Migration, deportation and recovery 2011 by Plan Nederland

Migration, Deportation and Recovery: An Analysis with TdH-Supported Shelters in Southeast Asia

Authors: Siriporn Skrobanek and Sebastian Boll Commissioned by: Terre des Hommes Netherlands December 2011

Table of Contents i.

List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................... 3

ii. Executive Summary ...................................................................................................... 5 I.

Introduction .................................................................................................................10

II. Scope and Methodology ............................................................................................11 III. Migration Patterns and Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region ....................................................................................................................12 a. b. c. d. e.

An Introduction: Overview of Migration Patterns in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region .12 In Focus: Policies and Patterns of Formal and Informal Migration in the Four Countries Concerned ..................................................................................................................14 International, Regional and Sub-Regional Initiatives to Combat Human Trafficking .....20 National Trends and Policies in the Four Countries Concerned ....................................21 Current Forms of Assistance and Cross-Border Cooperation .......................................31

IV. The Way Forward: Proposals to Improve Programs and Services to Help Those in Need ..............................................................................................................51 Level of Action 1: Work with Authorities and Policies .........................................................51

Level of Action 2: Work to Improve Shelters/Services.........................................................53 Level of Action 3: Work with the Victim/Family/Community ..............................................59

iii. Bibliography .................................................................................................................65

List of Abbreviations

AAT

Alliance against Trafficking

ATD

Anti-Trafficking Division

ATU

Anti-Trafficking Unit

AWARD

Association for Human Rights and Women’s Rights in Development

BIGC

Border Issue Group on Children

BTMC

Banteay Meancheay

CBO

Community Based Organisation

CBTIP

Central Body for Suppression of Trafficking in Persons

CHO

Cambodia Hope Organisation

CWCC

Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre

DIC

Drop-In Centre

DKBA

Democratic Karen Buddhist Army

DSI

Department of Special Investigation, Ministry of Justice

DWA

Department of Women’s Affairs

FFW

Foundation for Women

Goutte d’Eau

GMS

Greater Mekong Sub-region

Investigation Unit, Immigration Bureau

KANB

Karen Action Network in Burma

Lao P.D.R./Laos Lao People’s Democratic Republic MLSW

Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare

MoP

Ministry of Public Security

MSDHC

Ministry of Social Development and Human Security

MSVY

Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation

PRC

People’s Republic of China

PTC

Poipet Transit Centre

TdH

Terre des Hommes

THB

Thai Baht (US$1 is equivalent to 30 Baht)

VFI

Village Focus International

VRC

Vangtao Reception Centre

VTE

Vientiane Transit Centre

Women’s Union

World Vision

ii.

Executive Summary

The Greater Mekong Sub-region is home to some 260 million people, including an estimated 3.5 million cross-border migrants. Intra sub-regional labour migration has become a viable source of livelihood, often for socially excluded groups in their respective countries. Alongside voluntary patterns of labour migration, severe forms of exploitation and human trafficking have manifested themselves, which negatively affect thousands of adults’ and children’s lives across the region. They fall victim to unscrupulous agents and traffickers at places of origin, transit and destination. Mechanisms to deal with the abuse and exploitation have been developed at many levels in the GMS countries, from recognising theUN’s global definition of human trafficking to establishing regional initiatives and formulating national tools and legislation. Despite such steps, however, the problem remains persistent, with new forms of exploitation regularly developing that often go beyond the developedinstruments and legal frameworks. The cross-border dimension of human trafficking in the GMSrequires more coordinated bi- and multilateral actions at all levels to suppress one of the most financially voluminous forms of international crime; one that is often referred to as “modern-day slavery”. Beyond politics, civil society organisations also play crucial roles in fighting human trafficking. Amongst other things, they are most often the ones providing essential medical, psychosocial and educational services to victims, which are fundamental in helping the latter recover from their traumatising experiences and re-integrate back into society. Moreover, such organisations pool a tremendous amount of knowledge on trafficking through their day-to-day work with victims of various types of exploitation. Unfortunately, anti-trafficking efforts at many levels are still often based on assumptions that have never actually been verified. In the absence of a proper understanding of why and how adults and children get trafficked in the first place, however, it is difficult to develop adequate strategies that help prevent people from getting exploited or successfully assist those already affected.Terre des Hommes Netherlands, through its support to three NGOs – CWCC in Cambodia, FFW in Thailand serving Burmese people, and VFI in Laos – operating border shelters for trafficking victims in their respective countries, is in a unique position to pool the abovementioned knowledge of the concerned organisations, which has the potential to help significantly in better understanding trafficking experiences and, as result, tailor more adequate response mechanisms. It was partly with this aspiration that the study was commissioned. At the same time, many more victims of exploitation will undergo the recovery programs of the mentioned NGOs, which is why the report also serves the purpose of determining, with the involvement of beneficiaries and other relevant stakeholders engaged with the organisations, lessons learned and best practices for their operations, proposing practical recommendations on how to further improve assistance to trafficking victims, so as to help them re-integrate successfully into society without a

danger of relapse. Bearing all this in mind, the analysis has thus been conducted with the objective to describe and analyse (a) patterns of cross-border migration and trafficking in the four states concerned (Cambodia, LaoPDR, Burma/Myanmar, Thailand), with Thailand largely serving as destination country for people from the other three; (b) deportation processes of alleged illegal migrants – many of who experienced various forms of exploitation and even human trafficking without being identified as victims; (c) current forms of cross-border cooperation and assistance to help deportees and trafficking victims; as well as (d) services provided in the three shelters operated by Terre des Hommes’ partner organisations. The findings show that both parents and agents play crucial roles in decision-making processes on whether or not a person migrates out of their community. Once the decision is taken in favour of outmigration – most often for economic reasons – the concerned states have thus far failed to make regular migration for employment a viable alternative to irregular mechanisms; the latter frequently through long-established migration networks and/or with the assistance of brokers. Both costs and time involved in legal employment channels abroad practically push people into such informal practices as they are so readily found between the four countries of this analysis. Without necessary papers and legal status, migrants are significantly more vulnerable to exploitation, both on their way and at destination. Yet, these experiences of abuse are often not identified by authorities; they commonly treat irregular migrants without proper documents as criminals instead of granting them the protective services, which they would be entitled to if identified as victims of trafficking. Victim identification procedures, the subsequent study has found, are still vastly inadequate and need urgent improvement. On the other hand, there are also significant numbers of trafficking victims that themselves choose not be identified as such. Reasons for this include lengthy and uncomfortable court processes, during which victims usually have to remain far away from their families and without access to employment possibilities, in combination with little hope for adequate compensation at the end. Instead, they regularly prefer to be deported back home, after which many re-migrate for another chance to make a better living and help their families. In the case of deportation, irregular migrants from Cambodia, Laos and Burma/Myanmar in Thailand are usually sent through the following border crossings: Aranyaprathet in Sra Kaew Province for Cambodia; Chong Mek in Ubon Rachathani Province as well as Mukdahan Province for Laos (since April 2011, the central Immigration Detention Centre(IDC) in Bangkok has shifted its deportation policy from the former to Mukdahan Province); as well as Mae Sod in Tak Province and Mae Sai in Chiangrai Province for Burma/Myanmar. Official statistics suggest that many – in fact often the majority – of these vulnerable or victimised people are men, who are regularly less protected by national laws than their female counterparts and for who significantly fewer services are available both through governmental and non-governmental channels. TdH partner organisations should work towards overcoming these gaps in their respective national contexts.

There are transit centres and recovery shelters in Poipet, Pakse and Mae Sod, operated by CWCC, VFI and FFW. These provide crucial assistance particularly to vulnerable and victimised women and children, who are “pushed back” to their countries via the mentioned deportation borders. While state agencies in the countries concerned play important roles in the repatriation and re-integration of the comparably small numbers of officially identified trafficking victims through government-to-government channels, the three organisations have committed themselves to dealing with the hundreds of deportees that are returned to their home countries on a daily basis. The TdH partners also cooperate with each other on such cases for the purposes of tracing people and families, case reception in border areas, as well as immediate care and safe passage home. State agencies, however, often remain hesitant to fully engage with civil society organisations and to accept the latter as equal partners in a joint fight to help people in need. Organisations in the four countries need to intensify efforts to assert themselves as legitimate and equivalent service providers, with the authority to freely conduct – on their own and in partnership with others– their extremely important work to protect returnees and prevent human trafficking from occurring. For the latter to happen, regular domestic and cross-border mechanisms of cooperation both with governmental and non-governmental agencies need to be enhanced and institutionalised. Pilot projects of GO-NGO partnerships exist and should be expanded and promoted effectively, so as to contribute to more initiatives of this type to follow suit. Evidently, the focus of the analysis and the recommendations produced lies on service providers at civil society level. Terre des Hommes is a civil society organisation and supports NGOs around the world. That’s what its commitment and engagement centres around globally; and that’s the perspective from which its partner organisations engage with their environments. It appears obvious then that the study seeks to first provide inspiration to those TdH-supported agencies, which have formed part of this assignment. Such recommendations relate to three core constituencies that the partner organisations both influence and are influenced by, as has already become apparent from the above deliberations: (1) authorities; (2) beneficiaries; (3) the latters’ families and/or communities. The proposals put forward are meant to be concrete enough to allow for their practical implementation and yet sufficiently broad to be interpreted differently, depending on the respective national contexts. Without any specific order of priority, these recommendations are: Level of Action 1: Work with Authorities and Policies:  Establish and improve involvement and cooperation on pushback cases, to avoid vulnerabilities at border points through e.g. agents, taxi drivers or corrupt officials;  Push towards more training for officials in victim identification procedures, ethics in dealing with potential trafficking victims, etc., with a view to the development of common sub-regional checklists and systems for such actions;

 Seek to supplement GO-GO cooperation with NGO involvement wherever necessary and advisable, especially in social affairs, victim identification, legal protection, repatriation processes, case follow-up, etc.;  Push for the removal of bureaucratic and other burdens on cross-border movement to make regular migration processes faster and less costly;  Seek to collaborate with the private sector and work out a system of best practices and a list of employers with a proven record for migrant workers. Level of Action 2: Work to Improve Shelters/Services:  Involve the children – and most often their families – as much as possible in questions around their own future as they have a right to be in control of their fate;  Find out if the child really wants to stay at the shelter or if it was a purely parental decision;  Allow contact with the family as much as possible/wanted;  Provide for regular opportunities to leave the shelter and see different environments;  Prepare the victim for testifying in courts – if they voluntarily agree on such proceedings with their involvement – and ensure that legal cases include compensation and remain as short and as appropriate as possible for the victim;  Consider other forms of reintegration into society that go beyond merely focusing on familychild relations if need be;  Take family and needs assessment not only as a study of the family, but particularly also of what the child needs for their human security;  Consider the feasibility to open a social enterprise for the generation of income for both the organisation and the residents;  Carefully re-asses the needs of residents for future employment, and consider ways of providing a wider and more tailored range of programs, e.g. by cooperating with other educational/professional stakeholders;  Establish working relations with a number of key companies/organisations with a proven record for training and potential employment;  Pay regular follow-up visits to ensure that residents are well off and have decent work;

 Consider ways to broaden the target audience to also serve the many vulnerable and victimised men especially in the deportee populations with residential facilities and other comprehensive services;  Seek to cooperate with other partners in the country and the region to learn from each other and improve performance and collaboration on case assistance;  Try to introduce and improve elements of psychosocial support in every way possible, including through cross border collaboration;  Advocate for more courses of psychosocial support in the educational system with the authorities;  Develop and apply standardised, in-built monitoring and evaluation mechanisms with a focus on beneficiaries’ interests to ensure that program aspirations and realities match. Level of Action 3: Work with the Victim/Family/Community  Consider mechanisms at village level in form of watchdog entities or contact points that can monitor migration tendencies, identify agents, provide advise and contacts for safe migration and potential alternatives, etc.;  Look into counselling services for families with problems at village level as identified by watchdog entities and make timely and appropriate interventions;  Consider the involvement of (former) shelter residentsin awareness-raising campaigns, especially with volunteer groups; be careful with this and ask cautiously in what form and under what conditions the person concerned may want to get involved;  Collaborate with all stakeholders to review contents and methods of advocacy campaigns, and develop a comprehensive, rights-based curriculum on migration and trafficking as well as life skills building for awareness raising activities in schools and at community levels.

