Thailand hopes for upgrade in new US TIP report

BANGKOK, February 3 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the country's status should be further upgraded in the new US Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, due to be released in mid-2017, as there has been more progress in the Kingdom's actions against alleged human trafficking-related issues. Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai made the assessment at a press conference in Bangkok on February 2, two days after his ministry submitted an official report for 2016 on anti-human trafficking efforts to the US State Department. Don stated that the Thai government has made significant progress in tackling human trafficking-related issues, after it has declared the issues as the national agenda since 2014. Don told the press conference that the Thai government’s policy is aimed at comprehensively cracking down on human trafficking by enacting new law, prosecuting trafficking cases and providing support for victims. The foreign minister acknowledged that the Thai government has set aside an increased budget by 23.88 per cent to handle the issues in the 2017 fiscal year. In 2016, the foreign minister reported, 333 suspected human trafficking cases were investigated and public prosecutors charged 301 cases, while a total of 268 people were prosecuted. Over the past three years, legal actions were taken against 45 state officials found guilty of involving in human trafficking. The foreign minister stressed that the Thai government has also protected vulnerable victims from returning to the human trafficking circle by helping 196 victims to find jobs last year. Last year, Thailand's TIP report’s status was upgraded a notch to "Tier 2-Watch List", after it had earlier been downgraded to the lowest level, Tier 3. (TNA)