Migration, Deportation and
Recovery:
An Analysis with TdH-Supported
Shelters in Southeast Asia
Authors: Siriporn Skrobanek and Sebastian Boll
Commissioned by: Terre des Hommes Netherlands
December 2011
Table of Contents
i.
List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................ 3
ii. Executive Summary .......................................................................................................... 5
I.
Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 10
II. Scope and Methodology ............................................................................................... 11
III. Migration Patterns and Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong
Sub-Region ........................................................................................................................ 12
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
An Introduction: Overview of Migration Patterns in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region 12
In Focus: Policies and Patterns of Formal and Informal Migration in the Four Countries
Concerned ...................................................................................................................... 14
International, Regional and Sub-Regional Initiatives to Combat Human Trafficking .... 20
National Trends and Policies in the Four Countries Concerned .................................... 21
Current Forms of Assistance and Cross-Border Cooperation ........................................ 31
IV. The Way Forward: Proposals to Improve Programs and Services to Help
Those in Need .................................................................................................................. 51
Level of Action 1: Work with Authorities and Policies........................................................... 51
Level of Action 2: Work to Improve Shelters/Services .......................................................... 53
Level of Action 3: Work with the Victim/Family/Community ............................................... 59
iii. Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 65
2
i.
List of Abbreviations
AAT
Alliance against Trafficking
ATD
Anti-Trafficking Division
ATU
Anti-Trafficking Unit
AWARD
Association for Human Rights and Women’s Rights in Development
BIGC
Border Issue Group on Children
BTMC
Banteay Meancheay
CBO
Community Based Organisation
CBTIP
Central Body for Suppression of Trafficking in Persons
CHO
Cambodia Hope Organisation
CWCC
Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre
DIC
Drop-In Centre
DKBA
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
DSI
Department of Special Investigation, Ministry of Justice
DWA
Department of Women’s Affairs
FFW
Foundation for Women
GE
Goutte d’Eau
GMS
Greater Mekong Sub-region
IU
Investigation Unit, Immigration Bureau
KANB
Karen Action Network in Burma
Lao P.D.R./Laos Lao People’s Democratic Republic
MLSW
Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare
MoP
Ministry of Public Security
3
MSDHC
Ministry of Social Development and Human Security
MSVY
Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation
PRC
People’s Republic of China
PTC
Poipet Transit Centre
TdH
Terre des Hommes
THB
Thai Baht (US$1 is equivalent to 30 Baht)
VFI
Village Focus International
VRC
Vangtao Reception Centre
VTE
Vientiane Transit Centre
WU
Women’s Union
WV
World Vision
4
ii.
Executive Summary
The Greater Mekong Sub-region is home to some 260 million people, including an estimated 3.5 million
cross-border migrants. Intra sub-regional labour migration has become a viable source of livelihood,
often for socially excluded groups in their respective countries. Alongside voluntary patterns of labour
migration, severe forms of exploitation and human trafficking have manifested themselves, which
negatively affect thousands of adults’ and children’s lives across the region. They fall victim to
unscrupulous agents and traffickers at places of origin, transit and destination. Mechanisms to deal with
the abuse and exploitation have been developed at many levels in the GMS countries, from recognising
theUN’s global definition of human trafficking to establishing regional initiatives and formulating
national tools and legislation. Despite such steps, however, the problem remains persistent, with new
forms of exploitation regularly developing that often go beyond the developedinstruments and legal
frameworks.
The cross-border dimension of human trafficking in the GMSrequires more coordinated bi- and
multilateral actions at all levels to suppress one of the most financially voluminous forms of
international crime; one that is often referred to as “modern-day slavery”. Beyond politics, civil society
organisations also play crucial roles in fighting human trafficking. Amongst other things, they are most
often the ones providing essential medical, psychosocial and educational services to victims, which are
fundamental in helping the latter recover from their traumatising experiences and re-integrate back into
society. Moreover, such organisations pool a tremendous amount of knowledge on trafficking through
their day-to-day work with victims of various types of exploitation.
Unfortunately, anti-trafficking efforts at many levels are still often based on assumptions that have
never actually been verified. In the absence of a proper understanding of why and how adults and
children get trafficked in the first place, however, it is difficult to develop adequate strategies that help
prevent people from getting exploited or successfully assist those already affected.Terre des Hommes
Netherlands, through its support to three NGOs – CWCC in Cambodia, FFW in Thailand serving Burmese
people, and VFI in Laos – operating border shelters for trafficking victims in their respective countries, is
in a unique position to pool the abovementioned knowledge of the concerned organisations, which has
the potential to help significantly in better understanding trafficking experiences and, as result, tailor
more adequate response mechanisms. It was partly with this aspiration that the study was
commissioned.
At the same time, many more victims of exploitation will undergo the recovery programs of the
mentioned NGOs, which is why the report also serves the purpose of determining, with the involvement
of beneficiaries and other relevant stakeholders engaged with the organisations, lessons learned and
best practices for their operations, proposing practical recommendations on how to further improve
assistance to trafficking victims, so as to help them re-integrate successfully into society without a
5
danger of relapse. Bearing all this in mind, the analysis has thus been conducted with the objective to
describe and analyse (a) patterns of cross-border migration and trafficking in the four states concerned
(Cambodia, LaoPDR, Burma/Myanmar, Thailand), with Thailand largely serving as destination country for
people from the other three; (b) deportation processes of alleged illegal migrants – many of who
experienced various forms of exploitation and even human trafficking without being identified as
victims; (c) current forms of cross-border cooperation and assistance to help deportees and trafficking
victims; as well as (d) services provided in the three shelters operated by Terre des Hommes’ partner
organisations.
The findings show that both parents and agents play crucial roles in decision-making processes on
whether or not a person migrates out of their community. Once the decision is taken in favour of outmigration – most often for economic reasons – the concerned states have thus far failed to make regular
migration for employment a viable alternative to irregular mechanisms; the latter frequently through
long-established migration networks and/or with the assistance of brokers. Both costs and time involved
in legal employment channels abroad practically push people into such informal practices as they are so
readily found between the four countries of this analysis. Without necessary papers and legal status,
migrants are significantly more vulnerable to exploitation, both on their way and at destination. Yet,
these experiences of abuse are often not identified by authorities; they commonly treat irregular
migrants without proper documents as criminals instead of granting them the protective services, which
they would be entitled to if identified as victims of trafficking. Victim identification procedures, the
subsequent study has found, are still vastly inadequate and need urgent improvement.
On the other hand, there are also significant numbers of trafficking victims that themselves choose not
be identified as such. Reasons for this include lengthy and uncomfortable court processes, during which
victims usually have to remain far away from their families and without access to employment
possibilities, in combination with little hope for adequate compensation at the end. Instead, they
regularly prefer to be deported back home, after which many re-migrate for another chance to make a
better living and help their families. In the case of deportation, irregular migrants from Cambodia, Laos
and Burma/Myanmar in Thailand are usually sent through the following border crossings: Aranyaprathet
in Sra Kaew Province for Cambodia; Chong Mek in Ubon Rachathani Province as well as Mukdahan
Province for Laos (since April 2011, the central Immigration Detention Centre(IDC) in Bangkok has
shifted its deportation policy from the former to Mukdahan Province); as well as Mae Sod in Tak
Province and Mae Sai in Chiangrai Province for Burma/Myanmar. Official statistics suggest that many –
in fact often the majority – of these vulnerable or victimised people are men, who are regularly less
protected by national laws than their female counterparts and for who significantly fewer services are
available both through governmental and non-governmental channels. TdH partner organisations
should work towards overcoming these gaps in their respective national contexts.
6
There are transit centres and recovery shelters in Poipet, Pakse and Mae Sod, operated by CWCC, VFI
and FFW. These provide crucial assistance particularly to vulnerable and victimised women and children,
who are “pushed back” to their countries via the mentioned deportation borders. While state agencies
in the countries concerned play important roles in the repatriation and re-integration of the comparably
small numbers of officially identified trafficking victims through government-to-government channels,
the three organisations have committed themselves to dealing with the hundreds of deportees that are
returned to their home countries on a daily basis. The TdH partners also cooperate with each other on
such cases for the purposes of tracing people and families, case reception in border areas, as well as
immediate care and safe passage home. State agencies, however, often remain hesitant to fully engage
with civil society organisations and to accept the latter as equal partners in a joint fight to help people in
need. Organisations in the four countries need to intensify efforts to assert themselves as legitimate and
equivalent service providers, with the authority to freely conduct – on their own and in partnership with
others– their extremely important work to protect returnees and prevent human trafficking from
occurring. For the latter to happen, regular domestic and cross-border mechanisms of cooperation both
with governmental and non-governmental agencies need to be enhanced and institutionalised. Pilot
projects of GO-NGO partnerships exist and should be expanded and promoted effectively, so as to
contribute to more initiatives of this type to follow suit.
Evidently, the focus of the analysis and the recommendations produced lies on service providers at civil
society level. Terre des Hommes is a civil society organisation and supports NGOs around the world.
That’s what its commitment and engagement centres around globally; and that’s the perspective from
which its partner organisations engage with their environments. It appears obvious then that the study
seeks to first provide inspiration to those TdH-supported agencies, which have formed part of this
assignment. Such recommendations relate to three core constituencies that the partner organisations
both influence and are influenced by, as has already become apparent from the above deliberations: (1)
authorities; (2) beneficiaries; (3) the latters’ families and/or communities. The proposals put forward are
meant to be concrete enough to allow for their practical implementation and yet sufficiently broad to be
interpreted differently, depending on the respective national contexts. Without any specific order of
priority, these recommendations are:
Level of Action 1: Work with Authorities and Policies:
 Establish and improve involvement and cooperation on pushback cases, to avoid vulnerabilities
at border points through e.g. agents, taxi drivers or corrupt officials;
 Push towards more training for officials in victim identification procedures, ethics in dealing with
potential trafficking victims, etc., with a view to the development of common sub-regional
checklists and systems for such actions;
7
 Seek to supplement GO-GO cooperation with NGO involvement wherever necessary and
advisable, especially in social affairs, victim identification, legal protection, repatriation
processes, case follow-up, etc.;
 Push for the removal of bureaucratic and other burdens on cross-border movement to make
regular migration processes faster and less costly;
 Seek to collaborate with the private sector and work out a system of best practices and a list of
employers with a proven record for migrant workers.
Level of Action 2: Work to Improve Shelters/Services:
 Involve the children – and most often their families – as much as possible in questions around
their own future as they have a right to be in control of their fate;
 Find out if the child really wants to stay at the shelter or if it was a purely parental decision;
 Allow contact with the family as much as possible/wanted;
 Provide for regular opportunities to leave the shelter and see different environments;
 Prepare the victim for testifying in courts – if they voluntarily agree on such proceedings with
their involvement – and ensure that legal cases include compensation and remain as short and
as appropriate as possible for the victim;
 Consider other forms of reintegration into society that go beyond merely focusing on familychild relations if need be;
 Take family and needs assessment not only as a study of the family, but particularly also of what
the child needs for their human security;
 Consider the feasibility to open a social enterprise for the generation of income for both the
organisation and the residents;
 Carefully re-asses the needs of residents for future employment, and consider ways of providing
a wider and more tailored range of programs, e.g. by cooperating with other
educational/professional stakeholders;
 Establish working relations with a number of key companies/organisations with a proven record
for training and potential employment;
 Pay regular follow-up visits to ensure that residents are well off and have decent work;
8
 Consider ways to broaden the target audience to also serve the many vulnerable and victimised
men especially in the deportee populations with residential facilities and other comprehensive
services;
 Seek to cooperate with other partners in the country and the region to learn from each other
and improve performance and collaboration on case assistance;
 Try to introduce and improve elements of psychosocial support in every way possible, including
through cross border collaboration;
 Advocate for more courses of psychosocial support in the educational system with the
authorities;
 Develop and apply standardised, in-built monitoring and evaluation mechanisms with a focus on
beneficiaries’ interests to ensure that program aspirations and realities match.
Level of Action 3: Work with the Victim/Family/Community
 Consider mechanisms at village level in form of watchdog entities or contact points that can
monitor migration tendencies, identify agents, provide advise and contacts for safe migration
and potential alternatives, etc.;
 Look into counselling services for families with problems at village level as identified by
watchdog entities and make timely and appropriate interventions;
 Consider the involvement of (former) shelter residentsin awareness-raising campaigns,
especially with volunteer groups; be careful with this and ask cautiously in what form and under
what conditions the person concerned may want to get involved;
 Collaborate with all stakeholders to review contents and methods of advocacy campaigns, and
develop a comprehensive, rights-based curriculum on migration and trafficking as well as life
skills building for awareness raising activities in schools and at community levels.
9
I.
Introduction
1. The Greater Mekong Sub-region is hometo some 260 million people, including an estimated 3.5
million cross-border migrants. Intra-regional labour migration has become a viable source of livelihood,
often for socially excluded groups in their respective countries. Alongside voluntary patterns of labour
migration, severe forms of exploitation and human trafficking have manifested themselves, which
negatively affect thousands of adults’ and children’s life across the region. They fall victim to
unscrupulous agents and traffickers at places of origin, transit and destination.
2. Human trafficking has developed into one of the most profitable forms of international crime. It is
thus of utmost importance to intensify international action and collaboration to deal with this grave
form of human rights violations. There are a number of international instruments, which cover the
criminal dimension of trafficking in human beings, most notably the U.N. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress
and Punish Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children. However, there are no binding
international mechanisms for the human rights protection of victims of human trafficking. The latter is
largely left to national policies and the will of relevant state actors to provide assistance and redress for
trafficked persons. Sadly, victim identification procedures are vastly inadequate, causing many
trafficking victims to be criminalized and sent back to their home country as irregular migrants. This
practice aggravates their vulnerable situation and denies them the right to justice and
protection/assistance.
3. Being aware of this, Terre des Homes Netherlands has supported three partner organizations in the
GMS countries, namely the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre (CWCC), the Foundation for Women
(FFW) in Thailand, and Lao-based Village Focus International (VFI) to operate recovery shelters in border
areas to receive and provide assistance to victims of cross border trafficking and deportees from
Thailand. Knowing the magnitude of border crossings to and deportations from Thailand as well as the
experiences of migrants during these processes can help service providers to develop more tailored
assistance programs for vulnerable women and children. With this in mind, the study has been
conducted with three main objectives: (1) gaining knowledge on the magnitude of cross border
movement and deportation; (2) documenting the current forms of cross border collaboration and
assistance provided in the three shelters; (3) determining areas for improving services and preventing
relapse.
10
II.
Scope and Methodology
4. The study was conducted in Thailand, Lao P.D.R. and Cambodia in the shelters, at border areas and in
communities. The research team applied qualitative research methods with a participatory approach.
Interviews as the primary source of information were organized with concerned authorities, service
providers, shelter residents and reintegrated trafficking victims, as well as key staff of relevant NGOs in
the three countries. Pre-designed checklists guided individual interviews and focus group meetings in
Thailand (Bangkok, Mukdahan, Mae Sod and Aranyaprathet); Lao P.D.R.(Savannakhet and Champasak);
and Cambodia (Poipet and BanteayMeanchey). The field trips also involved visits to families, workplaces
of re-integrated shelter residents, border transit and reception centres for women and children, as well
as detention centres.
5. In order to attain a good overview of migration patterns in the GMS and deportation processes from
Thailand to the three neighbouring countries, secondary resources were equally collected and used,
especially documents of previous research projects, statistics and periodic reports of relevant agencies.
These helped determine the magnitude and the impact of deportation on irregular migrants. Similarly,
field observations at the main borders of deportation were conducted, along with interviews of
immigration authorities and other key service providers at borders.
6. The limitations for this study lie mainly in the scarcity of (convincing) information on the deportation
of irregular migrants from Thailand, even more so as regards disaggregating by age and sex. The lack of
effective victim identification procedures blurs the picture even further. Moreover, cases of relapse
have never been systematically registered by state agencies or NGOs, causing an absence of records of a
knowingly existent problem. Political differences between the three countries have led to very different
operational environments for service providers, making it somewhat difficult to properly compare the
three shelters and draw sufficiently tailored lessons learned. However, an attempt in this direction has
been made in the following report.