Introduction

1. The Greater Mekong Sub-region is hometo some 260 million people, including an estimated 3.5 million cross-border migrants. Intra-regional labour migration has become a viable source of livelihood, often for socially excluded groups in their respective countries. Alongside voluntary patterns of labour migration, severe forms of exploitation and human trafficking have manifested themselves, which negatively affect thousands of adultsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life across the region. They fall victim to unscrupulous agents and traffickers at places of origin, transit and destination. 2. Human trafficking has developed into one of the most profitable forms of international crime. It is thus of utmost importance to intensify international action and collaboration to deal with this grave form of human rights violations. There are a number of international instruments, which cover the criminal dimension of trafficking in human beings, most notably the U.N. Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children. However, there are no binding international mechanisms for the human rights protection of victims of human trafficking. The latter is largely left to national policies and the will of relevant state actors to provide assistance and redress for trafficked persons. Sadly, victim identification procedures are vastly inadequate, causing many trafficking victims to be criminalized and sent back to their home country as irregular migrants. This practice aggravates their vulnerable situation and denies them the right to justice and protection/assistance. 3. Being aware of this, Terre des Homes Netherlands has supported three partner organizations in the GMS countries, namely the Cambodian Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Crisis Centre (CWCC), the Foundation for Women (FFW) in Thailand, and Lao-based Village Focus International (VFI) to operate recovery shelters in border areas to receive and provide assistance to victims of cross border trafficking and deportees from Thailand. Knowing the magnitude of border crossings to and deportations from Thailand as well as the experiences of migrants during these processes can help service providers to develop more tailored assistance programs for vulnerable women and children. With this in mind, the study has been conducted with three main objectives: (1) gaining knowledge on the magnitude of cross border movement and deportation; (2) documenting the current forms of cross border collaboration and assistance provided in the three shelters; (3) determining areas for improving services and preventing relapse.

II.

Scope and Methodology

4. The study was conducted in Thailand, Lao P.D.R. and Cambodia in the shelters, at border areas and in communities. The research team applied qualitative research methods with a participatory approach. Interviews as the primary source of information were organized with concerned authorities, service providers, shelter residents and reintegrated trafficking victims, as well as key staff of relevant NGOs in the three countries. Pre-designed checklists guided individual interviews and focus group meetings in Thailand (Bangkok, Mukdahan, Mae Sod and Aranyaprathet); Lao P.D.R.(Savannakhet and Champasak); and Cambodia (Poipet and BanteayMeanchey). The field trips also involved visits to families, workplaces of re-integrated shelter residents, border transit and reception centres for women and children, as well as detention centres. 5. In order to attain a good overview of migration patterns in the GMS and deportation processes from Thailand to the three neighbouring countries, secondary resources were equally collected and used, especially documents of previous research projects, statistics and periodic reports of relevant agencies. These helped determine the magnitude and the impact of deportation on irregular migrants. Similarly, field observations at the main borders of deportation were conducted, along with interviews of immigration authorities and other key service providers at borders. 6. The limitations for this study lie mainly in the scarcity of (convincing) information on the deportation of irregular migrants from Thailand, even more so as regards disaggregating by age and sex. The lack of effective victim identification procedures blurs the picture even further. Moreover, cases of relapse have never been systematically registered by state agencies or NGOs, causing an absence of records of a knowingly existent problem. Political differences between the three countries have led to very different operational environments for service providers, making it somewhat difficult to properly compare the three shelters and draw sufficiently tailored lessons learned. However, an attempt in this direction has been made in the following report. 7. The main body consists of 3 parts: an overview of migration patterns in the GMS countries, mainly regarding Thailand, Lao P.D.R., Cambodia and Burma/Myanmar; current types of national assistance to victims of trafficking and migrant deportees, as well as cross border collaboration in this context; and an analysis of services provided through the three shelter-operating organisations, with practical recommendations as inspiration to further improve services to victims and those at risk. It needs to be mentioned though that overall policies and activities are professional and performed by people with sincere dedication to their work and the people served. The research team has been very pleased about performances; the suggestions in this report are thus input to develop otherwise well-functioning operations even further.

III.

Migration Patterns and Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub – Region

An Introduction: Overview of Migration Patterns in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region

8. The Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS)1is home to some 260 million people, including an estimated 35 million cross-border migrants. Within the sub-region, Thailand stands out as the major receiving country with between 2-4 million foreigners on its territory. Besides that, the Chinese Yunnan Province and Cambodia also host significant migrant populations from other states in the sub-region2. People additionally move within GMS states, with Cambodia serving as a prime example in this context, where about 10 million people - or 75% of the population – are considered internal migrants3. Despite the continuing significance of refugee flows particularly from Burma/Myanmar, today’s GMS migrants largely move across borders in pursuit of work. 9. Accurate data, however, is difficult to attain as evidenced by the significant variations in the figures above. For one, this is due to the many long-term migrants across the sub-region, who have often permanently settled outside their home country (see e.g. the Vietnamese migrants in Cambodia); it also has a lot to do with the extent of irregular migration across the GMS states and the fact that numerous people continue to be undocumented even in their home countries, making it very challenging for countries to maintain an overview of exact flows. Besides, there are many kinship ties across states, with people often belonging to the same ethnic groups and habitually moving across what today constitute international borders4. 10. With the exception of Thailand, data on migratory flows in the GMS is not only incomplete, it is simply scarce. An ADB report notes that there is very little information on movements between Vietnam and Cambodia as well as between Yunnan Province/China, Lao P.D.R and Vietnam, albeit such exchanges knowingly exist. This leaves policymakers without an important tool to formulate effective sub-regional development strategies. The analysis concludes that, “for the time-being, policies are dictated primarily by the private sector’s demand for workers rather than social, economic and development considerations about how best to harness the benefits of migration in the sub-region”5. 11. However, the existent official statistics, as incomplete and scarce as they may be, suggest that all GMS states see people depart for and arrive from the sub-region. Thailand far outnumbers its neighbours with a registered influx of 1,314,382 from Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar by December 20096, mostly low-skilled workers working largely in construction, agriculture, fisheries and domestic work. In addition, about one million Chinese permanently reside in Myanmar, and as many Vietnamese have established themselves in Cambodia, with neither community appearing in statistics on migrants anymore. Chinese investment especially in its GMS neighbours cause further influx of Chinese workers,

as companies often bring along their own workforce. Vietnamese, on the other hand, are regularly employed as skilled labour on construction sites or as craftsmen in Lao P.D.R and Cambodia7. Table 1: Predominant migration flows in the GMS Origin Cambodia

Lao PDR

Myanmar

Thailand

Vietnam

Yunnan Province, PRC

Destination Thailand and Nam

Status Viet Regular and irregular to Thailand; irregular to Viet Nam

Sector or Skill Level Primarily low skilled (agriculture, fisheries and construction); primarily agriculture in southern Viet Nam Thailand and small Regular and irregular to Primarily low skilled numbers in Yunnan Thailand; not known to Province, PRC Yunnan Province, PRC Thailand, Yunnan Irregular if they arrived Primarily low skilled in Province, PRC in Thailand after 2004; Thailand; low skilled and regular to Yunnan business persons in Yunnan Province, PRC Province, PRC No significant Not known Not known migration to other GMS economies (other than professionals and intra-corporate transfers) Cambodia, Lao PDR Mostly irregular (no Primarily low skilled to and Guangxi Zhuang legal channels from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Viet Nam to other GMS Autonomous Region, PRC; PRC economies) medium, high skilled and business persons to Cambodia and Lao PDR Lao PDR, Viet Nam Regular and irregular Low-skilled (agriculture, and Myanmar mining), medium-skilled and business persons

Source: World Bank, 2006; Sciortino and Punpuing, 2009 12. The majority of intra-regional labour migration is typified by low-skilled people willing to accept jobs for salaries that are less than what nationals would otherwise be prepared to work for. Yet, notable exceptions of medium- and high-skilled workers moving across the GMS exist, especially in the case of Vietnam and Yunnan Province/PRC. Duration of such stays differ vastly: sometimes they are long-term and potentially lead to a permanent residence status (see e.g. Burmese people living in Thailand), some

migrants come for seasonal agricultural work, whereas others arrive for a day just to return again in the evenings, as many Lao and Cambodian practice on the basis of Thailandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s border pass system 8.

In Focus: Policies and Patterns of Formal and Informal Migration in the Four Countries Concerned

Thailand: 13. In the context of the four countries concerned, Thailand â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as suggested above - is the most important destination country for cross-border migration. It has bilateral employment agreements with Myanmar/Burma, Lao PDR and Cambodia to provide formal channels for migrant workers from these countries to legally work in Thailand in certain sectors such as construction, the fishing industry or domestic work. Workers entering the country under these MoUs will be provided with visas and work permits for two years, with a possible extension for another two-year period. Migrant workers who are registered and have obtained work permits are entitled to the same rights as Thai workers. 14. In order to regularize the status of irregular migrants from the three countries, the government has implemented a number of registration rounds since 2004, administered by the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Labour. The children of migrant workers aged less than 15 years are allowed to sign up along with their parents. By this process, registered migrants are entitled to basic health insurance and protection under the Labour Protection Act, Social Security Act and the Workmenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Compensation Act. Children registered with their parents are allowed to stay in Thailand legally and are able to attain basic education and healthcare. 15. Despite this regulation policy, the numbers of irregular migrants are still increasing, which is why, in 2010,the government implemented a policy requiring all registered migrant workers to undergo a nationality verification process with the authorities in their home countries. Following this, authorities at home will issue a certificate of nationality or passport, and the Thai authorities will grant a visa and work permit for two years with the possibility of a two-year extension. The process of nationality verification for migrant workers from the three countries is supposed to be completed in February 2012. However, the procedures are complicated, time consuming and subject migrant workers to further abuse and arbitrary treatment, thereby so far resulting in decreasing numbers of registered workers. By December 2009, only 388,506 (45,417 Cambodia, 34,999 Lao and 308,090 Burmese) migrants from the eligible total of 932,255 (56,479 Cambodia, 62,792 Lao and 812,984 Burmese) had completed the process of nationality verification9.

Figure 1: Registered migrant workers in Thailand, by nationality, sector and sex, December 2009

Source: International Organisation for Migration, 2011 16. According to the Thai Immigration Bureauâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s statistics from 2010, the number of people from Burma, Cambodia and Laos that crossed the Thai border on a border pass was 7,200,712, while about 6,951,343 were registered as having left the country. The outstanding 249,369 who overstayed and remained illegal in Thailand were Burmese (150,166), Cambodian (73,532) and Lao (25,671). The border pass is

issued to anyone who is over 13 years of age by the authorities in the country of origin. Parents can have younger children included on their border pass.

