About crime

The situation has been made worse in Thailand by the integration of victims into the country's economy - similar, in fact, to the United States

Download and read the full US State Department's "Trafficking in Persons Report 2011" (discussed in today's Bangkok Post editorial below) here.

Photo above of illegal migrants from Burma being smuggled into Thailand hidden in a truck by human traffickers.

Click button to listen to Human Trafficking Report and rightclick to download

EDITORIAL: A poor record on trafficking (29/06/2011)

The US State Department's annual report on human trafficking once again gives Thailand a black eye. But it also recognises the scope of this worldwide problem, and gives credit for the few steps taken in recent years to combat slavery and exploitation.

The US report, once again signed and strongly supported by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, minces few words. It highlights problems which have been known for years in the country.

Many countries, including some of our close neighbours, criticise and dismiss the annual US report. They would be better off to examine its contents more carefully and perhaps take quicker, more efficient action to protect the victims of this problem.

The 3,400 words detailing mostly negative statements about the country start with an intentional shock effect. "Thailand is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children who are subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking." This is neither new nor arguable. The news pages of this newspaper can attest to that. An estimated million or more illegal migrants are in the country. Many were smuggled out of their homeland and into Thailand by cross-border gangs. Similar criminal groups feed the voracious appetite for the sex industry: foreigners into Thailand, and Thai women to other countries.

The US report illustrates how human trafficking has become part of the country's business. Trafficked migrants are employed as seafood processors, garment makers and domestic help.

A special part of the Tuesday morning report focused specifically on the fishing industry. A paper entitled "Slavery and Food Security" recounted stories, familiar to some, of Burmese and Cambodian fishermen hijacked or lured into slave-like conditions for months at a time. Again, the report is clear that Thailand is not the only country doing this.

The problem with Thailand, from Washington's perspective, is that officials talk a lot about fighting human trafficking but achieve minimal success at best.

Corrupt police and the slow justice system may be part of the problem, as Mrs Clinton's report alleges. But the real problem is the lack of impetus and support for fighting this modern-day slavery from the government itself

A 2008 law provides stiff jail sentences for convicted human traffickers. Police claim that they investigated 70 cases of trafficking last year, most of them for forced prostitution and labour. Few reached the prosecutors.

Prosecutors picked up the ball and filed charges in 79 cases, but few have reached court. The US report profiles a case where police rescued 12 Uzbek women forced into prostitution in Bangkok. Their female Uzbek controller was arrested, but quickly obtained bail and is once again involved in pimping activities.

It is not possible to overstate the difficulties of fighting human trafficking. The situation has been made worse by the integration of victims into the country's economy - similar, in fact, to the United States.

Whatever the motives of Mrs Clinton and the US government, however, their report is a public service, reminding Thais and the government of the terrible abuses going on.

There never will be a successful fight against this slavery-type scourge without involvement from the top. The country already knows that the next prime minister will launch yet another war on drugs. Similar or even greater efforts should go into a campaign to crack down on the worst human trafficking gangs.

(Source: Bangkok Post, EDITORIAL, A poor record on trafficking, 29/06/2011, link)

Human Trafficking Vocabulary

human trafficking - a criminal activity in which people are recruited, harboured, transported, bought, or kidnapped to serve an exploitative purpose, such as sexual slavery, forced labor, or child soldiery (See Wikipedia)

human traffickers - the criminals who engage in human trafficking as a criminal business
smuggled - brought into a country illegally
border - the official line separating two areas, regions or countries เขตแดน อาณาเขต
cross-border gangs - groups of criminals who commit crimes in more than one country (criminal operations extend across borders)

sex trafficking - transporting people for the purpose of "sexual exploitation" or use of people as prostitutes (See Wikipedia)
prostitution - the business of selling sex การค้าประเวณี (See Wikipedia)
prostitute - a person who sells the service of sex for money  
pimp - a man whose business is finding customers for prostitutes (See Wikipedia)
pimping activities - the activity of finding customers for prostitutes

trafficked migrants - workers who enter a country illegally with the help of gangs in order to work in the country
illegal - against the law ผิดกฎหมาย, นอกกฎหมาย
migrants - people who travel to a different region or country to live and work ผู้อพยพ ในที่นี้หมายถึง คนต่างจังหวัดที่อพยพเข้ามาหางานทำที่กรุงเทพ
illegal migrants - workers from other countries working illegally (without official permission or permit; note: it is very difficult for an "illegal migrant" to change the conditions of their job or their employer, this possibility of complete control is why these foreigners were recruited by employers, often there is no option of being a "legal migrant" worker)
homeland - the country the country that a person was born in (citizen of), where a migrant labourer comes from

annual - happening once a year ประจำปี
US State Department's annual report on human trafficking

slave - a person who is owned by another person (property)
slavery - the state or condition of being owned by another person
modern-day slavery - meaning: slavery of legal ownership of other humans may not exist (but hidden illegal control of other people still exists; it may break laws, but laws are not enforced)

forced labour - unfree labour, work arrangements in which workers are not free to exit employment as they please (See Wikipedia)
victims - people who are harmed by some action or event (accident, natural disaster, crime, government policy, etc)

exploit (verb) - treat unfairly
exploitation (noun) - unfair treatment of someone, or the use of a situation in a way that is wrong การใช้หาประโยชน์อย่างไม่ถูกต้อง using something or someone in a harmful way for personal gain

