UPDATE ON TRAFFICKING PROJECTS IN NORTHERN THAILAND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BANGKOK 001115 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR G/TIP, EAP/MLS, DRL/IL, PRM/PRP DEPT OF LABOR FOR ILAB - MARK MITTELHAUSER AND BRANDIE SASSER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KWMN KCRM ELAB PHUM KJUS TH SUBJECT: UPDATE ON TRAFFICKING PROJECTS IN NORTHERN THAILAND ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Anti-trafficking NGOs in northern Thailand report that increased attention to TIP has caused changes in the trafficking business. Traffickers are forced to work harder for fewer gains; however, they are also working smarter, better disguising illicit businesses and creating broad networks that emulate other forms of organized crime. In addition, evidence suggests that the well-trodden routes to Bangkok are being redirected to the South, which is alleged by Thai police and international NGOs to be a growing transit point for destinations elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The Golden Triangle -- historically a Bermuda Triangle for trafficking -- is saturated with NGOs addressing the problem. Nonetheless, the root causes of trafficking are still prevalent, with the most vulnerable populations being the poor, the uneducated, and members of stateless hill tribes. The Thai police force has increased its awareness about TIP issues in recent years, but low-ranking, low-paid officers are still allegedly not always on the side of the law. Three Emboffs recently visited eight NGOs in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai that have received, or currently receive, DOS funding, to be updated on their programs. End Summary. -------------- DEPDC -------------- ¶2. (U) The Development and Education Programme for Daughters and Communities (DEPDC) was created in 1989 by Director Sompop Jantraka, two-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee and a Time Magazine Asian Hero in ¶2002. Sompop told Emboffs that that a Peace Corps volunteer had greatly influenced him in his youth, developing in him an awareness of human rights and encouraging him to obtain a higher education. Sompop now does the same for youth in the north. His NGO in Mae Sai, a small town near the Burmese border, is reminiscent of a school campus with its open fields and playgrounds. DEPDC focuses its activities on education, believing it to be an antidote to the desperate decisions made by families to sell young girls into labor. Sompop noted that he would like to build a long term anti-trafficking network, but having only NGO status makes this goal difficult. ¶3. (U) DEPDC's staff of 44, including nine Thai and six international volunteers, manages 314 students. Fifty-six children live on DEPDC's campus and study at the local government school. DEPDC's projects include a half day school that provides free day care for local minority children (Shan, Tai Lue and Akha tribes), 6-16 years old, who lack citizenship or are too poor to enroll in the formal education system. DEPDC also runs a Border Child Protection and Rights Center (BCPR),a network of NGOs, government, and community organizations that operates a 24-hour shelter and conducts emergency rescues for children who have been raped, orphaned, trafficked, or are homeless. ¶4. (U) Another DEPDC project, the Mekong Youth Network (MYN), selects young women from Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, and China to be trained for one year in TIP issues. They return to educate their communities in the legal and cultural ramifications of human trafficking. Fourteen of these future community leaders described to Emboffs the prevalence of "employment agents" visiting rural villages afflicted by poverty and drought, offering ostensibly legitimate work to underage youths willing to cross into Thailand. In some cases, the families of these youths pay exorbitant up-front employment fees; in others, the workers find themselves in immediate debt due to placement fees to be paid off by future earnings. One Laotian girl described the ease with which children crossed the Thai-Laos border in the company of any adult, not necessarily a parent, by paying bribes to border guards. She said her home village in Laos had 27 children classified as missing in the past two years. Many schoolchildren leave Laos to find work in Thailand during their 2-month summer break, she said, but a myth has been perpetuated that they will be fined 1700 baht (USD 42.50) once they try to return. ¶5. (SBU) Sompop told Emboffs that finding the "kingpins" of trafficking activity has become nearly impossible, as its networks are an extensive and intricate web of actors. Traffickers allegedly maintain ties with corrupt elements in the police force, and obtain funding for their activities through bank loans given for seemingly legitimate entertainment centers such as hotels and karaoke bars. Death threats have caused Sompop to scale back his efforts to apprehend traffickers, and to focus more on prevention. -------------- MEKONG INDIGENOUS