Table 2: Numbers of migrants crossing borders to Thailand on a border pass in 2010 Entry/Departure Burma/Myanmar Entry 891,948 Departure 741,782 Remaining 150,166

Cambodia 5,455,627 5,382,095 73,532

Lao PDR 853,137 827,466 25,671

Total 7,200,712 6,951,343 249,369

Source: Thai Immigration Bureau, 2011 Laos: 17. There are today 9 officially registered employment agencies in the country. Established since 2006, these are the only institutions with authority to issue work permits for employment abroad. Costs for such formal channels, however, are high. Officials indicate that they reach more than 10,000THB, often requiring people to sell possessions or go into debt. In some cases, people may not even end up with a job after all. Officially authorised Lao labour migrants in Thailand typically work in the construction, food-processing and industrial sectors, and come with relatively low levels of professional skills. Controversially, the Lao government does not issue permits for domestic work; the reasons being that, for one, employees do not obtain any additional skills that can be of use for future employment; and, second, there are many reports on abuse by employers both physically and sexually, which the Lao authorities are seeking to curb by prohibiting such jobs. 18. It is known, however, that many Lao women especially girls continue to work as domestic servants in Thailand, in which case the imposed secrecy and illegality may only add to their vulnerability. In fact, the 2007 migrant registration program in Thailand revealed that 43% of all registered Lao girls/women were employed as domestic workers10. Moreover, the criteria11 for Laotian workers to be eligible to work abroad in parts also negatively affect girls and women. One says that any person wishing to seek employment in a foreign country must at a minimum have completed primary education. A 2007 UNIFEM report12, however, notices that about 2/3 of all Lao girls never finish primary school, excluding the vast majority of women looking for any legal employment opportunities abroad. 19. Local authorities suggest that today people at least cross the border to Thailand largely by legal means. This is because legal mechanisms to move back and forth between the two countries have been improved significantly since the early 2000s, most notably through a MoU process on Employment Cooperation as of 2002. Laotian citizens can now choose between three legal documents by which they are permitted to enter Thailand; these are a passport, a border pass and a so-called pim (a border passvalid for one-year). Costs vary significantly, with a passport coming at 1000THB, whereas border

pass and pim total 140 and 220THB respectively. The difference between border pass and pim is that, whilst both are valid for 3 days, the pim can be used over a period of one year. Importantly though, the latter two only grant permission to stay in the adjacent Thai province to the border and not to move around the country freely. 20. In 2010, 8552 Laotians (more than 5000 of who were men) were deported to their country through the Vangtao crossing in the southern Champasak province (close to Pakse, where the TdH-supported shelter run by VFI is located). While there are altogether 3 borders between Laos and Thailand through which Thai authorities deport irregular migrants (the remaining two are in Vientiane and Savannakhet), the Vangtao crossing in 2010 was the main deportation border in Laos for push-back cases from Thailand13. In addition to the 8552 deportees, the Lao Embassy in Bangkok issued some 3400 so-called laissez-passez passes to nationals that reported themselves as staying illegally. This makes for an approximate number of some 12,000 identified irregular migrants from Laos in 2010. The actual number however was significantly higher than this. As the following table shows, an estimated 62,792 illegal Laotian migrants in Thailand were eligible for the above described nationality verification process in that year. Table 3: Status of Nationality Verification (NV) in Thailand as of December 2010

Source: Office of Foreign Workers Administration, Thai Ministry of Labour, 2011 Cambodia: 21. The Cambodian government is promoting labour migration to other countries, as insufficient domestic jobs are created to accommodate the annual growth in the labour force of some 250,000300,00014. Legal overseasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work is obtained through registered recruitment agencies. The Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA), founded in 2007, currently has about 13 such companies on its list, 12 of which recruit for employment in Thailand, whereas the remaining one is specialised on Malaysia. Legal migration to Thailand through a recruitment agency takes between 2 to 4 months. Recent research suggests that many migrants perceive this process as time-consuming an expensive, leaving informal recruitment practices as a vital alternative15.

22. Legal recruitment practices come at a cost of about 15,000THB, whereas smugglers charge around 3,000THB only; many experienced migrants even manage to re-enter Thailand for only 1,500THB in transportation costs16. Besides, expectations as to the type of work to be obtained in Thailand are often unmet, and rights and interests of formally employed migrants are not necessarily better protected than for the irregular workforce. Typical vulnerabilities of migrant workers include recruitment fees, deduction of salaries, pre-departure information and training, employment contracts and mechanisms of recourse. According to research, this has a lot to do with a lack of enforcement of existing laws and policies17. Still, by the end of 2009, a total of 124,761 Cambodians (78,945 men, 45,816 women) had registered as migrant workers in Thailand, with the majority working in construction, agriculture and the fishing industry.18 About 50% of them reside in the eastern provinces of Chonburi, Trat and Rayong19. 23. For legal mechanisms to migrate from Cambodia to Thailand there are 3 possible documents: (1) Passport; (2) Immigration Card; (3) Border Pass. For the former, it is issued by the Bureau of Passports under the Department of Statistics and Passports/Ministry of Interior, which has one small office with about 75 officials to process applications for the entire country. It is usually overcrowded with 500 and more people waiting to file an application or receive their documents. Accordingly, the papers take two months to be issued, at a cost of around 4300THB (in comparison, Thailand and Laos charge around 1000THB and take 3-5 days to finalise the passports). For a fast track application within a week, another 1000THB is charged on top of the standard fee. Approved migrant workers, however, have recently been granted a special procedure: their passports costs are reduced to around 750THB and the documents are issued within 20 days 20. The passport is valid for 5 years and permits stays of up to 14 days for tourists and 2 years for registered migrant workers. 24. The immigration card is a special feature of the Poipet border. It is valid for up to 6 months for stays of 1 day with a compulsory return in the evening. Movement is very restricted to the immediate border area around the local Rong Klua Market. The card costs approximately 220THB and can also be obtained by children older than 12 years of age. It is issued by the Cambodian immigration department at the border, with the Thai side scanning fingers and recording names in a computerized system thereafter. Additionally, the border pass is valid for 2 years and allows holders to stay for up to 7 days. Movement is still restricted but permits journeys to Sra Kaew and Prachinburi Province. Residents of OuChrov district, in which Poipet is located, pay about 450THB, whereas outsiders are charged twice as much or even more. Anyone at the age of 13 or above is eligible to obtain such pass; smaller children are allowed to register with their parents. The process to obtain the document is equivalent to the Immigration Card and locally called â&#x20AC;&#x153;white passportâ&#x20AC;?. 25. Yet again, flows of irregular migration are also significant. Thailand is easily accessible to Cambodians as 8 of the latterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 24 provinces directly share an altogether long and porous border with the neighbour. Based on statistics from the Thai Immigration Bureau, about 15,000 Cambodians crossed the joint borders in 2010, with estimates suggesting that some 180,000 regular and irregular migrantworkers

from the country reside in Thailand, 110,000 of who registered during the 2004 migrant registration scheme21. In 2009, 89,096 Cambodians were deported from Thailand for illegal migration. A 2010 UNIAP sentinel surveillance project revealed that more than 20,000 (23 %) among those were in fact unrecognized victims of trafficking. Shockingly, about 1 in 3 deportees who had illegally worked on fishing boats reported to have been trafficked, raising concerns about the many more that are stuck on boats for up to a year far off the shores of Thailand22. Besides fishing, agriculture and construction industries as well as the domestic services sector are typical areas of employment for Cambodians in the country23. Burma/Myanmar: 26. Burma/Myanmar is by far the largest source country of migrants in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. It is estimated that millions of Burmese have left the country either as refugees or to seek livelihood abroad. Many of those are believed to reside in Thailand24. From a Thai perspective, about 80% of migrants staying on its territory are from Burma/Myanmar. Apart from irregular migrants another 143,000 have been refugees in Thailand who have escaped political and ethnic persecution at home 25. The majority of migrants from Burma/Myanmar cross the border at Mae Sod in Tak Province by using a border pass with a permitted stay of one day. After the legal border crossing, they regularly move to other destinations, often with the support of recruiters and smuggling syndicates who charge them exorbitant brokerage fees, which is subsequently deducted from their salaries and makes them bonded workers. A number of migrants also use Thailand as a transit state to other countries, especially Malaysia and Singapore. 27. Although a MoU was signed between Thai and Burmese authorities on Employment Cooperation in 2003 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; similar to the ones the Thais signed with Laos and Cambodia â&#x20AC;&#x201C; operations of official labour recruitment agencies are a rather recent phenomenon, with the number of workers in this scheme ranking at a marginal 1,513 - a big contrast to the 1,078,767 Burmese registered migrant workers in 2009. The Burmese authorities are also slow in the process of nationality verification. In 2008, they had not verified the nationality of a single Burmese in Thailand, nor had any of their citizens lawfully migrated to Thailand in line with the procedures under the bilateral memorandum26. Two years later in 2010, only 308,090 out of a total of 812,984 Burmese migrants eligible for nationality verification had completed the official process27. 28. Since 2005, employment agencies are allowed to operate in Myanmar, having led to the establishment of some 70 in Yangon and Mandalay alone. Additionally, issuing time for passports has been reduced significantly, from 3 months in 2004 to within 30 days today 28. Similar to procedures in Laos and Cambodia, Burmese today can apply for passports or a border pass scheme to legally move to Thailand. For a fee of 5,000THB, passport and work permit, they may obtain permission to stay for 2 years, with a potential extension of another 2 years. Once they have resided in Thailand for a maximum period of 4 years, Burmese must return to their country and wait for 3 years before being allowed to re-

apply to work in Thailand. Evidently, 5,000THB is out of reach for the generally poor Burmese labourers; having to return home and wait for 3 years before going back makes the scheme even less appealing. Together with a number of other hindrances, it is understood why few people have made use of such official procedures29. 29. Many Burmese in Thailand are adolescents or young adults. The 1,078,767 registered migrant workers by 2009 split into 591,370 men and 487,397 women, with the dominant sectors of work being agriculture, construction and seafood processing.30 Burmese migrants in Thailand are generally characterised by low levels of education, they usually originate from rural areas in the country and come from a poor, working class background. In a 2003 survey, close to 80% of Burmese migrants in Thailand had attended school for a maximum of 8 years.

International, Regional and Sub-Regional Initiatives to Combat Human Trafficking

30. An internationally recognised definition for human trafficking has been put forward by the “Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children”31 (often referred to as the Trafficking or the Palermo Protocol). This was formulated as an addition to the “Convention against Transnational Organized Crime”; it was signed in 2000 and entered into force in 2003. Laos accessed to the Protocol in 2003, Burma/Myanmar followed in 2004 and Cambodia in 2007. Thailand, although having signed the document in 2001, has not ratified the Protocol until today. The text divides human trafficking into three elements: 1) Act (the recruitment, transportation, harbouring or receipt of a person); 2) Means (coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power, etc.); 3) Purpose (sexual or labour exploitation, slavery, servitude, removal of organs, etc.). 31. Beyond that, the four countries are closely tied together in their efforts to combat human trafficking at regional and sub-regional level. The ASEAN countries in 2003 agreed on a “Declaration Against Trafficking in Persons, Particularly Women and Children” that has set out intensified cooperation mechanisms between the 10 members to deal with this problem. In the same year, Thailand and Cambodia had signed a Memorandum of Understanding to combat trafficking of women and children. One year later, an initiative32 was launched at GMS-level that saw all countries sign a cooperation agreement to tackle the crime. Sub-Regional and National Plans of Action (SPAs and NPAs) in the GMS have since outlined activities to move towards that common goal. The 2004 initiative also spurred further MoUs to be signed on a bilateral basis thereafter. At present, there are bilateral MoUsbetween Thailand and Cambodia from 2003, Thailand and Lao P.D.R. from 2005, Thailand and Burma/Myanmar from 2008, Thailand and Vietnam from 2008, and between Cambodia and Vietnam from 2005, with more currently in a drafting stage.

National Trends and Policies in the Four Countries Concerned

Thailand: 32. Thailand’s new legislation on preventing and suppressing human trafficking entered into force in June 2008. Although the country has not ratified the UN Palermo Protocol, the new law adopts the UN’s definition of human trafficking and incorporates similar provisions on prosecution, protection and prevention. It also stipulates two national boards, one chaired by the Prime Minister that is charged with formulating policies and monitoring the law’s enforcement, and another executive board chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister to coordinate the implementation of provisions outlined in the law including victim assistance. The board chaired by the PM consists of representatives from relevant ministries, with four independent experts of who no less than half should be NGO representatives. The executive board must consist of high-level governmental officers from relevant ministries and eight independent experts. At provincial level, there are so-called anti-trafficking committees chaired by the governor and consisting of representatives from all governmental offices and leading NGOs. Equally important is the provision to set up a national fund for the prevention of human trafficking and victim assistance. The new law covers men, women and children, and the protection and assistance it provides for shall cover any victim of trafficking regardless of nationality. 33. Apart from the newly enacted anti-trafficking legislation, the bilateral – albeit legally not binding MoUs determine guidelines of practice for the countries concerned. They provide a definition of trafficking in persons and outline the areas of cooperation, i.e. (1) prevention of trafficking; (2) protection of victims; (3) repatriation; and (4) prosecution. According to the MoUs, identified victims should be provided with assistance regardless of their legal status in the destination country. For instance, the memoranda oblige Thailand as the destination country to identify trafficked victims among illegal migrants and provide them with safe shelter for recovery and skills training, while victims are waiting to appear in criminal proceedings as witness against their traffickers. The official repatriation of identified trafficked persons especially children will be organised in cooperation with the responsible agencies in the country of origin and includes the tracing and assessing of their families. The new trafficking law in Thailand has incorporated the guidelines of the MoUs in various articles, especially in the section on victim assistance. 34. Thailand has completed the first five-year national plan on the prevention and suppression of trafficking in persons, and is now implementing the second plan (2011-2016) that covers five strategic areas, namely 1) prevention; 2) prosecution; 3) protection; 4) mechanism and machinery; and 5) national information system. Data suggests that Thailand, after the new anti-trafficking law came into force, prosecuted 139 trafficking cases between June 2008 and December 2009, of which 78 cases related to sexual exploitation, 40 were cases of labour exploitation, 15 cases involved begging and 6 cases for other purposes. There were 3,766 victims of trafficking from Cambodia, Laos PDR, China,

Vietnam and other unidentified countries who received official assistance; and a total 2,487 cases were repatriated to their home country between 1999 and 2008 33.

