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.

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DEPDC
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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.

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MEKONG INDIGENOUS CHILD RIGHTS HOME (MRICRH)
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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.

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MIRROR ART GROUP
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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.

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MAE SUAY LAW CENTER
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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.

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TRAFCORD
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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.

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INTER MOUNTAIN PEOPLES EDUCATION AND CULTURE IN
THAILAND (IMPECT)
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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.

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ILO-FUNDED RESEARCH ON WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR
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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.

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NGO AND IJM STAKEHOLDERS' MEETING
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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.)

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VOLUNTEER GROUP FOR CHILD DEVELOPMENT (VGDC)
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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.