VZCZCXRO6874
OO RUEHCHI
DE RUEHC #0449/01 1622041
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 112011Z JUN 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK IMMEDIATE 1048
INFO RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI IMMEDIATE 1658

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 STATE 060449 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP ELAB KCRM KPAO KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG TH
SUBJECT: THAILAND -- 2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND 
DEMARCHE 
 
REF: A. (A) STATE 59732 
     ¶B. (B) STATE 005577 
 
¶1. This is an action cable; see paras 5 through 7 and 10. 
 
¶2. On June 16, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Secretary will 
release the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report at a 
press conference in the Department's press briefing room. 
This release will receive substantial coverage in domestic 
and foreign news outlets.  Until the time of the Secretary's 
June 16 press conference, any public release of the Report or 
country narratives contained therein is prohibited. 
 
¶3. The Department is hereby providing Post with advance press 
guidance to be used on June 16 or thereafter.  Also provided 
is demarche language to be used in informing the Government 
of Thailand of its tier ranking and the TIP Report's imminent 
release.  The text of the TIP Report country narrative is 
provided, both for use in informing the Government of 
Thailand and in any local media release by Post's public 
affairs section on June 16 or thereafter.  Drawing on 
information provided below in paras 8 and 9, Post may provide 
the host government with the text of the TIP Report narrative 
no earlier than 1200 noon local time Monday June 15 for WHA, 
AF, EUR, and NEA countries and OOB local time Tuesday June 16 
for SCA and EAP posts.  Please note, however, that any public 
release of the Report's information should not/not precede 
the Secretary's release at 10:00 am EDT on June 16. 
 
¶4. The entire TIP Report will be available on-line at 
www.state.gov/g/tip shortly after the Secretary's June 16 
release.  Hard copies of the Report will be pouched to posts 
in all countries appearing on the Report.  The Secretary's 
statement at the June 16 press event, and the statement of 
and fielding of media questions by G/TIP,s Director and 
Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Ambassador-at-Large Luis 
CdeBaca, will be available on the Department's website 
shortly after the June 16 event.  Ambassador de Baca will 
also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign 
embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 pm EDT. 
 
¶5. Action Request: No earlier than 12 noon local time on 
Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA posts and OOB local 
time on Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts, please inform 
the appropriate official in the Government of Thailand of the 
June 16 release of the 2009 TIP Report, drawing on the points 
in para 9 (at Post's discretion) and including the text of 
the country narrative provided in para 8.  For countries 
where the State Department has lowered the tier ranking, it 
is particularly important to advise governments prior to the 
Report being released in Washington on June 16. 
 
¶6. Action Request continued:  Please note that, for those 
countries which will not receive an "action plan" with 
specific recommendations for improvement, posts should draw 
host governments' attention to the areas for improvement 
identified in the 2009 Report, especially highlighted in the 
"Recommendations" section of the second paragraph of the 
narrative text.  This engagement is important to establishing 
the framework in which the government's performance will be 
judged for the 2010 Report.  If posts have questions about 
which governments will receive an action plan, or how they 
may follow up on the recommendations in the 2009 Report, 
please contact G/TIP and the appropriate regional bureau. 
 
¶7. Action Request continued: On June 16, please be prepared 
to answer media inquiries on the Report's release using the 
press guidance provided in para 11.  If Post wishes, a local 
press statement may be released on or after 10:30 am EDT June 
16, drawing on the press guidance and the text of the TIP 
Report's country narrative provided in para 8. 
 
¶8. Begin Final Text of Thailand,s country narrative in the 
2009 TIP Report: 
 
-------------------------------- 
THAILAND (TIER 2) 
-------------------------------- 
Thailand is a source, transit, and destination country for 
men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of 
forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation.  Thailand,s 
relative prosperity attracts migrants from neighboring 
countries and from as far away as Russia and Fiji who flee 
conditions of poverty and, in the case of Burma, military 
repression.  Significant illegal migration to Thailand 
presents traffickers with opportunities to force, coerce, or 
defraud undocumented migrants into involuntary servitude or 
 