(a) Victim Identification Procedures: 35. From 1998 Thailand has decided to refrain from enforcing the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 (1979 A.D.) to punish undocumented migrants from Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos PDR. Instead, they will deport them to their country of origin after case registration. Since Thailand has been classified as tier 2 watch list in the U.S. TIP Report for two consecutive years, with the result of potential sanctions on trade and development aid, the National Anti-Trafficking Executive Board has issued a policy for police to interview all irregular migrants at police stations and immigration centres for identifying victims of trafficking. A summary checklist prepared by the police is used to interview children and adult migrants. 36. The official assistance outlined in the anti-trafficking bill and the bilateral MoUs is offered to the identified trafficking victims on the condition that they stay in the governmental shelters run by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and are witnesses in the legal cases against their perpetrator. With minor victims, the official assistance is compulsory and, while staying in the shelter, they also receive vocational and life skills training. The stay can last over a year, especially in the case of legal proceedings. Adult and adolescent migrants therefore usually deny any victim status for fears of long stays in government shelters. As a result, the number of identified victims from the immigration detention centres is decreasing year by year. From 2008 till July 2011, altogether 293 illegal migrants were identified as victims of trafficking, of who 221 were minors. Those victims, both minors and adults, are sent to Kredtakarn shelter for official assistance and repatriation. During the same period, the Bangkok IDC deported a total of 62,491 detainees, of who 9,564 were under-aged. These migrants come from police stations and other immigration centres across the country that share no borders with the countries of origin. Table 4: Number of detainees and identified trafficking victims in the Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre Year

Lao P.D.R.

2008 2009 2010 2011 (1.Half) Total

Burma/Myanmar

Cambodia

Others

Total

Identified Victims

Child 1086 496 1021 696

>18 882 1198 4668 4244

Total 1968 1694 5689 4940

Child 449 257 352 371

>18 736 965 5364 6342

Total 1185 1222 5716 6713

Child 610 648 1756 1876

>18 602 1644 12752 12707

Total 1212 2292 14508 14583

Child 88 18 10 51

>18 105 27 66 697

Total 193 45 76 748

4558 5253 25989 26984

Child 90 60 69 2

>18 41 12 16 3

Total 131 72 85 5

3299

10992

14291

1429

13407

14836

4890

27705

32595

167

895

1062

62784

221

293

Source: Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre (IDC), 2011

37. Children and women in the Bangkok IDC who are not identified as victims of trafficking but considered to be in vulnerable situations may receive assistance from staff or NGOs at the centre, in that they are referred to organizations in their home country to ensure their safe passage. The contact organization will receive them at the border and bring them to a reception centre or accompany themhome. At present, there are 11 international and national organizations including FFW working inside the Bangkok IDC and providing support to detainees. Among the 450 detainees interviewed by the Foundation for Women (FFW) between January and August 2011 (252 women, 101 men and 97 children with 72 girls and 25 boys), 25 detainees (4 women, 1 man, 17 girls and 3 boys) were considered to be at risk and thus referred to organizations operating in border areas for further assistance. 38. It is certain that there are victims of trafficking in the groups of detainees, who are not identified with the interviews currently conducted at police stations and the immigration detention centres. However, if the numbers of trafficking victims deported e.g. from Thailand to Cambodia as illegal migrants without any redress are as high as 23,000 per year â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as suggested in the 2011 U.S. TIP Report â&#x20AC;&#x201C; would need to be further verified. There is also a need to find out how countries of origin deal with those non-identified but trafficked returnees. (b) Borders of Deportation 39. While victims of trafficking are officially repatriated to their home country, irregular migrants are deported/pushed back through certain border checkpoints. There are many official crossings along the borders with the three countries concerned, however the main official deportation borders that the IDCs in Bangkok and elsewhere use to deport irregular migrants to their countries of origin are: 1) Aranyaprathet in Sra Kaew Province for Cambodia; 2) Chong Mek in UbonRachathani Province, and Mukdahan Province for Laos; 3) Mae Sod in Tak Province and Mae Sai in Chiangrai Province for Burma/Myanmar. 40. Between January and August 2011, there were 72,681 Cambodian deported from Sra Kaew Immigration at Aranyaprathet border to Poipet; 5,019 Lao deportees were sent from Mukdahan IDC to Savannakhet (this is excluding the numbers from Pakse); and 72,591 Burmese got deported from Mae Sod IDC to Maywady. The detainees at the border detention centres waiting for deportation can be divided into two groups: the larger group of detainees consists of those sent form Bangkok IDC and other provincial immigration centres, whereas the others are people who get locally arrested in border areas. On average, numbers of deportees to Cambodia and Burma/Myanmar have reached around 300 per day, whereas in Laos these fluctuate more ranging from around 30 to more than 120.34 41. Among the three main deportation borders in Thailand, only Sra Kaew provides data disaggregated by age and sex. Based on these records, the number of deported men and boys is higher than for women and girls. According to the statistics for the above period, there were 46,703 men, 21,223

women, 2,506 boys and 2,249 girls in the deportee population to Cambodia. The records also reported 33 people from other countries, of who the majority were Lao minors (8 boys and 5 girls). Besides, there were 6 Burmese, 7 Chinese, 2 Vietnamese, 1 South Korean, 1 Singaporean, 1 Nigerian, 1 Polish and 1 Australian. They were all sent to the Bangkok IDC for deportation to their home countries. Figure 2: Points of Deportation from Thailand to Neighbouring Countries

(c) Modes of Deportation 42. There is no definite date for sending detainees from the Bangkok IDC back to their countries of origin. After the victim identification interview, the detainees have to wait until an arrangement has been made for transporting them to the borders. This is usually the case, once there are a sufficient

number of detainees going back to the same place for a full load of a mini truck in the respective detention centre. Transfers from the Bangkok IDC to the border usually leave at night time and arrive in the early morning of the next day. It is common to see about 50 detainees (men, women and children) in each truckload. Detainees of special concern who may be at risk of abuse or exploitation are also included in this mode of transportation. 43. After arrival at the border immigration centre, there will be a summary interview to re-identify victims of trafficking. Generally though, no further victims are discovered through these interviews. Once all formalities are completed, the deportees are transported either directly to the border immigration centre of their country as in the case of Cambodia; or they may cross a natural border e.g. in form of a river, as often the case in Burma/Myanmar and Laos. Since April 2011, the deportation from the Bangkok IDC to Laos is done via Mukdahan, where a river needs to be crossed. The border at Pakse, however, is on land, and a reception centre operated by the Lao trade union in cooperation with VFI and AAT has opened to assist returnees. The different modes of border crossings may potentially subject deportees to further abuse and exploitation. 44. Deportation through the immigration detention centres may take place many times a day from morning till dusk depending on the numbers of irregular migrants, especially those arrested in the local vicinity. Push-back action from Sra Kaew IDC is done until 8pm as there is a policy to limit the number of overnight detentions due to limited budget for food and other basic necessities. Deportation at late evening times can generate a problem for the safe return of these migrants, particularly for women and children. The Poipet Transit Centre though can at least provide emergency shelter for children who are unaccompanied. (d) Abuse of Deportees 45. Deportees from Thailand are at risk of arbitrary treatment by local authorities. Reports point to cases of money extortion and confiscation of valuable items such as cell phones following arrests. While most children do not complain about any maltreatment in the process of their deportation, they express their fear of uncertainty, as they do not know the process and are afraid of being moved to another workplace. A Cambodian girl who was detained with her mother and two brothers for nearly two months in different places before being deported to Poipet reported of a man who could speak her language and who demanded money to speed up their return home. Similarly, another girl mentioned that the adults in her group had to pay 200THB to the local authorities at the border, and another girl in a shelter experienced the confiscation of all her money by local authorities. A very serious case of abuse happened when a boy was handed over to a local agent by DBKA in exchange for 1,500THB. In order to free him, an NGO had to work with local acquaintances to buy him back from the agent and take him to a border shelter.

46. Apart from the maltreatment by border authorities, the deportees can be subjected to other forms of exploitation, such as through drivers who have been reported as waiting at borders and offering to bring returnees home, only to then abuse their vulnerable position by charging excessive fares. There have been cases, where drivers demanded such high amounts of money that the deportees had to sell cattle or mortgage their land to settle the unscrupulous demands that regularly come with other threats too. Laos: 47. Lao P.D.R is mostly a source state of human trafficking, although limited numbers of victims from abroad transit through and even end up in the country. There is no unified trafficking law; human trafficking is dealt with in a number of different legal sources, most notably the Penal Code, which prohibits human trafficking largely as it is defined in the UN Protocol to which Laos has become a stat party since 2003; the Law on the Development and Protection of Women; and the Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interest of Children. Whilst the Penal Code only declares human trafficking to be a crime, the other two laws go further in that they outline certain rights to protection and assistance that women and under-aged victims are entitled to; men, however, are excluded from such rights and thus lack the legal basis for effective recovery and restitution. 48. The overall responsibility for the national anti-trafficking strategy lies with the National Steering Committee for Human Trafficking. This body is chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister (who is also the Minister of Defence) and brings together all key Ministries dealing with trafficking in persons. The Committee is supported through a Secretariat that is headed by the Ministry of Public Security (MoP) 35. The latter also controls the Anti-Trafficking Unit (ATU), a specialised police force for human trafficking affairs, as well as its provincial supplements, the Anti-Trafficking Divisions (ATDs). Immigration Officials or border police are equally accountable to the MoP. However, most day-to-day cooperation between the Lao and other governments on victim identification and repatriation occurs through the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MLSW), which â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with support from IOM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; operates the Vientiane Transit Centre for repatriated Lao trafficking victims from abroad. 49. All officially recognised victims of trafficking, the vast majority of who returns from Thailand, arrive at the aforementioned Vientiane Transit Centre. Since the beginning of its operations in 2001, a total of 1751 victims have been received in the small and hidden premise in the heart of Vientiane. Of this number, 1686 have been girls and women and the remaining 65 boys. Annual numbers have varied considerably over the years, yet there has been a striking overall increase in 2005. This can be explained by important changes in both international and national legislation on human trafficking and the practical implications these have had on victim identification. Additionally, while there was a downward tendency between 2007 and 2010, the numbers for 2011 already point up again despite only covering the first six months of the year. It is also important to note that 1498 victims of the total have been at

the age of 18 or below, the vast majority of identified, trafficking affected people in Laos with access to assistance are thus children. Figure 3: Victims of Trafficking at the Vientiane Transit Centre, 2001 - 2011

Official Returnees (M/F)

Official Returnees (Male)

Official Returnees (Female)

300 250 200 150 100 50 0 2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Note:

(1) Disaggregation by gender began in 2005; (2) 2004 saw important changes to both national and international law regarding human trafficking; (3) Data from 2011 only refer to the first 6 months of the year Source:Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Lao P.D.R. Cambodia: 50. Cambodia is mainly a source and to a lesser extent a transit and destination country for human trafficking. Domestic trafficking is also prevalent, particularly of women and children for the purpose of domestic work or commercial sexual exploitation in urban centres. The country gave itself a unified trafficking law as early as in 1996 that generally covers all human beings. In 2007, after ratifying the Palermo Protocol, the government attempted to streamline and better coordinate efforts at the national level through an “Agreement on Guidelines for Practices and Cooperation between the Relevant Government Institutions and Victim Support Agencies in Cases of Human Trafficking”. Two years later, a “National Policy on the Protection of the Rights of Victims of Human Trafficking” was formulated to outline in more detail what services people affected by trafficking are entitled to. Overall, the sheer number of key legal instruments, agreements and guidelines in the context of trafficking gives the impression of a more comprehensive effort than there is e.g. in the cases of Lao P.D.R or Burma/Myanmar.

