assisted 744 trafficking victims Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act has penalties from 4 to 10 years in prison; death penalty added in Total of 674 trafficking cases investigated in 2013, up from 306 in The government reported convicting 225 traffickers in Indicted 72 ringleaders in early 2015.

CHALLENGES Challenges The number of victims assisted and traffickers prosecuted is still low compared to the scale of the problem Numbers declined in 2014 from 2013, yet evidence suggests the problem is still significant, especially in fisheries and seafood Limited proactive efforts made to screen for victims in vulnerable groups. Vulnerability of stateless groups remains an issue Inadequate interpretation services and few private spaces to screen potential victims The government did not hold ship owners, captains, or complicit government officials criminally accountable Limited collaboration between police and prosecutors

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Proactively increase victim identification among vulnerable populations 2. Prosecute higher level criminals/criminal networks/owners and deliver harsh penalties 3. Investigate allegations of official corruption

Northern Thailand as a Source Region Highland (aka hill tribe) population vulnerable to trafficking; UN cites lack of legal status as primary causal factor of their exploitation.

Northern Thailand as a Transit Region Burmese migrant workers enter at Mae Sot Lao, Chinese, and North Koreans bound for other countries

Northern Thailand as a Destination Region Demand from Thais and foreign tourists Many commercial sex workers from Isaan, Laos, Cambodia

Law Enforcement Cooperation 1. Joint investigations and enforcement 2. Cooperation on extradition 3. Coordination on int’l travel of sex offenders

Lek’s brother left Roi Et ten years ago to work in Bangkok. Lek wants to join his brother to live and work together. He pays an unknown man a 30,000 baht deposit to get him to Bangkok and upon arrival owes another 30,000. Lek arrives, lives with his brother, finds a job and works 18 hours a day, seven days a week. He is paid 100 baht a day. When he misses one payment of his debt, three men beat him until he can barely walk.

NO Lek owes a large debt Lek works 18-hour days Lek has no days off Lek is physically beaten Lek is paid lower than the minimum wage Are crimes being committed? YES But is it Trafficking? NO. He is not being forced to work and was not the victim, of fraud or coercion.

Anna, a masseuse from Laos, hears through a friend about a job at a massage parlor in Bangkok that pay 10,000 baht a month with free housing. Upon arrival, the owner shows her to a room with a mattress on the floor where she must sleep and work. She must clean the parlor every night after having sex with men. The owner tells Anna that if she tries to leave, she will send gang members to kill her. The owner also says she will call her police friends and have Anna departed if she refuses to have sex. Her salary is paid into a bank account controlled by the owner.

YES Anna thought she was recruited for massage, not sex She is prevented from leaving through intimidation Threatened with deportation beatings, or even death Likely has had her passport confiscated Cannot access funds owed to her Clearly a trafficking situation

Susi, an eight year old Burmese girl joins her distant family in Mae Sot where she is promised schooling. Susi goes to school, but she is beaten if she comes home late. She is expected to clean and cook for the family, often staying up past midnight. She sleeps on her cousin’s floor. She is not permitted to eat with the family and only eats if there are leftovers.

MAYBE (Probably YES) Expected to clean and cook for the family Stays up past midnight doing so Sleeps on her cousin’s floor Beaten if comes home late Not permitted to eat with the family Eats only if there are leftovers Constantly berated Key questions: Is she a real family member or is she being exploited for labor?