For Surapong Kongchantuk of the Lawyers Council of Thailand, the response of Thai governments to the United States Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report have a familiar ring.
"Over the past four to five years, Thai governments and the Foreign Ministry have said the country's track record on human trafficking has improved and that its TIP assessment would improve. But the result is the very opposite," he told the Bangkok Post.
Overall, this government's response to the TIP assessment is no different from the approach of previous governments - setting up committees supposedly to tackle the issues, with the Foreign Ministry going into lobbying mode.
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He admits the Prayut Chan-o-cha government has good intentions. Still, there are many recommendations in the report that still need to be addressed.
Past governments did not address, for example, human trafficking in the fishing industry or the Rohingya ethnic minority.
Recent government action was prompted by an Associated Press report in March that highlighted the use of trafficked labour in the Thai fishing industry and the discovery of mass graves and detention camps along the Thai-Malaysian border in May.
Despite his overall criticism, Mr Surapong said the government has taken the right action in cracking down on Rohingya trafficking networks, arresting suspects and seizing assets.
However, he believes the government stumbled badly by adopting the policy of not allowing Rohingya to land in Thailand.
They set off in rickety boats from Myanmar in search of a new life in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
"Not allowing Rohingya into Thailand is equivalent to assisting the traffickers," he said, adding that many of the boats bringing the Rohingya are Thai-owned.
"More investigation is needed to find out who are the owners of these boats."
He admitted the setting up of a division in the Criminal Court to handle human trafficking cases would shorten the legal process and was a positive development.
US officials consult all parties before issuing their annual TIP report.
But he also said the US should consider any new development if it is important, even if this occurs after the March 2015 review deadline.