General Vocabulary

poor record - has not performed well, has not done well (in a certain area or activity)

black eye - when the skin around the eye is black (after being hit or punched in the eye)

recognises - learns about, knows about, knows about the existence of
scope of a problem - the size of a problem
recognises the scope of this worldwide problem

give credit - say that someone has done something good (accept it as good and tell others that it is good)

combat - fight against something
combat slavery - fight against slavery (try to put an end to it)

mince few words - does not try to say things politely (or soften or understate in order not to offend)

highlights - shows 
criticise - find fault or error (show and point out things that are bad, wrong or incorrect about something)

dismiss - to refuse to accept that something might be true or important ไม่สนใจ,แย้งกลับ, มองข้าม, ปฏิเสธ
better off - in a better situation or condition 

contents - what is inside something จำนวนของสิ่งที่บรรจุอยู่
efficient - doing a task with no waste of time, money or energy, produce more using fewer resources

negative - bad ที่เป็นด้านลบ
intentional - wanting to do something, not an accident (for example, the man and woman had the baby intentionally) deliberate; done on purpose

shock - surprised and upset by an unexpected bad event (upset = makes you feel bad)
shock effect - being surprised and upset by an event

source - the place or person something comes from or starts at, or the cause of something ต้นกำเนิด, แหล่งกำเนิด
destination - the place where someone or something is going จุดหมายปลายทาง
transit - the act of moving from one place to another การเดินทางผ่าน

argument (noun) - an discussion, debate or outright fight between people with different opinions and views
argue (verb)  
arguable (adjective) - debatable, when something may not be true (you could argue or debate over whether it is true or not)

X attests to Y  - X provides evidence of Y
estimated - what people think the amount is (using information available or by guessing)

appetite - a desire for food ความอยากอาหาร the natural feeling of wanting to eat น้ำย่อย ความอยากอาหาร
voracious appetite - very hungry

X illustrates Y - X shows Y, X shows that Y is true
employed as - have work as

seafood processors - people working in a seafood processing plant
seafood processing plant - a factory that makes seafood products sold in stores
food processing - factories that prepare mean, vegetables and other farm products into packaged products that can be sold in stores (See Wikipedia)

garment - clothes  
garment makers - businesses that make clothes
domestic help - women hired to help around the home (cleaning, cooking and looking after children)

specifically - in an exact and detailed way
entitled -having the name
food security - making sure that a country has enough food to feed all its citizens
recounted - tell a story, tell how an event happened เล่าเรื่อง
familiar - have seen before, know about this already (have experience and knowledge of)
hijack - take control of something by force and use it for your own purposes (usually a vehicle)
lure - make something look very good, so that people want to have it or do it
clear - easy to understand

perspective - opinion, view on an issue, way of thinking about things that happen มุมมอง ทัศนะ ทัศนคติ
minimal - very small in amount น้อยที่สุด, น้อยมาก
achieve minimal success
X at best - X is the best result or outcome achieved in this activity

justice - when people are treated fairly and equally (See Wikipedia) ความยุติธรรม
justice system - legal system, all parts of the legal system that find criminals and punish them from police (law enforcement) to prosecutors who make the legal court case to prove the crime, to the judges that decide on the case, to prison system that carries out the punishment, also sometimes called the "legal institutions" of a society (See Wikipedia)

lack - does not have ขาดแคลน
impetus - a force that helps an event happen (or happen more quickly)
support - help สนับสนุน

stiff sentences - very long jail sentences (must spend a long period of time in jail as punishment for a crime)
convicted - having been proven guilty of a crime by a court of law ได้รับการพิสูจน์ว่ามีความผิดจริง
claim - saying something is true without proving it yet

prosecutor - the government agency with the duty of making a case in a court of law to prove that a person accused of a crime actually did the crime

picked up the ball - start trying to solve a problem
file charges - to take official action, e.g., to make a formal complaint ยื่นฟ้องร้อง
profiles - short descriptions of a person or some situation
female - of a woman สำหรับผู้หญิง
bail - money that is given to a court when someone is allowed to stay out of prison until their trial. If they do not return for the trial, the court keeps the money เงินประกัน; การประกันตัว (See Wikipedia)

overstate - say that it is more than it really is
overstate the difficulties - say that something is more difficult than it really is

integration - joining together into one unified whole so that they work well together การรวมเข้าด้วยกัน, การผสมผสาน
motives - the reason for doing something (taking an action)
public service - some activity done to help everyone (the public), not for profit (example: public service advertisements on television)

abuse - treating other people in a bad and cruel way (examples: child abuse, found guilty of abusing his wife)
terrible abuses - very bad and cruel things that are done to other people (shocking, repugnant)

scourge - something that causes a lot of trouble or harm โรคระบาด การลงโทษ

involvement from the top - the most powerful people doing something (to achieve goals, here of ending human trafficking)

launch - to start something เปิดโครงการ, เริ่มต้น, เริ่มทำ
efforts - the work done towards achieving some goal ความพยายาม
campaign - a planned group of especially political, business or military activities which are intended to achieve a particular aim การรณรงค์

crack down - when a law is enforced (arrests + punishment) with great strength for a short period of time (note: enforcement may not continue for a long period of time) 
worst - most + bad