7. The main body consists of 3 parts: an overview of migration patterns in the GMS countries, mainly
regarding Thailand, Lao P.D.R., Cambodia and Burma/Myanmar; current types of national assistance to
victims of trafficking and migrant deportees, as well as cross border collaboration in this context; and an
analysis of services provided through the three shelter-operating organisations, with practical
recommendations as inspiration to further improve services to victims and those at risk. It needs to be
mentioned though that overall policies and activities are professional and performed by people with
sincere dedication to their work and the people served. The research team has been very pleased about
performances; the suggestions in this report are thus input to develop otherwise well-functioning
operations even further.
11
III.
Migration Patterns and Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub –
Region
a.
An Introduction: Overview of Migration Patterns in the Greater
Mekong Sub-Region
8. The Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS)1is home to some 260 million people, including an estimated 35 million cross-border migrants. Within the sub-region, Thailand stands out as the major receiving
country with between 2-4 million foreigners on its territory. Besides that, the Chinese Yunnan Province
and Cambodia also host significant migrant populations from other states in the sub-region2. People
additionally move within GMS states, with Cambodia serving as a prime example in this context, where
about 10 million people - or 75% of the population – are considered internal migrants3. Despite the
continuing significance of refugee flows particularly from Burma/Myanmar, today’s GMS migrants
largely move across borders in pursuit of work.
9. Accurate data, however, is difficult to attain as evidenced by the significant variations in the figures
above. For one, this is due to the many long-term migrants across the sub-region, who have often
permanently settled outside their home country (see e.g. the Vietnamese migrants in Cambodia); it also
has a lot to do with the extent of irregular migration across the GMS states and the fact that numerous
people continue to be undocumented even in their home countries, making it very challenging for
countries to maintain an overview of exact flows. Besides, there are many kinship ties across states, with
people often belonging to the same ethnic groups and habitually moving across what today constitute
international borders4.
10. With the exception of Thailand, data on migratory flows in the GMS is not only incomplete, it is
simply scarce. An ADB report notes that there is very little information on movements between Vietnam
and Cambodia as well as between Yunnan Province/China, Lao P.D.R and Vietnam, albeit such exchanges
knowingly exist. This leaves policymakers without an important tool to formulate effective sub-regional
development strategies. The analysis concludes that, “for the time-being, policies are dictated primarily
by the private sector’s demand for workers rather than social, economic and development
considerations about how best to harness the benefits of migration in the sub-region”5.
11. However, the existent official statistics, as incomplete and scarce as they may be, suggest that all
GMS states see people depart for and arrive from the sub-region. Thailand far outnumbers its
neighbours with a registered influx of 1,314,382 from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar by December
20096, mostly low-skilled workers working largely in construction, agriculture, fisheries and domestic
work. In addition, about one million Chinese permanently reside in Myanmar, and as many Vietnamese
have established themselves in Cambodia, with neither community appearing in statistics on migrants
anymore. Chinese investment especially in its GMS neighbours cause further influx of Chinese workers,
12
as companies often bring along their own workforce. Vietnamese, on the other hand, are regularly
employed as skilled labour on construction sites or as craftsmen in Lao P.D.R and Cambodia7.
Table 1: Predominant migration flows in the GMS
Origin
Cambodia
Destination
Thailand and
Nam
Lao PDR
Thailand and small
numbers in Yunnan
Province, PRC
Thailand,
Yunnan
Province, PRC
Myanmar
Thailand
Vietnam
Yunnan
Province, PRC
Status
Viet Regular and irregular to
Thailand; irregular to
Viet Nam
No
significant
migration to other
GMS
economies
(other
than
professionals
and
intra-corporate
transfers)
Cambodia, Lao PDR
and Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region,
PRC
Sector or Skill Level
Primarily
low
skilled
(agriculture, fisheries and
construction);
primarily
agriculture in southern Viet
Nam
Regular and irregular to Primarily low skilled
Thailand; not known to
Yunnan Province, PRC
Irregular if they arrived Primarily low skilled in
in Thailand after 2004; Thailand; low skilled and
regular to Yunnan business persons in Yunnan
Province, PRC
Province, PRC
Not known
Not known
Mostly irregular (no
legal channels from
Viet Nam to other GMS
economies)
Lao PDR, Viet Nam Regular and irregular
and Myanmar
Primarily low skilled to
Guangxi
Zhuang
Autonomous Region, PRC;
medium, high skilled and
business
persons
to
Cambodia and Lao PDR
Low-skilled
(agriculture,
mining),
medium-skilled
and business persons
Source: World Bank, 2006; Sciortino and Punpuing, 2009
12. The majority of intra-regional labour migration is typified by low-skilled people willing to accept jobs
for salaries that are less than what nationals would otherwise be prepared to work for. Yet, notable
exceptions of medium- and high-skilled workers moving across the GMS exist, especially in the case of
Vietnam and Yunnan Province/PRC. Duration of such stays differ vastly: sometimes they are long-term
and potentially lead to a permanent residence status (see e.g. Burmese people living in Thailand), some
13
migrants come for seasonal agricultural work, whereas others arrive for a day just to return again in the
evenings, as many Lao and Cambodian practice on the basis of Thailand’s border pass system8.
b.
In Focus: Policies and Patterns of Formal and Informal Migration in the Four
Countries Concerned
Thailand:
13. In the context of the four countries concerned, Thailand – as suggested above - is the most
important destination country for cross-border migration. It has bilateral employment agreements with
Myanmar/Burma, Lao PDR and Cambodia to provide formal channels for migrant workers from these
countries to legally work in Thailand in certain sectors such as construction, the fishing industry or
domestic work. Workers entering the country under these MoUs will be provided with visas and work
permits for two years, with a possible extension for another two-year period. Migrant workers who are
registered and have obtained work permits are entitled to the same rights as Thai workers.
14. In order to regularize the status of irregular migrants from the three countries, the government has
implemented a number of registration rounds since 2004, administered by the Ministry of Interior and
the Ministry of Labour. The children of migrant workers aged less than 15 years are allowed to sign up
along with their parents. By this process, registered migrants are entitled to basic health insurance and
protection under the Labour Protection Act, Social Security Act and the Workmen’s Compensation Act.
Children registered with their parents are allowed to stay in Thailand legally and are able to attain basic
education and healthcare.
15. Despite this regulation policy, the numbers of irregular migrants are still increasing, which is why, in
2010,the government implemented a policy requiring all registered migrant workers to undergo a
nationality verification process with the authorities in their home countries. Following this, authorities at
home will issue a certificate of nationality or passport, and the Thai authorities will grant a visa and work
permit for two years with the possibility of a two-year extension. The process of nationality verification
for migrant workers from the three countries is supposed to be completed in February 2012. However,
the procedures are complicated, time consuming and subject migrant workers to further abuse and
arbitrary treatment, thereby so far resulting in decreasing numbers of registered workers. By December
2009, only 388,506 (45,417 Cambodia, 34,999 Lao and 308,090 Burmese) migrants from the eligible
total of 932,255 (56,479 Cambodia, 62,792 Lao and 812,984 Burmese) had completed the process of
nationality verification9.
14
Figure 1: Registered migrant workers in Thailand, by nationality, sector and sex, December 2009
Source: International Organisation for Migration, 2011
16. According to the Thai Immigration Bureau’s statistics from 2010, the number of people from Burma,
Cambodia and Laos that crossed the Thai border on a border pass was 7,200,712, while about 6,951,343
were registered as having left the country. The outstanding 249,369 who overstayed and remained
illegal in Thailand were Burmese (150,166), Cambodian (73,532) and Lao (25,671). The border pass is
15
issued to anyone who is over 13 years of age by the authorities in the country of origin. Parents can have
younger children included on their border pass.
Table 2: Numbers of migrants crossing borders to Thailand on a border pass in 2010
Entry/Departure Burma/Myanmar
Entry
891,948
Departure
741,782
Remaining
150,166
Cambodia
5,455,627
5,382,095
73,532
Lao PDR
853,137
827,466
25,671
Total
7,200,712
6,951,343
249,369
Source: Thai Immigration Bureau, 2011
Laos:
17. There are today 9 officially registered employment agencies in the country. Established since 2006,
these are the only institutions with authority to issue work permits for employment abroad. Costs for
such formal channels, however, are high. Officials indicate that they reach more than 10,000THB, often
requiring people to sell possessions or go into debt. In some cases, people may not even end up with a
job after all. Officially authorised Lao labour migrants in Thailand typically work in the construction,
food-processing and industrial sectors, and come with relatively low levels of professional skills.
Controversially, the Lao government does not issue permits for domestic work; the reasons being that,
for one, employees do not obtain any additional skills that can be of use for future employment; and,
second, there are many reports on abuse by employers both physically and sexually, which the Lao
authorities are seeking to curb by prohibiting such jobs.
18. It is known, however, that many Lao women especially girls continue to work as domestic servants in
Thailand, in which case the imposed secrecy and illegality may only add to their vulnerability. In fact, the
2007 migrant registration program in Thailand revealed that 43% of all registered Lao girls/women were
employed as domestic workers10. Moreover, the criteria11 for Laotian workers to be eligible to work
abroad in parts also negatively affect girls and women. One says that any person wishing to seek
employment in a foreign country must at a minimum have completed primary education. A 2007
UNIFEM report12, however, notices that about 2/3 of all Lao girls never finish primary school, excluding
the vast majority of women looking for any legal employment opportunities abroad.
19. Local authorities suggest that today people at least cross the border to Thailand largely by legal
means. This is because legal mechanisms to move back and forth between the two countries have been
improved significantly since the early 2000s, most notably through a MoU process on Employment
Cooperation as of 2002. Laotian citizens can now choose between three legal documents by which they
are permitted to enter Thailand; these are a passport, a border pass and a so-called pim (a border
passvalid for one-year). Costs vary significantly, with a passport coming at 1000THB, whereas border
16
pass and pim total 140 and 220THB respectively. The difference between border pass and pim is that,
whilst both are valid for 3 days, the pim can be used over a period of one year. Importantly though, the
latter two only grant permission to stay in the adjacent Thai province to the border and not to move
around the country freely.
20. In 2010, 8552 Laotians (more than 5000 of who were men) were deported to their country through
the Vangtao crossing in the southern Champasak province (close to Pakse, where the TdH-supported
shelter run by VFI is located). While there are altogether 3 borders between Laos and Thailand through
which Thai authorities deport irregular migrants (the remaining two are in Vientiane and Savannakhet),
the Vangtao crossing in 2010 was the main deportation border in Laos for push-back cases from
Thailand13. In addition to the 8552 deportees, the Lao Embassy in Bangkok issued some 3400 so-called
laissez-passez passes to nationals that reported themselves as staying illegally. This makes for an
approximate number of some 12,000 identified irregular migrants from Laos in 2010. The actual number
however was significantly higher than this. As the following table shows, an estimated 62,792 illegal
Laotian migrants in Thailand were eligible for the above described nationality verification process in that
year.
Table 3: Status of Nationality Verification (NV) in Thailand as of December 2010
Source: Office of Foreign Workers Administration, Thai Ministry of Labour, 2011
Cambodia:
21. The Cambodian government is promoting labour migration to other countries, as insufficient
domestic jobs are created to accommodate the annual growth in the labour force of some 250,000300,00014. Legal overseas’ work is obtained through registered recruitment agencies. The Association of
Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA), founded in 2007, currently has about 13 such companies on
its list, 12 of which recruit for employment in Thailand, whereas the remaining one is specialised on
Malaysia. Legal migration to Thailand through a recruitment agency takes between 2 to 4 months.
Recent research suggests that many migrants perceive this process as time-consuming an expensive,
leaving informal recruitment practices as a vital alternative15.
17
22. Legal recruitment practices come at a cost of about 15,000THB, whereas smugglers charge around
3,000THB only; many experienced migrants even manage to re-enter Thailand for only 1,500THB in
transportation costs16. Besides, expectations as to the type of work to be obtained in Thailand are often
unmet, and rights and interests of formally employed migrants are not necessarily better protected than
for the irregular workforce. Typical vulnerabilities of migrant workers include recruitment fees,
deduction of salaries, pre-departure information and training, employment contracts and mechanisms
of recourse. According to research, this has a lot to do with a lack of enforcement of existing laws and
policies17. Still, by the end of 2009, a total of 124,761 Cambodians (78,945 men, 45,816 women) had
registered as migrant workers in Thailand, with the majority working in construction, agriculture and the
fishing industry.18 About 50% of them reside in the eastern provinces of Chonburi, Trat and Rayong19.
23. For legal mechanisms to migrate from Cambodia to Thailand there are 3 possible documents: (1)
Passport; (2) Immigration Card; (3) Border Pass. For the former, it is issued by the Bureau of Passports
under the Department of Statistics and Passports/Ministry of Interior, which has one small office with
about 75 officials to process applications for the entire country. It is usually overcrowded with 500 and
more people waiting to file an application or receive their documents. Accordingly, the papers take two
months to be issued, at a cost of around 4300THB (in comparison, Thailand and Laos charge around
1000THB and take 3-5 days to finalise the passports). For a fast track application within a week, another
1000THB is charged on top of the standard fee. Approved migrant workers, however, have recently
been granted a special procedure: their passports costs are reduced to around 750THB and the
documents are issued within 20 days20. The passport is valid for 5 years and permits stays of up to 14
days for tourists and 2 years for registered migrant workers.
24. The immigration card is a special feature of the Poipet border. It is valid for up to 6 months for stays
of 1 day with a compulsory return in the evening. Movement is very restricted to the immediate border
area around the local Rong Klua Market. The card costs approximately 220THB and can also be obtained
by children older than 12 years of age. It is issued by the Cambodian immigration department at the
border, with the Thai side scanning fingers and recording names in a computerized system thereafter.
Additionally, the border pass is valid for 2 years and allows holders to stay for up to 7 days. Movement is
still restricted but permits journeys to Sra Kaew and Prachinburi Province. Residents of OuChrov district,
in which Poipet is located, pay about 450THB, whereas outsiders are charged twice as much or even
more. Anyone at the age of 13 or above is eligible to obtain such pass; smaller children are allowed to
register with their parents. The process to obtain the document is equivalent to the Immigration Card
and locally called “white passport”.
25. Yet again, flows of irregular migration are also significant. Thailand is easily accessible to Cambodians
as 8 of the latter’s 24 provinces directly share an altogether long and porous border with the neighbour.
Based on statistics from the Thai Immigration Bureau, about 15,000 Cambodians crossed the joint
borders in 2010, with estimates suggesting that some 180,000 regular and irregular migrantworkers
18
from the country reside in Thailand, 110,000 of who registered during the 2004 migrant registration
scheme21. In 2009, 89,096 Cambodians were deported from Thailand for illegal migration. A 2010 UNIAP
sentinel surveillance project revealed that more than 20,000 (23 %) among those were in fact
unrecognized victims of trafficking. Shockingly, about 1 in 3 deportees who had illegally worked on
fishing boats reported to have been trafficked, raising concerns about the many more that are stuck on
boats for up to a year far off the shores of Thailand22. Besides fishing, agriculture and construction
industries as well as the domestic services sector are typical areas of employment for Cambodians in the
country23.
Burma/Myanmar:
26. Burma/Myanmar is by far the largest source country of migrants in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.
It is estimated that millions of Burmese have left the country either as refugees or to seek livelihood
abroad. Many of those are believed to reside in Thailand24. From a Thai perspective, about 80% of
migrants staying on its territory are from Burma/Myanmar. Apart from irregular migrants another
143,000 have been refugees in Thailand who have escaped political and ethnic persecution at home25.
The majority of migrants from Burma/Myanmar cross the border at Mae Sod in Tak Province by using a
border pass with a permitted stay of one day. After the legal border crossing, they regularly move to
other destinations, often with the support of recruiters and smuggling syndicates who charge them
exorbitant brokerage fees, which is subsequently deducted from their salaries and makes them bonded
workers. A number of migrants also use Thailand as a transit state to other countries, especially
Malaysia and Singapore.