51. Since 2009, the key governmental mechanism to coordinate the national anti-trafficking work is the National Committee to Lead the Suppression of Human Trafficking, Smuggling, Labour and Sexual Exploitation in Women and Children. It is led by the Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Interior and comprises 18 senior officials from 14 ministries. A Secretariat, consisting of multiple institutions and six working groups, includes both governmental and civil society organizations. Further bodies at subnational levels compliment the functioning of the National Committee36.Cambodia has also given itself a so-called National Plan of Action for activities against human trafficking, which forms the basis of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitments in the previously mentioned COMMIT-process. The second Plan for the years 2011 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2014 is currently being finalized. Figure 4: Numbers of Cambodian trafficking victims in selected countries, 2005 - 2009

Source: UNIAP Mekong Region Country Datasheets, 2010 52. Similar to the situation in Laos, the Cambodian government has established a centralized system for the reception of officially identified trafficking victims, the Poipet Transit Centre (PTC) close to the ThaiCambodian border. It was set up with support from IOM in 2007 and has since, due to finished funding, been transferred to the Cambodian SAVY, which now operates the Centre with support from UNICEF. Crucially though, the PTC is not only mandated to deal with officially returned victims of TIP, but also to attend to deportees from the Thai IDCs. Statistics indicate that Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia are the three most important destination countries for Cambodian trafficking victims. Particularly the numbers of those trafficked to Vietnam have seen a dramatic increase over the last few years, with many children ending up as beggars on the streets of large cities, especially Ho Chi Minh City. In Thailand, men, women and children are found begging on the streets as well as in the construction, agriculture and fishing

sectors, with women and girls additionally being held for sexual exploitation and domestic work. Trafficking to Malaysia is mostly documented in the context of labour exploitation, including through the involvement of authorized recruitment agencies37. Burma/Myanmar: 53. Burma/Myanmar is by large a source country for human trafficking, although some Chinese and Bangladeshi victims also transit through on their ways to Thailand and Malaysia respectively. Burmese are mostly trafficked to China and Thailand for the purpose of forced labour, domestic servitude, commercial sexual exploitation and, in the former case, forced marriage. More limited numbers are also found in other places such as Malaysia. Trafficking of Myanmar children is a particular problem; they are exposed to both forced domestic labour, or to forced street hawking and begging, work in shops, agriculture or small-scale industries abroad. Burma/Myanmar is a state party to Palermo Protocol and in 2005, the country has enacted Anti-Trafficking in Persons Law to deal with these problems. Two years later, the government additionally passed a Five-Year National Plan of Action, which grew out of its commitment under the previously mentioned COMMIT process. Yet, overall the quantity and quality of legal instruments to combat trafficking in persons is low, hinting at why Burma/Myanmar has been ranked in tier 3, the lowest possible, in the annual TIP report from the US government since it was first published. 54. Yet, some limited efforts exist in the country, most notably through the Central Body for Suppression of Trafficking in Persons (CBTIP). Formed in 2006, the organ is meant to function as a national coordination mechanism against human trafficking. Under the Central Body, which is chaired by the Minister of Home Affairs, different levels of state, divisional, district and township bodies for the suppression of trafficking in persons have also been formed. Whilst the Central Body provides supervision and guidance, the other divisions together with local organizations, the UN and more international organizations have implemented the activities on the ground. Additionally, 3 Working Groups (WGs) have been established by the CBTIP, namely (1) the WG on Prevention of Trafficking in Person and Protection of Trafficked Victims, headed by the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs; (2) the WG on Legal Framework and Prosecution Measures, chaired by the Deputy Attorney General; and (3) the WG on Repatriation, Reintegration and Rehabilitation of Trafficked Victims, presided over by the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.

Table 5: Numbers of officially returned trafficking victims from Burma/Myanmar, 2006 - 2009

Source: UNIAP Mekong Region Country Datasheets, 2010

55. There are two major routes by which official trafficking victims from Thailandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kredtakarn shelter are repatriated to Burma/Myanmar. Largely depending on the victimsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; origins within the country, they either get sent to the crossings at Mae Sai (Chiangrai Province) or Mae Sod (Tak Province). There are a number of governmental reception and/or training centres across the country, which provide temporary shelter to repatriated trafficking victims. In fact, returnees according to official policies in the past had to remain in those shelters for at least 14 days. Most recent information indicates though that this compulsory stay has been lifted. It is also reported that international NGOs, particularly Save the Children and World Vision, play important roles in dealing with trafficking victims from abroad38. 56. 2010 saw a total of 348 Burmese victims identified and repatriated by foreign governments, including 183 from China and 134 from Thailand. 75 of the total repatriations were male victims of trafficking. Yet, actual numbers of cross-border trafficking cases are undoubtedly much higher; UNICEF, e.g. has put forward a shocking figure by arguing that just the number of girls from Burma/Myanmar trafficked annually into Thai brothels may be as high as 10,00039. Moreover, there are no overall numbers provided by the government that would include domestic exploitation too. Although not the focus of this research, it still needs mentioning that the latter continues to be a very serious concern. It seems particularly shocking that the government itself engages in the recruitment of child soldiers by coercion (some as young as 11 years) and is generally described as the main perpetrator of forced labour inside the country, the latter being particularly targeted at ethnic minorities. The number of boys forced to serve in the national army is

estimated to reach thousands. At the same time, a study last year revealed that 92% of over 600 households surveyed in Chin State indicated that at least one person in the household had been subjected to various types of forced labour 40.

Current Forms of Assistance and Cross-Border Cooperation

Thailand: (a) Official Assistance 57. Thailand has a number of legal instruments and national mechanisms to tackle cross-border migration and human trafficking. However, there is a need to strengthen the coordination amongst responsible agencies, including the equal participation of GOs and NGOs. Many networks are in place between international and national organizations working on the protection and prevention of human trafficking, but only a small proportion of these organizations provide direct assistance to victims of trafficking, and even fewer deal with detainees and their deportation. Irregular migrants, especially women and children are classified in two groups, namely officially identified victims and unidentified victims. There is a clear policy to provide official assistance for identified victims of trafficking as outlined in the anti-trafficking law and the bilateral MoUs with neighbouring countries. On the contrary, the unidentified victims or vulnerable migrants especially children are not entitled to get access to governmental assistance. It is important to note that the number of identified victims entering the official process is decreasing due to undue legal proceedings and lengthy stays in the governmental shelters for family tracing as well as preparation of formalities for official repatriation. 58. The Kredtakarn Protection and Occupational Development Centre and other regional governmental shelters under the Department of Social Development and Welfare, Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHC) are mandated to accommodate identified victims of trafficking, provide them with a range of services including vocational training, and coordinate with other agencies for legal proceedings. The Kredtakarn Centre is equipped with 50 staff members, amongst those two social workers, one psychologist and eight teachers of vocational trainings; it can accommodate up to 550 residents, although the average number is around 250, most of them female victims of trafficking. 80% of shelter residents are victims of trafficking and the remaining 20% are referral cases of physical violence, pregnancy and family dysfunction from other agencies. At present, the majority of victims of trafficking are from Lao P.D.R.; they have mostly been rescued from karaoke bars and brothels. The types of vocational training provided in the shelter are sewing, weaving, hairdressing, basket weaving, traditional massage, home economics and computer. The courses last on average between 3 to 6 months.

59. Stays in the shelter most often range between 3 to 8 months, although in those cases where victims appear in court to testify against their perpetrators and employers or pursue civil compensation, they may last for over a year. The shelter residents will return home on the condition that they have completed vocational training, are in good health physically and mentally, and the family is ready to accept them. Kredtakarn coordinates with responsible agencies in source country to locate and assess the family situation. The official repatriation is conducted on land and shelter staff accompanies returnees to the transit centre in the country of origin, where they will stay before returning home or being referred to other agencies. After reaching home, there are monitoring visits by local agencies for 1-2 years until the case is terminated. The Kredtakarn Shelter has informed that, in the past two years, about ten former residents from the three neighbouring countries have been found to have re-migrated to Thailand after official repatriation. 60. The national anti-trafficking legislation and the provisions for victim protection and assistance are indiscriminately applied to women and men, boys and girls; while the Kredtakarn Centre accommodates only women and girls; men and boys are accommodated in a separate governmental shelter for boys. The trafficking law stipulates in Art. 37 that, while sojourning in the shelter and waiting for the court process to finish, victims of trafficking can get a permit to work outside. The deliberation of this process to grant such work permits has already been endorsed by the Ministry of Interior and is now under the consideration of the Labour Ministry to specify the types of work appropriate for minor and adult victims as well as to determine suitable workplaces. The guidelines need to be approved by the cabinet before coming into force. Another provision in the anti-trafficking legislation, namely on granting resident permits to foreign trafficking victims on humanitarian grounds, has never been applied to any case since the law was passed. In order to resolve the lengthy stays in the shelter, a proposal has been made to allow victims to return home and come back during the court trial. The good collaboration with the Cambodia Embassy, which takes charge of facilitating the victimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s return to be witness in the court, is a starting point to experiment this approach. The two other countries in this analysis are not ready for this procedure fearing to lose the witness after return, the financial burdens of travel and other relevant costs. 61. International agencies play a significant role as architect of bilateral agreements or of standard operation procedures for case management and repatriation processes. On the downside, the official

assistance approach is somehow restrictive towards the roles of civil society organizations and bars them from being equal partners with state actors. The limited areas where cooperation with NGOs is still required from state agencies is in legal proceedings, especially for the preparation of trafficking victims to testify in court or for employing a lawyer to work with the public prosecutor for the criminal case and with a plaintiff in civil cases. In some countries case monitoring and follow-up in the community of origin is not possible for NGOs unless they go via official channels and are escorted by the responsible state officials. The presence of state officials can hinder returnees to share openly about their experiences and situations after return. (b) Assistance to Pushback Cases 62. While there is a systematic national official process to assist officially identified victims of trafficking especially children, Thailand does not have any comprehensive policy towards migrants detained in the immigration centre. The official decree of the Ministry of Interior has appointed police and provincial governors as immigration officials and given them the mandate to push back irregular migrants from Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos according to Art.54 of the Immigration Act B.E. 2522. Consequently, detained migrants from the three countries are deported without delay41 and should not be fined for illegal entry into the Kingdom. The irregular migrants arrested by police in the vicinity of Bangkok, regardless of their sex and age, are put in custody at the immigration centre to await prompt deportation. After the police have registered all detainees, the responsible agencies under the MSDHC including the Kredtakarn staff take rotating shifts to interview them in the Bangkok IDC. There are eleven agencies working in the Bangkok IDC but only two NGOs, namely Alliance Against Trafficking (AAT) and Foundation for Women (FFW), which work with the immigration officials on identifying victims of trafficking among irregular migrants. 63. According to the official procedure, interviews with irregular migrants for victim identification need to be conducted at three points: (1) at the police station after arrest; (2) at the immigration centre before custody; (3) at the border immigration before deportation. The Investigation Unit of the Immigration Bureau is in charge of potential more in-depth interviews with cases that show signs of trafficking, such as labour exploitation or confinement. The IU has the sole responsibility to determine whether or not a case is a victim of trafficking. The decreasing numbers of identified victims in the IDC is contradictory to the intent of establishing a process of interviewing for all irregular migrants. The factors hampering its success may derive from limited interviewing experience of rotating interviewers, language barriers, the interview environment or uncommunicative detainees. There is a tendency to assume that cross-border movement is done voluntarily, which is why the movement as such is often not investigated for human trafficking. Moreover, when irregular migrants complain in the interview about maltreatment and labour exploitation, the IU does not further investigate the case or take any action against employers because it lacks the mandate to provide labour protection to irregular migrants. On the other hand, detained migrants themselves do often not want to take legal action

against their employers for fear of lengthy stays in the detention centre, which is why they are regularly deported without any compensation payments. Since there are less numbers of identified victims from the interviews in the IDC, AAT and FFW concentrate their work on the group of vulnerable women and children who may not be able to return home on their own or are at risk of being trafficked. Figure 5: Deportation Procedures in Thailand

