Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday his government would continue exercising its “zero tolerance” policy on human trafficking to improve national standards in coping with slavery after the United States decided to upgrade Thailand from the lowest Tier 3 rating.

“I will do my job. It’s our duty to take care of human beings and trafficked persons are also human beings,” Prayut told reporters when asked for a response to the US report on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) released yesterday.

“Whatever status we have been given, we have to do the job. If I can’t complete the mission, the next government must carry on,” he said.

The government has worked hard over the past year to improve practices and handle the problem of human trafficking after being ranked on the lowest Tier 3 for two consecutive years. Thailand spent more than 2.5 billion baht (US$28 million app.) to improve legal instruments as well as to prosecute senior officials including top officers in the military and police to prove to Washington that it is qualified for an upgrade.

Wanna Bootsane, a key member of the Rak Thai Foundation that monitors migrant worker issues on the east coast of the country, told The Nation that overall the government’s efforts over the past year have been impressive.

The Thai government has been sincere in its attempt to tackle human trafficking, she said. However, she added that it was a complicated issue involving several sectors of society including businesses that must coordinate to eliminate trafficking.

Despite her satisfaction with the government’s recent efforts, Wanna remains concerned that problems of human trafficking and slave labour will persist in the long run. She also said that she was not sure whether the government would continue its efforts after achieving its goal of being upgraded to Tier 2.

Similarly, NGO worker Sompong Srakaew, director of the Labour Rights Promotion Network, said the government has done a satisfactory job over the past year in dealing with human-trafficking problems.

However, the labour rights advocate said Tier 2 status was not exactly notable and that more effort is still needed for Thailand to be ranked higher.

Boost for exports

Although praising the government for being sincere in trying to solve the long-standing issue, Sompong said there is a lot of work still left to do. For instance, he said, the government could make it legal for migrant workers to work in Thailand to eradicate bribery, which is at the root of vicious trafficking issues.

Thanavath Phonvichai, director to the Economic and Business Forecasting Centre, said the upgrade from Tier 3 to Tier 2 would have a positive impact on Thailand’s goods and boost consumer confidence in the long run.

He said about 20 per cent of trade from Thailand, including agricultural and fishery products, would benefit from the upgrade as consumers and international buyers will have more trust in Thailand’s labour standards.

Nopporn Thepsithar, chairman to the Thai National Shippers Council, said foreign traders will have greater confidence in Thai products, especially seafood. He said the number of orders should rise in the next three to six months, which will result in a 10-per-cent growth in exports to the US.

According to the Commerce Ministry, the United States is Thailand’s second largest market after the Asean region. Shipments from Thailand to the US dropped by 2.5 per cent to US$9.6 billion in the first five months of this year.

Of the total exports worth $86.99 billion, 11.1 per cent account for shipments to the US, after 26 per cent shipped within the Asean region. China is Thailand’s third largest market, with exports accounting for 10.1 per cent, followed by Japan at 9.7 per cent and the EU, including the United Kingdom, at 9.4 per cent.