27. Although a MoU was signed between Thai and Burmese authorities on Employment Cooperation in
2003 – similar to the ones the Thais signed with Laos and Cambodia – operations of official labour
recruitment agencies are a rather recent phenomenon, with the number of workers in this scheme
ranking at a marginal 1,513 - a big contrast to the 1,078,767 Burmese registered migrant workers in
2009. The Burmese authorities are also slow in the process of nationality verification. In 2008, they had
not verified the nationality of a single Burmese in Thailand, nor had any of their citizens lawfully
migrated to Thailand in line with the procedures under the bilateral memorandum26. Two years later in
2010, only 308,090 out of a total of 812,984 Burmese migrants eligible for nationality verification had
completed the official process27.
28. Since 2005, employment agencies are allowed to operate in Myanmar, having led to the
establishment of some 70 in Yangon and Mandalay alone. Additionally, issuing time for passports has
been reduced significantly, from 3 months in 2004 to within 30 days today28. Similar to procedures in
Laos and Cambodia, Burmese today can apply for passports or a border pass scheme to legally move to
Thailand. For a fee of 5,000THB, passport and work permit, they may obtain permission to stay for 2
years, with a potential extension of another 2 years. Once they have resided in Thailand for a maximum
period of 4 years, Burmese must return to their country and wait for 3 years before being allowed to re-
19
apply to work in Thailand. Evidently, 5,000THB is out of reach for the generally poor Burmese labourers;
having to return home and wait for 3 years before going back makes the scheme even less appealing.
Together with a number of other hindrances, it is understood why few people have made use of such
official procedures29.
29. Many Burmese in Thailand are adolescents or young adults. The 1,078,767 registered migrant
workers by 2009 split into 591,370 men and 487,397 women, with the dominant sectors of work being
agriculture, construction and seafood processing.30 Burmese migrants in Thailand are generally
characterised by low levels of education, they usually originate from rural areas in the country and come
from a poor, working class background. In a 2003 survey, close to 80% of Burmese migrants in Thailand
had attended school for a maximum of 8 years.
c.
International, Regional and Sub-Regional Initiatives to Combat Human
Trafficking
30. An internationally recognised definition for human trafficking has been put forward by the “Protocol
to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children”31 (often
referred to as the Trafficking or the Palermo Protocol). This was formulated as an addition to the
“Convention against Transnational Organized Crime”; it was signed in 2000 and entered into force in
2003. Laos accessed to the Protocol in 2003, Burma/Myanmar followed in 2004 and Cambodia in 2007.
Thailand, although having signed the document in 2001, has not ratified the Protocol until today. The
text divides human trafficking into three elements:
1) Act (the recruitment, transportation, harbouring or receipt of a person);
2) Means (coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power, etc.);
3) Purpose (sexual or labour exploitation, slavery, servitude, removal of organs, etc.).
31. Beyond that, the four countries are closely tied together in their efforts to combat human trafficking
at regional and sub-regional level. The ASEAN countries in 2003 agreed on a “Declaration Against
Trafficking in Persons, Particularly Women and Children” that has set out intensified cooperation
mechanisms between the 10 members to deal with this problem. In the same year, Thailand and
Cambodia had signed a Memorandum of Understanding to combat trafficking of women and children.
One year later, an initiative32 was launched at GMS-level that saw all countries sign a cooperation
agreement to tackle the crime. Sub-Regional and National Plans of Action (SPAs and NPAs) in the GMS
have since outlined activities to move towards that common goal. The 2004 initiative also spurred
further MoUs to be signed on a bilateral basis thereafter. At present, there are bilateral MoUsbetween
Thailand and Cambodia from 2003, Thailand and Lao P.D.R. from 2005, Thailand and Burma/Myanmar
from 2008, Thailand and Vietnam from 2008, and between Cambodia and Vietnam from 2005, with
more currently in a drafting stage.
20
d.
National Trends and Policies in the Four Countries Concerned
Thailand:
32. Thailand’s new legislation on preventing and suppressing human trafficking entered into force in
June 2008. Although the country has not ratified the UN Palermo Protocol, the new law adopts the UN’s
definition of human trafficking and incorporates similar provisions on prosecution, protection and
prevention. It also stipulates two national boards, one chaired by the Prime Minister that is charged with
formulating policies and monitoring the law’s enforcement, and another executive board chaired by the
Deputy Prime Minister to coordinate the implementation of provisions outlined in the law including
victim assistance. The board chaired by the PM consists of representatives from relevant ministries, with
four independent experts of who no less than half should be NGO representatives. The executive board
must consist of high-level governmental officers from relevant ministries and eight independent experts.
At provincial level, there are so-called anti-trafficking committees chaired by the governor and
consisting of representatives from all governmental offices and leading NGOs. Equally important is the
provision to set up a national fund for the prevention of human trafficking and victim assistance. The
new law covers men, women and children, and the protection and assistance it provides for shall cover
any victim of trafficking regardless of nationality.
33. Apart from the newly enacted anti-trafficking legislation, the bilateral – albeit legally not binding MoUs determine guidelines of practice for the countries concerned. They provide a definition of
trafficking in persons and outline the areas of cooperation, i.e. (1) prevention of trafficking; (2)
protection of victims; (3) repatriation; and (4) prosecution. According to the MoUs, identified victims
should be provided with assistance regardless of their legal status in the destination country. For
instance, the memoranda oblige Thailand as the destination country to identify trafficked victims among
illegal migrants and provide them with safe shelter for recovery and skills training, while victims are
waiting to appear in criminal proceedings as witness against their traffickers. The official repatriation of
identified trafficked persons especially children will be organised in cooperation with the responsible
agencies in the country of origin and includes the tracing and assessing of their families. The new
trafficking law in Thailand has incorporated the guidelines of the MoUs in various articles, especially in
the section on victim assistance.
34. Thailand has completed the first five-year national plan on the prevention and suppression of
trafficking in persons, and is now implementing the second plan (2011-2016) that covers five strategic
areas, namely 1) prevention; 2) prosecution; 3) protection; 4) mechanism and machinery; and 5)
national information system. Data suggests that Thailand, after the new anti-trafficking law came into
force, prosecuted 139 trafficking cases between June 2008 and December 2009, of which 78 cases
related to sexual exploitation, 40 were cases of labour exploitation, 15 cases involved begging and 6
cases for other purposes. There were 3,766 victims of trafficking from Cambodia, Laos PDR, China,
21
Vietnam and other unidentified countries who received official assistance; and a total 2,487 cases were
repatriated to their home country between 1999 and 200833.
(a) Victim Identification Procedures:
35. From 1998 Thailand has decided to refrain from enforcing the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 (1979 A.D.)
to punish undocumented migrants from Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos PDR. Instead, they will
deport them to their country of origin after case registration. Since Thailand has been classified as tier 2
watch list in the U.S. TIP Report for two consecutive years, with the result of potential sanctions on
trade and development aid, the National Anti-Trafficking Executive Board has issued a policy for police
to interview all irregular migrants at police stations and immigration centres for identifying victims of
trafficking. A summary checklist prepared by the police is used to interview children and adult migrants.
36. The official assistance outlined in the anti-trafficking bill and the bilateral MoUs is offered to the
identified trafficking victims on the condition that they stay in the governmental shelters run by the
Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and are witnesses in the legal cases against their
perpetrator. With minor victims, the official assistance is compulsory and, while staying in the shelter,
they also receive vocational and life skills training. The stay can last over a year, especially in the case of
legal proceedings. Adult and adolescent migrants therefore usually deny any victim status for fears of
long stays in government shelters. As a result, the number of identified victims from the immigration
detention centres is decreasing year by year. From 2008 till July 2011, altogether 293 illegal migrants
were identified as victims of trafficking, of who 221 were minors. Those victims, both minors and adults,
are sent to Kredtakarn shelter for official assistance and repatriation. During the same period, the
Bangkok IDC deported a total of 62,491 detainees, of who 9,564 were under-aged. These migrants come
from police stations and other immigration centres across the country that share no borders with the
countries of origin.
Table 4: Number of detainees and identified trafficking victims in the Bangkok Immigration Detention
Centre
Year
Lao P.D.R.
2008
2009
2010
2011
(1.Half)
Total
Burma/Myanmar
Cambodia
Others
Total
Identified Victims
Child
1086
496
1021
696
>18
882
1198
4668
4244
Total
1968
1694
5689
4940
Child
449
257
352
371
>18
736
965
5364
6342
Total
1185
1222
5716
6713
Child
610
648
1756
1876
>18
602
1644
12752
12707
Total
1212
2292
14508
14583
Child
88
18
10
51
>18
105
27
66
697
Total
193
45
76
748
4558
5253
25989
26984
Child
90
60
69
2
>18
41
12
16
3
Total
131
72
85
5
3299
10992
14291
1429
13407
14836
4890
27705
32595
167
895
1062
62784
221
72
293
Source: Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre (IDC), 2011
22
37. Children and women in the Bangkok IDC who are not identified as victims of trafficking but
considered to be in vulnerable situations may receive assistance from staff or NGOs at the centre, in
that they are referred to organizations in their home country to ensure their safe passage. The contact
organization will receive them at the border and bring them to a reception centre or accompany
themhome. At present, there are 11 international and national organizations including FFW working
inside the Bangkok IDC and providing support to detainees. Among the 450 detainees interviewed by
the Foundation for Women (FFW) between January and August 2011 (252 women, 101 men and 97
children with 72 girls and 25 boys), 25 detainees (4 women, 1 man, 17 girls and 3 boys) were considered
to be at risk and thus referred to organizations operating in border areas for further assistance.
38. It is certain that there are victims of trafficking in the groups of detainees, who are not identified
with the interviews currently conducted at police stations and the immigration detention centres.
However, if the numbers of trafficking victims deported e.g. from Thailand to Cambodia as illegal
migrants without any redress are as high as 23,000 per year – as suggested in the 2011 U.S. TIP Report –
would need to be further verified. There is also a need to find out how countries of origin deal with
those non-identified but trafficked returnees.
(b) Borders of Deportation
39. While victims of trafficking are officially repatriated to their home country, irregular migrants are
deported/pushed back through certain border checkpoints. There are many official crossings along the
borders with the three countries concerned, however the main official deportation borders that the
IDCs in Bangkok and elsewhere use to deport irregular migrants to their countries of origin are:
1) Aranyaprathet in Sra Kaew Province for Cambodia;
2) Chong Mek in UbonRachathani Province, and Mukdahan Province for Laos;
3) Mae Sod in Tak Province and Mae Sai in Chiangrai Province for Burma/Myanmar.
40. Between January and August 2011, there were 72,681 Cambodian deported from Sra Kaew
Immigration at Aranyaprathet border to Poipet; 5,019 Lao deportees were sent from Mukdahan IDC to
Savannakhet (this is excluding the numbers from Pakse); and 72,591 Burmese got deported from Mae
Sod IDC to Maywady. The detainees at the border detention centres waiting for deportation can be
divided into two groups: the larger group of detainees consists of those sent form Bangkok IDC and
other provincial immigration centres, whereas the others are people who get locally arrested in border
areas. On average, numbers of deportees to Cambodia and Burma/Myanmar have reached around 300
per day, whereas in Laos these fluctuate more ranging from around 30 to more than 120.34
41. Among the three main deportation borders in Thailand, only Sra Kaew provides data disaggregated
by age and sex. Based on these records, the number of deported men and boys is higher than for
women and girls. According to the statistics for the above period, there were 46,703 men, 21,223
23
women, 2,506 boys and 2,249 girls in the deportee population to Cambodia. The records also reported
33 people from other countries, of who the majority were Lao minors (8 boys and 5 girls). Besides, there
were 6 Burmese, 7 Chinese, 2 Vietnamese, 1 South Korean, 1 Singaporean, 1 Nigerian, 1 Polish and 1
Australian. They were all sent to the Bangkok IDC for deportation to their home countries.
Figure 2: Points of Deportation from Thailand to Neighbouring Countries
(c) Modes of Deportation
42. There is no definite date for sending detainees from the Bangkok IDC back to their countries of
origin. After the victim identification interview, the detainees have to wait until an arrangement has
been made for transporting them to the borders. This is usually the case, once there are a sufficient
24
number of detainees going back to the same place for a full load of a mini truck in the respective
detention centre. Transfers from the Bangkok IDC to the border usually leave at night time and arrive in
the early morning of the next day. It is common to see about 50 detainees (men, women and children)
in each truckload. Detainees of special concern who may be at risk of abuse or exploitation are also
included in this mode of transportation.
43. After arrival at the border immigration centre, there will be a summary interview to re-identify
victims of trafficking. Generally though, no further victims are discovered through these interviews.
Once all formalities are completed, the deportees are transported either directly to the border
immigration centre of their country as in the case of Cambodia; or they may cross a natural border e.g.
in form of a river, as often the case in Burma/Myanmar and Laos. Since April 2011, the deportation from
the Bangkok IDC to Laos is done via Mukdahan, where a river needs to be crossed. The border at Pakse,
however, is on land, and a reception centre operated by the Lao trade union in cooperation with VFI and
AAT has opened to assist returnees. The different modes of border crossings may potentially subject
deportees to further abuse and exploitation.
44. Deportation through the immigration detention centres may take place many times a day from
morning till dusk depending on the numbers of irregular migrants, especially those arrested in the local
vicinity. Push-back action from Sra Kaew IDC is done until 8pm as there is a policy to limit the number of
overnight detentions due to limited budget for food and other basic necessities. Deportation at late
evening times can generate a problem for the safe return of these migrants, particularly for women and
children. The Poipet Transit Centre though can at least provide emergency shelter for children who are
unaccompanied.
(d) Abuse of Deportees
45. Deportees from Thailand are at risk of arbitrary treatment by local authorities. Reports point to
cases of money extortion and confiscation of valuable items such as cell phones following arrests. While
most children do not complain about any maltreatment in the process of their deportation, they express
their fear of uncertainty, as they do not know the process and are afraid of being moved to another
workplace. A Cambodian girl who was detained with her mother and two brothers for nearly two
months in different places before being deported to Poipet reported of a man who could speak her
language and who demanded money to speed up their return home. Similarly, another girl mentioned
that the adults in her group had to pay 200THB to the local authorities at the border, and another girl in
a shelter experienced the confiscation of all her money by local authorities. A very serious case of abuse
happened when a boy was handed over to a local agent by DBKA in exchange for 1,500THB. In order to
free him, an NGO had to work with local acquaintances to buy him back from the agent and take him to
a border shelter.
25
46. Apart from the maltreatment by border authorities, the deportees can be subjected to other forms
of exploitation, such as through drivers who have been reported as waiting at borders and offering to
bring returnees home, only to then abuse their vulnerable position by charging excessive fares. There
have been cases, where drivers demanded such high amounts of money that the deportees had to sell
cattle or mortgage their land to settle the unscrupulous demands that regularly come with other threats
too.
Laos:
47. Lao P.D.R is mostly a source state of human trafficking, although limited numbers of victims from
abroad transit through and even end up in the country. There is no unified trafficking law; human
trafficking is dealt with in a number of different legal sources, most notably the Penal Code, which
prohibits human trafficking largely as it is defined in the UN Protocol to which Laos has become a stat
party since 2003; the Law on the Development and Protection of Women; and the Law on the Protection
of the Rights and Interest of Children. Whilst the Penal Code only declares human trafficking to be a
crime, the other two laws go further in that they outline certain rights to protection and assistance that
women and under-aged victims are entitled to; men, however, are excluded from such rights and thus
lack the legal basis for effective recovery and restitution.
48. The overall responsibility for the national anti-trafficking strategy lies with the National Steering
Committee for Human Trafficking. This body is chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister (who is also the
Minister of Defence) and brings together all key Ministries dealing with trafficking in persons. The
Committee is supported through a Secretariat that is headed by the Ministry of Public Security (MoP)35.
The latter also controls the Anti-Trafficking Unit (ATU), a specialised police force for human trafficking
affairs, as well as its provincial supplements, the Anti-Trafficking Divisions (ATDs). Immigration Officials
or border police are equally accountable to the MoP. However, most day-to-day cooperation between
the Lao and other governments on victim identification and repatriation occurs through the Ministry of
Labour and Social Welfare (MLSW), which – with support from IOM – operates the Vientiane Transit
Centre for repatriated Lao trafficking victims from abroad.
