Thailand is “disappointed” at the United States for dropping the Kingdom down to the Tier 2 Watch List on the latest Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.
“Thailand takes note of the ranking but is disappointed as it does not fairly reflect the efforts and the development in the prevention and the mitigation of human trafficking,” said Tanee Sangrat, the ministry spokesman.
The 2021 TIP Report was released on Thursday, and saw the US State Department demoting Thailand from Tier 2. Countries on the watch list that do not work to improve their ranking fall to Tier 3, with possible restrictions on foreign assistance.
Eleven other countries were also demoted from Tier 2 to Tier 2 Watch List, while two were downgraded from the Watch List to Tier 3, the lowest ranking, including Guinea-Bissau and Malaysia.
For Thailand, the report acknowledged that steps had been taken to improve coordination in trafficking investigations, with investigations launched into nine alleged crimes.
However, the Thai government did not demonstrate an overall increase in efforts, it said, even considering the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity.
The report said the government in 2020 conducted fewer trafficking investigations, prosecuted fewer suspects, and convicted fewer traffickers than in 2019.
The number of labour victims that have been identified is also low when compared to the fact that forced labour is widespread among migrant workers in many industries.
It said many Thai officials often do not have an understanding of labour trafficking, the government does not have standard procedures for labour-trafficking investigations and the authorities have never identified any victim related to fishing vessels even though forced labour is prevalent in that industry.
On top of that, corruption continued to impede the government’s anti-trafficking efforts, the report added.
Tanee said Thailand has made progress in the speeding up of trafficking investigation and prosecution and they are coming up with new laws to protect labours such as rules to improve sheltering standards for workers within the fishery industry.
They are also providing training and workshops for related officials to increase their understanding of labour trafficking and related laws.
“The Thai government will earnestly continue with the anti-trafficking efforts to protect human dignity in accordance with human rights and humanitarian principles that Thailand has always given importance to,” he added.
The US Department places each country on the TIP Report into four tiers including Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 2 Watch List and Tier 3.
Countries in Tier 2 Watch List do not meet the minimum standards set by the US’s Trafficking Victims Protection Act. This means that the number of estimated trafficking victims is high or increasing rapidly while the government is failing to take concrete actions against it.
Countries in the Tier 2 Watch List can only be in the ranking for two consecutive years before they are demoted to Tier 3.