1. Arrest

2. Police Station -> Case registration -> Summary interview for victim identification

3. Bangkok IDC -> Case registration -> Victim identification interviews -> Record of deportation

4. Border IDCs -> Case reception -> Summary interviews for victim identification

5. Deportation -> Case reception of vulnerable people in border areas

Identified victims are referred to shelters

(c) Cross-Border Collaboration among Service Providers 64. With a special concern for groups vulnerable of exploitation, in particular children who are alone and unable to recall their home village, immigration officials work with FFW and AAT in contacting agencies operating in border areas of their home countries to receive them at the deportation border. The criteria for referring them are age, gender, mode of migration, worksite, distance to home, health condition and life skills. Many cases are in a grey area of being identified as trafficking victims, but do not want to access official assistance. They are thus classified as vulnerable deportees who want to have further support in their home countries. While the number of officially identified victims of trafficking referred to Kredtakarn shelter is diminishing, the referral cases of vulnerable deportees are growing in numbers. In 2010, FFW referred 23 cases to VFI in Laos while in 2011 (January â&#x20AC;&#x201C; September) the number increased to 45 cases, of which 38 were referred to VFI, WV and AAT in Laos; 4 to Mae Sod shelter and 3 to CWCC. AAT and FFW provide basic information on the case and the date of arrival to the agencies in their home countries. For Burmese detainees, FFW needs to submit a request to the authorities in the Bangkok IDC for the granting of a permit to have vulnerable women and children stay in Mae Sod

shelter. The local staff needs to seek another approval from Mae Sod Immigration to receive the referral case. After receiving them at the deportation border, the agencies will provide temporary shelter, escort them home and potentially work out a long-term reintegration plan, including vocational training and micro-financial support. The agencies that currently collaborate on cross-border case reception and further assistance are VFI, WV, CWCC, AFESIP, PTI, AAT and FFW. 65. The mode of cross-border cooperation is not limited to receiving and assisting push back migrants, but also involves tracing migrants who have lost contact with their families after migrating for work in Thailand. There are records of success stories where women and children have been rescued from exploitative workplaces especially in the sex industry following raids. In 2009, FFW received a request from AFESIP to trace a Lao girl who had informed her family that she was forced to do sex work in a province near Bangkok. FFW collaborated with the police, the labour inspection office and members of the provincial committee against human trafficking to survey the area and finally raid a karaoke brothel. More than 20 Lao and Shan women and girls were rescued, with all the girls having been referred to Kredtakarn while the adults could decide whether they wanted to have official assistance. The owner, a man from the military, was arrested, and after two years of provincial court proceeding he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment. All the girls were escorted by Kredtakarn staff for official repatriation. However, after about a year at least two girls from this group had returned to Thailand, and one of them contacted FFW. Finally, she was referred to VFI and received training in the shelter in Pakse. In 2011, VFI contacted AAT and FFW to trace two Lao girls that had come to work in Thailand and had lost contact with their families. AAT collaborated with the DSI to raid a karaoke business in the southern border area of Thailand, where 71 young women providing sexual services to clients from Malaysia were found. Among the 71 women, 41 were underage trafficking victims (38 Lao and 3 Shan), the other 30 were adult women, many of whom were drug addicted. The victims are staying in the government shelter in Suratthani Province, waiting to testify in the court against the owner of the karaoke place who was arrested but then released on bail. 66. Despite these success stories, however, cross border cooperation does not always yield to good results, with occasional reports on cases that have not been successfully received on the other side of the border. Potentially relevant factors for this problem are inadequate information on the case, changing points as well as ad-hoc modes of deportation (especially for Lao pushback cases), untimely arrival for case reception and inexperienced staff particularly in dealing with border authorities. The failure of border case reception can aggravate the vulnerable situation of deportees and subject them to further abuse. There is a need to have cross border consultations among the concerned agencies to develop standard operating procedures for the sending and receiving of cases as well as for forms of further assistance. (d) TdH-Supported Recovery Shelter Project (Foundation for Women)

67. The Mae Sod shelter in Tak Province was set up in 2010 by FFW to provide assistance to trafficked Burmese women and children, especially those who do not benefit from formal assistance and repatriation from the Thai and Burmese authorities, as well as vulnerable women and children – many with ethnic minority backgrounds – from Burma. Art. 33 of the Anti-trafficking in Persons Act provides for the possibility to accommodate trafficked persons of other nationals in private shelters, allowing FFW to operate this border shelter with approval from the district municipality. Art. 54 of the Immigration Act B.E.2522 – jointly with the Ministry of Interior’s decree on the policy dealing with illegal immigrants from Burma, Lao P.D.R. and Cambodia – is the legal framework for the immigration authorities in Bangkok and in Mae Sod permitting FFW to accommodate migrant children and women from Burma. It delays the summary deportation of vulnerable women and children to Burma by allowing them to stay in the shelter whilst their families are being traced, as well as to receive healthcare and other support. After information from FFW on the case and the reception of the letter of approval from the Bangkok IDC, the shelter will issue a document requesting the permission to receive the referred children/women to stay in the shelter. The shelter staff receives the case at the border immigration centre. The shelter residents also have the opportunity to move around in the area of Mae Sod with a permit granted to FFW by the immigration office. 68. A team of five full time staff, two volunteers and one teacher for vocational training runs the shelter. With the exception of the Thai coordinator, all others belong to different ethnic groups in Burma. Four staff members attained university degrees and the other three finished primary and tertiary education. The shelter does not have own medical personnel to attend to residents in case of sickness, but they can refer them to the district hospital for physical and psychological/mental care. The shelter has established rules and regulations for residents and staff members. The Code of Conduct for Child Protection of Terre des Hommes is used as guidelines to respect the rights of the child. Staff members also participate in various external trainings on human rights of children, women and migrants. However, the scope of their contents is often limited to international human rights instruments and mechanism, thereby overlooking the national laws and machinery. FFW needs to build up capacity in this area for the better protection and support of women and children under the care of the shelter. There is a plan for an exposure trip and training of staff in Bangkok, but due to the uncertain legal status of many staff members, there is a need to have a permit from the immigration office in Mae Sod for them to be able to move away from the border area. 69. The shelter has operated in the area of victim protection and prevention against human trafficking, and has built up networks with local agencies. In the area of protection, it has provided assistance to five groups, namely (1) child victims of trafficking; (2) child migrants; (3) vulnerable children prone to be

trafficked; (4) child victims of gender based violence; and 5) women in difficult circumstance. Since its operations began in August 2010, Mae Sod shelter has accommodated 51 women and children from Burma, 14 of whom were referred from the Bangkok IDC; 32 came from 11 local agencies operating in Mae Sod; and 5 from the local police and the district municipality. Among these numbers, there are 13 adult women (8 were victims of domestic violence and 5 were migrants who were abused either by their husband or the employer). One of the women was a victim of sex trafficking. The children in the shelter have either direct migration experience or have been affected by the migration process of their parents or the domestic violence they were exposed to. There are 3 girls who were victims of sex trafficking and 4 whose labour was exploited. 2 boys at the ages of 14 and 16 referred from the Bangkok IDC stayed temporarily for family tracing and contacting local agencies in Burma to escort them home. A few children who were deported from the IDC were reluctant at first to come to the shelter and afraid that they might not be able to see their family. After a week of staying and interacting with other children, they eventually enjoyed their experience as they could learn new skills and were able to keep contact with their family. 70. The shelter provides for the residentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; basic needs and necessary care. The daily activities start from 6am and last till 9pm. During daytime, most children attend schools outside the shelter, while others have vocational training mainly on dressmaking, knitting and beading. The sale of their products, which are displayed in a shop run by a local NGO, will be given to the producers before they leave the shelter. All residents take turns for cooking, attending the small garden and cleaning the rooms. In the evening they have about two hours for watching television or other recreational activities, such as painting, dancing and singing. The shelter has limited space for outdoor activities, therefore exposure trips to a park and nearby places are organised for shelter residents and all staff members once a month. Some of the children have demonstrated their skills in painting or dancing, which they should be able to further develop. Group discussions are also organised separately for children and women to share their experiences and life expectations. Many children want to become medical doctors, social workers, dancers or fashion designers. Most importantly, all of them want to have a decent house with plants and a garden where they can live a good life with their parents and other siblings. They want to live in a peaceful country of their own, so that they do not need to hide and run away when police raid their community. A good life for all children is to live in harmony, with everyone being able to earn a living without exploiting each other. A few children have a dream to save enough money to set up their own organization providing assistance to children in need. Older children have indicated an interest to take part in advocacy activities in schools or at community level to share their experiences as migrant/trafficked children.

71. Whilst staying in the shelter, children are allowed to have regular phone contacts with their family members and go for occasional visits to their families in migrant communities in Mae Sod. However, in one case, staff found that a girl, during a home visit, was sexually abused by an old man living nearby. A legal case against the perpetrator was initiated and, after a year, the court sentenced him to imprisonment. The shelter also collaborates with LLC in pursuing a legal case on sex trafficking of a girl from a local migrant community. It is evident from the stories of children and women residing in the shelter that violence against women and children including trafficking are a widespread phenomenon in migrant communities. The impact is strong on children who often do not want to live with men for fear of violence, which they have witnessed in their own family or neighbourhood. 72. The average stay of residents is about one month. Exceptions are psychologically traumatized cases that require regular, longterm treatment by psychiatrists in the Mae Sod hospital, as well as children without appropriate guardians. The criteria for returning cases to their families are: (1) to be in good physical and psychological condition; (2) to have attained sufficient skills in the chosen vocation; (3) to be guaranteed family security at home; and (4) to have community support. They are provided with equipment and materials based on their vocational training specialisation as well as small funds to start a new life in their own community. The shelter arranges the return of women and children from Burma by contacting KANB to come to the border for transfer and then escort them home. This method is costly because, apart from the transportation, the KANB staff has to pay fees at different checkpoints to secure their safe passage and avoid any troubles that might otherwise derive. In cases where the shelter can have direct contact with parents or other family members, it will ask them to come to Mae Sod. They can make a border pass valid for a day to meet shelter staff and arrange for the return of their children. The shelter covers the cost for transportation and other amounts they need to pay (tax) at the military checkpoint in Maywady. The one-way military tax costs around 1,000 Baht, which nonetheless is a less expensive and more secure method of passage. 73. The other method is to have staff escort the children to their parents working in other parts of Thailand. This requires coordination efforts with the immigration authorities and schoolteachers to issue a permit to move the undocumented children for further education to another region. The shelter needs to inform the immigration authorities for the returning of women and children to Burma; they will cross the river with other deportees at Tha Sib under the control of the DKBA where their parents or KANB staff is waiting to receive them. The shelter still maintains contacts with most of the former shelter residents, once they are back in Burma/Myanmar or in Mae Sod. This is by means of (1) having KANB pay them a visit; (2) shelter staff coming for a visit to Burma; (3) phone calls; and (4) monthly family