49. All officially recognised victims of trafficking, the vast majority of who returns from Thailand, arrive
at the aforementioned Vientiane Transit Centre. Since the beginning of its operations in 2001, a total of
1751 victims have been received in the small and hidden premise in the heart of Vientiane. Of this
number, 1686 have been girls and women and the remaining 65 boys. Annual numbers have varied
considerably over the years, yet there has been a striking overall increase in 2005. This can be explained
by important changes in both international and national legislation on human trafficking and the
practical implications these have had on victim identification. Additionally, while there was a downward
tendency between 2007 and 2010, the numbers for 2011 already point up again despite only covering
the first six months of the year. It is also important to note that 1498 victims of the total have been at
26
the age of 18 or below, the vast majority of identified, trafficking affected people in Laos with access to
assistance are thus children.
Figure 3: Victims of Trafficking at the Vientiane Transit Centre, 2001 - 2011
Official Returnees (M/F)
Official Returnees (Male)
Official Returnees (Female)
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Note:
(1) Disaggregation by gender began in 2005; (2) 2004 saw important
changes
to
both
national
and
international
law
regarding
human
trafficking; (3) Data from 2011 only refer to the first 6 months of the year
Source:Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Lao P.D.R.
Cambodia:
50. Cambodia is mainly a source and to a lesser extent a transit and destination country for human
trafficking. Domestic trafficking is also prevalent, particularly of women and children for the purpose of
domestic work or commercial sexual exploitation in urban centres. The country gave itself a unified
trafficking law as early as in 1996 that generally covers all human beings. In 2007, after ratifying the
Palermo Protocol, the government attempted to streamline and better coordinate efforts at the
national level through an “Agreement on Guidelines for Practices and Cooperation between the
Relevant Government Institutions and Victim Support Agencies in Cases of Human Trafficking”. Two
years later, a “National Policy on the Protection of the Rights of Victims of Human Trafficking” was
formulated to outline in more detail what services people affected by trafficking are entitled to. Overall,
the sheer number of key legal instruments, agreements and guidelines in the context of trafficking gives
the impression of a more comprehensive effort than there is e.g. in the cases of Lao P.D.R or
Burma/Myanmar.
27
51. Since 2009, the key governmental mechanism to coordinate the national anti-trafficking work is the
National Committee to Lead the Suppression of Human Trafficking, Smuggling, Labour and Sexual
Exploitation in Women and Children. It is led by the Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Interior and
comprises 18 senior officials from 14 ministries. A Secretariat, consisting of multiple institutions and six
working groups, includes both governmental and civil society organizations. Further bodies at subnational levels compliment the functioning of the National Committee36.Cambodia has also given itself a
so-called National Plan of Action for activities against human trafficking, which forms the basis of the
country’s commitments in the previously mentioned COMMIT-process. The second Plan for the years
2011 – 2014 is currently being finalized.
Figure 4: Numbers of Cambodian trafficking victims in selected countries, 2005 - 2009
Source: UNIAP Mekong Region Country Datasheets, 2010
52. Similar to the situation in Laos, the Cambodian government has established a centralized system for
the reception of officially identified trafficking victims, the Poipet Transit Centre (PTC) close to the ThaiCambodian border. It was set up with support from IOM in 2007 and has since, due to finished funding,
been transferred to the Cambodian SAVY, which now operates the Centre with support from UNICEF.
Crucially though, the PTC is not only mandated to deal with officially returned victims of TIP, but also to
attend to deportees from the Thai IDCs. Statistics indicate that Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia are the
three most important destination countries for Cambodian trafficking victims. Particularly the numbers
of those trafficked to Vietnam have seen a dramatic increase over the last few years, with many children
ending up as beggars on the streets of large cities, especially Ho Chi Minh City. In Thailand, men, women
and children are found begging on the streets as well as in the construction, agriculture and fishing
28
sectors, with women and girls additionally being held for sexual exploitation and domestic work.
Trafficking to Malaysia is mostly documented in the context of labour exploitation, including through the
involvement of authorized recruitment agencies37.
Burma/Myanmar:
53. Burma/Myanmar is by large a source country for human trafficking, although some Chinese and
Bangladeshi victims also transit through on their ways to Thailand and Malaysia respectively. Burmese
are mostly trafficked to China and Thailand for the purpose of forced labour, domestic servitude,
commercial sexual exploitation and, in the former case, forced marriage. More limited numbers are also
found in other places such as Malaysia. Trafficking of Myanmar children is a particular problem; they are
exposed to both forced domestic labour, or to forced street hawking and begging, work in shops,
agriculture or small-scale industries abroad. Burma/Myanmar is a state party to Palermo Protocol and in
2005, the country has enacted Anti-Trafficking in Persons Law to deal with these problems. Two years
later, the government additionally passed a Five-Year National Plan of Action, which grew out of its
commitment under the previously mentioned COMMIT process. Yet, overall the quantity and quality of
legal instruments to combat trafficking in persons is low, hinting at why Burma/Myanmar has been
ranked in tier 3, the lowest possible, in the annual TIP report from the US government since it was first
published.
54. Yet, some limited efforts exist in the country, most notably through the Central Body for Suppression
of Trafficking in Persons (CBTIP). Formed in 2006, the organ is meant to function as a national
coordination mechanism against human trafficking. Under the Central Body, which is chaired by the
Minister of Home Affairs, different levels of state, divisional, district and township bodies for the
suppression of trafficking in persons have also been formed. Whilst the Central Body provides
supervision and guidance, the other divisions together with local organizations, the UN and more
international organizations have implemented the activities on the ground. Additionally, 3 Working
Groups (WGs) have been established by the CBTIP, namely (1) the WG on Prevention of Trafficking in
Person and Protection of Trafficked Victims, headed by the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs; (2) the WG
on Legal Framework and Prosecution Measures, chaired by the Deputy Attorney General; and (3) the
WG on Repatriation, Reintegration and Rehabilitation of Trafficked Victims, presided over by the Deputy
Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.
29
Table 5: Numbers of officially returned trafficking victims from Burma/Myanmar, 2006 - 2009
Source: UNIAP Mekong Region Country Datasheets, 2010
55. There are two major routes by which official trafficking
victims from Thailand’s Kredtakarn shelter are repatriated to
Burma/Myanmar. Largely depending on the victims’ origins
within the country, they either get sent to the crossings at Mae Sai (Chiangrai Province) or Mae Sod (Tak
Province). There are a number of governmental reception and/or training centres across the country,
which provide temporary shelter to repatriated trafficking victims. In fact, returnees according to official
policies in the past had to remain in those shelters for at least 14 days. Most recent information
indicates though that this compulsory stay has been lifted. It is also reported that international NGOs,
particularly Save the Children and World Vision, play important
roles in dealing with trafficking victims from abroad38.
56. 2010 saw a total of 348 Burmese victims identified and
repatriated by foreign governments, including 183 from China
and 134 from Thailand. 75 of the total repatriations were male
victims of trafficking. Yet, actual numbers of cross-border
trafficking cases are undoubtedly much higher; UNICEF, e.g. has
put forward a shocking figure by arguing that just the number of
girls from Burma/Myanmar trafficked annually into Thai
brothels may be as high as 10,00039. Moreover, there are no
overall numbers provided by the government that would
include domestic exploitation too. Although not the focus of this research, it still needs mentioning that
the latter continues to be a very serious concern. It seems particularly shocking that the government
itself engages in the recruitment of child soldiers by coercion (some as young as 11 years) and is
generally described as the main perpetrator of forced labour inside the country, the latter being
particularly targeted at ethnic minorities. The number of boys forced to serve in the national army is
30
estimated to reach thousands. At the same time, a study last year revealed that 92% of over 600
households surveyed in Chin State indicated that at least one person in the household had been
subjected to various types of forced labour40.
e.
Current Forms of Assistance and Cross-Border Cooperation
Thailand:
(a) Official Assistance
57. Thailand has a number of legal instruments and national mechanisms to tackle cross-border
migration and human trafficking. However, there is a need to strengthen the coordination amongst
responsible agencies, including the equal participation of GOs and NGOs. Many networks are in place
between international and national organizations working on the protection and prevention of human
trafficking, but only a small proportion of these organizations provide direct assistance to victims of
trafficking, and even fewer deal with detainees and their deportation. Irregular migrants, especially
women and children are classified in two groups, namely officially identified victims and unidentified
victims. There is a clear policy to provide official assistance for identified victims of trafficking as outlined
in the anti-trafficking law and the bilateral MoUs with neighbouring countries. On the contrary, the
unidentified victims or vulnerable migrants especially children are not entitled to get access to
governmental assistance. It is important to note that the number of identified victims entering the
official process is decreasing due to undue legal proceedings and lengthy stays in the governmental
shelters for family tracing as well as preparation of formalities for official repatriation.
58. The Kredtakarn Protection and Occupational Development Centre and other regional governmental
shelters under the Department of Social Development and Welfare, Ministry of Social Development and
Human Security (MSDHC) are mandated to accommodate identified victims of trafficking, provide them
with a range of services including vocational training, and coordinate with other agencies for legal
proceedings. The Kredtakarn Centre is equipped with 50 staff members, amongst those two social
workers, one psychologist and eight teachers of vocational trainings; it can accommodate up to 550
residents, although the average number is around 250, most of them female victims of trafficking. 80%
of shelter residents are victims of trafficking and the remaining 20% are referral cases of physical
violence, pregnancy and family dysfunction from other agencies. At present, the majority of victims of
trafficking are from Lao P.D.R.; they have mostly been rescued from karaoke bars and brothels. The
types of vocational training provided in the shelter are sewing, weaving, hairdressing, basket weaving,
traditional massage, home economics and computer. The courses last on average between 3 to 6
months.
31
59. Stays in the shelter most often range between 3 to 8
months, although in those cases where victims appear in
court to testify against their perpetrators and employers or
pursue civil compensation, they may last for over a year. The
shelter residents will return home on the condition that they
have completed vocational training, are in good health
physically and mentally, and the family is ready to accept
them. Kredtakarn coordinates with responsible agencies in
source country to locate and assess the family situation. The
official repatriation is conducted on land and shelter staff
accompanies returnees to the transit centre in the country of origin, where they will stay before
returning home or being referred to other agencies. After reaching home, there are monitoring visits by
local agencies for 1-2 years until the case is terminated. The Kredtakarn Shelter has informed that, in the
past two years, about ten former residents from the three neighbouring countries have been found to
have re-migrated to Thailand after official repatriation.
60. The national anti-trafficking legislation and the
provisions for victim protection and assistance are
indiscriminately applied to women and men, boys and
girls; while the Kredtakarn Centre accommodates only
women and girls; men and boys are accommodated in a
separate governmental shelter for boys. The trafficking
law stipulates in Art. 37 that, while sojourning in the
shelter and waiting for the court process to finish, victims
of trafficking can get a permit to work outside. The
deliberation of this process to grant such work permits
has already been endorsed by the Ministry of Interior and is now under the consideration of the Labour
Ministry to specify the types of work appropriate for minor and adult victims as well as to determine
suitable workplaces. The guidelines need to be approved by the cabinet before coming into force.
Another provision in the anti-trafficking legislation, namely on granting resident permits to foreign
trafficking victims on humanitarian grounds, has never been applied to any case since the law was
passed. In order to resolve the lengthy stays in the shelter, a proposal has been made to allow victims to
return home and come back during the court trial. The good collaboration with the Cambodia Embassy,
which takes charge of facilitating the victim’s return to be witness in the court, is a starting point to
experiment this approach. The two other countries in this analysis are not ready for this procedure
fearing to lose the witness after return, the financial burdens of travel and other relevant costs.
61. International agencies play a significant role as architect of bilateral agreements or of standard
operation procedures for case management and repatriation processes. On the downside, the official
32
assistance approach is somehow restrictive towards the roles of civil society organizations and bars
them from being equal partners with state actors. The limited areas where cooperation with NGOs is
still required from state agencies is in legal proceedings, especially for the preparation of trafficking
victims to testify in court or for employing a lawyer to work with the public prosecutor for the criminal
case and with a plaintiff in civil cases. In some countries case monitoring and follow-up in the
community of origin is not possible for NGOs unless they go via official channels and are escorted by the
responsible state officials. The presence of state officials can hinder returnees to share openly about
their experiences and situations after return.
(b) Assistance to Pushback Cases
62. While there is a systematic national official process to assist officially identified victims of trafficking
especially children, Thailand does not have any comprehensive policy towards migrants detained in the
immigration centre. The official decree of the Ministry of Interior has appointed police and provincial
governors as immigration officials and given them the mandate to push back irregular migrants from
Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos according to Art.54 of the Immigration Act B.E. 2522.
Consequently, detained migrants from the three countries are deported without delay41 and should not
be fined for illegal entry into the Kingdom. The irregular migrants arrested by police in the vicinity of
Bangkok, regardless of their sex and age, are put in custody at the immigration centre to await prompt
deportation. After the police have registered all detainees, the responsible agencies under the MSDHC
including the Kredtakarn staff take rotating shifts to interview them in the Bangkok IDC. There are
eleven agencies working in the Bangkok IDC but only two NGOs, namely Alliance Against Trafficking
(AAT) and Foundation for Women (FFW), which work with the immigration officials on identifying
victims of trafficking among irregular migrants.
63. According to the official procedure, interviews with irregular migrants for victim identification need
to be conducted at three points: (1) at the police station after arrest; (2) at the immigration centre
before custody; (3) at the border immigration before deportation. The Investigation Unit of the
Immigration Bureau is in charge of potential more in-depth interviews with cases that show signs of
trafficking, such as labour exploitation or confinement. The IU has the sole responsibility to determine
whether or not a case is a victim of trafficking. The decreasing numbers of identified victims in the IDC is
contradictory to the intent of establishing a process of interviewing for all irregular migrants. The factors
hampering its success may derive from limited interviewing experience of rotating interviewers,
language barriers, the interview environment or uncommunicative detainees. There is a tendency to
assume that cross-border movement is done voluntarily, which is why the movement as such is often
not investigated for human trafficking. Moreover, when irregular migrants complain in the interview
about maltreatment and labour exploitation, the IU does not further investigate the case or take any
action against employers because it lacks the mandate to provide labour protection to irregular
migrants. On the other hand, detained migrants themselves do often not want to take legal action
33
against their employers for fear of lengthy stays in the detention centre, which is why they are regularly
deported without any compensation payments. Since there are less numbers of identified victims from
the interviews in the IDC, AAT and FFW concentrate their work on the group of vulnerable women and
children who may not be able to return home on their own or are at risk of being trafficked.
Figure 5: Deportation Procedures in Thailand
1. Arrest
2. Police
Station
-> Case
registration
-> Summary
interview for
victim
identification
3. Bangkok
IDC
-> Case
registration
-> Victim
identification
interviews
-> Record of
deportation
4. Border
IDCs
-> Case
reception
-> Summary
interviews
for victim
identification
5.
Deportation
-> Case
reception of
vulnerable
people in
border areas
Identified victims
are referred to
shelters
(c) Cross-Border Collaboration among Service Providers
64. With a special concern for groups vulnerable of exploitation, in particular children who are alone and
unable to recall their home village, immigration officials work with FFW and AAT in contacting agencies
operating in border areas of their home countries to receive them at the deportation border. The
criteria for referring them are age, gender, mode of migration, worksite, distance to home, health
condition and life skills. Many cases are in a grey area of being identified as trafficking victims, but do
not want to access official assistance. They are thus classified as vulnerable deportees who want to have
further support in their home countries. While the number of officially identified victims of trafficking
referred to Kredtakarn shelter is diminishing, the referral cases of vulnerable deportees are growing in
numbers. In 2010, FFW referred 23 cases to VFI in Laos while in 2011 (January – September) the number
increased to 45 cases, of which 38 were referred to VFI, WV and AAT in Laos; 4 to Mae Sod shelter and 3
to CWCC. AAT and FFW provide basic information on the case and the date of arrival to the agencies in
their home countries. For Burmese detainees, FFW needs to submit a request to the authorities in the
Bangkok IDC for the granting of a permit to have vulnerable women and children stay in Mae Sod
34
shelter. The local staff needs to seek another approval from Mae Sod Immigration to receive the referral
case. After receiving them at the deportation border, the agencies will provide temporary shelter, escort
them home and potentially work out a long-term reintegration plan, including vocational training and
micro-financial support. The agencies that currently collaborate on cross-border case reception and
further assistance are VFI, WV, CWCC, AFESIP, PTI, AAT and FFW.
