BANGKOK (ILO NEWS): The International Labour Organization and the Royal Thai Government are launching a series of joint-efforts to tackle human trafficking and child labour, while endorsing a number of existing ILO-supported initiatives as recognized ‘Good Practices’.

The launch will take place during a stakeholder meeting 3-4 May 2007 in Chiang Rai. The participants will include representatives from 9 Northern provinces of Thailand , including the Governors of Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Phayao Provinces, senior officials from the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, as well as senior figures from the ILO and Thailand ’s counter trafficking movement.

The new initiatives will include a technical assistance programme offered to Thai women returning home after enduring trafficking-related abuses abroad and a “time bound” technical assistance programme to strengthen and integrate responses to tackling the related problem of child labour in Northern Thailand .

It has been recognized that many trafficked Thai women who manage to return home are in dire need of counseling and support to re-integrate into their own societies. Often extremely traumatized by their experiences, sometimes penniless as domestic workers or indebted, many are also worried about the stigma they may face upon their return – especially if they had been trafficked into forced or coerced prostitution. Their inability to reintegrate/reunite with their families can lead to further exploitation and even re-trafficking. Assistance will be provided through a new 3 year “Economic Social Empowerment of Returned Victims of Trafficking” project, sponsored by the UN Trust Fund for Human Security and the Government of Japan.

While the number of Thai youngsters in situations of child labour has been declining during the last decade, many foreign/migrant children are now filling the ‘gap’ in demand for children in exploitative situations in the Kingdom (e.g. organized begging and street selling, children working in bars or karaoke establishments). An integrated 3 year programme working directly with the children, with communities, with social partners and with the local Government agencies through the Ministry of Labour and others, will operate in Chiang Rai Province . This work is being supported by the U.S. Department of Labor, as part of its overall support to the ILO global initiatives to combat child labour worldwide under the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). The Japanese company AEON also provided some financial support to the work in Chiang Rai province.             

No stranger to working in Northern Thailand, the ILO, through its IPEC Mekong Sub-regional Project to Combat Trafficking in Children and Women, has been supporting work in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Phayao Provinces since 2003. During this period, a series of successful trafficking prevention field projects have been undertaken and plans are now underway to replicate these ‘good practices’ in other parts of the country.

The good practices, to be showcased at this event, are supported by the Mekong project but implemented entirely by, and through, work of the Thai authorities and NGOs. They include:

§                      An Eco-Tourism Home Stay project in Chiang Rai, where Hill Tribe families learn to earn money by welcoming Thai and foreign guests into their homes;

§                      A high school in Chiang Rai where children from areas prone to human trafficking and high rates of out-migration are taught skills to increase their ‘employability’ while learning ways to stay safe if migrating later as adults;

§                      Development of a multi-province computerized human trafficking database system to centralize knowledge about problem areas, examine the vulnerabilities of individuals to trafficking, and use this data as required to formulate effective responses;

§                      An integrated cross-departmental (local and provincial level) Operating Centre in Phayao to address the needs relating to trafficking of children and women and developing mechanisms to respond to them;

§                      Employers and media in Chiang Mai as a central focus in prevention efforts.

The Mekong Sub-regional Project to Combat Trafficking in Children and Women operates in five Mekong countries including Thailand and is supported by the United Kingdom ’s Department for International Development (DFID).

For further information please contact:

Mr. Allan Dow
Communications Officer
ILO Mekong Sub-regional Project to Combat Trafficking in Children and Women
Tel: 02 288 2057,  Mob. 089 891 5003

Ms. Krisdaporn Singhaseni
Information Officer
ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Tel: 02 288 1664  

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