CHILD RIGHTS HOME (MRICRH) -------------- ¶6. (U) Mekong Regional Indigenous Child Rights Home (MRICRH) in Mae Chan is both a government and non-governmental organization, co-administered through the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, and DEPDC. MRICRH has created a network of social programs for children of abuse, exploitation, and neglect. Family and psychological counseling, medical services, and legal help (provided by the State Department-funded International Justice Mission, or IJM) are offered. ¶7. (U) MRICRH focuses on family rehabilitation to prevent trafficking cases. A voluntary network locates the families of victims, and assesses the home environment before deciding whether repatriation is appropriate. Hill tribe leaders are engaged in the victims' rehabilitation process, to correct the negative stigma often associated with a victim's return. This community involvement is, according to MRICRH, one reason for the area's dramatic decrease in TIP cases, from 94 cases in 2004 to 53 cases in 2005. Although cases are decreasing, MRICH emphasized that their degree of severity is increasing. -------------- MIRROR ART GROUP -------------- ¶8. (U) Mirror Art Group (MAG) is run by a young dynamic team, focused on strengthening tribal villages and their customs. Located on artfully designed grounds, with clay huts and foot bridges crossing a small river, the group supports tribal communities through activities including an anti-drug community network, a volunteer teacher program, a second hand clothing drive, and a project to combat trafficking. They also operate a television station, featuring productions by and for hilltribe members, which has won a World Bank award for innovation. The team has also produced short film pieces describing their work, with past USG funding prominently acknowledged in the DVDs they have shown to an estimated 20,000 viewers so far. MAG also recently won a USD 15,000 grant under EAP's 2005 Women's Issues Fund. ¶9. (U) MAG sees a direct relationship between lack of citizenship and vulnerability to trafficking. They estimate that 50,000 of Thailand's hill tribe children lack Thai citizenship, despite being born in country, and have limited access to education, healthcare, labor rights, and other social benefits. Hill tribe members are given color-coded identity cards indicating their status, and the extent to which they may travel, work, or own property. Offenders face fines and a jail term. Given these conditions, MAG claims that traffickers can exploit stateless people merely through offering them job opportunities, without needing to deceive or coerce. MAG identified six types of stateless people: - Morgans (sea gypsies) and hill tribe people, who have resided in Thailand for generations; - Migrants, who are subject to complicated laws about citizenship eligibility; - Displaced Thais, who found themselves in Burma when the border shifted east after World War II; - Those without any record of birth; - Those who lost registration rights after leaving their villages to work elsewhere, and did not re-register; - Those who do not know their identity. -------------- MAE SUAY LAW CENTER -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Mae Suay Law Center was founded by two former employees of the Catholic Commission for Ethnic Groups (CEG),an organization that was given funding by DOS to gain citizenship for hilltribes. Located in the Mae Suay district of Chiang Rai, the Mae Suay Law Center works to change and implement policy on citizenship for hilltribes. Their lawyers push policy through the government on the national level, and then push government workers to implement changes on the local level. (Note: Representatives of Mae Suay Law Center reported that policy changes do not always filter down to rural levels, as some local government employees feel they are granting favors to constituents, as opposed to fulfilling legal obligations. End note.) ¶11. (U) Mae Suay Law Center belongs to a consortium of lawyers working on stateless issues, composed of IJM, CEG, and the Mirror Art group. Forty villages in the area each provide one representative to receive training twice per month, throughout one year, to become a legal resource for their village. Training includes information about rights extending beyond citizenship, specifically regarding labor protection, as laborers are increasingly moving south to Hat Yai to work in tuna canning factories, rubber glove factories, and in apparel. -------------- TRAFCORD -------------- ¶12. (U) Trafcord's program coordinator, Ben Svasti, briefed Emboffs at his office, housed in the Chiang Mai provincial hall. Trafcord's main role is to facilitate coordination between nine provinces in northern Thailand, mostly with government agencies and NGOs working on children's and women's issues in border towns. The network is large and multidisciplinary, encompassing legal aid organizations, shelters, forensics and medical teams, and the public prosecutor's office. ¶13. (U) Trafcord handled 22 cases in 2005 (as many as 50 