Thai PM calls on cooperation from all parties against human trafficking

BANGKOK, June 5 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha has urged all parties in all sectors to cooperate on solutions to human trafficking-related problems on a sustainable basis, noting that his interim government has included the problems on the national agenda so that they must be urgently solved. Prime Minister General Prayut, who is also Chief of the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), made the call while opening an event in Bangkok on Friday, marking Thailand's 2015 Anti-Human Trafficking Day, in which high-ranking government officials, including Social Development and Human Security Minister Police General Adul Saengsingkaew and National Police Chief Police General Somyot Pumpanmuang, as well as foreign diplomats participated. The prime minister pointed out that human trafficking-related problems have resulted from illegal migration, illegal fishery and poverty, admitting that human trafficking-related problems cannot be solved in a short term due to their complexity and persistence for a long time. The prime minister suggested, however, that everybody be confident in Thailand's legal procedures and law enforcers, vowing if influential persons or government officials were found involving in human trafficking, they would face both disciplinary and criminal punishment. The prime minister also urged both government officials and the general public to help wipe out human traffikcing gangs in the region, insisting that his government has also tried to solve related problems, namely beggar, illegal migrants through laying strict regulations, and sex businesses, through amending laws and ministerial regulations which have posed obstacles to law enforcers performing their duties. After the opening session, the prime minister donated 50,000 baht to support anti-human trafficking measures and presented awards to journalists and individuals whose master pieces on preventing and suppressing human trafficking have won a recent contest. In a related move, Permanent Secretary for Interior Wiboon Sa-nguanpong announced that the interim Thai government has set up the central Command Center for Combating Illegal Fishing (CCCIF) to work with another newly-set up unit, the Maritime Enforcement Coordination Centre (MECC), in each affected area, together with 28 newly-opened centres tasked with reporting and controlling inbound and outbound trawlers and Fishing One Stop Service Centers in 22 seaside Thai provinces to prevent and crack down illegal fishing in Thailand. According to the senior official, all the concerned units have also been ordered to integrate their moves against illegal fishing, while also closely following up updated information or official instructions, launching public relations (PR) campaigns to garner support from the private sector against illegal fishing in a serious manner and conducting quick and accurate registrations of migrant workers in the local fishing industry timely for the deadline, set on June 30, 2015 by the government. (TNA)