IJM MENDS FENCES, FACILITATES TRAFFICKING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BANGKOK 000827

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT OF LABOR FOR ILAB - MARK MITTELHAUSER AND BRANDIE
SASSER; STATE FOR G/TIP, EAP/MLS, DRL/IL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB KCRM KWMN PREF PHUM TH
SUBJECT: IJM MENDS FENCES, FACILITATES TRAFFICKING
CONVICTIONS IN THAILAND



1. (SBU) Summary. The U.S.-based anti-trafficking NGO, IJM,
is improving its image in Thailand and received qualified
praise from NGO stakeholders during a final evaluation of its
three-year TIP project funded by the Department of Labor.
Separately, RTG police officials have credited IJM's
instrumental assistance in over a dozen completed and pending
TIP prosecutions since 2004. IJM's new staff has also
reached out to improve coordination with local NGOs, and has
assisted subgrantee organizations in providing legal
assistance to thousands of disadvantaged hill tribe members
seeking Thai citizenship and education to reduce their
vulnerability to trafficking. While IJM continues to face
suspicion that it is too closely tied to USG anti-TIP policy,
its recent accomplishments have convinced many, especially in
Thai law enforcement, that it plays a valuable and
results-oriented role combating TIP in Thailand. End Summary.


2. (SBU) The International Justice Mission (IJM),in the
course of a final evaluation by Department of Labor (DOL)
officials of a three-year, USD 700,000 project for anti
trafficking-in-persons (TIP) work in Thailand, received
extensive praise for its recent work, combined with residual
criticism for past problems, at a February 3 workshop with
project stakeholders in Chiang Mai. The workshop was
moderated by the project's local evaluation team, a group of
three researchers who were contracted by DOL from
Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The workshop
stakeholders' review 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. The workshop was
attended by three Emboffs and two visiting DOL reps, and
included subgrantee organizations in the IJM project as well
as other NGO partners, hill tribe representatives, law
enforcement officers and other RTG officials. The workshop
concluded a week of on-site meetings by DOL evaluators with
IJM's partners in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces.

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Overcoming an Image Problem
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3. (SBU) IJM's office in Thailand, by the open admission of
its current staff, has fought an uphill battle in recent
years against allegations that it overzealously pursued TIP
cases in dramatic, well-publicized raids that ran roughshod
over local authorities and sensitivities. Early after its
establishment in 2001, IJM was accused of removing
prostitutes from brothel establishments against their will,
failing to provide for post-removal care and shelter for
rescued women, and allowing ordinary migrant workers to be
rounded up and detained along with legitimate TIP victims.
In truth, IJM was not the only NGO in Thailand subject to
these accusations. But Thai observers at the time questioned
the authority of a U.S.-based NGO conducting law enforcement
operations in a sovereign country. The prominent
U.S.-supported anti-TIP coordinating NGO in northern
Thailand, TRAFCORD, complained that IJM, as a newcomer
unqualified to investigate trafficking in Thailand, was
hampering the Thai court system by filing cases that lacked
acceptable evidence and unsettling existing NGO relationships
with Thai prosecutors and judges.


4. (SBU) In interviews this month, however, anti-trafficking
NGOs in northern Thailand indicate that IJM's current staff
has worked hard to mend fences with Thai civil society over
the past two years, and local police officials especially are
grateful for the technical and investigative assistance that
IJM has provided in securing the prosecution of numerous
trafficking rings. IJM has shown a greater regard for local
sensitivities by working with Thai counterparts behind the
scenes, eschewing publicity and allowing Thai law enforcement
partners to take credit for recent courtroom successes.
TRAFCORD has also reached a modus vivendi with IJM, and,
although it does not cooperate with IJM as much as IJM would
like on TIP cases brought to the attention of both
organizations, TRAFCORD tacitly admits that IJM has achieved
solid recent results, and accepts that the two NGOs can work
concurrently, if separately, in the same region.