STATE 00060449  002 OF 006 
 
 
sexual exploitation.  Following migration to Thailand, men, 
women, and children, primarily from Burma, are trafficked for 
forced labor in fishing-related industries, factories, 
agriculture, construction, domestic work, and begging.  Women 
and children are trafficked from Burma, Cambodia, Laos, the 
People,s Republic of China, Vietnam, Russia, and Uzbekistan 
for commercial sexual exploitation in Thailand.  Ethnic 
minorities such as northern hill tribe peoples, many of whom 
do not have legal status in the country, are at a 
disproportionately high risk for trafficking internally and 
abroad.  Media reports during the year alleged trafficking of 
some Burmese migrants, including some refugees, from Malaysia 
to Thailand.  Most Thai sex trafficking victims repatriated 
to Thailand were trafficked to Bahrain and Malaysia.  Some 
Thai men who migrate for low-skilled contract work in Taiwan, 
Malaysia, the United States and elsewhere are subjected to 
conditions of forced labor after arrival.  There are no 
reliable estimates of the number of trafficking victims in 
Thailand.  Sex tourism in Thailand may encourage trafficking 
for sexual exploitation. 
 
The Royal Thai Government does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  The 
government began implementing a new, comprehensive anti-human 
trafficking law that came into force in June 2008 and trained 
the law enforcement community on the new legislation.  In 
recent years, the number of annual convictions for sex 
trafficking has declined.  Three sex traffickers were 
convicted, and the government initiated prosecutions of 54 
individuals for trafficking offenses, including forced child 
labor, during the reporting period.  The government did not, 
however, achieve a conviction for a labor trafficking offense 
during the year.  The government initiated prosecution for 
multiple trafficking offenses of three owners of a Samut 
Sakhon shrimp processing factory raided in 2006. 
 
Recommendations for Thailand:  Increase efforts to 
investigate labor trafficking and prosecute labor 
traffickers; improve efforts to identify victims of 
trafficking among vulnerable groups, such as undocumented 
migrants; ensure that adult foreign trafficking victims who 
are willing to work with local law enforcement are not 
confined to shelters involuntarily; develop and implement 
mechanisms to allow adult foreign trafficking victims to seek 
and find employment outside shelters; educate migrant workers 
on their rights, their employers' obligations to them, legal 
recourse available to victims of trafficking, and how to seek 
remedies against traffickers. 
 
Prosecution 
----------- 
The Royal Thai Government continued some law enforcement 
efforts to combat trafficking in persons.  A comprehensive 
anti-trafficking law that went into effect in June 2008 
covers all forms of trafficking and prescribes penalties that 
are sufficiently stringent and that are commensurate with 
penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. 
Prescribed punishments are doubled if the convicted 
trafficking offender is a public official.  The government 
initiated prosecutions against at least 54 individuals for 
trafficking offenses, eight of whom are being prosecuted for 
forced child labor.  During the reporting period, there were 
at least three convictions for sex trafficking offenses; two 
Thai women were convicted and sentenced to 34 and 50 years, 
imprisonment, respectively, for brokering children for 
prostitution, and another Thai woman was sentenced to 14 
years in prison for the 2006 trafficking of two young women 
to Italy for prostitution.  The government trained police 
officers, immigration officers, prosecutors and social 
workers on the new anti-trafficking law.  A police division 
established in 2006 ) the Children and Women Protection 
Division ) continues to have nationwide jurisdiction to 
conduct anti-trafficking investigations.  In addition, the 
police's newly established Transnational Crime Coordination 
Center collects and analyzes trafficking information and 
conducts strategic planning for anti-trafficking efforts 
along with the Office of the Attorney General's Center 
Against International Human Trafficking.  Nevertheless, 
investigations for trafficking offenses were disrupted or 
delayed because of frequent personnel turnover, and observers 
reported that cooperation between police and prosecutors on 
criminal (including trafficking) cases could be improved. 
There were reports that local police protected brothels, 
other sex venues, and seafood and sweatshop facilities from 
raids, and occasionally facilitated the movement of women 
into or through Thailand.  In the absence of specific, 
credible allegations of official complicity in trafficking, 
the government did not report any investigations or 
prosecutions of Thai officials for trafficking-related 
corruption.  A police officer suspected of trafficking in 
2007 was convicted, fined, and fired for alien smuggling. 
 
