Montree Kotchawong
Ministry of Tourism and Sports officials met with
local officials to educate them on Thailand’s human-trafficking problem
and brainstorm ways to prevent it in the tourism industry.
Deputy Permanent
Secretary Seksan Nakhwong.
Deputy Permanent Secretary Seksan Nakhwong chaired
the Jan. 19 meeting at the Sunbeam Hotel. Sponsored by United Nations
Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking, the session, co-organized by
the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, focused on
cooperation between the tourism sector and freight and passenger
transport businesses, which are often used to smuggle illegal aliens
into the country.
Speakers included Sudarat Seriwat, Director of the
Fight Against Child Exploitation, as well as top anti-human trafficking
officers from Royal Thai Police Region 2 and the Department of Special
Investigations; and advisors and bureaucrats from the Social
Development, and Tourism and Sports ministries.
Udom Osothyimprai, chief coordinator for prevention
and resolution of human trafficking in tourism at the ministry,
discussed policies and measures to resolve issues of human trafficking
in tourism and illustrated how trafficking networks operate and what
other countries are doing to combat them.
Speakers emphasized that trafficking is a
transnational problem and that its victims are often faced with threats,
fraud and kidnapping. Cooperation from sectors that rely on cross-border
transport and tourism need to be vigilant in reporting any suspected
trafficking, speakers said.
