This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

101009Z Feb 06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BANGKOK 000827 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT OF LABOR FOR ILAB - MARK MITTELHAUSER AND BRANDIE 
SASSER; STATE FOR G/TIP, EAP/MLS, DRL/IL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB KCRM KWMN PREF PHUM TH
SUBJECT: IJM MENDS FENCES, FACILITATES TRAFFICKING 
CONVICTIONS IN THAILAND 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary. The U.S.-based anti-trafficking NGO, IJM, 
is improving its image in Thailand and received qualified 
praise from NGO stakeholders during a final evaluation of its 
three-year TIP project funded by the Department of Labor. 
Separately, RTG police officials have credited IJM's 
instrumental assistance in over a dozen completed and pending 
TIP prosecutions since 2004.  IJM's new staff has also 
reached out to improve coordination with local NGOs, and has 
assisted subgrantee organizations in providing legal 
assistance to thousands of disadvantaged hill tribe members 
seeking Thai citizenship and education to reduce their 
vulnerability to trafficking.  While IJM continues to face 
suspicion that it is too closely tied to USG anti-TIP policy, 
its recent accomplishments have convinced many, especially in 
Thai law enforcement, that it plays a valuable and 
results-oriented role combating TIP in Thailand.  End Summary. 
 
 ¶2. (SBU) The International Justice Mission (IJM), in the 
course of a final evaluation by Department of Labor (DOL) 
officials of a three-year, USD 700,000  project for anti 
trafficking-in-persons (TIP) work in Thailand, received 
extensive praise for its recent work, combined with residual 
criticism for past problems, at a February 3 workshop with 
project stakeholders in Chiang Mai.  The workshop was 
moderated by the project's local evaluation team, a group of 
three researchers who were contracted by DOL from 
Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.  The workshop 
stakeholders' review focused on IJM's ability to meet 
original objectives of the project, "Thailand Sex Trafficking 
Taskforce: Prevention Placement Program," which ran from 2003 
to 2005.  The project aimed to put in place a comprehensive, 
replicable strategy to combat TIP through prevention, victim 
removal and rehabilitation activities.  The workshop was 
attended by three Emboffs and two visiting DOL reps, and 
included subgrantee organizations in the IJM project as well 
as other NGO partners, hill tribe representatives, law 
enforcement officers and other RTG officials.  The workshop 
concluded a week of on-site meetings by DOL evaluators with 
IJM's partners in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces. 
 
--------------------------- 
Overcoming an Image Problem 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) IJM's office in Thailand, by the open admission of 
its current staff, has fought an uphill battle in recent 
years against allegations that it overzealously pursued TIP 
cases in dramatic, well-publicized raids that ran roughshod 
over local authorities and sensitivities.  Early after its 
establishment in 2001, IJM was accused of removing 
prostitutes from brothel establishments against their will, 
failing to provide for post-removal care and shelter for 
rescued women, and allowing ordinary migrant workers to be 
rounded up and detained along with legitimate TIP victims. 
In truth, IJM was not the only NGO in Thailand subject to 
these accusations.  But Thai observers at the time questioned 
the authority of a U.S.-based NGO conducting law enforcement 
operations in a sovereign country.  The prominent 
U.S.-supported anti-TIP coordinating NGO in northern 
Thailand, TRAFCORD, complained that IJM, as a newcomer 
unqualified to investigate trafficking in Thailand, was 
hampering the Thai court system by filing cases that lacked 
acceptable evidence and unsettling existing NGO relationships 
with Thai prosecutors and judges. 
 
¶4. (SBU) In interviews this month, however, anti-trafficking 
NGOs in northern Thailand indicate that IJM's current staff 
has worked hard to mend fences with Thai civil society over 
the past two years, and local police officials especially are 
grateful for the technical and investigative assistance that 
IJM has provided in securing the prosecution of numerous 
trafficking rings.  IJM has shown a greater regard for local 
sensitivities by working with Thai counterparts behind the 
scenes, eschewing publicity and allowing Thai law enforcement 
partners to take credit for recent courtroom successes. 
TRAFCORD has also reached a modus vivendi with IJM, and, 
although it does not cooperate with IJM as much as IJM would 
like on TIP cases brought to the attention of both 
organizations, TRAFCORD tacitly admits that IJM has achieved 
solid recent results, and accepts that the two NGOs can work 
concurrently, if separately, in the same region. 
 
