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

051007Z Jul 06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 BANGKOK 003955 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP, EAP/MLS, DRL/IL, PRM/PRP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KWMN KCRM ELAB PREL SMIG PHUM KJUS EAID TH
SUBJECT: VITAL VOICES CONFERENCE ON TRAFFICKING IN 
PERSONS 
 
 
¶1. Summary. The Vital Voices Conference, entitled 
Civil Society and Government Collaboration to Combat 
Trafficking in Persons in the Greater Mekong Sub- 
Region, was held in Bangkok from May 22-24.  The 
conference promoted greater collaboration among NGOs 
and government agencies on anti-trafficking activities 
in the region, but also highlighted the need to 
coordinate funding and strategic planning with other 
actors - such as corporations and labor unions - that 
were making important strides against TIP 
independently.  Representatives from the government 
and NGO sectors of each Mekong Basin country 
(excluding the Burmese government), as well as U.N. 
and Thai government co-hosts of the conference, 
praised the USG for providing a regional forum for 
NGOs to express their view directly with 
representatives of their own governments.  In some 
cases, members of the two sectors were meeting in this 
capacity for the very first time.  Following the 
conference, PAS Bangkok organized a speaking tour in 
northern Thailand for Melanne Verveer, Chair of Vital 
Voices, and her staff.  Recently-named UNODC Goodwill 
Ambassador Julia Ormond also praised the conference's 
unique format for encouraging countries to share best 
practices on a problem that by nature transcends 
borders in a region subject to huge migrant flows. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2. The Vital Voices anti-trafficking conference, held 
in Bangkok from May 22-24, brought together NGO and 
government leaders from around the world to focus on 
improving collaboration in the fight against 
trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion. 
Participants agreed that the conference succeeded in 
fostering dialogue between NGO and government 
representatives that has often been missing in 
international fora on trafficking-in-persons.  Chinese 
and Vietnamese NGO delegates in particular praised the 
USG for proving a forum for NGO-government dialogue 
that was not often available in their own countries. 
The discussions generated by other conference 
invitees, however, also made clear that other players 
in the fight against TIP - such as the business 
community and labor unions - were playing important 
roles that needed encouragement through linkages with 
NGO and government efforts. 
 
¶3. Among the important informal recommendations 
generated by the conference discussions: 
 
-- Reduce "capital city policymaking" that ignored 
realities on the ground in poorer, outlying provinces 
that supplied most TIP victims. 
 
-- Ensure that training initiatives assisting police 
and government officials at capital headquarters get 
extended to provincial officials who deal directly 
with TIP. 
 
-- Improve dialogue with labor unions, which can play 
an important role in organizing workers (especially in 
tourism, hotels) vulnerable to TIP. (Cambodian hotel 
unions were cited as a positive example.) 
 
-- Support G/TIP's enhanced focus on labor trafficking 
and debt bondage. 
 
-- Increase the role of the business community, 
following the lead of Microsoft and the Gates 
Foundation in addressing TIP and providing vocational 
training for alternative sources of income. 
 
-- Get law enforcement agencies and NGOs to "speak the 
same language" when addressing TIP; law enforcement 
needs to better respect victim privacy and security, 
while NGOs need to understand the need to secure 
testimony for successful prosecutions. 
 
-- Improve the "quality" of TIP prosecutions as well 
as the "quantity"; emphasize to governments that 
exorbitant sentences for "small fry" traffickers does 
not excuse lack of prosecution of corrupt officials or 
trafficking "kingpins". 
 
-- Ensure that competition for funds does not inhibit 
donor coordination; NGOs seeking funds from same 
sources tend to withhold information and keep projects 
"proprietary". 
 
¶4. Co-sponsors were the RTG's Ministry of Social 
Development and Human Security, UNODC, USAID, and 
Embassy Bangkok.  Ambassador Boyce delivered opening 
remarks, as did the RTG's Minister for Social 
Development and Human Security (SDHS), actress and UN 
Goodwill Ambassador Julia Ormond, UN Resident Country 
Coordinator Joana Merlin-Scholtes, and Vital Voices 
Chair Melanne Verveer. 
 
¶5. RTG Minister Watana Muangsook opened the conference 
by identifying poverty alleviation as a means to 
combat trafficking.  He described the RTG's dual track 
economic development scheme, which focuses on both 
domestic projects (e.g. the 30 baht health care 
program and village funds) and regional cooperation 
(e.g. Economic Cooperation Strategy.)  Ambassador 
Boyce encouraged greater government and NGO 
cooperation, and called for the Thai Parliament to 
pass a comprehensive anti-trafficking law this year. 
Julia Ormond relayed stories gathered from her 
meetings with trafficking victims around the world. 
 