visits in local migrant communities. Among the returnees, there has been a report of one woman who came back to Thailand through a local agent and was subsequently detained in the Bangkok IDC. 74. The Mae Sod shelter operates – differently from the other two shelters in Cambodia and Lao P.D.R – as an alternative to the Kredtakarn shelter, in that it accommodates trafficked women and children as well as other vulnerable people prior to their repatriation/deportation, for psychological recovery, legal redress and building life/vocational skills. Local governmental and non-governmental as well as international agencies have recognized the operation of the Mae Sod shelter and gradually refer children and women for assistance. FFW is also a member of the Provincial Anti-trafficking Committee chaired by the Governor of Tak Province. Since Mae Sod is also a destination of internal migrants from other parts of Thailand, the authorities suggested that the shelter broaden the scope of target groups, so that women and children of other nationalities can get access to assistance too. Moreover, there is a plan to have regular meetings between GOs, NGOs and INGOs to update each other on the latest developments and identify gaps for social and legal assistance. While the collaboration with agencies in Mae Sod is intensifying, there is a need for the shelter to explore possibilities to work with CBOs in migrant communities to consolidate efforts for the protection of children and women, as well as raising awareness among community members and local residents in Mae Sod on migration, trafficking and violence against women/children. The political situation in Burma and the official closure of the Mae Sod border42 restrict the extent of possible collaboration between civil society organizations in the two countries for protecting trafficked victims and preventing cross-border trafficking. At present, the shelter relies mainly on the collaboration with the KANB for case repatriation, but there is a need to contact other ethnic- and faith-based groups operating in Burma/Myanmar for victim assistance and case follow-up. Lao P.D.R: (a) Official Assistance 75. Once victims of trafficking have been repatriated to the previously mentioned Vientiane Transit Centre (VTC), the Lao Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MLSW) calls in the relevant organisations (mostly VFI and AFESIP as the two long-term shelter-operating organisations, and World Vision with further assistance programs) for a meeting to discuss actions and allocate responsibilities. During a period of 7 days, efforts will be made to trace the family; to asses the health situation and provide treatment if need be; NGOs will come in to introduce their services; and the Lao police will conduct an additional interview. A victim file, based on a series of forms from the IOM, will be started. Eventually, the IOM will facilitate the return of the victim to its family. 76. Following referral to their family, the designated NGO will visit the victim’s community and conduct a so-called family and need’s assessment. This is aimed at determining if the victim is safe in its environment, and how the organisation can provide support to them and their family. In a joint effort,

the two sides agree on whether or not it would be good for the returnee to join a shelter or perhaps another educational/vocational training programme. The three criteria that need to be fulfilled for an admission to a shelter are: (a) the decision needs to be voluntary and with the parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; consent; (b) the victims need to be under-aged; (c) they need to be on the MLSW list of official trafficking victims. The authorities follow-up with the organisations in charge about the wellbeing of the cases. 77. There are only a few organisations in Lao P.D.R. with the capacity to provide comprehensive services to victims of trafficking. Altogether, there are 4 long-term recovery shelters in the country: one (in Vientiane) is run by the Lao Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Union, although this mostly focuses on cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse from within Laos; two (one in Vientiane and one in Savannakhet) are operated by the international NGO AFESIP, with an emphasis on victims of sex trafficking (both domestically and crossborder); and the last one (in Champasak) is run by VFI, dealing with officially recognised trafficking victims and particularly also the large number of deportees from Thailand. World Vision Laos equally has a large-scale anti-trafficking program with a basis in Savannakhet. Working a lot on awareness and capacities of people in rural communities, the organisation, however, is in no position to offer such residential facilities with accompanying professional and counselling services as the other three. (b) Assistance to Pushback Cases 78. It is known from a number of research projects that there remain significant numbers of trafficking victims among deportees for illegal migration. Even apart from that, numerous pushback cases are vulnerable to exploitation upon their return or likely to re-migrate illegally again for a lack of other employment opportunities. A lot of returnees are thus in need of assistance, but generally have few options to choose from. There is still little consideration among authorities for their vulnerabilities or the fact that they may be victims after all and thus entitled to protection and assistance. Upon return to Laos, deportees generally need to register with the immigration office at the border and are allegedly allowed to leave without further charges. Service providers only come in to the picture upon information from either Thai partners or the Lao border authorities that a particularly concerning case has been identified. 79. The one difference to this rule is at the southern Vangtao border, where the Lao Trade Union, jointly with the Thai NGO AAT and VFI, has run a reception centre (VRC) for deportees since the beginning of 2011. The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (FEM) through AAT provides the funds for this pilot project, which has had initial permission to operate for one year only and is currently in the process to apply for an official MoU. The centre consists of a demarcated area close to the registration office for deportees, whose most important

features are two containers, one containing a small infirmary and the other being a room for interviews, counselling and further assistance. 80. Once returnees have been received, registered and interviewed for victim identification they are referred to the reception centre on the other side of a small path. Not all come to the VRC, especially experienced migrants without health problems or with no financial concerns to get away safely move on by themselves. Vulnerable deportees or those not feeling well however are referred to undergo a medical check-up in one of the containers. In particularly severe cases where equipment is not sufficient, further assistance can be arranged free of charge upon arrival in Pakse. Following the medical check, another interview is conducted to identify particularly vulnerable cases or potentially victimised returnees. It is also an opportunity to explore topics such as safe migration or what other opportunities there are beyond returning to Thailand, including the services of VFI and other agencies. Moreover, for those without any money to ensure a safe return home, the reception centre has funds to provide a bus ticket. 81. Over the first 3 months of 2011, there was an average of 250 deportees per day. Strangely enough, the Bangkok IDC â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as has been outlined before â&#x20AC;&#x201C; changed its pushback policy in April 2011 to Savannakhet, where assistance purely occurs on the adhoc basis whenever deemed necessary by immigration or upon call by a Thai partner. It seems surprising to say the least that this change of policy in the Bangkok IDC has occurred right at a time that transparency and services at theVangtao border have been boosted. Since this change, the daily numbers at the crossing have decreased significantly to a maximum of around 30. 82. From interviews with the personnel at the VRC (mostly consisting of Trade Union staff with support from the AAT and VFI teams), it has become clear that many returnees suffered at least some form of exploitation at their workplace, often in form of withholding of money or limits to freedom of movement. It is very difficult for the centre to follow-up on such stories, as few returnees remember any names or locations. There are reoccurring stories about migrants being cheated by agents as to the conditions of jobs offered. Moreover, a number of deportees have suggested that the Thai police at the border charged them 500THB; those with more money sometimes even pay more or have valuable possessions confiscated. Others were forced to pay money at police checkpoints on the way to the border. Although there are no reports on such abuse from Lao authorities, the vulnerabilities for lack of transparency and being an irregular migrant still exist. Besides, the journey back home may sometimes also be exploitative; local van drivers, who potentially have connections with local authorities, are

reported to abuse their clientsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; vulnerable positions by charging excessive amounts for the journey, sometimes forcing returnees into debt or to sell possessions. 83. Although newly identified, very severe cases of exploitation are few in numbers at the reception centre and most health concerns centre around rather simple symptoms (apart from a few more serious cases where STDs were diagnosed that were obtained during the stay in Thailand), the reception centre still serves a number of crucial purposes: (a) it provides for a degree of transparency as to what happens to irregular migrants at the border; (b) through interviews, it reveals rather comprehensive information on the experiences that deportees had during their migration process that can be used for the improvement of services to migrant populations; (c) it presents an example of cooperation between civil society organisations and governmental agencies in Laos, where such stories are still rare and which may pave the way for more initiatives of this type; (d) it provides valuable information on available services to migrants, especially also about institutions to contact in case of problems; (e) and, ultimately, it does help a number of people in need. (c) Cross-Border Collaboration among Service Providers 84. Cross-border cooperation often occurs on an ad-hoc basis, i.e. whenever victims or people at risk are identified the concerned Thai organisation contacts their Lao counterparts to exchange information and deal with the cases at stake. For official returnees, initial contacts follow a strictly government-togovernment approach, as particularly the Lao authorities demand it to be this way. On this level, there are also somewhat regular case management and case conference meetings, which are facilitated by the IOM and UNIAP, and which also see some involvement of NGOs such as VFI and WV. However, for push back cases, stakeholders from Thailand including the police, FFW or AAT seek the cooperation of VFI and others to deal with the arriving deportees. Although these processes are somewhat informal, the relevant stakeholders on both sides seem aware of one another, have good working relations and no hesitation to contact each other whenever need be. There have also been occasional exchanges on training programs and site visits, e.g. the VFI shelter manager visited the Kredtakarn shelter or a social worker from the organisation participated in an exchange program with FFW. The Thai Centre for the Protection of Children's Rights (CPCR) even provided training on basic knowledge in psychology in Bangkok. But all programs of this kind have thus far remained on an ad-hoc basis without mid- or longterm dimension. (d) TdH-Supported Recovery Shelter Project (Village Focus International) 85. There are different processes by that VFI receives beneficiaries for its shelter program, two of which have been outlined above: first, officially identified trafficking victims are assigned to the organisation and, in a joint effort with the returnee and their family, a decision is taken to undergo the VFI shelter program; second, the previously mentioned reception centre at the border identifies a vulnerable or maybe even victimised person who is referred to VFI for further assistance. Again, with the involvement

of the case and their family, the person may eventually come to the VFI shelter for training and counselling services; a third possibility is that the organisation receives information from its Thai partners on vulnerable or victimised deportees who they have identified either in IDCs or otherwise. VFI will then note down how and when this person will arrive at the border and make sure that they are identified and assisted. 86. The deportees, once received at the border, will first be referred to the organisation’s Drop-In Centre in Pakse. While VFI is attempting to trace and contact the family of the person concerned, the latter receives medical and counselling services through the organisation in town. If contacting the family is very time-consuming, the returnee may temporarily go to the shelter, where accommodation and other services are better established. Once the relatives have been traced, the deportee will be sent home and VFI will conduct the previously mentioned family and need’s assessment. Depending on the outcome and the agreement with the family/case, the person is refereed to the shelter. 87. Additionally, the DIC serves a number of other purposes: the social workers, which it accommodates, are also in charge of the re-integration program for graduates from the shelter programs and of the follow-up procedures for two years thereafter. Re-integration and follow-up are conducted under the supervision/participation of responsiblelocal governmental agencies, especially from MLSW. When shelter residents are sent back to their community, VFI staff and the authorities will have a meeting with the family, which also involves the granting of in-kind business start-up support in line with the case’s vocational training program at the shelter. The DIC also hosts a small shop that sells produces of the shelter and thereby generates minor amounts of income for both residents and the organisation. It additionally displays information on safe migration and human trafficking in an attempt to engage with the wider public on such issues. And finally it accommodates VFI’s YAAT (Youth Action Against Trafficking) program supervisor, a different VFI program component that conducts outreach campaigns on human trafficking with the involvement of youth. 88. The shelter project has seen a total of 72 residents since operations began in late 2008. 41 of these were official returnees from Thailand; another 26 deportees from the Vangtao border. 5 more cases have thus far remained unclassified. The residents’ age generally ranges from 13 to 22, although the very first case stood out of this with an age of 33. The overall capacity of the shelter is about 35 girls; men/boys are generally not dealt with. At the time of visiting, 19 girls were

staying at the shelter aging between 14 and 17 years. 12 residents were official returnees; the remaining 7 arrived as pushback cases. Most of the stories involved trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, especially domestic and factory work; only few residents have been exposed to sexual exploitation. The organisation AFESIP is more specialised in such cases, which is why victims with this background are more readily referred to their shelters. 89. The shelter is operated by a total of 10 staff, 7 of who are directly based in the premises, with the remaining three working from the above-mentioned DIC and paying frequent visits to the shelter. The team is headed by a shelter manager who is in charge of the administration and the overall steering of the operations. Moreover, an activity organiser/counsellor exists to organise and coordinate all the educational and spare-time activities for the residents. Two child caretakers take turns to be available to victims for whatever need they may have, and take careful notes for the case files on their development, attitudes/mood, health conditions, etc. One social worker/life skills trainer at the shelter is responsible for life skills training and arts therapy. In addition, she develops materials for trainings and deals with the case database. Three more social workers are based at the DIC. They go to the border to work at the aforementioned VRC; operate the Drop-In Centre including its services to newly arriving people in need of help; conduct family and needs assessments, reintegration measures as well as case follow-up visits. The shelter is protected by two guards, one at daytime who also works as gardener, and one at nighttime. The latter is hired through a security company, just like trainers for vocational training programs are externally recruited but not listed here. 90. The average stay at the shelter is about 6 to 8 months, although one case with severe mental problems remained for about two years. The criteria to decide whether a resident is ready to go home are essentially two: (a) having finished the vocational training course; (b) being ready as a person to function in society, as monitored in a case-by-case evaluation. However, the latter is more related to their physical health situation, as means to deal with psychological problems are very limited; a problem in Laos more generally in the absence of any educational and professional programs on psychology and related subjects. Residents get to choose between four different vocational training programs: (1) cooking; (2) beauty salon; (3) tailoring; (4) weaving. A number of additional activities are offered, such as frog and mushroom growing, fish farming, handcrafting, flower making, etc. Apart from this, each resident also attends one of two school-like programs at the shelter in the evening, depending on their level of knowledge in mathematics, writing, reading, etc. They also undergo basic business and life skill training to prepare them for a more self-reliant life beyond the shelter. On weekends, there are additional offers, such as computer training and now also forms of art therapy, as they have been introduced by an Italian team in a 10-week workshop in 2010.

