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 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.
Deputy Permanent Secretary Seksan Nakhwong.
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.