¶6. USAID's Regional Mission in Thailand designed 
break-out sessions throughout the conference to 
encourage government and NGO sectors to jointly 
identify priorities and implement activities.  The 
Ministry of SDHS hosted a reception the first evening, 
followed the second evening by a reception at 
Ambassador's residence.  Various delegates 
participated as panel speakers throughout the 
conference, and paragraph 6 summarizes these 
presentations.  The powerpoint slides can be accessed 
at 
 
http://www.vitalvoices.org/desktopdefault.asp x?page_id=346. 
 
¶7. As a follow-on to the conference, PAS Bangkok 
programmed Verveer and Wenchi Yu Perkins, also of 
Vital Voices, on a three-day target-of-opportunity 
speaking tour in northern Thailand.  They met with 
provincial anti-trafficking teams, consisting of local 
government officials, police officers, public 
prosecutors, psychologists, NGO representatives, 
attorneys, and journalists in the provinces of Chiang 
Mai, Chiang Rai and Phayao.  The program ended with a 
visit to the Development and Education Program for 
Daughters and Community (DEPDC) in Mae Sai, located on 
the border with Burma.  DEPDC, a community-based 
organization, is recognized internationally for its 
success in educating rural, impoverished children and 
adults, many of whom are from local hill tribes 
without Thai citizenship, who are particularly 
vulnerable to trafficking.  Ms. Verveer and Ms. 
Perkins used the opportunity to take lessons learned 
from regional partners working to combat trafficking 
and shared the knowledge and  ext steps ith 
numerous Thai officials working in some of Thailand 
most notorious areas 
for trafficking activities. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
CROSS-BORDER COLLABORATION; CROSS-CULTURE LESSONS 
LEARNED 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶8.  A member of the Royal Thai Police and a 
representative of the UN Inter-agency Project on 
Trafficking (UNIAP) described a trafficking case that 
successfully prosecuted the trafficker through 
effective international collaboration.  In 2003, a 
trafficker known as Khun Thea smuggled 11 Cambodian 
women and girls through Thailand into Malaysia.  The 
subsequent investigation by the Thai and Cambodian 
governments was aided by a Thai-Cambodian MOU against 
trafficking, as well as the efforts of a host of 
government offices, NGOs, and organizations from 
Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia.  In March 2005, the 
trafficker was sentenced to 50 years in a Thai prison. 
 
¶9. Thai-Burmese cooperation was illustrated by Save 
the Children representatives, who discussed their work 
in repatriating Burmese victims who were trafficked to 
Thailand.  They raised the possibility of a Thai-Burma 
MOU to facilitate repatriation, and lauded the Thai 
government's commitment to protect all children within 
its territory, including trafficked Burmese.  Save the 
Children has repatriated 158 victims; of those, 12 are 
male, and 44 have re-migrated to Thailand.  Many who 
reintegrated into their communities have become anti- 
trafficking educators at home. 
 
¶10. The director of the Nexus Institute presented 
cases from Eastern Europe's experience in combating 
trafficking, including multi-disciplinary national 
working groups, some including NGO representatives, 
and a regional multi-year anti-trafficking action 
plan.  The need for effective training for police, 
investigators, and prosecutors was emphasized, as were 
the responsibilities of law enforcement, such as 
immediately providing victims with social services and 
protection, ensuring confidentiality, and conducting 
risk assessments. 
 
--------------------------------- 
OBSTACLES AND PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶11. The Southeast Asia Regional Cooperation in Human 
Development (SEARCH) presented its plan for an 
upcoming 5-year project, which will promote mechanisms 
to uphold human rights.  Three regional partners -- 
COMMIT, Asean Working Group, and Forum Asia -- will be 
involved, and SEARCH shared its plans for avoiding 
duplication and leveraging investments.  In the same 
panel, USAID described its review of a program in 
seven countries, which allowed them to map their areas 
of vulnerability, identify needs and gaps, and provide 
recommendations.  They stressed the need to 
standardize field work such as data collection, 
research techniques, and monitoring and evaluation, 
and for increasing the use of mapping to prevent 
redundancies.  Finally, the Australian Agency for 
International Development (AUSAID) shared what it has 
identified as the four main challenges to anti- 
trafficking efforts. They are: 
 
-- Widespread refusal to accept that victim protection 
and aggressive prosecution can be compatible 
strategies. 
 
-- Failure to treat trafficking and related 
exploitation as criminal offenses. 
 