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IJM A "Great Benefit to Thailand"
--------------


5. (SBU) At the February 3 stakeholders' workshop, IJM
received strong praise from a Thai police captain who serves
as a principal investigative inspector of trafficking in
Thailand's Region 5 - northern provinces. (Although the
workshop did not specifically focus on IJM's assistance in
prosecutions, which was outside the scope of the DOL project,
these activities were considered relevant by law enforcement
in the deterrence of future trafficking.) The captain said
IJM's cooperation with Thai police over the past year,
especially for its provision of technological expertise, was
crucial to local prosecutors in securing trafficking
convictions. "IJM is world-renowned for its investigative
experience," the captain said, "and they've provided a degree
of technical support and equipment to which we've never
before had access." The captain added, "In a world where we
have limited resources to perform our jobs, where we
sometimes have to use our own money for transportation to
trafficking sites, IJM is like having a free set of
investigators - they help us do our jobs in a very clever and
supportive manner, and are performing a great benefit to
Thailand."


6. (SBU) Another workshop participant, representing an NGO
with 18 years of experience providing counseling services for
hill tribe members, also praised IJM for its recent work:
"When IJM first came to Thailand, they forced their will on
us - they acted as if they found a car that didn't work and
needed to replace every single part in order to make it run.
Now, they look at the car to determine what's wrong and how
to fix it. Their current leadership is much more
understanding and, although some of their work still
duplicates the work that other NGOs were already performing,
they are ultimately benefiting children and indeed all
trafficking victims. As much as you might criticize them, it
would be a very sad day indeed if IJM departed Thailand."



7. (SBU) A balanced assessment of IJM's activities was
provided by Sompop Jantraka, the Nobel Prize-nominated
director of the Development Education Program for Daughters
and Communities (DEPDC),who stressed that "IJM has done much
positive work in Thailand and has dramatically improved its
operating style, but needs to continue to prove itself." He
asked that IJM focus on "opening itself" to the Thai public
by working with other NGOs and thinking of itself as "a tool
for the entire community." "Some of us have been here for a
long time and have broad experience in combating
trafficking," Sompop said. "You (IJM) are like a younger
brother to us, but we all need brothers and sisters and you
cannot operate independently. You have to trust us (the NGO
community),and I believe you have been doing so recently,"
Sompop added.


8. (SBU) Separately, a representative from the RTG's Human
Resource Development Office who also serves as a government
representative on TRAFCORD, said he was pleasantly surprised
at the scope of IJM's progress outlined in the workshop. "I
didn't really know what IJM was doing until today," he said,
"but there is still the perception that IJM is an arm of the
U.S. government." He said he had three recommendations for
IJM: 1) to recognize that there are "good and bad cops"
everywhere - and make the choice to work with the good ones;
2) to support NGOs in a more sustainable manner, and avoid
providing short-term subgrantee funds that are cut off too
quickly; and 3) to work towards more of a partnership with
other NGOs rather than a boss/employee relationship.
(Comment: In a separate meeting with IJM and TRAFCORD,
TRAFCORD program coordinator Ben Svasti, a noted IJM critic
in the past, also remarked that relations between the two
organizations had improved, and differentiated the two by
saying that IJM was "more concerned with results" while
TRAFCORD focused on "building a process.")


9. (SBU) IJM's Thailand Director and Thai police
investigators, in separate meetings with Emboffs and DOL
officers, provided further details on IJM's collaboration
with Thai prosecutors: IJM facilitated a total of ten
trafficking convictions in 2004-2005, with six cases pending
trial in 2006. Although classified as "trafficking" cases by
IJM, the convictions were obtained under a variety of penal
code provisions, ranging from hiring aliens without
permission to procuring women and children for the purposes
of prostitution, with sentences as follows:

-- LU Trafficking Case, Chiang Rai, 2 convictions (15 years)
-- HARDING Pedophilia Case, Chiang Mai, 1 conviction (8 mos.)
-- SUREERAT Trafficking Case, Chiang Rai, 4 convictions (4-5
years)
-- NAREEDANG Child Labor Case, Chiang Rai, 1 conviction (2
years probation)
-- MAYA Karaoke Trafficking Case, Chiang Rai, 1 conviction (3
months)
-- JARIWALA Pedophilia Case, Chiang Mai, 1 conviction (9
months)


10. (SBU) In an indication that Thai courts are increasingly
accepting IJM's investigative techniques, prosecutors secured
the LU convictions and 15 year jail sentences through the use
of videotape evidence, provided by IJM and Chiang Rai
immigration police using hidden cameras as they negotiated
the procurement and "sale" of a 15-year old Burmese girl for
sexual purposes. The SUREERAT case conviction was also
obtained through hidden camera evidence, with the sole
defendant who pleaded not guilty receiving the most severe
sentence of 5 years. (The judge in this case, upon seeing
IJM's videotape of the prostitution transaction, asked the
defendant if she wished to reconsider her plea. When she
refused, the judge handed her the harshest sentence of the
four defendants.)

