The government is confident Thailand will be upgraded in this year's Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report by the US Department of State to Tier 2 from Tier 2 Watch, citing achievements in addressing problems raised in last year's TIP report.
"We're confident the hard work we have been doing will earn us a better ranking, Tier 2 in this case," said Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon.
He was speaking while chairing an online meeting yesterday with 25 state agencies working to improve the situation of human trafficking and forced labour in the country.
With more Covid-19 restrictions being lifted in the past year, further crackdowns on suspected human trafficking activities were carried out in 2021, he said.
The number of human trafficking cases last year was 188, compared to only 133 in 2020 when suppressing the scourge was more limited due to stiffer pandemic measures, he said.
Thailand had followed all 15 recommendations listed in the 2021 US TIP Report for the country to consider adopting, he said.
Apart from this, Thailand had in the past year launched four so-called flagship projects, aimed at enhancing its ability to cope better with human trafficking, said Gen Prawit.
The first project deals with the drafting of an operational plan to be implemented nationwide this year to better manage human trafficking cases and the protection of victims, he said.
The second project concerned setting up a centre to sort out and separate real victims from those who consent to and pay for a human trafficking service, while the third project involved setting up a centre of excellence for the suppression of trafficking, he said.
The remaining project initiated last year saw the creation of measures to prevent children from falling victim to trafficking gangs, he said.
Since Thailand in 2015 declared the need to improve its record in tackling human trafficking a national agenda item, all parties have been working harder to achieve this goal.