The issue of forced migrant labor in Thailand can be heavily attributed to its location. Thailand’s borders include Laos and Cambodia — two deeply impoverished countries — as well as Malaysia, a popular migrant destination. It also falls directly in line with the sea-routes commonly used for smuggling operations in Myanmar and Bangladesh. Ultimately, Thailand is a prime source, destination, and transition country for modern slavery.

In addition to geography, Thailand’s trafficking problems can be due to the excessive political influence of its security services. “In particular the weakness of the Thai political system in tackling the trade can be tied to military interference in the central government, the convergence of corruption with geography in the north and on the southern borders, and the presence of a separatist insurgency in Thailand’s southeastern border provinces.”

On the southeastern border of Thailand, tackling local Islamic terrorist groups frequently takes priority over fighting organized crime. Based on the number of migrant camps found recently, the heavy military and police presence in those areas proves no obstacle to smuggling. Human trafficking routes still exist in Songkhla province, a Thai-Malay area, as well as in its neighboring provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat. “In fact there is widespread social collusion with the people-smuggling trade in many isolated areas, with trafficking groups often able to rely on collaboration with both coastal and border communities for their infrastructure, local camp guards, and supplies.”

Sadly, this includes an area’s authorities as well. In the past, Thai security services and local officials have been taken into custody for helping human trafficking groups and selling fleeing refugees and detained migrants back into slavery.

Bangkok’s initiative to start intercepting smuggling boats created a high profile on human trafficking which led to the discovery of more smuggling camps with even more graves. Many criminal networks across the country have been abandoned or disrupted, but the demand for forced labor will most likely adapt and restart. Longstanding American political pressure is the only reason human trafficking became an issue for the central authorities in Thailand in the first place.

Contingent with Thailand’s preoccupation with designing a new constitution, many people realize that something must be done about human trafficking, but most are wishing that the issue will disappear quickly and quietly.

For more information about CHTCS and how we can help your organization, please contact us.

Source: The Diplomat

In order to put an end to forced labor in Asia, more funding and better data on supply chains is needed. Recent findings, regarding the Thai fishing industry, have shed light on the abuses and dangers migrant workers face as part of the $7 billion dollar trafficking industry.

Last year, the United States downgraded Thailand to the lowest “Tier 3” status, deeming it one of the world’s worst centers of human trafficking. “Campaigners said a lack of data on suppliers and contractors meant companies and financial institutions could become unwitting participants in slavery.”

The Freedom Fund, an anti-slavery private donor fund, plans to spend $5 million dollars on developing new tools, in an effort to boost supply chain transparency. Hopefully, this and recent media exposure, will lead to more global companies and producers attempting to tackle forced labor.

“When buyers put pressure on suppliers to stop abuses they can effect change much faster, even in as little as 48 hours,” said Benjamin Skinner, co-founder of Tau Investment Management, a private equity firm that aims to clean up supply chains.

For more information about CHTCS and how we can help your organization, please contact us.

For more information about CHTCS and how we can help your organization, please contact us.

For more information about CHTCS and how we can help your organization, please contact us.

Leading financial institutions in Europe have decided to combat human trafficking by using data to detect suspicious transactions that could be linked to criminal activity. Europol, the European Union’s policing agency, is taking the initiative to help financial institutions implement “red flag” indicators that scan their systems and report irregular banking transactions to the police.

This drive to end modern slavery is due to concerns about the increasing multi-billion pound business that is being run by increasingly dangerous gangs. Rob Wainwright, the director of Europol, said, “we see the problems getting much worse in terms of number of victims, illegal money that is being used, and the way in which organized crime groups are using more sophisticated techniques to recruit people, transport and exploit them.”

The European Bankers Alliance, similar to the U.S. Bankers Alliance, hopes to achieve the same goal of detecting more suspicious activity and increasing the number of trafficking transactions reported. “Human trafficking has become a fast-growing crime worth about $150 billion a year, according to the International Labour Organisation, with an estimated 36 million people trapped in sex slavery, forced or bonded labour, or other forms of servitude.”

Wainwright said the free movement of people in Europe makes it harder to spot trafficking, but that access to data shared by financial institutions will help identify and efficiently bring traffickers to justice.

For more information about CHTCS and how we can help your organization, please contact us.

For more information about CHTCS and how we can help your organization, please contact us.

For more information about CHTCS and how we can help your organization, please contact us.

In Bangalore, India, back-to-back rescue missions helped save 155 people subjected to forced labor for three years at incense factories. The International Justice Mission (IJM) received a call on May 28 from a police officer in Bangalore, asking for help with a planned rescue operation at one incense factory. The IJM immediately sent a team to rescue the 107 laborers that were trafficked more than 800 miles.

Each man shared their horror stories, revealing that, “they were forced to work seven days a week from 6am until 2am, some having to handle dangerous chemicals.” The laborers also said that they were physically abused by the owner, and prohibited from medical attention. All 107 laborers shared a single room with just one toilet.

Two of the rescued men said that their brothers were being held at a nearby factory in Tamil Nadu, where the IJM luckily had two officers nearby. Another team was mobilized and able to rescue 48 more forced laborers in Tamil. “As we searched the facility I was totally flabbergasted, shocked, amazed. There was no electricity; the room was pitch dark. I was using the flashlight on my phone, searching the factory but finding nothing. Eventually, in one of the smaller rooms, I saw a bunch of people crammed together in the dark,” said Sam George, IJM Director of Aftercare.

IJM has since focused on the aftercare of the laborers, who received government release certificates, ensuring their freedom. They were then returned to their families while the owner, one trafficker, and three employees of the Bangalore factory were arrested.

For more information about CHTCS and how we can help your organization, please contact us.

For more information about CHTCS and how we can help your organization, please contact us.

KnowTheChain has partnered with some of the biggest counter-human trafficking nonprofits and organizations to encourage companies that fall under the criteria for the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act (SB-657) to comply with the law’s requirements. KnowTheChain also takes the initiative to contact those companies who have not yet complied with the law to notify them of the law and its requirements.

Currently the law requires “retail sellers and manufacturers doing business in California that exceed $100 million in global revenue to publicly disclose the degree, if any, to which they are: engaging in verification, auditing, and certification of their direct suppliers, maintaining internal accountability standards, and providing internal training regarding trafficking in their direct supply chains for tangible goods offered for sale.”

Find out which companies have and have not complied with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act: KnowTheChain.