VZCZCXRO9484
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHJO RUEHNH RUEHPOD
DE RUEHBK #0432/01 0531006
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221006Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0014
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 7672
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1946
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 8066

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BANGKOK 000432 
 
Department for G/TIP CChan-Downer, DRL/IL MJunk, EAP/MLS 
DOL/ILAB for Brandie Sasser 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PHUM KTIP TH
SUBJECT: NGO Activist Believes Prevention is Key to Fight against 
Trafficking in Persons 
 
BANGKOK 00000432  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified.  For Official Use Only. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: An experienced NGO activist working in a Thai 
border area believes the only thing that has proven to work against 
trafficking in persons is prevention, i.e., keeping victims from 
getting involved in the first place.  Once involved in trafficking, 
it is hard for victims to return to their former lives, as 
demonstrated by NGO research showing that of a group of 60 women 
rescued from trafficking situations, more than 50 shortly returned. 
Although prevention takes time, the activist believes it is still 
better than law enforcement as the cultural and societal mountains 
that have to be moved are simply too daunting, though occasional 
successes are possible. Deprivation of liberty may not be the most 
serious concern to trafficking victims, whose need to generate 
income, even through debt bondage, may be a higher priority.  This 
activist believes that the G/TIP tier report has motivated the Thai 
government to improve its anti-TIP efforts, but an emphasis on law 
enforcement may divert resources from where they would be most 
effective and undermine support for anti-TIP efforts generally.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Comment:  This report should be read in conjunction with 
other Embassy TIP reporting to provide a full picture of anti-TIP 
efforts in Thailand and the attitudes of those involved. 
Nevertheless, we share the insights of this NGO leader, whose NGO is 
primarily funded from European sources, because of her candor on 
issues that have been at the forefront of the fight against TIP 
through her many years of work in the field.  Before speaking at 
length with Econoff, she asked that she and her organization not be 
identified in TIP-related reports, out of concern that her views may 
not be appreciated by those providing her funding.  End comment. 
 
Fighting TIP Among Village Priorities 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The NGO visited by Econoff is located in a Thai border 
area near Laos, and the group works in both Laos and Thailand.  The 
porous border divides extended families, and relatives regularly 
cross back and forth.  Thai villagers in the area say they struggle 
with a number of challenges, primary among them poverty alleviation 
and lack of documentation that would allow residents to venture 
legally into other parts of Thailand to find work.  A local primary 
school, supported by the NGO, is attended mostly by migrant 
children, including Lao hill tribe children, and local children from 
broken homes.  The most serious trafficking problem the NGO deals 
with is the trafficking of Lao lowland and highland women and girls 
to the sex trade in Malaysia. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Having operated in the area for many years, the NGO has 
developed good relationships with the local villagers.  With 
Econoff, NGO workers and volunteers visited with families to promote 
a village training meeting at which participants would be warned 
about the potential dangers of going to distant places for work.  In 
response to a question from Econoff, one worker explained that the 
villagers welcomed such training, so long as the NGO workers, who 
the villagers see as useful intermediaries with government offices, 
include other topics of importance to them in the sessions as well. 
The agenda for the upcoming session at the village temple included 
topics such as how to get birth certificates, work permits and other 
documentation; counseling with regard to domestic violence including 
incest; medical issues; and information on which government offices 
to go to for help with various matters.  The anti-TIP discussion was 
agenda item number 3.  The large colorful banner advertising the 
upcoming session did not mention TIP per se. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) In a subsequent long discussion with Econoff, the NGO 
office head, who has been with the NGO for five years and who worked 
on labor issues before that, described the NGO's interaction with 
local government officials.  Thai officials at the immigration 
department, where the NGO regularly provides counseling to those who 
are to be deported (out of concern than they could be future TIP 
victims), are cooperative.  Other government officials dealing with 
shelters and prevention efforts are also supportive of the NGO's 
work.   Relations with Lao officials on the other side of the 
border, however, are much more difficult, she said. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Law enforcement, however, is a mixed picture, the office 
head explained.  There are some policemen who are cooperative and 
eager to learn about how to make raids effectively.  The NGO has 
been able to coordinate a number of successful rescues with support 
from police authorities.  The training that has been provided for 
these officers has been well worth the money, she believes.  On the 
 
BANGKOK 00000432  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
other hand, significant arrests and prosecutions are frustratingly 
rare.  She said that there are even police who have taken anti-TIP 
training and used what they learned to help perpetrators avoid the 
law. 
 