STATE 00060449  003 OF 006 
 
 
The government reported that available evidence did not 
support a trafficking prosecution.   The government initiated 
prosecution of three owners of a shrimp processing factory, 
in which 66 trafficking victims were found in September 2006, 
for multiple trafficking offenses.  Authorities also 
initiated prosecutions of six individuals in the March 2008 
raid of a separate shrimp processing facility, but their 
trial is not yet complete.  In July 2006, a fleet of six 
fishing vessels returned to a Thai port and surviving crew 
members reported the death while at sea of 39 seafarers, most 
of whom were Burmese.  Although survivors have testified that 
the 39 died from conditions of malnutrition due to captains' 
failure to provide food and freedom to the seafarers ) as 
they were confined to the fishing boats for over three years 
) and that their bodies were disposed of at sea, the 
government has been unable to locate the captains to arrest 
them for unlawful disposal of corpses and believes it is 
unlikely that available evidence will support 
trafficking-related charges. 
 
Protection 
---------- 
The Thai government continued to provide impressive 
protection to foreign and Thai victims of trafficking in 
Thailand and Thai trafficking victims abroad.  The government 
expanded its network of temporary shelters for trafficking 
victims by 99 to 138, with at least one temporary shelter in 
each Thai province.  The government refers victims of 
trafficking to one of eight longer-stay regional shelters run 
by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security 
(MSDHS), where they receive psychological counseling, food, 
board, and medical care.  The new anti-trafficking law 
extended victim protection provisions to male trafficking 
victims, and one of the government's long-stay shelters 
exclusively serves adult male victims and their families.  In 
2008, the government,s shelters provided protection and 
social services for at least 102 repatriated Thai victims and 
520 foreigners trafficked to Thailand.  The Department of 
Consular Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported 
that 443 Thai nationals classified as trafficking victims 
were repatriated from a number of overseas locations, 
including Bahrain (360 victims), Malaysia (73 victims), and 
Taiwan (5 victims), between October 2007 and September 2008. 
Most of the victims were sex trafficking victims held in 
conditions of debt bondage.  The Thai government, with NGO 
assistance, has implemented trafficking victim identification 
procedures, and has since conducted trainings for 
approximately 2,500 government officials.  The government 
claimed that it screened undocumented migrants for 
trafficking victims, but informed observers asserted that it 
did not systematically do so.  The government provides 
shelter and social services to all identified Thai and 
foreign trafficking victims pending their repatriation to 
their country or town of origin.  Foreign trafficking victims 
in Thai custody, including those who cooperate with law 
enforcement, cannot leave shelters unsupervised, are not 
offered legal alternatives to their removal to countries 
where the victims may face hardship or retribution, and are 
not permitted to work outside shelters.  Some foreign victims 
have been confined to shelters for as long as two years.  The 
government encourages victims, participation in the 
investigation and prosecution of trafficking crimes, and some 
victims do participate.  NGOs have reported complaints by 
some foreign victims in shelters who feel that the government 
does not handle their repatriation in a timely fashion, and 
who feel pressured to remain in shelters in order to assist 
with prosecutions.  Language barriers, fear of traffickers, 
distrust of Thai officials, slow legal processes, and the 
financial needs of victims all played a role in the decision 
of some victims to not participate in the Thai legal process, 
including criminal prosecutions.  The 1998 Labor Protection 
Act allows for compensatory damages from employers in cases 
of forced labor, and the government ordered compensation in 
one of the shrimp factory cases and funded plaintiffs' 
attorneys in a successful civil action in the other shrimp 
factory case. 
 
