Thailand has made great strides in its efforts to suppress human trafficking in the last six months, and expects the US to be more understanding, Deputy Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told reporters on Monday.
Officials check fishery workers in Chumphon province last September. (Photo by Amnat Thongdee)
The United States recently demoted Thailand to the Tier 3 category of countries with the worst human trafficking situation.
Mr Don said that human trafficking was a national agenda, and the government had made comprehensive progress in tackling it. This would be made very clear to the US in a report to be concluded this month.
On Monday, the government unveiled several new programmes designed to fight human trafficking. Full details at this link.
He said a ministerial regulation took effect on Dec 30, to protect fishery workers at sea.
The Human Trafficking Prevention and Suppression Act was amended to protect informants and authorities handling human trafficking cases and give half of the assets seized from human trafficking cases as compensation for victims.
The amended law requires the immediate assignment of interpreters to help abused foreign workers.
Among the new regulations that will be put into place are at least 10 hours of rest per working day and 30 days of leave per year, and the registration of migrant workers and their families.
The regulations will be enforced within 60 days after approval by the National Legislative Assembly on Friday, he said.
The National Legislative Assembly had also passed legislation clarifying protection for fishery workers, with fines for abuse set at up to 30 million baht.
Mr Don said that legal action was taken in 130 human trafficking cases and 104 people were punished in the past year. Citizenship verification of 1.6 million recently registered foreign workers who had been previously classified as illegal migrants should be concluded in March.
Thailand would submit a report on its anti-human trafficking efforts to the US this month, and hoped that the US would recognise the effort being made, Mr Don said.
Non-governmental organizations expressed doubts about whether the reforms will be would be implemented.
"Thailand has a long history of extortion and exploitation over migrant workers," Amy Smith, director of Fortify Rights, a human rights organization in South-east Asia, told the German Press Agency.
"Therefore we are sceptical if these regulations will be implemented and sustained."
The government was doing its best to tackle human trafficking and Thailand was doing better than other countries in the same tier, he said.
Labour Minister Surasak Kanjanarat said his ministry would respond to Washington's call for an end to the employment of children under 15 years in the agricultural sector, and those under 18 years in ocean fishing, and for employment contracts of fishery workers to be in Thai, English and the mother language of foreign workers from neighbouring countries before they board their fishing boats.
The US monitors countries for four years, before assessing their tier status. Thailand was added to the Tier 2 watch list in 2010. In June 2014 it was downgraded to Tier 3, the lowest level, for its lack of progress in combating human trafficking.
On Monday, the government unveiled several new programmes designed to fight human trafficking.