--------------------------------- 
IJM A "Great Benefit to Thailand" 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) At the February 3 stakeholders' workshop, IJM 
received strong praise from a Thai police captain who serves 
as a principal investigative inspector of trafficking in 
Thailand's Region 5 - northern provinces.  (Although the 
workshop did not specifically focus on IJM's assistance in 
prosecutions, which was outside the scope of the DOL project, 
these activities were considered relevant by law enforcement 
in the deterrence of future trafficking.)  The captain said 
IJM's cooperation with Thai police over the past year, 
especially for its provision of technological expertise, was 
crucial to local prosecutors in securing trafficking 
convictions.  "IJM is world-renowned for its investigative 
experience," the captain said, "and they've provided a degree 
of technical support and equipment to which we've never 
before had access."  The captain added, "In a world where we 
have limited resources to perform our jobs, where we 
sometimes have to use our own money for transportation to 
trafficking sites, IJM is like having a free set of 
investigators - they help us do our jobs in a very clever and 
supportive manner, and are performing a great benefit to 
Thailand." 
 
¶6. (SBU) Another workshop participant, representing an NGO 
with 18 years of experience providing counseling services for 
hill tribe members, also praised IJM for its recent work: 
"When IJM first came to Thailand, they forced their will on 
us - they acted as if they found a car that didn't work and 
needed to replace every single part in order to make it run. 
Now, they look at the car to determine what's wrong and how 
to fix it.  Their current leadership is much more 
understanding and, although some of their work still 
duplicates the work that other NGOs were already performing, 
they are ultimately benefiting children and indeed all 
trafficking victims.  As much as you might criticize them, it 
would be a very sad day indeed if IJM departed Thailand." 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) A balanced assessment of IJM's activities was 
provided by Sompop Jantraka, the Nobel Prize-nominated 
director of the Development Education Program for Daughters 
and Communities (DEPDC), who stressed that "IJM has done much 
positive work in Thailand and has dramatically improved its 
operating style, but needs to continue to prove itself."  He 
asked that IJM focus on "opening itself" to the Thai public 
by working with other NGOs and thinking of itself as "a tool 
for the entire community."  "Some of us have been here for a 
long time and have broad experience in combating 
trafficking," Sompop said.  "You (IJM) are like a younger 
brother to us, but we all need brothers and sisters and you 
cannot operate independently.  You have to trust us (the NGO 
community), and I believe you have been doing so recently," 
Sompop added. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Separately, a representative from the RTG's Human 
Resource Development Office who also serves as a government 
representative on TRAFCORD, said he was pleasantly surprised 
at the scope of IJM's progress outlined in the workshop.  "I 
didn't really know what IJM was doing until today," he said, 
"but there is still the perception that IJM is an arm of the 
U.S. government."  He said he had three recommendations for 
IJM: 1) to recognize that there are "good and bad cops" 
everywhere - and make the choice to work with the good ones; 
2) to support NGOs in a more sustainable manner, and avoid 
providing short-term subgrantee funds that are cut off too 
quickly; and 3) to work towards more of a partnership with 
other NGOs rather than a boss/employee relationship. 
(Comment: In a separate meeting with IJM and TRAFCORD, 
TRAFCORD program coordinator Ben Svasti, a noted IJM critic 
in the past, also remarked that relations between the two 
organizations had improved, and differentiated the two by 
saying that IJM was "more concerned with results" while 
TRAFCORD focused on "building a process.") 
 
¶9. (SBU) IJM's Thailand Director and Thai police 
investigators, in separate meetings with Emboffs and DOL 
officers, provided further details on IJM's collaboration 
with Thai prosecutors:  IJM facilitated a total of ten 
trafficking convictions in 2004-2005, with six cases pending 
trial in 2006.  Although classified as "trafficking" cases by 
IJM, the convictions were obtained under a variety of penal 
code provisions, ranging from hiring aliens without 
permission to procuring women and children for the purposes 
of prostitution, with sentences as follows: 
 
-- LU Trafficking Case, Chiang Rai, 2 convictions (15 years) 
-- HARDING Pedophilia Case, Chiang Mai, 1 conviction (8 mos.) 
-- SUREERAT Trafficking Case, Chiang Rai, 4 convictions (4-5 
years) 
-- NAREEDANG Child Labor Case, Chiang Rai, 1 conviction (2 
years probation) 
-- MAYA Karaoke Trafficking Case, Chiang Rai, 1 conviction (3 
months) 
-- JARIWALA Pedophilia Case, Chiang Mai, 1 conviction (9 
months) 
 