65. The mode of cross-border cooperation is not limited to receiving and assisting push back migrants,
but also involves tracing migrants who have lost contact with their families after migrating for work in
Thailand. There are records of success stories where women and children have been rescued from
exploitative workplaces especially in the sex industry following raids. In 2009, FFW received a request
from AFESIP to trace a Lao girl who had informed her family that she was forced to do sex work in a
province near Bangkok. FFW collaborated with the police, the labour inspection office and members of
the provincial committee against human trafficking to survey the area and finally raid a karaoke brothel.
More than 20 Lao and Shan women and girls were rescued, with all the girls having been referred to
Kredtakarn while the adults could decide whether they wanted to have official assistance. The owner, a
man from the military, was arrested, and after two years of provincial court proceeding he was
sentenced to seven years imprisonment. All the girls were escorted by Kredtakarn staff for official
repatriation. However, after about a year at least two girls from this group had returned to Thailand,
and one of them contacted FFW. Finally, she was referred to VFI and received training in the shelter in
Pakse. In 2011, VFI contacted AAT and FFW to trace two Lao girls that had come to work in Thailand and
had lost contact with their families. AAT collaborated with the DSI to raid a karaoke business in the
southern border area of Thailand, where 71 young women providing sexual services to clients from
Malaysia were found. Among the 71 women, 41 were underage trafficking victims (38 Lao and 3 Shan),
the other 30 were adult women, many of whom were drug addicted. The victims are staying in the
government shelter in Suratthani Province, waiting to testify in the court against the owner of the
karaoke place who was arrested but then released on bail.
66. Despite these success stories, however, cross border cooperation does not always yield to good
results, with occasional reports on cases that have not been successfully received on the other side of
the border. Potentially relevant factors for this problem are inadequate information on the case,
changing points as well as ad-hoc modes of deportation (especially for Lao pushback cases), untimely
arrival for case reception and inexperienced staff particularly in dealing with border authorities. The
failure of border case reception can aggravate the vulnerable situation of deportees and subject them to
further abuse. There is a need to have cross border consultations among the concerned agencies to
develop standard operating procedures for the sending and receiving of cases as well as for forms of
further assistance.
(d) TdH-Supported Recovery Shelter Project (Foundation for Women)
35
67. The Mae Sod shelter in Tak Province was set up in 2010 by FFW to provide assistance to trafficked
Burmese women and children, especially those who do not benefit from formal assistance and
repatriation from the Thai and Burmese authorities, as well as vulnerable women and children – many
with ethnic minority backgrounds – from Burma. Art. 33 of the Anti-trafficking in Persons Act provides
for the possibility to accommodate trafficked persons of other nationals in private shelters, allowing
FFW to operate this border shelter with approval from the district municipality. Art. 54 of the
Immigration Act B.E.2522 – jointly with the Ministry of Interior’s decree on the policy dealing with illegal
immigrants from Burma, Lao P.D.R. and Cambodia – is the legal framework for the immigration
authorities in Bangkok and in Mae Sod permitting FFW to accommodate migrant children and women
from Burma. It delays the summary deportation of vulnerable women and children to Burma by allowing
them to stay in the shelter whilst their families are being traced, as well as to receive healthcare and
other support. After information from FFW on the case and the reception of the letter of approval from
the Bangkok IDC, the shelter will issue a document requesting the permission to receive the referred
children/women to stay in the shelter. The shelter staff receives the case at the border immigration
centre. The shelter residents also have the opportunity to move around in the area of Mae Sod with a
permit granted to FFW by the immigration office.
68. A team of five full time staff, two volunteers and one teacher
for vocational training runs the shelter. With the exception of the
Thai coordinator, all others belong to different ethnic groups in
Burma. Four staff members attained university degrees and the
other three finished primary and tertiary education. The shelter
does not have own medical personnel to attend to residents in
case of sickness, but they can refer them to the district hospital
for physical and psychological/mental care. The shelter has
established rules and regulations for residents and staff
members. The Code of Conduct for Child Protection of Terre des
Hommes is used as guidelines to respect the rights of the child. Staff members also participate in various
external trainings on human rights of children, women and migrants. However, the scope of their
contents is often limited to international human rights instruments and mechanism, thereby overlooking
the national laws and machinery. FFW needs to build up capacity in this area for the better protection
and support of women and children under the care of the shelter. There is a plan for an exposure trip
and training of staff in Bangkok, but due to the uncertain legal status of many staff members, there is a
need to have a permit from the immigration office in Mae Sod for them to be able to move away from
the border area.
69. The shelter has operated in the area of victim protection and prevention against human trafficking,
and has built up networks with local agencies. In the area of protection, it has provided assistance to five
groups, namely (1) child victims of trafficking; (2) child migrants; (3) vulnerable children prone to be
36
trafficked; (4) child victims of gender based violence; and 5) women in difficult circumstance. Since its
operations began in August 2010, Mae Sod shelter has accommodated 51 women and children from
Burma, 14 of whom were referred from the Bangkok IDC; 32 came from 11 local agencies operating in
Mae Sod; and 5 from the local police and the district municipality. Among these numbers, there are 13
adult women (8 were victims of domestic violence and 5 were migrants who were abused either by their
husband or the employer). One of the women was a victim of sex trafficking. The children in the shelter
have either direct migration experience or have been affected by the migration process of their parents
or the domestic violence they were exposed to. There are 3 girls who were victims of sex trafficking and
4 whose labour was exploited. 2 boys at the ages of 14 and 16 referred from the Bangkok IDC stayed
temporarily for family tracing and contacting local agencies in Burma to escort them home. A few
children who were deported from the IDC were reluctant at first to come to the shelter and afraid that
they might not be able to see their family. After a week of staying and interacting with other children,
they eventually enjoyed their experience as they could learn new skills and were able to keep contact
with their family.
70. The shelter provides for the residents’ basic needs and necessary
care. The daily activities start from 6am and last till 9pm. During
daytime, most children attend schools outside the shelter, while others
have vocational training mainly on dressmaking, knitting and beading.
The sale of their products, which are displayed in a shop run by a local
NGO, will be given to the producers before they leave the shelter. All
residents take turns for cooking, attending the small garden and
cleaning the rooms. In the evening they have about two hours for
watching television or other recreational activities, such as painting,
dancing and singing. The shelter has limited space for outdoor activities, therefore exposure trips to a
park and nearby places are organised for shelter residents and all staff members once a month. Some of
the children have demonstrated their skills in painting or dancing, which they should be able to further
develop. Group discussions are also organised separately for children and women to share their
experiences and life expectations. Many children want to become medical doctors, social workers,
dancers or fashion designers. Most importantly, all of them want to have a decent house with plants and
a garden where they can live a good life with their parents and other siblings. They want to live in a
peaceful country of their own, so that they do not need to hide and run away when police raid their
community. A good life for all children is to live in harmony, with everyone being able to earn a living
without exploiting each other. A few children have a dream to save enough money to set up their own
organization providing assistance to children in need. Older children have indicated an interest to take
part in advocacy activities in schools or at community level to share their experiences as
migrant/trafficked children.
37
71. Whilst staying in the shelter, children are allowed to have regular phone contacts with their family
members and go for occasional visits to their families in migrant communities in Mae Sod. However, in
one case, staff found that a girl, during a home visit, was sexually abused by an old man living nearby. A
legal case against the perpetrator was initiated and, after a year, the court sentenced him to
imprisonment. The shelter also collaborates with LLC in pursuing a legal case on sex trafficking of a girl
from a local migrant community. It is evident from the stories of children and women residing in the
shelter that violence against women and children including trafficking are a widespread phenomenon in
migrant communities. The impact is strong on children who often do not want to live with men for fear
of violence, which they have witnessed in their own family or neighbourhood.
72. The average stay of residents is about one month. Exceptions
are psychologically traumatized cases that require regular, longterm treatment by psychiatrists in the Mae Sod hospital, as well as
children without appropriate guardians. The criteria for returning
cases to their families are: (1) to be in good physical and
psychological condition; (2) to have attained sufficient skills in the
chosen vocation; (3) to be guaranteed family security at home; and
(4) to have community support. They are provided with equipment
and materials based on their vocational training specialisation as
well as small funds to start a new life in their own community. The
shelter arranges the return of women and children from Burma by
contacting KANB to come to the border for transfer and then escort them home. This method is costly
because, apart from the transportation, the KANB staff has to pay fees at different checkpoints to secure
their safe passage and avoid any troubles that might otherwise derive. In cases where the shelter can
have direct contact with parents or other family members, it will ask them to come to Mae Sod. They
can make a border pass valid for a day to meet shelter staff and arrange for the return of their children.
The shelter covers the cost for transportation and other amounts they need to pay (tax) at the military
checkpoint in Maywady. The one-way military tax costs around 1,000 Baht, which nonetheless is a less
expensive and more secure method of passage.
73. The other method is to have staff escort the children to their parents working in other parts of
Thailand. This requires coordination efforts with the immigration authorities and schoolteachers to issue
a permit to move the undocumented children for further education to another region. The shelter needs
to inform the immigration authorities for the returning of women and children to Burma; they will cross
the river with other deportees at Tha Sib under the control of the DKBA where their parents or KANB
staff is waiting to receive them. The shelter still maintains contacts with most of the former shelter
residents, once they are back in Burma/Myanmar or in Mae Sod. This is by means of (1) having KANB
pay them a visit; (2) shelter staff coming for a visit to Burma; (3) phone calls; and (4) monthly family
38
visits in local migrant communities. Among the returnees, there has been a report of one woman who
came back to Thailand through a local agent and was subsequently detained in the Bangkok IDC.
74. The Mae Sod shelter operates – differently from the other two shelters in Cambodia and Lao P.D.R –
as an alternative to the Kredtakarn shelter, in that it accommodates trafficked women and children as
well as other vulnerable people prior to their repatriation/deportation, for psychological recovery, legal
redress and building life/vocational skills. Local governmental and non-governmental as well as
international agencies have recognized the operation of the Mae Sod shelter and gradually refer
children and women for assistance. FFW is also a member of the Provincial Anti-trafficking Committee
chaired by the Governor of Tak Province. Since Mae Sod is also a destination of internal migrants from
other parts of Thailand, the authorities suggested that the shelter broaden the scope of target groups,
so that women and children of other nationalities can get access to assistance too. Moreover, there is a
plan to have regular meetings between GOs, NGOs and INGOs to update each other on the latest
developments and identify gaps for social and legal assistance. While the collaboration with agencies in
Mae Sod is intensifying, there is a need for the shelter to explore possibilities to work with CBOs in
migrant communities to consolidate efforts for the protection of children and women, as well as raising
awareness among community members and local residents in Mae Sod on migration, trafficking and
violence against women/children. The political situation in Burma and the official closure of the Mae Sod
border42 restrict the extent of possible collaboration between civil society organizations in the two
countries for protecting trafficked victims and preventing cross-border trafficking. At present, the
shelter relies mainly on the collaboration with the KANB for case repatriation, but there is a need to
contact other ethnic- and faith-based groups operating in Burma/Myanmar for victim assistance and
case follow-up.
Lao P.D.R:
(a) Official Assistance
75. Once victims of trafficking have been repatriated to the previously mentioned Vientiane Transit
Centre (VTC), the Lao Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MLSW) calls in the relevant organisations
(mostly VFI and AFESIP as the two long-term shelter-operating organisations, and World Vision with
further assistance programs) for a meeting to discuss actions and allocate responsibilities. During a
period of 7 days, efforts will be made to trace the family; to asses the health situation and provide
treatment if need be; NGOs will come in to introduce their services; and the Lao police will conduct an
additional interview. A victim file, based on a series of forms from the IOM, will be started. Eventually,
the IOM will facilitate the return of the victim to its family.
76. Following referral to their family, the designated NGO will visit the victim’s community and conduct
a so-called family and need’s assessment. This is aimed at determining if the victim is safe in its
environment, and how the organisation can provide support to them and their family. In a joint effort,
39
the two sides agree on whether or not it would be good for the returnee to join a shelter or perhaps
another educational/vocational training programme. The three criteria that need to be fulfilled for an
admission to a shelter are: (a) the decision needs to be voluntary and with the parents’ consent; (b) the
victims need to be under-aged; (c) they need to be on the MLSW list of official trafficking victims. The
authorities follow-up with the organisations in charge about the wellbeing of the cases.
77. There are only a few organisations in Lao P.D.R. with the capacity to provide comprehensive services
to victims of trafficking. Altogether, there are 4 long-term recovery shelters in the country: one (in
Vientiane) is run by the Lao Women’s Union, although this mostly focuses on cases of domestic violence
and sexual abuse from within Laos; two (one in Vientiane and one in Savannakhet) are operated by the
international NGO AFESIP, with an emphasis on victims of sex trafficking (both domestically and crossborder); and the last one (in Champasak) is run by VFI, dealing with officially recognised trafficking
victims and particularly also the large number of deportees from Thailand. World Vision Laos equally has
a large-scale anti-trafficking program with a basis in Savannakhet. Working a lot on awareness and
capacities of people in rural communities, the organisation, however, is in no position to offer such
residential facilities with accompanying professional and counselling services as the other three.
(b) Assistance to Pushback Cases
78. It is known from a number of research projects that there remain significant numbers of trafficking
victims among deportees for illegal migration. Even apart from that, numerous pushback cases are
vulnerable to exploitation upon their return or likely to re-migrate illegally again for a lack of other
employment opportunities. A lot of returnees are thus in need of assistance, but generally have few
options to choose from. There is still little consideration among authorities for their vulnerabilities or
the fact that they may be victims after all and thus entitled to protection and assistance. Upon return to
Laos, deportees generally need to register with the immigration office at the border and are allegedly
allowed to leave without further charges. Service providers only come in to the picture upon
information from either Thai partners or the Lao border authorities that a particularly concerning case
has been identified.
79. The one difference to this rule is at the southern Vangtao
border, where the Lao Trade Union, jointly with the Thai NGO
AAT and VFI, has run a reception centre (VRC) for deportees
since the beginning of 2011. The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran
Mission (FEM) through AAT provides the funds for this pilot
project, which has had initial permission to operate for one
year only and is currently in the process to apply for an official
MoU. The centre consists of a demarcated area close to the
registration office for deportees, whose most important
40
features are two containers, one containing a small infirmary and the other being a room for interviews,
counselling and further assistance.
80. Once returnees have been received, registered and interviewed for victim identification they are
referred to the reception centre on the other side of a small path. Not all come to the VRC, especially
experienced migrants without health problems or with no financial concerns to get away safely move on
by themselves. Vulnerable deportees or those not feeling well however are referred to undergo a
medical check-up in one of the containers. In particularly severe cases where equipment is not
sufficient, further assistance can be arranged free of charge upon arrival in Pakse. Following the medical
check, another interview is conducted to identify particularly vulnerable cases or potentially victimised
returnees. It is also an opportunity to explore topics such as safe migration or what other opportunities
there are beyond returning to Thailand, including the services of VFI and other agencies. Moreover, for
those without any money to ensure a safe return home, the reception centre has funds to provide a bus
ticket.
81. Over the first 3 months of 2011, there was an average of
250 deportees per day. Strangely enough, the Bangkok IDC – as
has been outlined before – changed its pushback policy in April
2011 to Savannakhet, where assistance purely occurs on the adhoc basis whenever deemed necessary by immigration or upon
call by a Thai partner. It seems surprising to say the least that
this change of policy in the Bangkok IDC has occurred right at a
time that transparency and services at theVangtao border have
been boosted. Since this change, the daily numbers at the
crossing have decreased significantly to a maximum of around
30.
