Government agencies need to coordinate better in identifying victims of trafficking gangs, a rights network says.
Methods used by state agencies to identify and help trafficking victims are flawed, according to Sompong Sakaew of the Labour Rights Promotion Network.
Agencies also fall short when it comes to implementing measures to deal with the problem, he added. The problems in victim identification and the lack of all-round measures have impeded efforts to tackle human trafficking.
Mr Sompong said the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and the Anti-Human Trafficking Division (AHTD), the two main agencies responsible for fighting human trafficking, sometimes provide conflicting figures of the number of victims.
In one case, the DSI reported 28 fishing crew members were trafficking victims. But the result of a subsequent investigation by the AHTD substantially reduced the number to two, Mr Sompong said. "In this case, we thought there were far more victims [than the AHTD] had identified," he said at a forum on national reform and human trafficking at Chulalongkorn University yesterday.
The rights network called on state agencies to work more professionally as the human trafficking issue affects Thailand's standing on the international anti-trafficking watch list.
Mr Sompong said the network has written to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha urging him to speed up the rescue of some 300 Thai fishermen who jumped ship to escape brutality on trawlers and have now ended up on Indonesian islands.
At least three Thai fishermen are being detained by immigration officials on Indonesia's Ambon island because they have no documents proving their nationality. The network has appointed lawyers to help 20 repatriated fishermen file charges against those who trafficked them.
Mr Sompong said authorities should come up with a joint action plan to tackle the problem in a systematic manner.
"Agencies should not be so focused on wrapping up trafficking cases too quickly since crucial information may not be verified," he said. Victims would need help and the kingpins tracked down.