-- Unrealistic expectations on underdeveloped systems 
to deliver justice. 
 
As indicators of progress, AUSAID is looking for 
trafficking to be treated as a criminal offense, not 
just a social problem; for destination countries to 
take a greater role in prosecution; and for 
prosecutions to be measured as "better," not just 
"more." 
 
------------------ 
EMPOWERING VICTIMS 
------------------ 
 
¶12. The International Labor Organization's (ILO's) 
presentation focused on the need for civil society to 
empower the marginalized to take action, as opposed to 
simply protecting their welfare and speaking on their 
behalf.  They also shared the example of Laos PDR's 
successful use of steering committees from local to 
national levels, which meet regularly and share 
information effectively. 
 
------------------------------- 
FINAL DOCUMENT: RECOMMENDATIONS 
------------------------------- 
 
¶13. Delegates concluded the conference by creating a 
document of recommendations, intended as a guideline 
for increased cooperation among a variety of sectors 
and organizations. Below is a slightly abridged 
version of the document. 
 
Final Statement - Conference on  ivil Society and 
Government Collaboration to Combat Trafficking in 
Persons in the Greater Mekong Sub-region  May 22-24, 
2006 Bangkok, Thailand 
 
We, the participants of the conference on  ivil 
Society and Government Collaboration to Combat 
Trafficking in Persons in the Greater Mekong Sub- 
region (GMS) athered in Bangkok, Thailand from May 
22-24, 2006, reaffirmed the critical importance of 
systematic collaboration between NGOs, civil society, 
and Governments in developing and implementing 
successful anti-trafficking strategies and programs. 
This collaboration must cover all aspects of anti- 
trafficking response  overing prosecution, 
protection, and prevention of human trafficking. 
 
Specifically, the conference: 
 
Recognizes that civil society encompasses NGOs and 
many other actors; 
 
Recognizes the critical importance of a comprehensive 
approach to combat human trafficking, focusing on 
protection, prevention and prosecution, and 
importantly complemented by coordination of both 
policies and programs; 
 
Takes note of the commitments for close collaboration 
between Governments and NGOs made by the GMS 
Governments through the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial 
Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) process, such 
as the provision in the COMMIT Memorandum of 
Understanding (MOU) which explicitly acknowledges  he 
important role played by victim support agencies in 
the areas of prevention, protection, rescue, 
repatriation, recovery and reintegration, as well as 
in supporting a strengthened criminal justice 
response; 
 
Takes note of the important efforts by the Governments 
to conclude and implement a broad range of bilateral 
MOUs to increase and formalize cooperation between 
States in their efforts against human trafficking; 
 
Recognizing the relevant UN conventions and 
international legal instruments related to human 
trafficking which also provide for the involvement of 
NGOs in implementation and monitoring processes; 
 
Acknowledges the key roles that NGOs and civil society 
organizations are already playing in all aspects of 
work to eradicate human trafficking in the GMS, and 
commend the cases of close cooperation between 
Governments and NGOs which are taking place; 
 
In light of the above-mentioned findings, the 
participants of the conference make the following 
recommendations, which recognize the critical 
importance of continuous and intensive collaboration 
between NGOs and other representative organizations of 
civil society and Governments. These recommendations 
shall be communicated to the Governments of the 
Greater Mekong Sub-region, NGO networks engaged in 
anti-trafficking working in the sub-region, 
international NGOs, UN agencies, other inter- 
governmental organizations, and bilateral and 
multilateral donor organizations: 
 
(1) Governments and NGOs should more systematically 
partner with each other in order to ensure that civil 
society is actively involved in all aspects of the 
determination and implementation of anti-trafficking 
policies, including national action plans, 
regulations, and laws. As part of this partnership, 
the volume and quality of information shared between 
the Government agencies, ranging from central to 
grass-roots/local levels, international organizations 
and NGOs should increase. 
 
(2) Governments and NGOs recognize that consistent, 
high-quality data collection, mapping of gap areas, 
and quality research are the essential basis for 
effective policies and responsive programs. Donors, 
international organizations, research organizations, 
governments, and NGOs should undertake and support on- 
going research activities  oth quantitative and 
qualitative. 
 
(3) Both the Governments and NGOs should broaden their 
anti-trafficking partnership to include other civil 
society organizations, such as those from organized 
labor, faith-based organizations, migrant communities, 
and the international and national business community. 
Work on anti-trafficking initiatives with these new 
allies should occur in a systematic manner to bring 
forward new knowledge and resources from these 
partners, and seek support from them for policies and 
programs to combat human trafficking. 
 