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Concerns Remain About Sustainability, "Loyalties"
-------------- --------------


11. (SBU) At the stakeholders' meeting, the Chulalongkorn
evaluation team also gave their own one-hour presentation of
findings which credited IJM and its subgrantees with raising
awareness of TIP through the use of the arts and sporting
events, and with providing scholarships, legal services and
shelter homes for TIP victims or women and children at risk
of being trafficked. The evaluators acknowledged that IJM
had made a significant impact on improving NGO networks on
anti-TIP activities and improving the capacity of immigration
police to investigate trafficking rings. The evaluators also
noted the high number of hill tribe members that was reached
through awareness raising activities. Several thousand hill
tribe members were granted Thai citizenship during the
project period, although it was difficult to determine the
impact of IJM and subgrantee activities on the citizenship
decisions by Thai authorities. Despite these positive
outcomes, the evaluators questioned the sustainability of IJM
strategies upon completion of the DOL program, due to a lack
of management capacity building among IJM's 17 total
subgrantee organizations and their dependence on IJM funding
for survival.


12. (SBU) Laboff and DOL officers also spoke at the workshop
to counter the evaluators' stated belief that information
obtained by IJM might unfairly tarnish Thailand's reputation
on trafficking. The evaluators' power point presentation
included a slide stating that the "release of information
about some trafficking and child rights violation cases can
tarnish Thailand's reputation in sex trafficking suppression
and has implications on other aspects of the U.S.-Thai
relationship." Ask to expand on this concern, the evaluators
noted the perception among some Thai NGOs that IJM was in
effect a "front" for the USG and was established primarily to
channel information to the USG for inclusion in the State
Department's annual TIP report. The evaluators also said
that the phrase "other aspects of the U.S.-Thai relationship"
referred to trade relations and possible implications of
Thailand's trafficking and child labor record on ongoing Free
Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations as well as trade
preference programs such as GSP. The evaluators asked for
clarification of the use of IJM's case histories in the U.S.
TIP report and the use of other sources in evaluating
Thailand's efforts to combat TIP.


13. (SBU) Laboff said that the TIP report is a comprehensive
review of TIP activities around the world that reviewed not
just the prevalence of TIP in each country studied, but the
extent of government activities to combat TIP and its root
causes. Laboff said that the Embassy, and the USG in
general, relied on a diverse set of sources for information
on TIP, including (but not limited to) local and
international NGOs, the media, host country law enforcement
and immigration agencies, and academic researchers. Laboff
said much of the information received from IJM (and other
NGOs including TRAFCORD) included difficult-to-obtain
statistics on recent successful TIP prosecutions and
convictions which could only reflect well on Thailand's
efforts to combat TIP.


14. (SBU) DOL officers also said that they had an obligation
to properly monitor the results of IJM's activities, as with
the activities of all NGOs receiving USG funding, to ensure
that funds were used as intended and achieving measurable
results. Laboff added that U.S.-Thai relations could only be
strengthened by an open exchange of information on these
issues, and that trade relations would continue to progress
on the understanding that both countries were already
committed to upholding basic standards to combat child labor
and TIP. There remained room for improvement, however, and
Laboff asked that the stakeholders press their RTG contacts
to ensure passage of the draft comprehensive Anti-Trafficking
Law that is pending approval by the Thai parliament this year.


15. (SBU) Comment: Project evaluators' doubts about the
sustainability of IJM's strategies will add impetus to IJM's
efforts to pursue follow-on funding after the completion of
the DOL project. While they will continue to address the
northern provinces, IJM is also focusing their activities on
trafficking routes to the South, which they believe are
leading to Hat Yai in Songkhla province and beyond. Emboffs
noted during this visit the number of interlocutors,
including Thai police officials and representatives from the
International Labor Organization (ILO),who concur that Hat
Yai is becoming a major focal point of human trafficking in
Thailand. Activities in Hat Yai will be a subject for future
post TIP reporting.
BOYCE