Prevention 
---------- 
The Thai government continued to support prevention and 
public awareness activities on trafficking during the year, 
including through &public dialogues8 on trafficking and 
television advertisements.  Informed observers report 
significant forced labor among migrants who participate in 
Thailand,s temporary work program, suggesting victims, 
inability to seek assistance from the government without fear 
of punishment or deportation and a lack of efforts to inform 
migrant workers of options for remedies against exploitative 
employers and labor brokers.  Government efforts to reduce 
domestic demand for illegal commercial sex acts and child sex 
tourism were evidenced through the prosecution of 
approximately 20 child sex tourists, as well as occasional 
 
STATE 00060449  004 OF 006 
 
 
police raids to shut down brothels and awareness-raising 
campaigns targeting tourists.  Thailand has not ratified the 
2000 UN TIP Protocol. 
 
¶9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer 
technical and legal background on the TIP Report process, to 
the host government as a non-paper with the above TIP Report 
country narrative: 
 
(begin non-paper) 
 
-- The U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000 
Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA), 
requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to 
Congress.  The goal of this Report is to stimulate action and 
create partnerships around the world in the fight against 
modern-day slavery.  The USG approach to combating human 
trafficking follows the TVPA and the standards set forth in 
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in 
Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the 
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized 
Crime (commonly known as the "Palermo Protocol").  The TVPA 
and the Palermo Protocol recognize that this is a crime in 
which the victims, labor or services (including in the "sex 
industry") are obtained or maintained through force, fraud, 
or coercion, whether overt or through psychological 
manipulation.  While much attention has focused on 
international flows, both the TVPA and the Palermo Protocol 
focus on the exploitation of the victim, and do not require a 
showing that the victim was moved. 
 
-- Recent amendments to the TVPA removed the requirement that 
only countries with a "significant number" of trafficking 
victims be included in the Report. Beginning with the 2009 
TIP Report, countries determined to be a country of origin, 
transit, or destination for victims of severe forms of 
trafficking are included in the Report and assigned to one of 
three tiers.  Countries assessed as meeting the "minimum 
standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking" 
set forth in the TVPA are classified as Tier 1.  Countries 
assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards, 
but making significant efforts to meet those minimum 
standards are classified as Tier 2.  Countries assessed as 
neither complying with the minimum standards nor making 
significant efforts to do so are classified as Tier 3. 
 
-- The TVPA also requires the Secretary of State to provide a 
"Special Watch List" to Congress later in the year. 
Anti-trafficking efforts of the countries on this list are to 
be evaluated again in an Interim Assessment that the 
Secretary of State must provide to Congress by February 1 of 
each year.  Countries are included on the "Special Watch 
List" if they move up in "tier" rankings in the annual TIP 
Report -- from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1 ) or if they have been 
placed on the Tier 2 Watch List. 
 
-- Tier 2 Watch List consists of Tier 2 countries determined: 
(1) not to have made "increasing efforts" to combat human 
trafficking over the past year; (2) to be making significant 
efforts based on commitments of anti-trafficking reforms over 
the next year, or (3) to have a very significant number of 
trafficking victims or a significantly increasing victim 
population.  As indicated in reftel B, the TVPRA of 2008 
contains a provision requiring that a country that has been 
included on Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years after 
the date of enactment of the TVPRA of 2008 be ranked as Tier 
¶3.  Thus, any automatic downgrade to Tier 3 pursuant to this 
provision would take place, at the earliest, in the 2011 TIP 
Report (i.e., a country would have to be ranked Tier 2 Watch 
List in the 2009 and 2010 Reports before being subject to 
Tier 3 in the 2011 Report).  The new law allows for a waiver 
of this provision for up to two additional years upon a 
determination by the President that the country has developed 
and devoted sufficient resources to a written plan to make 
significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the 
minimum standards. 
 
-- Countries classified as Tier 3 may be subject to statutory 
restrictions for the subsequent fiscal year on 
non-humanitarian and non-trade-related foreign assistance 
and, in some circumstances, withholding of funding for 
participation by government officials or employees in 
educational and cultural exchange programs.   In addition, 
the President could instruct the U.S. executive directors to 
international financial institutions to oppose loans or other 
utilization of funds (other than for humanitarian, 
trade-related or certain types of development assistance) 
with respect to countries on Tier 3.  Countries classified as 
Tier 3 that take strong action within 90 days of the Report's 
release to show significant efforts against trafficking in 
persons, and thereby warrant a reassessment of their Tier 
classification, would avoid such sanctions.  Guidelines for 
 
STATE 00060449  005 OF 006 
 
 
such actions are in the DOS-crafted action plans to be shared 
by Posts with host governments. 
 
