Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon urges authorities to keep on tackling human trafficking and illegal fishing, hoping stronger legal measures against the offences will upgrade Thailand's poor rankings on these issues, graded by the US and the European Union.
The US State Department has kept Thailand on its Tier 2 watchlist in its 2017 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, which says the country has not fully complied with its standards in curbing the crime. The country also faces a possible ban on its exports of processed seafood to the EU after being given a yellow card, or final warning, from the bloc in 2015 due to illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing.
Gen Prawit, who is also defence minister and in charge of national security, yesterday stressed the only goal the government wants to achieve is to "unlock Tier 2," defence spokesman Kongcheep Tantravanich quoted him as saying during a meeting of the state administration steering and reform committee, which he chairs.
Thailand has followed the recommendations of US authorities, which include improving legal measures against human trafficking. A decree on the recruitment of foreign workers also has been launched to keep the labourers, who are prone to falling victim to trafficking gangs, under state watch, Maj Gen Kongcheep said.
In the fishing sector, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has exercised the powerful Section 44 of the interim charter, authorising officials to swiftly act against trawlers using illegal gear and catching fish in prohibited zones. Gen Prawit wants officials to carry on the fight, including improving dated regulations, said Maj Gen Kongcheep.
Meanwhile, the Prawit-led committee is looking forward to a new round of inspections of aviation management by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, between the end of this month and early October, deputy army spokesman Sirichan Ngathong said.
The ICAO was asked to make the re-inspection after the UN agency red-flagged Thailand over its failure to fix shortcomings in the national aviation industry. The country failed to meet aviation safety standards on regulating aviation businesses and granting air operator certificates, known as AOC.
The committee was yesterday told of progress in re-issuing the AOC to troubled Thai-registered airlines as part of attempts to solve the shortcomings. Nine airlines secured the new certificates while 16 others were required to have their air operations checked again. The 16 airlines have been told to stop international flights since Sept 1, pending the checks.