Money is the Motivation for All Involved 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) For this NGO leader, trying to fight TIP through law 
enforcement is like trying to move a mountain.  Police training, 
resources and capabilities are just too weak.  Moreover, the 
reQtionships between the police and influential people in local 
communities are too extensive, engrained and accepted to expect any 
significant change in the status quo in the foreseeable future. 
Powerful people often have many good businesses as well as shady 
ones and will be protected.  She added that the problem of 
corruption is not limited to Thailand.  In one case of trafficking 
to Europe, a corrupt official working in Scotland Yard was involved. 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) Moreover, getting ahead economically is in fact most 
everyone's top priority.  The office head told Econoff that the 
desire for greater cash income that drives young people from 
impoverished rural villages is essentially the same thing that 
motivates most policemen trying to support their families on their 
meager salaries.  The local people all understand this.  There are 
some villages in which parents are even willing to trade the labor 
of their children for cash up front, she said.  From her earlier 
experience working with victims of labor trafficking, she noted that 
the Lao and Cambodians who work on Thai fishing boats for two or 
more years are not unaware of the possibility of abuse, but the 
prospect of earning enough from such an arrangement to be able to 
build a home in their village after their return is alluring. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) In the world of trafficking in persons, the activist 
explained, unscrupulous brokers are really at the heart of the 
problem, but they are not easy to identify.  Being a broker is part 
and parcel of the real economy. The use of brokers is widespread to 
do everything from legitimately organizing villagers during harvest 
season to staffing workers for a construction project to deceiving 
girls into working in karaoke lounges in Malaysia.  They include 
friends or relatives of village families, who may not even know the 
ultimate purpose or destination of those whose employment they are 
facilitating initially, as well as unscrupulous networks. 
 
'Rescue' not Always a Solution 
------------------------------ 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Following a recent rescue of 60 mostly Lao women who had 
been trafficked into the sex trade in Malaysia and returned to their 
villages, the NGO was disheartened to learn from follow-up efforts 
that more than 50 had returned to the trade, sometimes through the 
same brokers (in other cases the women hoped for "better luck" going 
through another broker).  Further research determined that there 
were mainly two reasons.  One, the women had been so changed by the 
experience -- living in air conditioned quarters, going to beauty 
shops, wearing nice clothes and make-up -- that the prospect of 
remaining in the village in relative poverty and working again in 
the fields, was unappealing.  Second, there was no good way to earn 
money in the village, and whether they ended up being duped or not, 
the desire to earn money was why they left in the first place. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) "Of course," the NGO office head said, "for women who 
have been seriously abused or who really do not want to be where 
they ended up, things are different.  But those cases are relatively 
few."  She explained that debt bondage, in which the club owners 
periodically send a few hundred dollars back on behalf of the women 
and obligate them to continue to work, often does not coQ across as 
such a serious matter because debt is such a common feature of the 
world in which the victims live.  (Comment: In rural Thailand, the 
average amount of household debt has doubled in the past nine years 
to where it is now often more than twice a family's average annual 
income.  End comment.)  She pointed out that the women who try to 
escape from trafficking situations invariably are those who have a 
higher level of education. 
 
The Impact of Tier Rankings 
--------------------------- 
 
¶12.  (SBU) This NGO leader believes that the Thai foreign and social 
ministries are very aware of, and quite motivated by, the USG's 
annual Trafficking in Persons report and the accompanying Tier 
 
BANGKOK 00000432  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
rankings.  She believes that much of the work that Thailand has put 
in to deal with TIP, such as creating shelters and strengthening 
TIP-related laws, has been in response to USG recommendations in 
such matters.  (Comment: The MFA America's desk director a few 
months ago asked the Embassy whether, given all that Thailand has 
done to comply with model TIP guidelines, the USG might consider 
putting Thailand in Tier 1.  End comment.)  The NGO head also 
commented that "countries" (presumably Thailand) sometimes do things 
to respond to the tier rankings that are counterproductive, such as 
putting too much money into law enforcement training where results 
(for reasons noted above) are meager. 
 
¶13.  (SBU) By and large, doing anti-TIP work in Thailand is 
positively accepted by Thai society and officialdom, the NGO office 
head said, especially in areas where there is no opposition, such as 
building shelters or conducting prevention programs.  In the law 
enforcement realm, however, where actions can threaten established 
networks and sources of income, the reception can be different.  She 
said that some criticize hers and other NGOs as being "in the 
pocket" of foreigners and not friendly to Thailand.  She added that 
the threat of economic sanctions, which would have the effect of 
retarding development, was seen by some as bullying from more 
developed countries trying to keep developing countries down. 
 
