The Justice Ministry and the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) say they believe Thailand will be removed from the United States' human trafficking watch list and upgraded to a better ranking due to progress in dealing with the matter.
Acting permanent secretary for justice Charnchao Chaiyanukij yesterday said he was confident the US would see Thailand intended to tackle human trafficking and the country would be removed from the watch list and its status upgraded.
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has issued a policy on trafficking of women, children and migrant labour, and assigned harsh punishments against those involved, Mr Charnchao said.
The NCPO has also moved to regulate migrant workers to prevent them from being exploited.
With those efforts, he believed Thailand would be upgraded to a better position.
Washington will today announce the release of its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report. The US has included Thailand for four consecutive years on its Tier 2 Watch List of goods and products produced by child or forced labour as defined by the US Labour Department.
Pol Lt Col Paisit Sangkhahapong, a special cases expert at the DSI's anti-human trafficking centre, said he also believes Thailand's ranking will improve.
Several agencies, including the Social Development and Human Security Department, the Labour Ministry, the Royal Thai Police Office, the Foreign Ministry and the DSI have tackled the human trafficking problem, he said.
Committees have been set up to tackle the trafficking of children and women lured into prostitution, the exploitation of migrant workers and child labour.
Last year's report on human trafficking report showed there were a total of 627 new human-trafficking cases and 225 people involved had been sentenced by courts, with many receiving a jail term of more than two years, said Pol Lt Col Paisit.
This showed that Thailand has strictly enforced laws against those involved in human-trafficking, he added.
On top of this, the kingdom has worked out several measures to deal with the problem, such as a plan to solve child labour problems in the production of five products, moves to regulate migrant workers and setting up a national body to eliminate the use of child labour at workplaces. It has also set guidelines covering social welfare benefits for workers.