(4) Governments and NGOs recognize that significant 
gaps in anti-trafficking response still exist in the 
sub-region, both in terms of geographical coverage and 
sectors of anti-human trafficking response. It is 
recommended that these gaps be systematically 
addressed by joint initiatives of Government and NGOs. 
 
(5) Information on the positive role of NGOs in 
cooperating with Governments on anti-trafficking 
efforts, and the need to have NGOs involved in order 
to ensure comprehensive anti-trafficking response, 
should be reflected in all training curriculums at all 
levels. 
 
(6) Both bilateral and multilateral donor agencies 
should take decisions on funding of technical 
assistance and capacity building with particular 
attention to the need to further strengthen government 
and civil society cooperation, and to do so in a more 
coordinated manner. 
 
(7) Greater donor coordination, including prioritizing 
both at the national and regional levels, would 
enhance and facilitate the process of preventing and 
combating human trafficking. 
 
(8) Government and NGOs recognize the importance of 
monitoring anti-trafficking projects to ensure 
accountability, and continuously evaluating impact of 
those activities, but also recognize that donor 
agencies should provide longer term commitments to 
anti-trafficking work being done. Possible approaches 
could include the development of innovative monitoring 
modalities, such as regional peer review mechanisms, 
between and among Governments, NGOs, civil society, 
international NGOs, and inter-governmental 
organizations with an emphasis on long-term 
commitment, and should stress the positive role that 
NGOs can play in monitoring process and progress. 
 
(9) Governments and NGOs recommend that the success of 
criminal justice actions against human trafficking 
offenders should be measured according to both the 
quality of investigations and prosecutions and their 
quantity. 
 
(10) Donors should encourage and support public- 
private partnerships as a new approach to generate new 
ideas and additional resources for anti-human 
trafficking work. 
 
(11) Civil society organizations, including NGOs, and 
law enforcement authorities should exchange experience 
and information, as appropriate, build deeper mutual 
understanding, and reach shared objectives to 
prosecute traffickers and support the recovery of 
victims of trafficking; and bilateral and multilateral 
donors should support such opportunities. 
 
(12) Stronger cross-border collaboration in all 
aspects of anti-trafficking response, and technical, 
financial and personnel support for those initiatives, 
should be built among governments and NGOs. 
 
(13) Where cross-border collaboration and coordination 
does occur, it is critical that this be broadened to 
embrace the concept of multi-disciplinary teams that 
include NGOs, and encourage governments to initiate 
pilot projects in identified trafficking hot spots on 
borders. 
 
(14) Governments and civil society actors should 
consider to either extend existing cross-border 
mechanisms, or to create similar mechanisms, to 
address human trafficking. 
 
(15) Regional agreements on procedures for cooperation 
in human trafficking should be developed, taking into 
account agreements already available at the bilateral 
level. 
 
(16) Governments and NGOs understand the urgent need 
to deepen anti-trafficking response, and ensure that 
policies and implementation reach to the provincial 
and local level. 
 
(17) Governments and NGOs should collaborate to build 
capacity of concerned governments officials and NGO 
staff working to provide protection and recovery 
services to victims, and improve the standards of the 
shelters and the services they provide. 
 
(18) Workshops should be convened to clarify the roles 
and responsibilities of the different stakeholders in 
anti-trafficking actions. Possible results could 
include the establishment of a multi-disciplinary 
operations team at the national level to oversee 
actions on cases of trafficked persons. This team can 
direct the process of assistance and protection to the 
victim, and the victim  participation in the criminal 
justice investigation and prosecution process. As part 
of this process, the roles and scope of NGOs could be 
more clearly defined, which would in turn help 
facilitate their operations, and monitoring and 
evaluation systems be established. 
 
(19) Governments and NGOs in places of migrant 
origin, transit and 
destination should promote safe 
migration as a strategy to reduce vulnerability to 
human trafficking. 
 
The participants will seek opportunities to 
incorporate these recommendations into the anti-human 
trafficking work that they do upon return to their 
home countries. Finally, the participants wish to 
thank the organizers and co-sponsors who made this 
conference possible, specifically the Ministry of 
Social Development and Human Security of the Royal 
Thai Government, the Vital Voices Global Partnership, 
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the 
United States Agency for International Development, 
the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in 
Persons in the United States Department of State, and 
the Embassy of the United States in Bangkok, Thailand. 
The participants believe that the results of this 
conference directly reflect the leadership and 
commitment of themselves, as well as these 
organizations, in addressing the global phenomenon of 
human trafficking. 
 
BOYCE