What really works 
----------------- 
¶14.  (SBU) Taking stock of all the anti-TIP activities going on, 
this office head told Econoff that what works most effectively is 
prevention--keeping people from getting involved in trafficking 
situations in the first place.  Prevention, however, is a long-term 
effort involving not only education but viable alternative economic 
opportunities.  She pointed out that 15-20 years ago, uneducated 
women from rural Thailand were often trafficked into the sex trade. 
Now, as Thailand has increased the number of years of compulsory 
education and the economy has grown, relatively few Thai are 
trafficked, but hill tribes, and people from Thailand's relatively 
less developed neighbors, are being targeted.  (Comment: In the 
early 1990s, compulsory education in Thailand ended at grade 6.  By 
2008, 82 percent of Thai school children were finishing grade 12 and 
information on child labor was included in the regular curriculum. 
Per capita income in Thailand over the past 20 years has quadrupled 
to over US$4000 at current exchange rates. End Comment)  She showed 
Econoff a spreadsheet tracking 150 victim cases dealt with over the 
past few months; only one involved a Thai national.  "We are seeing 
more and more Chinese." 
 
¶15.  (SBU) When asked for ideas on how anti-TIP efforts might be 
more effective, the office head said that she believes money spent 
on training the police might be more effective if used to train 
village heads -- to better educate them on the dangers of allowing 
villagers to travel far from home for employment.  When there is 
police training, the background of those to be trained should be 
carefully examined so make sure that only "good" officers are 
involved.  She also suggested that there be more non-police 
participation in raids, to put pressure on the police to follow-up 
appropriately with arrests and prosecutions.   Prompted by Econoff, 
she agreed that a police unit dedicated solely to stopping human 
trafficking, modeled on anti-narcotics police units, might help with 
suppression efforts.  (Comment: The renaming of the "Children, 
Juveniles, and Women Division" of the Royal Thai Police as the 
"Anti-Human Trafficking Division" may result in something similar. 
End Comment.) 
 
¶16.  (SBU) The NGO office head admitted to getting discouraged 
sometimes as to whether her organization really made a difference in 
TIP.  "We know we help certain individuals," she said, "but don't 
know whether the overall trends are good or not.  As the methods of 
TIP keep changing, it is hard to know."  Speaking of child 
prostitution, she said that as long as Chinese men believe that 
having sex with young women/girls prolongs virility, and there are 
poor and uneducated women and girls to be preyed on, there may be 
little that can stop it. 
 
Cultural challenges 
------------------- 
 
¶17.  (SBU) Econoff subsequently spoke with a renowned American 
anthropologist, who has been researching rural and traditional Thai 
folkways and mores for more than 50 years, regarding possible 
cultural impediments to effective law enforcement in Thailand and 
attitudes that may affect trafficking in persons.  The 
anthropologist pointed out that in the hierarchy of traditional Thai 
 
BANGKOK 00000432  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
values, deference to superiors ranks very high.  "This is central to 
the structure of Thai society." He explained that if a younger 
policeman has to choose between vigorously enforcing the law and 
maintaining the reputation and interests of more senior established 
figures in the local community, he will likely choose the latter. 
The concept of law enforcement is an imported notion anyway, he 
explained.  Traditionally, village elders and monks would mediate 
disputes and establish good order through dialogue and compromise, 
rather than an appeal to law.  "The idea of absolute values is a 
Western construct."  He added that the Thai hierarchy of values 
places the good of the community over the interests of individuals, 
as evidenced by a provision in the Thai criminal code that allows 
judges to reduce a sentence if the guilty party has an educational 
level or other assets that enable him to make a significant 
contribution to society. 
 
¶18.  (SBU) While according to the NGO office head, there are now 
relatively few Thai TIP victims, the anthropologist's observations 
on traditional Thai attitudes toward debt may indicate problems that 
continue in neighboring countries that share cultural roots. 
According to him, children born to Thai Buddhist parents are 
indebted to them for life.  Deference to, and willingness to work 
and sacrifice for, one's parents is another value that ranks high in 
the moral scheme of things.  The primary means to repay, in part, 
one's debt to one's parents, is to provide financially.  This 
obligation weighs heavily on rural people especially. 
 
JOHN