An unsettling and downright dangerous mood has followed last week's US Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. That report, which left Thailand on the list of the world's worst countries for this issue, noted there is much to do on this subject. The general reaction, however, has been different. From Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on down, the country is rather pleased with its actions between April 1 and July 26, which are neither reflected nor reported in the US ratings. Thailand is also disgruntled about the unfairness of parts of the US process. This has led much too quickly to the insidious feeling that next year's TIP report will note the achievements, and let's move on.
Gen Prayut deserves credit for the work done against human trafficking this year. Where previous governments — civilian and military alike — turned away, he ordered action.
It had significant effect, as dozens of men and women under indictment have learned. It was unfortunate that the TIP report's submission deadline of March 31 meant that virtually the entire national effort against this scourge was not recognised.
But the discovery of the human trafficking death camps and the international conference on Rohingya boat people are parts of a massive, criminal jigsaw puzzle.
Many people who were shanghaied and exploited by the fishing industry — turned into slaves — have recently been freed. No doubt, next year's US report on human trafficking will recognise these achievements. But overall, they are a small part of the problem.
Now is hardly the time for self-congratulations. Moving away from human trafficking to other problems will set back the issue, perhaps even to the point where it is worse than it was a year ago.
Weather, not enforcement, has slowed the outpouring of boat people to a trickle, and inside Myanmar, brutality and threats continue. Thai slaves on fishing trawlers and packing docks have been replaced by migrants from neighbouring countries.
Arrests and indictments mean the government will have to deal with the trafficking problem. Yet no convictions have been recorded, because no court cases have been scheduled.
Constant reports from the South say witnesses in potential court cases are being intimidated and warned against testifying.
The 35-year-old Rohingya street vendor who tipped off police to search for the death camps now is living at a police station, in what international news agencies say "is a primitive form of witness protection".
The criminals are fighting back. Pride in the battle against human trafficking is misplaced, because it is far too early. If complacency sets in, and if authorities are seen to be backing off, backsliding will be rapid and immediate, making all that has been achieved so far almost useless.
Prime Minister Prayut has many jobs, with a dozen major tasks and countless smaller ones. The battle against human trafficking, however, is on the list of top challenges.
One of the ways to keep up and expand the pressure on traffickers is to appoint a top-level assistant, put him in charge and make it clear his authority comes directly and only from the prime minister, wearing his hat as commander of the National Council for Peace and Order.
The results of the war on human trafficking are still shaky. To relax efforts now creates a real risk — it will be lost. Pressure on traffickers must be stepped up at all costs.