-- The 2009 TIP Report, issuing as it does in the midst of 
the global financial crisis, highlights high levels of 
trafficking for forced labor in many parts of the world and 
systemic contributing factors to this phenomenon:  fraudulent 
recruitment practices and excessive recruiting fees in 
workers, home countries; the lack of adequate labor 
protections in both sending and receiving countries; and the 
flawed design of some destination countries, "sponsorship 
systems" that do not give foreign workers adequate legal 
recourse when faced with conditions of forced labor.  As the 
May 2009 ILO Global Report on Forced Labor concluded, forced 
labor victims suffer approximately $20 billion in losses, and 
traffickers, profits are estimated at $31 billion.  The 
current global financial crisis threatens to increase the 
number of victims of forced labor and increase the associated 
"cost of coercion." 
 
-- The text of the TVPA and amendments can be found on 
website www.state.gov/g/tip. 
 
-- On June 16, 2009, the Secretary of State will release the 
ninth annual TIP Report in a public event at the State 
Department.  We are providing you an advance copy of your 
country's narrative in that report.  Please keep this 
information embargoed until 10:00 am Washington DC time June 
¶16.  The State Department will also hold a general briefing 
for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June 
17 at 3:30 pm EDT. 
 
(end non-paper) 
 
¶10. Posts should make sure that the relevant country 
narrative is readily available on or though the Mission's web 
page in English and appropriate local language(s) as soon as 
possible after the TIP Report is released.  Funding for 
translation costs will be handled as it was for the Human 
Rights Report.  Posts needing financial assistance for 
translation costs should contact their regional bureau,s EX 
office. 
 
¶11. The following is press guidance provided for Post to use 
with local media. 
 
Q1: Why was Thailand again given a ranking of Tier 2? 
 
A: The Royal Thai Government does not fully comply with the 
minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; 
however, it is making significant efforts to do so.  The 
government began implementing a new, comprehensive anti-human 
trafficking law that came into force in June 2008 and trained 
the law enforcement community on the new legislation.  In 
recent years, the number of annual convictions for sex 
trafficking has declined.  Three sex traffickers were 
convicted, and the government initiated prosecutions of 54 
individuals for trafficking offenses, including forced child 
labor, during the reporting period.  The government did not, 
however, achieve a conviction for a labor trafficking offense 
during the year. 
 
Q2: What progress has Thailand made in the past year? 
 
A: The government initiated prosecutions against at least 54 
individuals for trafficking offenses, eight of whom are being 
prosecuted for forced child labor.  During the reporting 
period, there were at least three convictions for sex 
trafficking offenses. In 2008, the government,s shelters 
provided protection and social services for at least 102 
repatriated Thai victims and 520 foreigners trafficked to 
Thailand.  The Department of Consular Affairs in the Ministry 
of Foreign Affairs reported that 443 Thai nationals 
classified as trafficking victims were repatriated from a 
number of overseas locations. The Thai government continued 
to support prevention and public awareness activities on 
trafficking during the year, including through &public 
dialogues8 on trafficking and television advertisements. 
 
Q3: What efforts could Thailand make to improve its fight 
against trafficking in persons? 
 
A: The Royal Thai Government could:  increase efforts to 
investigate labor trafficking and prosecute labor 
traffickers; improve efforts to identify victims of 
trafficking among vulnerable groups, such as undocumented 
migrants; ensure that adult foreign trafficking victims who 
are willing to work with local law enforcement are not 
confined to shelters involuntarily; develop and implement 
mechanisms to allow adult foreign trafficking victims to seek 
and find employment outside shelters; educate migrant workers 
on their rights, their employers' obligations to them, legal 
 
STATE 00060449  006 OF 006 
 
 
recourse available to victims of trafficking, and how to seek 
remedies against traffickers. 
 
¶12. The Department appreciates posts, assistance with the 
preceding action requests. 
CLINTON