victims can be involved in one case). Of these, 62 percent were related to prostitution; 22 percent were classified as at-risk persons; 8 percent related to sex-abuse; 4 percent forced-labor; and 4 percent child beggars. The victims' nationalities are overwhelmingly Burmese, usually Shan, making up 76 percent of the cases. Thais are involved in 10 percent of cases, with the remaining 14 percent being Chinese, Laos, and others. ¶14. (U) Four cases handled by Trafcord resulted in sentencing in ¶2005. They are as follows. - On July 12, 2005, the Fang district court in Chiang Mai sentenced Ms. Wandee Boonsawat to 16 years of imprisonment for the charge of procurer according to the 1996 Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act, the Criminal Code, and the 1997 Act on Measures to Prevent and Suppress Trafficking in Women and Children. The 14-year-old victim was trafficked to Bangkok and forced into prostitution in a massage parlor. Her mother brought the case to TRAFCORD in 2003, and the victim is now under TRAFCORD's care for professional training and education. - On October 13, 2005, the Lampang Court in Muang district sentenced Mr. Boonseub Sangchai and Ms. Thitima Choadam to 10 years each for the charge of procurer under the 1996 Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act. TRAFCORD and the Lampang Multidisciplinary Team (LMT) rescued 14 girls and women from the brothel masquerading as an entertainment place, including two girls aged 14 and 16 years old. These two girls received therapy and occupational training through TRAFCORD's network. TRAFCORD also filed for compensation under the Act of Compensation for Injured Persons, and won 30,000 baht (USD 750) for the victims, making it the first TIP case in Thailand to be awarded under the Act of Compensation. - On October 20, 2005 the Lampang Court sentenced Ms. Pimpa Chan-ay to 16 years of imprisonment, and Mr. Temsak Musikapoom and Ms. Supapan Saodee to 15 years of imprisonment for the charge of procurer according to the 1996 Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act and 1979 Immigration Act. In May 2004, TRAFCORD and MDT rescued five Laotian TIP victims from Pimpa Bar Beer, which served as a brothel. The Laotian trafficker is still at large. - On December 19, 2005 the Chiang Mai Court sentenced Mr. Ayo (aka Yo or Cheunlong Chaemue) to 13 years and 6 months of imprisonment for the charge of procurer of children under 15 years old according to the Criminal Code. The victims are street boys aged 12, 15, and 17 years old. Mr. Ayo procured them for commercial sex with an Italian man, who has since fled the country. A warrant is out for his arrest. TRAFCORD has been investigating this case for the last year, in coordination with Italian Embassy, and provided legal and social welfare assistances in order to prepare the victims for the justice system. ¶15. (U) Svasti noted that trafficking victims in Thailand are "rarely overjoyed" to be rescued, because even debt bondage can be preferable to the poverty and family problems they endured in their hometowns. In addition, Thailand's brothels do not approach the extreme, locked-in-chains conditions found elsewhere, such as in India. Trafficked victims who are unable to receive vocational training or education usually return quickly to their former lives and are susceptible to being trafficked again. Svasti explained that the MOUs signed with Cambodia and Laos are key to the success of trafficking prevention programs, as they are binding agreements that establish procedures for law implementation; for example, MOUs allow trafficking laws to supersede national immigration laws. An MOU with Burma is desirable, he said, but not in the cards for the near future due to the political situation there. ¶16. (SBU) When asked about Trafcord's relationship with the police, Svasti replied that much has changed in the last 5 years. Previously, Trafcord could contact one lone trustworthy cop. Now, the understanding of human trafficking has increased (despite a profound lack of knowledge about TIP laws) and senior officers will not risk their jobs by engaging in TIP-related corruption. Younger officers, however, are still willing to accept bribes to supplement meager salaries. Svasti explained that male police officers retain ingrained attitudes regarding women's rights and gender issues that are common in Asia, and that need to be addressed during police training. -------------- -- INTER MOUNTAIN PEOPLES EDUCATION AND CULTURE IN THAILAND (IMPECT) -------------- -- ¶17. (U) The Inter Mountain Peoples Education and Culture in Thailand Association (IMPECT) is an indigenous and tribal NGO founded and staffed by representatives from indigenous communities. IMPECT educates the public about its legal rights, working with 200-300 communities within seven tribal groups: the Akha, Hmong, Lahu, Lisu, Lua, Karen, and Mien. IMPECT and IJM work together in five districts in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Under the IJM partnership, they have helped obtain citizenship for 4,000 - 5,000 