By Max Constant
BANGKOK
The Thai junta has insisted it has done its utmost to combat human trafficking since taking power last year, as the U.S. State Department is set to release its Trafficking in Persons report Monday, local media reported Thursday.
“We have done our best. I came to solve the problem, which was inherited from the previous government,” The Nation quoted junta leader-cum-Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha as saying.
He also expressed hope that the status of Thailand, who had been classified at the lowest level last year for its dismal performance against human trafficking, would be upgraded.
“The government is keen to solve the problem. Our work is systematic and successful,” Chan-ocha assured.
Since the discovery of more than 30 bodies -- including those of Rohingya Muslim migrants -- in southern Thailand, authorities have launched a nationwide anti-human trafficking campaign that led to the discovery of numerous trafficking camps in the jungle bordering Malaysia. The crackdown has seen more than 150 people including local officials, police officers and one military general arrested.
Thailand’s deputy foreign minister, Don Pramudwinai, concurred with Chan-ocha, saying the country’s status should be upgraded.
“We have done many things that can be seen as improvements including the arrest of high-ranking officials involved in human trafficking rings,” he told the Bangkok Post.
The efforts undertaken by Thailand in the last three months will, however, not be taken into account by the report, which covers the period from March 2014 to March 2015.
From 2009 to 2013, Thailand had been ranked in the second lowest level -- Tier 2 – in the yearly Trafficking in Persons Report (or TIP).
In 2014, it was downgraded to Tier 3 -- a rating that would normally trigger a range of sanctions from the U.S., which President Barack Obama waived in Thailand’s case.