82. From interviews with the personnel at the VRC (mostly consisting of Trade Union staff with support
from the AAT and VFI teams), it has become clear that many returnees suffered at least some form of
exploitation at their workplace, often in form of withholding of money or limits to freedom of
movement. It is very difficult for the centre to follow-up on such stories, as few returnees remember any
names or locations. There are reoccurring stories about migrants being cheated by agents as to the
conditions of jobs offered. Moreover, a number of deportees have suggested that the Thai police at the
border charged them 500THB; those with more money sometimes even pay more or have valuable
possessions confiscated. Others were forced to pay money at police checkpoints on the way to the
border. Although there are no reports on such abuse from Lao authorities, the vulnerabilities for lack of
transparency and being an irregular migrant still exist. Besides, the journey back home may sometimes
also be exploitative; local van drivers, who potentially have connections with local authorities, are
41
reported to abuse their clients’ vulnerable positions by charging excessive amounts for the journey,
sometimes forcing returnees into debt or to sell possessions.
83. Although newly identified, very severe cases of exploitation are few in numbers at the reception
centre and most health concerns centre around rather simple symptoms (apart from a few more serious
cases where STDs were diagnosed that were obtained during the stay in Thailand), the reception centre
still serves a number of crucial purposes: (a) it provides for a degree of transparency as to what happens
to irregular migrants at the border; (b) through interviews, it reveals rather comprehensive information
on the experiences that deportees had during their migration process that can be used for the
improvement of services to migrant populations; (c) it presents an example of cooperation between civil
society organisations and governmental agencies in Laos, where such stories are still rare and which may
pave the way for more initiatives of this type; (d) it provides valuable information on available services
to migrants, especially also about institutions to contact in case of problems; (e) and, ultimately, it does
help a number of people in need.
(c) Cross-Border Collaboration among Service Providers
84. Cross-border cooperation often occurs on an ad-hoc basis, i.e. whenever victims or people at risk are
identified the concerned Thai organisation contacts their Lao counterparts to exchange information and
deal with the cases at stake. For official returnees, initial contacts follow a strictly government-togovernment approach, as particularly the Lao authorities demand it to be this way. On this level, there
are also somewhat regular case management and case conference meetings, which are facilitated by the
IOM and UNIAP, and which also see some involvement of NGOs such as VFI and WV. However, for push
back cases, stakeholders from Thailand including the police, FFW or AAT seek the cooperation of VFI and
others to deal with the arriving deportees. Although these processes are somewhat informal, the
relevant stakeholders on both sides seem aware of one another, have good working relations and no
hesitation to contact each other whenever need be. There have also been occasional exchanges on
training programs and site visits, e.g. the VFI shelter manager visited the Kredtakarn shelter or a social
worker from the organisation participated in an exchange program with FFW. The Thai Centre for the
Protection of Children's Rights (CPCR) even provided training on basic knowledge in psychology in
Bangkok. But all programs of this kind have thus far remained on an ad-hoc basis without mid- or longterm dimension.
(d) TdH-Supported Recovery Shelter Project (Village Focus International)
85. There are different processes by that VFI receives beneficiaries for its shelter program, two of which
have been outlined above: first, officially identified trafficking victims are assigned to the organisation
and, in a joint effort with the returnee and their family, a decision is taken to undergo the VFI shelter
program; second, the previously mentioned reception centre at the border identifies a vulnerable or
maybe even victimised person who is referred to VFI for further assistance. Again, with the involvement
42
of the case and their family, the person may eventually come to the VFI shelter for training and
counselling services; a third possibility is that the organisation receives information from its Thai
partners on vulnerable or victimised deportees who they have identified either in IDCs or otherwise. VFI
will then note down how and when this person will arrive at the border and make sure that they are
identified and assisted.
86. The deportees, once received at the border, will first be
referred to the organisation’s Drop-In Centre in Pakse. While VFI
is attempting to trace and contact the family of the person
concerned, the latter receives medical and counselling services
through the organisation in town. If contacting the family is very
time-consuming, the returnee may temporarily go to the shelter,
where accommodation and other services are better established.
Once the relatives have been traced, the deportee will be sent
home and VFI will conduct the previously mentioned family and
need’s assessment. Depending on the outcome and the agreement with the family/case, the person is
refereed to the shelter.
87. Additionally, the DIC serves a number of other purposes: the social workers, which it accommodates,
are also in charge of the re-integration program for graduates from the shelter programs and of the
follow-up procedures for two years thereafter. Re-integration and follow-up are conducted under the
supervision/participation of responsiblelocal governmental agencies, especially from MLSW. When
shelter residents are sent back to their community, VFI staff and the authorities will have a meeting with
the family, which also involves the granting of in-kind business start-up support in line with the case’s
vocational training program at the shelter. The DIC also hosts a small shop that sells produces of the
shelter and thereby generates minor amounts of income for both residents and the organisation. It
additionally displays information on safe migration and human trafficking in an attempt to engage with
the wider public on such issues. And finally it accommodates VFI’s YAAT (Youth Action Against
Trafficking) program supervisor, a different VFI program component that conducts outreach campaigns
on human trafficking with the involvement of youth.
88. The shelter project has seen a total of 72 residents since
operations began in late 2008. 41 of these were official
returnees from Thailand; another 26 deportees from the
Vangtao border. 5 more cases have thus far remained
unclassified. The residents’ age generally ranges from 13 to 22,
although the very first case stood out of this with an age of 33.
The overall capacity of the shelter is about 35 girls; men/boys
are generally not dealt with. At the time of visiting, 19 girls were
43
staying at the shelter aging between 14 and 17 years. 12 residents were official returnees; the remaining
7 arrived as pushback cases. Most of the stories involved trafficking for the purpose of labour
exploitation, especially domestic and factory work; only few residents have been exposed to sexual
exploitation. The organisation AFESIP is more specialised in such cases, which is why victims with this
background are more readily referred to their shelters.
89. The shelter is operated by a total of 10 staff, 7 of who are directly based in the premises, with the
remaining three working from the above-mentioned DIC and paying frequent visits to the shelter. The
team is headed by a shelter manager who is in charge of the administration and the overall steering of
the operations. Moreover, an activity organiser/counsellor exists to organise and coordinate all the
educational and spare-time activities for the residents. Two child caretakers take turns to be available to
victims for whatever need they may have, and take careful notes for the case files on their development,
attitudes/mood, health conditions, etc. One social worker/life skills trainer at the shelter is responsible
for life skills training and arts therapy. In addition, she develops materials for trainings and deals with
the case database. Three more social workers are based at the DIC. They go to the border to work at the
aforementioned VRC; operate the Drop-In Centre including its services to newly arriving people in need
of help; conduct family and needs assessments, reintegration measures as well as case follow-up visits.
The shelter is protected by two guards, one at daytime who also
works as gardener, and one at nighttime. The latter is hired
through a security company, just like trainers for vocational
training programs are externally recruited but not listed here.
90. The average stay at the shelter is about 6 to 8 months,
although one case with severe mental problems remained for
about two years. The criteria to decide whether a resident is
ready to go home are essentially two: (a) having finished the
vocational training course; (b) being ready as a person to function
in society, as monitored in a case-by-case evaluation. However,
the latter is more related to their physical health situation, as means to deal with psychological
problems are very limited; a problem in Laos more generally in the absence of any educational and
professional programs on psychology and related subjects. Residents get to choose between four
different vocational training programs: (1) cooking; (2) beauty salon; (3) tailoring; (4) weaving. A number
of additional activities are offered, such as frog and mushroom growing, fish farming, handcrafting,
flower making, etc. Apart from this, each resident also attends one of two school-like programs at the
shelter in the evening, depending on their level of knowledge in mathematics, writing, reading, etc. They
also undergo basic business and life skill training to prepare them for a more self-reliant life beyond the
shelter. On weekends, there are additional offers, such as computer training and now also forms of art
therapy, as they have been introduced by an Italian team in a 10-week workshop in 2010.
44
91. Shelter residents also have timetables for communal duties such as cooking, cleaning or gardening in
and around the house. This is not only deemed necessary to ensure the functioning of shelter
operations, but also for team building reasons as well as practical skills trainings. Besides, there are a
number of spare time activities for the girls; sports can be played outside in the garden and a TV is
available in the living room. However, there are only few opportunities to actually leave the shelter.
About 4 times a year, VFI organises sightseeing trips to points of interests such as waterfalls, rivers, etc.
Some residents can join staff to go to the market to buy food, but the numbers here are limited.
Another opportunity to get out is for special ceremonies, especially traditional Buddhist celebrations, for
which VFI organises ways for residents to take part. Despite being a very pleasant place with beautiful
paintings on the walls and a very a nice garden, residents are limited to this area for much of their stay
at the shelter. Mobile phones are not allowed; contacts with people outside are maintained via letters
or over a few phone calls each month. For security reasons, no strangers are generally allowed in the
premises and a guard ensures safety during the night.
Cambodia:
(a) Official Assistance
92. BanteayMeanchey is a transit town for migrants from other provinces on their way to cross the
border at the Poipet checkpoint to Aranyaprathet in Thailand. There is a provincial committee chaired
by the Deputy Governor, with a monthly meeting to update each other on the latest developments. The
Police, ATU, DWA and SVY are also members of this committee. However, there is no adequate
allocation of resources to these official units to realise their tasks and responsibilities, making them
dependent on the external support of international agencies and national NGOs. All the officials
interviewed have shared the same view, i.e. that the current role of the state in anti-trafficking efforts is
limited to formulating laws, policies, plans of action and setting up committees at all levels. Yet, there is
an understanding that human trafficking cannot be effectively tackled without adequate resources.
93. The Poipet Transit Centre was set up in 2007 to receive victims of trafficking who are officially
repatriated and escorted by staff of the Thai Kredtakarn shelter, and also to accommodate vulnerable
children who are pushed back from Thailand. The PTC is responsible for tracing and evaluating the
family prior to the official repatriation, to determine whether the case can return home. In those cases
where families reside in remote areas and it is impossible to locate them, the PTC sends the children to
shelters in Phnom Penh. The centre also collaborates with district and local officials for the reception of
cases in the community. The returnees’ parents need to sign papers under witness of officials and
community members, and, on this occasion, a lecture on safe migration and trafficking is given. A girl43
who had witnessed the official reception of her friend in the village mentioned that it was a spectacle
with so many people including foreigners and group photos. The official returnees who have received
vocational training from Kredtakarn shelter can refer to Friends International in Phnom Penh and Siem
Reap to develop further skills. However, most of them prefer to return and stay with their family. The
45
responsibility of the PTC is terminated after the case re-integrates into their family. The district SVY is
then responsible for monthly follow-up visits of the returnee and their family. It can also refer them to
appropriate centres for vocational training.
94. The number of official returnees is not high; in fact, there has not been any case of official
repatriation from Kredtakarn since June 2011. It may be suspected that the suspension of official
repatriation has to do with three main reasons, namely (1) pending court cases; (2) a deteriorating GOGO relationship between Cambodia and Thailand; (3) the exhaustion of the governmental fiscal budget.
However, official repatriation should resume in October, as four cases have already been assigned to
Friend International by the PTC for further assistance.
(b) Assistance to Pushback Cases
95. The deportation of migrants is done a few times a day between 8am and 8pm. There are about 60
deportees of all ages and gender in the trucks. These deportees are sent from the Bangkok IDC or
arrested at the local checkpoint in Wattana Nakorn, Sra Kaew Province. In spite of having a ministerial
policy to refrain from any legal action against illegal migrants from the three neighbouring countries,
there are still reports on the latter group being fined with 100 – 200THB by the Thai authorities, with the
immigration in Poipet regularly demanding another 300 – 500TBH before releasing them from custody44.
Irregular migrants are brought from Aranyaprathet directly to the immigration centre in Poipet located
behind the Casino area. The PTC is the only organization working in Poipet immigration centre to help
identify child victims of trafficking; provide assistance to vulnerable children; and assist deported
migrants who cannot return home by themselves. Among a group of 200 mostly male deportees, there
is an average of 10 children who are alone or in company of adults unknown to them. Since the PTC
receives no information on them, it needs to interview this group of children, assessing their
vulnerability and tracing their family. The transit centre can accommodate children for a few nights
before referring them to other appropriate shelters for longer stay. There are about 15 NGOs working
on human trafficking in the areas of protection and prevention in Poipet and BanteayMeanchey, but
there are mainly two organizations that the PTC refers push back children to, namely Goutte d’Eau (GE)
for children under fifteen, and the Cambodia Hope Organisation (CHO) for those between 15 and 18
years of age. For those cases in need of legal assistance, the centre refers them to the CWCC’s drop-in
centre in Poipet or the shelter in BanteayMeanchey.
97. In 2010, the PTC referred 160 push back cases from Thailand to GE, but the number dropped
significantly in 2011, because the organisation has changed its target audience to boys and girls under
the age of 15, with most deportees being older than that. For those who are over 15 years, the PTC
sends them to the CHO’s vocational training centre, where they can stay and undergo skills training.
Three cases have been referred to CWCC for legal assistance. The 37 (8 girls and 29 boys) children
referred to CHO have all been between 17 and 18 years. The younger children, whose families are not
46
identified, can stay in the GE’s shelter until they reach the age of 15. During the time of visit, GE was
taking care of 7 children (3 girls and 4 boys) between the ages of 4 and 10 years who had been deported
from Thailand. A 12 year-old girl who mentioned in the interview at the Bangkok IDC that she had been
pushed back over hundred times was also staying there with her eight-year old sister and a four-year old
brother. The latter two were arrested at the same time, while begging separately from their mother in
Bangkok. During their stays at the shelters, they can attend literacy classes and other life skills building
activities. The older children sheltering at CHO can receive vocational training on sewing, car repair and
woodcutting. After finishing the training course, they can get a small loan to start businesses with their
newly gained vocational skills. However, only few returnees want to stay in the shelter and get training;
most of them prefer to return home and, after an interval, they may actually cross the border to find
employment again in Thailand. The re-migration tendencies among youth here seem to derive from two
main push factors, namely (a) family indebtedness; (b) lower wages in Cambodia which are often
described as disproportionate to the cost of living.45
98. The PTC observes that there are two groups of children crossing the border at Poipet to Thailand:
the first group travels forth and back within one day and generally lives in the area of Poipet and BTMC;
the second group consists of long-term migrants mostly moving with their families from other provinces
to Bangkok. They often end up begging for money under force on streets and will be punished if they do
not comply with demand. The PTC has a policy to separate children from their parents or guardians, so
as to prevent them from such enforced movement. The centre admits of having cases of relapse but
there is no official record on this. The above-mentioned girl is a case in point where no progress was
made after prior family warnings; finally the PTC decided to keep her and the younger siblings under the
care of GE. Even though the assistance is deliberately focused on children, older women deportees can
in certain cases also receive support in line with their needs. In cases where women and girls need legal
redress, the PTC recommends them to the CWCC’s Drop-in Centre in Poipet, from which they may get
referred further to the CWCC’s shelter in BTMC. However, most of the returnees do not want to get
involved in any legal proceedings, as they are afraid of not being able to afford the costs of the court
cases and generally lack confidence in the judiciary system.
(c) Cross-Border Collaboration among Service Providers
99. State agencies, especially the military and security organs, have a regular border meeting to share
information and improve methods to suppress criminal activities, including human trafficking along the
border. There is no participation of civil society organizations in this meeting, which is why these have
set up their own network by the name of Border Issues Group on Children (BIGC), consisting of NGOs
with operations along the Thai-Cambodian border. The forum is held on a quarterly basis to update each
other particularly on migration and trafficking of children as well as individual case assistance. The
leading agencies on the Thai side are WV and AWARD. While the former puts emphasis on prevention by
providing education and economic support to children and their families in communities on both sides
47
of the border, the latter focuses on protecting the rights of women and children by rescuing them from
undesirable workplaces in Thailand. Since 2010, AWARD has rescued in total 162 Cambodian women
and men. Apart from updating each other, BIGC has also organized cross-border events to
commemorate international days such as March 8 and December 12 to raise public awareness on issues
pertaining to these specific occasions.