people, and follow up in some areas with DNA testing to obtain citizenship rights for children. ¶18. (SBU) As with Mae Suay Law Center, IMPECT attested that implementing policy at district levels is difficult, finding that some officials respond only to bribes. IMPECT representatives told Emboffs that villagers do not dare stand up to officials to demand their rights, because "they will always suffer. They are not considered Thai, which is why we need to serve them." ¶19. (U) IMPECT has also worked in the area of education for tribal children. In the past, non-citizens were allowed to go to school, but not to receive certificates of study. New requirements authorize all students to receive certificates, but IMPECT finds that this is often ignored, or that certificates for tribal children will be marked with a stamp of "No Citizenship." IMPECT works with villages and schools to obtain equal educational rights for hill tribe children. -------------- -------------- ILO-FUNDED RESEARCH ON WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR -------------- -------------- ¶20. (U) Professor Nongyao, from Chiang Mai University, met with Emboffs to discuss her ILO-funded research: to understand the worst forms of child labor within five northern Thai provinces, including Tak, Chiang Rai, and Udorn Ratchathani. Professor Nongyao corroborated IMPECT's statement that, in practice, few schools allow non-Thai children to enroll, despite being a significant percent of the population: in 2003, 30 percent of the births in the Mae Sot Hospital were to migrant workers. In 2005, that number rose to 42 percent. As an alternative to school, many of these children are in the labor force. Of the villages in her study, Professor Nongyao noted that almost 20 percent of the agricultural labor force is less than 18 years old. Of these, 50 percent are less than 15 years old. ¶21. (U) Most of these children are Burmese Karen, and some Shan. Their work is hazardous, with many of them spraying chemicals on rose plantations, fruit trees, and vegetables, up to four times per month. When interviewed, the children said they were glad to perform chemical sprays, as it pays 90 baht (USD 2.25) versus the average 50 baht (USD 1.25) for other agricultural tasks. Professor Nongyao believes that the worst forms of child labor can be reduced to simply child labor, by providing a safer work atmosphere. -------------- NGO AND IJM STAKEHOLDERS' MEETING -------------- ¶22. (U) A stakeholders' meeting, moderated by a DOL-contracted independent evaluation team from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, brought together anti-trafficking NGOs throughout northern Thailand that have collaborated with IJM. The meeting 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 (See reftel Bangkok 827.) -------------- VOLUNTEER GROUP FOR CHILD DEVELOPMENT (VGDC) -------------- ¶23. (U) The Volunteer Group for Child Development Foundation (VGCD) is run by Anuchon Hualsong, a former recipient of the Embassy's International Volunteer (IV) program. VGCD's drop-in center is located near the center of Chiang Mai, with wide-open doors and youth sitting at a table outside. Inside, Emboffs glimpsed a weights machine, educational posters, and children sitting on the floor eating and talking, all of them greeting their visitors with a traditional Thai "wai". ¶24. (U) Anuchon, a man of about 30 years old, explained that two groups of children come to the drop-in center: urban children from broken families, and those from hill tribes seeking an income in Chiang Mai. Children from both groups are at risk of, or involved in, drug use and prostitution. Anuchon estimated that 5-20 children visit the drop-in shelter per day. The shelter has 3 staff members, as well as a Big Brother, Big Sister program. Some of the children still work at their jobs, and some are still street kids. VGDC also runs a live-in shelter in Sankampang, a suburb of Chiang Mai, which currently houses 19 children aged 7-16. ¶25. (U) VGCD's current activities include basic education in Thai, health care, and the risks of city life; staff outreach to street children; coordination with Trafcord and the Center for Protection of Children's Rights; and a trafficking awareness campaign, with stickers and pamphlets distributed by the children. (Note: VGCD found that bars and clubs would open their doors when children did the canvassing. Adults were not so welcome. End note.) In addition, VGCD has a center with a garden outside of the city for the children to visit. ¶26. (U) VGCD echoed Trafcord, stating that children, especially the boys, are often uncooperative with efforts to remove them from activities in prostitution and labor. The income it provides sustains them. In addition, the length of court procedures causes reluctance to testify against traffickers. VGCD has changed its approach from pressing criminal charges, which overwhelms their resources, to being informants for the police. Overall, VGCD aims to convince the children that they can survive in the city without working in prostitution.