NGO Activist Believes Prevention is Key to Fight against

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