(d) TdH-Supported Recovery Shelter Project (Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre)
100. CWCC has run three shelters in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and BanteayMeanchey to provide support
for women and children, who are victims of gender-based violence, in particular domestic and sexual
violence. It also runs a drop in centre in Poipet for temporary accommodation and a screening process
to determine whether or not to admit victims to its shelter in BanteayMeanchey. The anti-trafficking
project with the support of NPL has five major components, i.e. (a) monitoring and rescuing; (b) legal
assistance; (c) safe shelter; (d) reintegration and community organizing; and (d) networking. According
to the first bi-monthly report of 2011, the Poipet drop-in centre has accommodated 120 women and
children, of whom 76% were sent by police as well as the NGO network, whereas the remaining 24%
were recommended by CWCC’s volunteers or came on their own to the centre; 82 of them were sent to
the shelter in BTMC. Amongst the 75 cases that CWCC has provided assistance to during this period,
there were 32 cases of domestic violence, 23 cases of sexual violence and 20 cases of human trafficking.
CWCC’s shelter in BTMC has been operational since 2003. At the time of visit, there were 46 residents,
20 children in the age group of 0 – 3 years and 26 women at the age of 18 – 53 years. Two boys were
with their mother. The shelter generally allows boys at the age of 11 or below to stay with their
mothers. There was only one case of human trafficking, while the others were victims of rape, domestic
violence, labour or sexual exploitation. 2 residents got affected with HIV and require regular check-ups
and medicine from the provincial hospital. The criteria for a case’s admission are: (1) being a victim of
gender-based violence; (2) staying voluntarily at the shelter; (3) having the consent from the
parents/guardians.
101. CWCC’s shelter in BTMC is run by 11 staff members, consisting of
one director, one medical doctor, two psychologists, two counsellors,
one teacher, one dressmaking trainer, two caretakers and one woman
guardian. The shelter team is under the supervision of the regional
office located in Poipet which also oversees DIC and re-integration
monitoring programme. All key staff members have attended
trainings on human trafficking, rights of women and children, and
laws relating to domestic violence and human trafficking. They also
show an interest in visiting similar shelters in neighbouring countries
to exchange experiences and improve their work. They are generally
content with the services they provide to shelter residents but are frustrated about the results of court
48
cases, especially in terms of a lack of effective enforcement of verdicts on victim compensation and child
alimony.
102. The shelter provides for basic necessities, medical and child-care,
literacy classes, vocational training (sewing, animal raising and
agriculture training) as well as legal assistance. The two psychologists
conduct individual and group counselling for psychosocial redress, and
require having a separate room to conduct these sessions. There is a
comprehensive individual record covering bio data, a forensic report,
physical and psychological conditions, legal proceedings and other
personal developments to be used as basis for the re-integration plan.
The shelter residents can contact their families or have them visit the
shelter, and occasionally there is an exposure trip for residents to nearby provinces. The duration of the
stay is not definite and largely depends on aspects such as the physical and psychological condition,
vocational training skills, court proceedings, and security in the family and community. The reintegration staff conducts family assessments before accompanying residents to their home. The
assessment is made to verify the situation in the communities or home and to make sure that there is
no risk of being re-trafficked or abused further. During the re-integration process to their families,
representatives from the department of social affairs, the village chief, officials from the community and
the district all take part as witnesses.
103. A small grant ranging from USD 128 – 200 is provided to the woman/children to start up a small
business and thereby generate income by using skills obtained in the shelter. In the case that they
cannot return to their family/community, CWCC tries to find them a live-in workplace. Interestingly,
former shelter residents have formed five self-help groups in the area where they live, with the reintegration staff paying them regular visits. Apart from helping each other, the members of these peer
support groups also provide information relating to violence against women/children, migration and
human trafficking to others. Nonetheless, cross-border migration is still a preference for many women
living in and outside the shelter despite income generating initiatives and skills training. There is a need
to review whether the types of skills training are in line with the actual needs of the residents; i.e. a girl
expressed that she did not want to undergo formal schooling, because her interest was to learn
traditional dance and make this her future profession. It is thus important to broaden options away from
gender-stereotypical skill trainings to viable alternatives that respond to the aspirations of women and
children.
49
104. CWCC has been recognised by GOs and NGOs as a legal
assistance providing agency for victims of gender-based violence
and human trafficking. CWCC collaborates with the police and
authorities on seeking evidence to file legal complaint against
perpetrators. Currently, 97 cases (22 cases of domestic violence,
65 cases of rape and 10 cases of human trafficking) are pending
at the provincial, appeal and supreme courts. The judiciary
system has not yet gained the full public confidence, and there
are legal loopholes along with resource shortages that prevent
effective law enforcement. Still, the role of CWCC is crucial to
enable victims who are socially excluded to get access to justice.
105. Another component of CWCC’s activities is advocacy work at the community level where reintegration of trafficked women/children has occurred, in that the re-integrated women/children are
encouraged and accompanied to share their migration/trafficking experience with community members.
CWCC also organises trainings for governmental officials and community leaders to enhance their
understanding on domestic violence, sexual violence, migration and human trafficking. Since many
agencies are involved in advocacy campaigns and trainings on human trafficking, there is a need for
more cooperation and streamlining; it is equally important to assess the impact of these activities and to
review the content as well as methods of training, so as to consolidate their efforts and to attain more
effective victim protection and prevention campaigns on human trafficking.
50
IV.
The Way Forward: Proposals to Improve Programs and Services to Help
Those in Need
106. 3 key areas of action for TdH and the three partner organisations have been defined, which, based
on the conducted interviews, observations, site surveys, etc., cut across the countries for their
relevance. These 3 key categories are (1) Authorities/Policies; (2) Service Providers/Shelters; (3)
Victims/Family/Community. For the sake of clarity, they will be presented separately, although cross
cuttings and overlapping evidently exist. They have been identified and chosen with a view to areas in
which TdH and the partners can contribute to improving the situation of trafficking victims and those at
risk. For each category, a number of recommendations have been formulated that are concrete enough
to guide actions and yet broad enough to allow for adjusted interpretations in the local context. It is
realised that not all proposals can be implemented at all times,and it is ultimately up to the
organisations concerned to decide to what extent – and in what list of priorities – they should be
followed through.
Level of Action 1: Work with Authorities and Policies
Victim Identification Procedures
107. It has become evident in the course of this assignment and beyond that improving victim
identification procedures remains a top priority. Research projects46have proven that large numbers of
trafficking victims or people exposed to other forms of exploitation slip through points were
identification mechanisms are – or should be – in place, such as at immigration detention centres or
international borders in the four countries concerned. Two reasons seem particularly relevant for this:
(1) a lack of capacity on behalf of authorities; (2) limited involvement of trained NGO personnel.
Authorities are crucial in identifying victims of trafficking, as they operate the mentioned institutions
where many vulnerable or victimised people pass through; they are also significant, because it makes all
the difference for the provision of assistance and services, if the state defines a person as a criminal
(irregular migrant) or a victim with comprehensive rights to protection. We must therefore reach out to
authorities and work with them on enhancing their capacities and commitment to identify victims, also
because it is not always possible for other, perhaps better-trained stakeholders to be present.
108. At the same time, however, it seems equally crucial to push for a boost in presence of civil society
organisations at these points. Social workers from NGOs specialised in human trafficking will always be
more suited to talk to potential trafficking victims than a police officer. The interviewee could perceive
the officer as a threat and may be hesitant to open up, and the policeman might not have the required
sensitivity to discuss migration experiences. It must not be forgotten either that there is a potential
clash of interests for the latter: an officer has few incentives to actually identify a person as a trafficking
victim, as it causes them much more work than an irregular migrant to be deported across the border. In
51
an area with a large grey zone between human trafficking and irregular migration, this issue may be
prevented through the presence of qualified NGO staff, who for their very profession have a more
profound interest in the wellbeing of the case at stake. It is clearly not enough to only have checklists
and interview forms47to identify victims of trafficking; the interviewer also needs to have the skills and
the position to meaningfully apply those.The current forms of collaboration between immigration
officials and NGOs in the Bangkok IDC to identify and refer vulnerable children and women deportees to
organisations in their home countries provide a good example in this context, which is well worth
enhancing and perhaps replicating elsewhere.
Cooperation Mechanisms between Governments and Civil Society
109. NGO staff’s participation in screening processes as well as reception and transfer of deportees may
also be crucial to avoid other vulnerabilities in border areas. There are numerous reports on migrants
being exploited by officials e.g. through extra charges for passage, or by taxi drivers who are sometimes
said to cooperate with officials to exploit the vulnerable situations of deportees. It is interesting – and
promising – to note e.g. that the Association of Taxi Drivers has been invited into the steering
committee of the Vangtao Reception Centre, Laos, following reports on exploitation of returnees by
cabs. The presence of NGOs can contribute to enhanced transparency at border areas and other crucial
points dealing with migrants, and may thus have positive implications in a variety of ways for the
wellbeing of deportees, trafficking victims or those exploited in other ways.
110. More efforts need to be undertaken also more generally to establish a basis of cooperation
between NGOs and authorities for the benefit of people in need. In some, especially more authoritarian
states with traditionally weak – if at all existent – civil societies, such mechanisms may also contribute to
both sides gradually getting more comfortable to work with each other, with potential positive
implications on a larger scale. The Vangtao Reception Centre is again a good example in this context, as
here governmental and non-governmental agencies have joined forces to identify victims of trafficking
and other forms of exploitation48. In Mae Sot, the shelter has obtained a permit from the police to help
identify as well as accommodate people in need of assistance, while the ultimate authority lies with the
police to determine victims of trafficking. These are promising developments; it is now the task of
partner organisations to push for larger roles as well as fill those already developed spaces with
meaning.
111. The above argues against exclusive government-to-government cooperation mechanisms to deal
with human trafficking, as they are operational at certain levels in some countries. This is by no means
to argue that well-established working relations between governments are not important; they are and
need to be fostered further. It is insightful, e.g. to remember the increase in officially identified
trafficking victims repatriated from Thailand to Laos following the signing of the corresponding MoU
between the two countries. However, it is equally important to support cooperation between GOs and
52
NGOs, especially in states where this is still a relatively new development. In increasingly diversifying
and complex societies, there is no way for governments alone to provide comprehensive services to all
people. Civil society organisations – in Southeast Asia and indeed across the globe – have been filling
these gaps and are often more specialised and better positioned for certain tasks, especially in social
affairs and legal protection. Governments need to be pushed to recognise this and to allow for more
NGO-GO cooperation to evolve in these fields.
Recommendations
 Establish and improve involvement and cooperation on pushback cases, to avoid vulnerabilities
at border points through e.g. agents, taxi drivers or corrupt officials;
 Push towards more training for officials in victim identification procedures, ethics in dealing with
potential trafficking victims, etc., with a view to the development of common regional checklists
and systems for such actions;
 Seek to supplement GO-GO cooperation with NGO involvement wherever necessary and
advisable, especially in social affairs, victim identification, legal protection, repatriation
processes, case follow-up, etc.;
 Push for the removal of bureaucratic and other burdens on cross-border movement to
makeregular migration processes faster and less costly;
 Seek to collaborate with the private sector and work out a system of best practices and a list of
employers with a proven record for migrant workers.
Level of Action 2: Work to Improve Shelters/Services
Vocational Training/Employability
112. Of particular importance to prevent relapse is the area of vocational training or perhaps bettertermed employability. There seems to be something of a standard set of trainings that has developed
across the countries involving sewing, beauty salon, gardening, weaving and others. It is unclear though
how much these often gender stereotyped trainings have really helped residents in ensuring sustainable
livelihoods once they leave shelters. In fact, success stories – although existent –are rare, which is why it
is important to address the question of how to improve the educational and professional services so as
to reach the set goals. Part of the problem is that the range of in-house trainings as it stands is in no
position to really cover the whole spectrum of individual interests of residents at stake, also because
53
there are rather constant replacement processes of people, with new aspirations coming in almost all
the time. At the same time, shelters themselves will undoubtedly never be in a position to respond to all
educational and professional interests at stake. The wider question though is: should shelters aspire to
provide customised training programs of the above type at all?
113. The core services of such facilities may be described as supplying a safe environment for victims of
different types of exploitation to regain trust, confidence and to have their physical and psychological
wounds treated. It is a secure place from which to engage with society and perhaps follow whatever
educational and professional path a person may choose. Now, this is for the scarcity of resources and
other reasons not always possible, but it is perhaps worth considering how to tailor trainings more to
the needs and interests of those concerned. One such way could be to reach out to other institutions
providing professional and educational trainings, and establish cooperation mechanisms on a whole
range of such services. On top of this, a number of core, supplementary lessons may be maintained at
the shelters, such as life skills, basic business or perhaps agricultural trainings49. But the very heart of
shelters lies in their social, psychological and medical services as well the safe and cheerful environment
they provide.
114. In the few – yet very promising –occasions where successful job placement has actually occurred, it
was often a combination of a chosen profession, which the concerned person had a real interest in and
that was supported by both the organisation as well as the family, and where direct market access was
supported or ensured. This, however, cannot be provided through a one-fits-all approach, at whose end
victims have been supported in a way that does neither reflect their actual interests nor the realities of
the day-to-day life in their respective context. It is believed that more can be done to reach out to
organisations and companies with educational and/or employment opportunities to link shelter
residents to those professions they are really interested in. It is also crucial to keep in mind in this
context that the ultimate goal is to help residents in shelters to find decent employment. This means
that, if they leave for a certain employer, every effort has to be undertaken to ensure that conditions of
work are not exploitative again. Limits to freedom of movement, very long working hours or
unreasonably low salaries coupled with severe financial punishments for mistakes are clear indications
of exploitation. In this case, the wellbeing and best interest of the child has to be more important than a
“success story” for the organisation to have ensured employment after the shelter stay.
Concept of Re-integration
115. The above also relates to concepts and practices of re-integration. There seems to be an overall
assumption that re-integration is about sending a child back to their family in often far-away rural
communities. Now, in many cases this is worthwhile, especially so since it is often the desire of the
person concerned. Yet, it must not be forgotten that sometimes it was the very situation in that place
which led to out-migration and trafficking in the first place. In fact, sometimes there are so severe family
54
problems that going back may put the child’s physical and emotional wellbeing in jeopardy. While
identifying this is the role of the family and needs assessment as service providers readily conduct them,
there seems to be a somewhat understandable tendency to send residents to their communities in any
case. However, job opportunities and access to markets are often more likely to exist in or around urban
areas – and since shelters and their organisations are also located in such places, it can often be a vital
alternative to ensure employment there. In fact, VFI in Laos has seen some success stories of this type,
e.g. a former shelter resident now works at a hospital in Pakse as a physiotherapist following the
completion of a training program there.
Victim-Centred Approach
116. On a more conceptual level, a discussion is needed about what is often referred to as a victimcentred approach, i.e. it is the duty of service providers to put themselves in the position of the children
they serve, and work with these towards their best interests in a rights-based framework50. There is no
doubt that this is a challenging role to play, with many different stakeholders involved. For the
concerned partner organisations, this is easiest implemented in their own shelters, where the first
crucial step is to consider how to open up these spaces. While it seems important to remain strict about
potential visitors coming into the premises, it is at the same time essential to explore opportunities to
enable residents to do more activities outside. A shelter must not feel like another confinement to their
freedom of movement. Staying in one and the same place, albeit very nice and safe ones, for many
months with few opportunities to leave the walls behind may seem more like detention than is
assumed. It is important to engage in a dialogue with residents on ways in which to allow them to spend
time elsewhere. It seems somewhat contradictory that, whilst it is the very intension of our operations
to ensure successful re/integration into society, many efforts are made at first to keep children away.
This also relates to channels for residents to contact people outside the shelter. There appears to be no
reason for why there should be a general “no mobile phone” policy at shelters, with phoning time
restricted to a few times a month through a shelter phone.