¶10. (SBU) In an indication that Thai courts are increasingly 
accepting IJM's investigative techniques, prosecutors secured 
the LU convictions and 15 year jail sentences through the use 
of videotape evidence, provided by IJM and Chiang Rai 
immigration police using hidden cameras as they negotiated 
the procurement and "sale" of a 15-year old Burmese girl for 
sexual purposes.  The SUREERAT case conviction was also 
obtained through hidden camera evidence, with the sole 
defendant who pleaded not guilty receiving the most severe 
sentence of 5 years.  (The judge in this case, upon seeing 
IJM's videotape of the prostitution transaction, asked the 
defendant if she wished to reconsider her plea.  When she 
refused, the judge handed her the harshest sentence of the 
four defendants.) 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
Concerns Remain About Sustainability, "Loyalties" 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶11. (SBU) At the stakeholders' meeting, the Chulalongkorn 
evaluation team also gave their own one-hour presentation of 
findings which credited IJM and its subgrantees with raising 
awareness of TIP through the use of the arts and sporting 
events, and with providing scholarships, legal services and 
shelter homes for TIP victims or women and children at risk 
of being trafficked.  The evaluators acknowledged that IJM 
had made a significant impact on improving NGO networks on 
anti-TIP activities and improving the capacity of immigration 
police to investigate trafficking rings.  The evaluators also 
noted the high number of hill tribe members that was reached 
through awareness raising activities.  Several thousand hill 
tribe members were granted Thai citizenship during the 
project period, although it was difficult to determine the 
impact of IJM and subgrantee activities on the citizenship 
decisions by Thai authorities.  Despite these positive 
outcomes, the evaluators questioned the sustainability of IJM 
strategies upon completion of the DOL program, due to a lack 
of management capacity building among IJM's 17 total 
subgrantee organizations and their dependence on IJM funding 
for survival. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Laboff and DOL officers also spoke at the workshop 
to counter the evaluators' stated belief that information 
obtained by IJM might unfairly tarnish Thailand's reputation 
on trafficking.  The evaluators' power point presentation 
included a slide stating that the "release of information 
about some trafficking and child rights violation cases can 
tarnish Thailand's reputation in sex trafficking suppression 
and has implications on other aspects of the U.S.-Thai 
relationship."  Ask to expand on this concern, the evaluators 
noted the perception among some Thai NGOs that IJM was in 
effect a "front" for the USG and was established primarily to 
channel information to the USG for inclusion in the State 
Department's annual TIP report.  The evaluators also said 
that the phrase "other aspects of the U.S.-Thai relationship" 
referred to trade relations and possible implications of 
Thailand's trafficking and child labor record on ongoing Free 
Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations as well as trade 
preference programs such as GSP.  The evaluators asked for 
clarification of the use of IJM's case histories in the U.S. 
TIP report and the use of other sources in evaluating 
Thailand's efforts to combat TIP. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Laboff said that the TIP report is a comprehensive 
review of TIP activities around the world that reviewed not 
just the prevalence of TIP in each country studied, but the 
extent of government activities to combat TIP and its root 
causes.  Laboff said that the Embassy, and the USG in 
general, relied on a diverse set of sources for information 
on TIP, including (but not limited to) local and 
international NGOs, the media, host country law enforcement 
and immigration agencies, and academic researchers.  Laboff 
said much of the information received from IJM (and other 
NGOs including TRAFCORD) included difficult-to-obtain 
statistics on recent successful TIP prosecutions and 
convictions which could only reflect well on Thailand's 
efforts to combat TIP. 
 
¶14. (SBU) DOL officers also said that they had an obligation 
to properly monitor the results of IJM's activities, as with 
the activities of all NGOs receiving USG funding, to ensure 
that funds were used as intended and achieving measurable 
results.  Laboff added that U.S.-Thai relations could only be 
strengthened by an open exchange of information on these 
issues, and that trade relations would continue to progress 
on the understanding that both countries were already 
committed to upholding basic standards to combat child labor 
and TIP.  There remained room for improvement, however, and 
Laboff asked that the stakeholders press their RTG contacts 
to ensure passage of the draft comprehensive Anti-Trafficking 
Law that is pending approval by the Thai parliament this year. 
 
¶15. (SBU) Comment:  Project evaluators' doubts about the 
sustainability of IJM's strategies will add impetus to IJM's 
efforts to pursue follow-on funding after the completion of 
the DOL project.  While they will continue to address the 
northern provinces, IJM is also focusing their activities on 
trafficking routes to the South, which they believe are 
leading to Hat Yai in Songkhla province and beyond.  Emboffs 
noted during this visit the number of interlocutors, 
including Thai police officials and representatives from the 
International Labor Organization (ILO), who concur that Hat 
Yai is becoming a major focal point of human trafficking in 
Thailand.  Activities in Hat Yai will be a subject for future 
post TIP reporting. 
BOYCE