​New regulation expected to prevent human trafficking

BANGKOK, September 18 (TNA) -- The prime minister’s committee against human trafficking and illegal fishing will have a new regulation of the Prime Minister’s Office introduced soon to prevent government officials from facilitating human trafficking. Vichien Chavalit, Permanent Secretary for Social Development and Human Security and also secretary to the committee, said the committee approved the draft regulation that prohibited government officials from supporting human trafficking and set legal actions against violators. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha wanted the new regulation to take effect within this October, Me Vichien said. The prime minister also ordered concerned officials to propose a report on human trafficking situations in Thailand within Oct 15 so that the finished report could be sent to the United States within Jan 30 next year. The new report is expected to convince the US to improve Thailand from its list of countries with the worst human trafficking situations. For the second consecutive year, Thailand was maintained in Tier 3, the lowest rank, of the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report 2015 that was released in Washington DC on July 27, 2015. The prime minister also urged all organizations to join forces to tackle human trafficking seriously and quickly and protect witnesses, Mr Vichien said. (TNA)