Legal Proceedings
117. It is equally important to consider the best interest of a child in relation to potential legal
proceedings. Whilst there is a lot of pressure from state agencies, especially the US government to
increase the numbers of convictions and prosecutions for human trafficking cases, we still have to bear
in mind the potential consequences for victims. Being a witness in sometimes very long court cases and
having to remain in shelters, often abroad and without the opportunity to work in the meantime, in
many ways adds to the suffering already caused by the experience of exploitation. This is all the more
so, if the compensation granted to the victim at the end of the process is marginal – or non-existent.
Although the perpetrator may be sentenced as a consequence, providing for a degree of justice to the
affected person, the latter’s often economically vulnerable position makes compensation payments and
55
the right to work during the court case much more significant. The combination of having to stay far
away from home for a long period of time, without the opportunity to work nor often a realistic chance
of being compensated, as well as having to go through sometimes highly uncomfortable court
proceedings and being face-to-face with the trafficker leads to many people avoiding to be identified as
victims of human trafficking. It is important here to work with authorities to improve the status of
victims, pushing for more rights and assistance, as well as making sure that being witness in a court case
ultimately remains a voluntary decision. The official collaboration between Thai and Cambodian
authorities in facilitating the witness to visit their family and come back during the court trial is a good
first initiative that should be expanded in scope and re-applied in other countries too.
Service to Male Victims
118. It is evident from this and other research projects that men often make up the clear majority of
returnees in deportee populations, many of who have experienced some forms of exploitation during
their stay abroad. Yet, services to these male returnees are still limited; in fact, in some countries, there
are no institutions at all to deal with victimised men, nor does the law actually provide for the same
protection and assistance as their female counterparts and children are entitled to. There is a need to
explore possibilities to extend social services and legal protection to male victims. MSDHS in Thailand
has accommodated trafficked men/boys in a separate shelter from Kredtakarn; and FFW also refers
vulnerable cases of boys from the Bangkok IDC to stay in the Mae Sod shelter and arranges for their safe
repatriation. Such types of services to male victims must be expanded in scope, and TdH partner
organisations should engage in a dialogue on lessons learned and best practices to improvethe current
provisions to men in nationally appropriate manners.
Psychosocial Services
119. It is evident that psychosocial support is a significant – perhaps the most significant – core
component of shelters to help residents on their way back to a “normal” life; in some seriously
traumatised cases, the recovery process may require professional care from psychiatrist or
psychotherapist. There are however fundamental systemic weaknesses in some of the countries
concerned that pose real challenges to shelter-operating organisations. In places where the whole range
of related professions does not exist, as no institutions educate people to work in this field, it is
practically impossible for partner organisations to provide adequate services. In such environments, it
becomes an advocacy task, on the one hand, to encourage and support the government to boost a
country’s capacity in this context. On the other hand, efforts should be undertaken for partner
organisations to benefit from each other and other organisations concerned. There is regional expertise
in this field, which partners may want to tap into to improve their expertise in working with traumatised
victims. Counselling and therapy are culturally distinct concepts depending on the countries involved, so
it appears to be a good approach to make use of regional experiences instead of bringing in far-away
56
experts. Inviting residents to give opinions on how to deal with their experiences can also create
interesting initiatives within institutions. Generally, counselling and therapeutic skills are not obtained in
ad-hoc, single workshops for a few days, which is why organisations are encouraged to work out
partnerships that are more fundamental and mid- to long-term for the benefit of shelter residents. A
good practice is the collaboration between VFI, FFW and psychiatrists in provincial hospitals to provide
regular medical treatment and psychosocial care to shelter residents in Thailand.
Social Enterprise Model
120. It may also be worth considering for the organisations concerned to build up own social enterprise
capacities. A number of NGOs in the concerned countries have been very successful at this, ensuring
sometimes up to 40% donor independence through self-generated income. At the same time, it gives
some shelter residents with corresponding interests a chance of on-the-job training in a market
environment and potentially even a direct job opportunity once education is completed. Even if the
latter is not possible at all times, a well-established social enterprise business and a good brand name
will make trainees with experience in the organisation’s shop interesting candidates for jobs with other
companies in the same field. It is also worth noting that shelters, through their vocational training
programs, often have products that can be marketed in different ways. CWCC in Cambodia has a
relatively sophisticated system of displaying and selling products as well as ofproducing on the basis of
external orders already, but generally more can be done to improve quality, market products better and
to add the social element to the brand name, especially if the decision is taken to maintain some of the
in-house programs there are.
Monitoring and Evaluation
121. Finally, an element needs to be addressed that again cuts across the themes, i.e. monitoring and
evaluation (M&E). More can – and indeed must – be done in this crucial field, as it is here that
organisations find out if the resources spent achieve the desired outcomes. Very good intentions are
evident across the concerned organisations; there is no shelter or service provider in this analysis that
would not sincerely aspire to do good to their target population. However, good intentions do not
always deliver good results, and it is precisely here that M&E has the potential to make a difference.
Log-frames and other reporting mechanisms are useful in some ways, yet they often remain quantitative
in nature, which is why in-built and routinely applied M&E mechanisms with the involvement of the
target population are of utmost importance. In fact, establishing and applying in-built M&E mechanisms
is an important exercise to boost the organisational capacity in strategic planning and management,
which is of high benefit for its performance in the future.
57
Recommendations
 Involve the children – and most often their families – as much as possible in questions around
their own future as they have a right to be in control of their fate;
 Find out if the child really wants to stay at the shelter or if it was a purely parental decision;
 Allow contact with the family as much as possible/wanted;
 Provide for regular opportunities to leave the shelter and see different environments;
 Prepare the victim for testifying in courts– if they voluntarily agree on court proceedings with
their involvement – and ensure that legal cases remain as short and as appropriate as possible
and includes compensation for the victim;
 Consider other forms of reintegration into society that go beyond merely focusing on familychild relations if need be;
 Take family and needs assessment not only as a study of the family, but particularly also of what
the child needs for their human security;
 Consider the feasibility to open a social enterprise for the generation of income for both the
organisation and the residents;
 Carefully re-asses the needs of residents for future employment, and consider ways of providing
a wider and more tailored range of programs, e.g. by cooperating with other
educational/professional stakeholders;
 Establish working relations with a number of key companies/organisations with a proven record
for training and potential employment;
 Pay regular follow-up visits to ensure that residents are well off and have decent work;
 Consider ways to broaden the target audience to also serve the many vulnerable and victimised
men especially in the deportee populations with residential facilities and other comprehensive
services;
58
 Seek to cooperate with other partners in the country and the region to learn from each other
and improve performance and collaboration on case assistance;
 Try to introduce and improve elements of psychosocial support in every way possible, including
through cross border collaboration;
 Advocate for more courses of psychosocial support in the educational system with the
authorities;
 Develop and apply standardised, in-built monitoring and evaluation mechanisms with a focus on
beneficiaries’ interests to ensure that program aspirations and realities match.
Level of Action 3: Work with the Victim/Family/Community
Family and Agents
122. From the interviewsand stories during the research, it seems evident that two key stakeholders
play crucial roles in a child’s migration out of the village, perhaps as far as to Thailand: (1) the parents;
(2) the agents. Parents often take such decisions on behalf of their children, against the background of
what they believe to be in the best interest of the family. Traditional, rather hierarchical divisions of
roles within families leave the child without much of a choice but to obey the decision made by their
parents. The agent often facilitates or speeds up these processes. They may either implant the idea of
seeking employment elsewhere51or, by offering to provide for the migration process from origin to
destination, make the ultimate decision much easier. It is thus crucial for both service providers and
authorities to work at this level to ensure that families take an informed decision on potential outmigration. It is equally important to establish watchdog units at community level to ensure a degree of
transparency and monitoring as to the migration processes and the people involved in their facilitation.
This is undoubtedly not an easy task, especially in communities with long histories – and often wellestablished migration networks – of cross-border migration for their livelihoods. Identifying and dealing
with precisely these networks may be a good starting point to introduce elements of safe migrations and
awareness of the dangers of exploitation and trafficking. TdH partner organisations are also advised to
exchange lessons learned and best practices in this field.
Safe Migration
123. This directly relates to the concept of safe migration. From the interviews conducted particularly
also with local officials, there is a broad consensus that migration cannot be prevented. Some have even
suggested that it is a basic right, whereas others have point out that, considering patterns of mass
59
migration, it is much more important to focus on safe migration than on preventing migration. This is in
line with the observations during this research. Some interviewed victims have indicated that pretty
much all young people in their villages have left for Thailand; others, despite having had bad experiences
themselves, will go back to Thailand again regardless of efforts in shelters to avoid this development.
Some shelter residents are back for the second or even third time, raising questions as to the purpose of
their stay. It seems clear that patterns of labour migration are systemic, they are deeply rooted and part
of every-day’s life in certain areas of the four countries concerned. A consorted approach seems
required, in which the government is pushed to enhance channels for legal labour migration by ensuring
that required papers are issued speedily and affordably as well as by connecting potential migrants to
decent employers abroad with a proven record; at the same time, NGO’s awareness-raising campaigns
in high-risk communities with large-scale migration patterns should also focus on elements of safe
migration. A particular concern, however,are small children who largely depend on their parents and the
community for their fate. There are significant numbers of small children on the streets in urban centres
begging for money or selling products. Such migratory tendencies must be avoided through effective
prevention and protection/support systems to children, their families and, indeed, the wider community
at stake.
Awareness-Raising in Communities
124. The organisations concerned in this research are not only engaged in protection but also in
prevention work. For the latter, it is crucial to make use of an extremely valuable pool of information,
i.e. the shelter residents. The willingness of trafficking victims and migrant returnees to talk about their
experiences during this research was extraordinary. Many also indicated to be interested in sharing their
stories in awareness-raising events at village level to prevent others from getting into similar problems.
Although this can by no means be generalised – and it is necessary to be very careful here to avoid
creating new problems, e.g. in form of stigmatisation or others – the design of awareness-raising
activities may benefit from the input of former trafficking victims, especially also at the planning stage.
Finding out more about what caused them to end up being exposed to exploitative situations and what
in their views could have helped them protect themselves from this has the potential to feed outreach
campaigns with insights to avoid others from having similar experiences. Involvement in such campaigns
may also be a very empowering experience for victims themselves, with positive implications for selfconfidence, life skills development, etc. VFI’s youth volunteers are a good example for how young
people grow in their personalities through engagement in the organisation’s outreach activities.This
ultimately also serves the purpose of enabling the children involved to effectively protect themselves
and escape from undesirable harmful situation if need be.
A Note on Relapse
60
125. A crucial task for service providers and authorities is to prevent relapses of trafficking cases from
happening. Concerned state agencies and relevant NGOs, in particular the three subjected partners of
TDH, have exerted a high degree of efforts to provide for alternative livelihoods to women and children
with previously horrendous migration experiences. Nonetheless, such policies do not always match the
expectations and desires of the beneficiaries, which is part of the reason why significant numbers of
recipients of assistance from both state agencies and NGOs continue to move across borders in search
of better economic opportunities. While there is a need to prevent relapse by improving current types
of services as mentioned in the above recommendations, it is also important to view migration as a basic
right – and not something that organisations should aspire to stop. Instead, it is more important to
combat patterns of enforced migration especially of children as well as exploitative work environments
in destination areas. In order for this to be achieved, the structural root causes that deprive
marginalised people from equal opportunities either politically, socially or economically need to be
tackled. All agencies have to take this into consideration when providing protective services and
implementing prevention activities, so that actions move away from a charity/basic-needs approach to
the undeniably more challenging task of enabling beneficiaries to exercise their rights and attain defacto equality and access to social justice.
Recommendations
 Consider mechanisms at village level in form of watchdog entities or contact points that can
monitor migration tendencies, identify agents, provide advise and contacts for safe migration
and potential alternatives, etc.;
 Look into counselling services for families with problems at village level as identified by
watchdog entities and make timely and appropriate interventions;
 Consider the involvement of (former) shelter residentsin awareness-raising campaigns,
especially with volunteer groups; be careful with this and ask cautiously in what form and under
what conditions the person concerned may want to get involved;
 Collaborate with all stakeholders to review contents and methods of advocacy campaigns, and
develop a comprehensive, rights-based curriculum on migration and trafficking as well as life
skills building for awareness raising activities in schools and at community levels.
61
Endnotes:
1
Following the flow of the river, these are Yunnan Province/China, Burma/Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and
Vietnam.
2
Mekong Migration Network, (MMN) 2008.
3
UNIAP, 2010.
4
MMN, 2008.
5
Soda, 2009, para. 41.
6
IOM, 2011; estimates of the number of irregular migrants from the GMS in Thailand speak of another 2 million
(Soda, 2009, para. 35).
7
Lewis et al., 2010, p. 1.
8
Soda, 2009, paras. 39-40.
9
IOM, 2011, p.11.
10
MMN, 2008, p. 87
11
The five criteria established by the Lao government are: (1) to have full Laotian nationality; (2) to be at least 18
years of age; (3) to have completed at least primary education; (4) to be in good health; and (5) to be a ‘good’
citizen (MMN, 2008).
12
Phetsiriseng, 2007.
13
Especially because the Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre used to deport Lao citizens through Vangtao; a
policy which, as of April 2011, has changed to Savannakhet.
14
Sophal, 2009, p. ix.
15
ILO, n.d.
16
Sophal, 2009, p. x.
17
ILO, n.d.
18
IOM, 2011, p. 12.
19
ILO, n.d.
20
Sophal, 2009, pp. 18-19.
21
Sophal, 2009, p. ix.
22
Irin, 2011.
23
ILO, n.d.
24
MMN, 2008, p. 73
25
Young, 2007, pp. 488-489.
26
MMN, 2008, pp. 73-75
27
IOM, 2011.
28
MMN, 2008, p. 75
29
Young, 2007, pp. 511-512.
30
IOM, 2011
62
31
“Trafficking in persons’ shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by
means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of
power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent
of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a
minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced Labour or
services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs; The consent of a victim of
trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant
where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used; The recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in persons” even if
this does not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article” (UNODC, 2004).
32
The so-called Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) was started in 2004, when
the GMS countries signed a MoU against trafficking in persons and therebycommitted themselves to a coordinated
response to human trafficking at multi-lateral, bilateral, and government-NGO levels. UNIAP serves as the
Secretariat of the COMMIT process, whose implementation is based on sub-regional and national plans of actions
and which is governed at national level by a COMMIT taskforce in each country, comprising all relevant
governmental actors for anti-human trafficking initiatives.
33
Thailand Universal Periodic Report, Human Rights Council, 2011.
34
On 4 October 2011, 148 Lao people were deported from Mukdahan, of who 32 male and 12 female wereunderaged.
35
It is the Secretariat too that is in charge of writing the country’s NPA as part of the COMMIT-process; a plan that
should have been released by the government many years ago.
36
Eng, 2011.
37
UNIAP, 2010.
38
UNIAP, n.d.
39
UNIAP, n.d.
40
U.S. Department of State, 2011.
41
Article 20 of Immigration Act B.E.2522 stipulates that the period of custody must not be longer than 48 hours,
although in special cases this may be prolonged to a maximum of 7 days.
42
Mae Sod border was officially re- opened on 5th December 2011
43
Interview in the Bangkok IDC on 25 August 2011 with a 12 year old girl who had moved to Thailand at the age of
two with her mother to beg in Bangkok.
44
Interview with a local NGO in Aranyaprathet on 21 September 2011.
45
The average person living in Phnom Penh needs about US$ 3 per day (Chandarraot, K. and Dannet, L., 2009).
46
See in particular the UNIAP sentinel surveillance studies.
47
These also need to be assimilated to a standard template across a country, as there are too many different – and
sometimes no – victim ID forms in place.
48
Although it needs mentioning that surprisingly few cases of exploitation have thus far been determined, making
the VRC a case for what is proposed a little later, i.e. more monitoring and evaluation efforts to improve wellintended, existing mechanisms.
49
It is important to remember that the number of residents who go back to their communities and end up helping
on the fields again – regardless of the skills learned at the shelters – is significant.
63
50
Right-based approach incorporates the international human rights principles and standards that ensure nondiscriminatory treatment, participation and empowerment of victims.
51
Although in contexts of well-established migration networks and tendencies of mass migration at village levels
this is not always necessary.
64
iii.
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