VZCZCXRO1778
PP RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHCHI #0057/01 0940236
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 030236Z APR 08
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0731
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 0787

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHIANG MAI 000057 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR G/TIP - MARK TAYLOR, SALLY NEUMANN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM KWMN SMIG PHUM TH
SUBJECT: AN NGO PERSPECTIVE ON ANTI-TRAFFICKING EFFORTS IN NORTHERN 
THAILAND 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000057  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified; please handle accordingly. 
 
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Summary 
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¶1.  (SBU) Most Burmese who become trafficking victims knowingly 
enter Thailand illegally, but fall prey to deception and 
coercion after crossing the border, according to the head of a 
key anti-trafficking NGO operating in the region.  Child 
prostitution has diminished significantly in northern Thailand, 
owing to years of work with senior police officials who now have 
a "clear understanding" of the problem.  Judicial processes have 
also improved.  Testimony by victims is treated sensitively in 
an increasing number of cases and courts are beginning to permit 
testimony by remote camera so trafficking victims do not have to 
face perpetrators who could still exact retribution.  A 
continuing lack of police professionalism, however, could lead 
to entrapment and blackmail if concerted action were attempted 
against the demand side of prostitution.  The Thai government is 
now contributing to the funding of anti-trafficking NGOs, but 
they remain heavily dependent on USG support.  End Summary. 
 
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Child Prostitution Suppressed, but Challenges Remain 
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¶2.  (SBU) On March 20, Econ Counselor, who was visiting from 
Bangkok, met with Ben Svasti, Program Director for Trafcord, an 
NGO that serves as a coordination body between the Royal Thai 
Government (RTG) and other NGOs combating trafficking-in-persons 
(TIP).  Svasti explained that many Burmese, men and women, come 
to Thailand looking for work, mostly in construction and other 
labor intensive industries. Those trafficked into prostitution 
generally come from among young women hoping for jobs in 
restaurants.  Typically, they work willingly with friends or 
agents to cross the border illegally.  Once on the Thai side, 
however, their illegal status makes them vulnerable to deception 
and coercion from trafficking agents.  According to Svasti, 
northern Thailand is not the final destination for many TIP 
victims.  Many are taken to Bangkok, Singapore, or Malaysia. 
Since its founding in 2003, the work of Trafcord and its network 
has led to the arrest of 111 individuals involved in human 
trafficking. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Svasti said that child prostitution is much less 
severe than in the past.  In northern Thailand, the practice is 
suppressed; child prostitution is "much harder to find."  Svasti 
attributes this success to years of work with senior police 
officials in the region. They "clearly understand" the problem 
now.  Senior provincial and police officials know that if we 
hear reports that there are child prostitutes in any venue, 
Svasti explained, we will conduct a raid, with accompanying 
press and publicity.  Acknowledging a point made by EconCouns, 
he said that child prostitution may have gone further 
underground, but even if it were true that child prostitution 
had been eradicated, there is no doubt in his mind that if the 
pressure against it were relaxed, it would come back. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Significant challenges on the "push" side remain. 
Burmese leave their villages because there is no work.  If they 
are simply caught and repatriated back to their villages, the 
continuing lack of work and raised family and village 
expectations often cause them to return to Thailand, even if 
they have already been trafficking victims.  Svasti says that 
whenever possible, his organization tries to work with 
international NGOs such as Save the Children or World Vision 
where they have operations inside Burma.  Re-integration 
programs are essential if the return rate is to be reduced. 
Unfortunately, the areas in which these organizations operate 
inside Burma are limited. 
 
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Improvements on the Legal Front 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) On the judicial front, Svasti cited significant 
improvements.  Not only are police much more aware of the 
problem and cooperative than they were in the past, but 
prosecutors are more willing to take on trafficking cases. 
Inside courtrooms, procedures are slowly moving up to 
international standards.  In some courts, judges now allow 
testimony to be given via remote camera so that victims will not 
have to testify publicly in front of perpetrators who may still 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000057  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
have the means to exact retribution.  Child witnesses are 
interviewed only once, by trained social workers, with their 
story recorded on video for later use in court.  Things have 
come a long way, Svasti related, from the days when victims were 
repeatedly made to recount painful details by insensitive 
low-level policemen. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Challenges remain, however.  Not all prosecutors are 
eager to take on trafficking cases.  Some policemen still are 
using enforcement guides printed decades ago, when prostitution 
charges could only be filed if perpetrators were caught in the 
act, making it almost impossible to bring charges against 
traffickers and brothel owners when those they had abused were 
able to escape or had been rescued.  Trafcord's newest 
initiative in the legal arena is to press the RTG to allow TIP 
victims to have their civil cases considered within the scope of 
the criminal proceedings.  Currently, civil suits cannot be 
initiated until the criminal cases are finished.  By that time, 
many victims have been through enough and are unwilling to begin 
another lengthy legal process. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) In response to a question from EconCouns, Svasti 
agreed that the best situation would be for prostitution to be 
suppressed across the board.  However, he expressed concern that 
a concerted effort now to arrest the "johns" seeking 
prostitution may result in widespread entrapment and blackmail 
because Thai police forces, while better than in the past, still 
do not meet international standards for professionalism.  He did 
note, however, that things have progressed with regard to child 
prostitution to the point where he believes that a foreign 
tourist today who openly sought a child prostitute would likely 
be reported to the police.  The fact remains that there is a lot 
of money involved in prostitution.  Moreover, societal tolerance 
and expectations are such that an effort to suppress it more 
widely would meet resistance from many quarters. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Right now, approximately 90 percent of Trafcord's 
funding comes from the USG, with the additional 10 percent 
coming from the government.  However, the government's funds are 
targeted for training and education projects and cannot be used 
to meet Trafcord's operating costs and salary expenses.  In the 
past, UNICEF has funded up to 25 percent, but is rethinking its 
program support and appears inclined toward targeting child 
rights more broadly rather than the anti-child prostitution 
focus that Trafcord has concentrated on in the past. 
 
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Comment 
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¶9.  (SBU) Having handled the anti-trafficking portfolio in 
Embassy Bangkok in the mid-1990s, Econ Counselor was impressed 
with the progress that has evidently been made in the 
suppression of child prostitution since then.  Underscoring 
Trafcord's claims, another NGO, the IJM, ceased anti-child 
prostitution operations in northern Thailand because there is so 
little to do now.  Svasti's claims that if Trafcord's work does 
not continue child prostitution could re-emerge are obviously 
self-serving, but in our view are nevertheless true.  Sex 
tourism in general, and child sex tourism in particular, are not 
openly tolerated as in the past, but general attitudes toward 
prostitution may take a generation to fundamentally change. 
 
¶10. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Bangkok. 
MORROW