91. Shelter residents also have timetables for communal duties such as cooking, cleaning or gardening in and around the house. This is not only deemed necessary to ensure the functioning of shelter operations, but also for team building reasons as well as practical skills trainings. Besides, there are a number of spare time activities for the girls; sports can be played outside in the garden and a TV is available in the living room. However, there are only few opportunities to actually leave the shelter. About 4 times a year, VFI organises sightseeing trips to points of interests such as waterfalls, rivers, etc. Some residents can join staff to go to the market to buy food, but the numbers here are limited. Another opportunity to get out is for special ceremonies, especially traditional Buddhist celebrations, for which VFI organises ways for residents to take part. Despite being a very pleasant place with beautiful paintings on the walls and a very a nice garden, residents are limited to this area for much of their stay at the shelter. Mobile phones are not allowed; contacts with people outside are maintained via letters or over a few phone calls each month. For security reasons, no strangers are generally allowed in the premises and a guard ensures safety during the night. Cambodia: (a) Official Assistance 92. BanteayMeanchey is a transit town for migrants from other provinces on their way to cross the border at the Poipet checkpoint to Aranyaprathet in Thailand. There is a provincial committee chaired by the Deputy Governor, with a monthly meeting to update each other on the latest developments. The Police, ATU, DWA and SVY are also members of this committee. However, there is no adequate allocation of resources to these official units to realise their tasks and responsibilities, making them dependent on the external support of international agencies and national NGOs. All the officials interviewed have shared the same view, i.e. that the current role of the state in anti-trafficking efforts is limited to formulating laws, policies, plans of action and setting up committees at all levels. Yet, there is an understanding that human trafficking cannot be effectively tackled without adequate resources. 93. The Poipet Transit Centre was set up in 2007 to receive victims of trafficking who are officially repatriated and escorted by staff of the Thai Kredtakarn shelter, and also to accommodate vulnerable children who are pushed back from Thailand. The PTC is responsible for tracing and evaluating the family prior to the official repatriation, to determine whether the case can return home. In those cases where families reside in remote areas and it is impossible to locate them, the PTC sends the children to shelters in Phnom Penh. The centre also collaborates with district and local officials for the reception of cases in the community. The returneesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; parents need to sign papers under witness of officials and community members, and, on this occasion, a lecture on safe migration and trafficking is given. A girl43 who had witnessed the official reception of her friend in the village mentioned that it was a spectacle with so many people including foreigners and group photos. The official returnees who have received vocational training from Kredtakarn shelter can refer to Friends International in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap to develop further skills. However, most of them prefer to return and stay with their family. The

responsibility of the PTC is terminated after the case re-integrates into their family. The district SVY is then responsible for monthly follow-up visits of the returnee and their family. It can also refer them to appropriate centres for vocational training. 94. The number of official returnees is not high; in fact, there has not been any case of official repatriation from Kredtakarn since June 2011. It may be suspected that the suspension of official repatriation has to do with three main reasons, namely (1) pending court cases; (2) a deteriorating GOGO relationship between Cambodia and Thailand; (3) the exhaustion of the governmental fiscal budget. However, official repatriation should resume in October, as four cases have already been assigned to Friend International by the PTC for further assistance. (b) Assistance to Pushback Cases 95. The deportation of migrants is done a few times a day between 8am and 8pm. There are about 60 deportees of all ages and gender in the trucks. These deportees are sent from the Bangkok IDC or arrested at the local checkpoint in Wattana Nakorn, Sra Kaew Province. In spite of having a ministerial policy to refrain from any legal action against illegal migrants from the three neighbouring countries, there are still reports on the latter group being fined with 100 – 200THB by the Thai authorities, with the immigration in Poipet regularly demanding another 300 – 500TBH before releasing them from custody44. Irregular migrants are brought from Aranyaprathet directly to the immigration centre in Poipet located behind the Casino area. The PTC is the only organization working in Poipet immigration centre to help identify child victims of trafficking; provide assistance to vulnerable children; and assist deported migrants who cannot return home by themselves. Among a group of 200 mostly male deportees, there is an average of 10 children who are alone or in company of adults unknown to them. Since the PTC receives no information on them, it needs to interview this group of children, assessing their vulnerability and tracing their family. The transit centre can accommodate children for a few nights before referring them to other appropriate shelters for longer stay. There are about 15 NGOs working on human trafficking in the areas of protection and prevention in Poipet and BanteayMeanchey, but there are mainly two organizations that the PTC refers push back children to, namely Goutte d’Eau (GE) for children under fifteen, and the Cambodia Hope Organisation (CHO) for those between 15 and 18 years of age. For those cases in need of legal assistance, the centre refers them to the CWCC’s drop-in centre in Poipet or the shelter in BanteayMeanchey. 97. In 2010, the PTC referred 160 push back cases from Thailand to GE, but the number dropped significantly in 2011, because the organisation has changed its target audience to boys and girls under the age of 15, with most deportees being older than that. For those who are over 15 years, the PTC sends them to the CHO’s vocational training centre, where they can stay and undergo skills training. Three cases have been referred to CWCC for legal assistance. The 37 (8 girls and 29 boys) children referred to CHO have all been between 17 and 18 years. The younger children, whose families are not

identified, can stay in the GEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shelter until they reach the age of 15. During the time of visit, GE was taking care of 7 children (3 girls and 4 boys) between the ages of 4 and 10 years who had been deported from Thailand. A 12 year-old girl who mentioned in the interview at the Bangkok IDC that she had been pushed back over hundred times was also staying there with her eight-year old sister and a four-year old brother. The latter two were arrested at the same time, while begging separately from their mother in Bangkok. During their stays at the shelters, they can attend literacy classes and other life skills building activities. The older children sheltering at CHO can receive vocational training on sewing, car repair and woodcutting. After finishing the training course, they can get a small loan to start businesses with their newly gained vocational skills. However, only few returnees want to stay in the shelter and get training; most of them prefer to return home and, after an interval, they may actually cross the border to find employment again in Thailand. The re-migration tendencies among youth here seem to derive from two main push factors, namely (a) family indebtedness; (b) lower wages in Cambodia which are often described as disproportionate to the cost of living.45 98. The PTC observes that there are two groups of children crossing the border at Poipet to Thailand: the first group travels forth and back within one day and generally lives in the area of Poipet and BTMC; the second group consists of long-term migrants mostly moving with their families from other provinces to Bangkok. They often end up begging for money under force on streets and will be punished if they do not comply with demand. The PTC has a policy to separate children from their parents or guardians, so as to prevent them from such enforced movement. The centre admits of having cases of relapse but there is no official record on this. The above-mentioned girl is a case in point where no progress was made after prior family warnings; finally the PTC decided to keep her and the younger siblings under the care of GE. Even though the assistance is deliberately focused on children, older women deportees can in certain cases also receive support in line with their needs. In cases where women and girls need legal redress, the PTC recommends them to the CWCCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Drop-in Centre in Poipet, from which they may get referred further to the CWCCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shelter in BTMC. However, most of the returnees do not want to get involved in any legal proceedings, as they are afraid of not being able to afford the costs of the court cases and generally lack confidence in the judiciary system. (c) Cross-Border Collaboration among Service Providers 99. State agencies, especially the military and security organs, have a regular border meeting to share information and improve methods to suppress criminal activities, including human trafficking along the border. There is no participation of civil society organizations in this meeting, which is why these have set up their own network by the name of Border Issues Group on Children (BIGC), consisting of NGOs with operations along the Thai-Cambodian border. The forum is held on a quarterly basis to update each other particularly on migration and trafficking of children as well as individual case assistance. The leading agencies on the Thai side are WV and AWARD. While the former puts emphasis on prevention by providing education and economic support to children and their families in communities on both sides

of the border, the latter focuses on protecting the rights of women and children by rescuing them from undesirable workplaces in Thailand. Since 2010, AWARD has rescued in total 162 Cambodian women and men. Apart from updating each other, BIGC has also organized cross-border events to commemorate international days such as March 8 and December 12 to raise public awareness on issues pertaining to these specific occasions. (d) TdH-Supported Recovery Shelter Project (Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre) 100. CWCC has run three shelters in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and BanteayMeanchey to provide support for women and children, who are victims of gender-based violence, in particular domestic and sexual violence. It also runs a drop in centre in Poipet for temporary accommodation and a screening process to determine whether or not to admit victims to its shelter in BanteayMeanchey. The anti-trafficking project with the support of NPL has five major components, i.e. (a) monitoring and rescuing; (b) legal assistance; (c) safe shelter; (d) reintegration and community organizing; and (d) networking. According to the first bi-monthly report of 2011, the Poipet drop-in centre has accommodated 120 women and children, of whom 76% were sent by police as well as the NGO network, whereas the remaining 24% were recommended by CWCC’s volunteers or came on their own to the centre; 82 of them were sent to the shelter in BTMC. Amongst the 75 cases that CWCC has provided assistance to during this period, there were 32 cases of domestic violence, 23 cases of sexual violence and 20 cases of human trafficking. CWCC’s shelter in BTMC has been operational since 2003. At the time of visit, there were 46 residents, 20 children in the age group of 0 – 3 years and 26 women at the age of 18 – 53 years. Two boys were with their mother. The shelter generally allows boys at the age of 11 or below to stay with their mothers. There was only one case of human trafficking, while the others were victims of rape, domestic violence, labour or sexual exploitation. 2 residents got affected with HIV and require regular check-ups and medicine from the provincial hospital. The criteria for a case’s admission are: (1) being a victim of gender-based violence; (2) staying voluntarily at the shelter; (3) having the consent from the parents/guardians. 101. CWCC’s shelter in BTMC is run by 11 staff members, consisting of one director, one medical doctor, two psychologists, two counsellors, one teacher, one dressmaking trainer, two caretakers and one woman guardian. The shelter team is under the supervision of the regional office located in Poipet which also oversees DIC and re-integration monitoring programme. All key staff members have attended trainings on human trafficking, rights of women and children, and laws relating to domestic violence and human trafficking. They also show an interest in visiting similar shelters in neighbouring countries to exchange experiences and improve their work. They are generally content with the services they provide to shelter residents but are frustrated about the results of court

cases, especially in terms of a lack of effective enforcement of verdicts on victim compensation and child alimony. 102. The shelter provides for basic necessities, medical and child-care, literacy classes, vocational training (sewing, animal raising and agriculture training) as well as legal assistance. The two psychologists conduct individual and group counselling for psychosocial redress, and require having a separate room to conduct these sessions. There is a comprehensive individual record covering bio data, a forensic report, physical and psychological conditions, legal proceedings and other personal developments to be used as basis for the re-integration plan. The shelter residents can contact their families or have them visit the shelter, and occasionally there is an exposure trip for residents to nearby provinces. The duration of the stay is not definite and largely depends on aspects such as the physical and psychological condition, vocational training skills, court proceedings, and security in the family and community. The reintegration staff conducts family assessments before accompanying residents to their home. The assessment is made to verify the situation in the communities or home and to make sure that there is no risk of being re-trafficked or abused further. During the re-integration process to their families, representatives from the department of social affairs, the village chief, officials from the community and the district all take part as witnesses. 103. A small grant ranging from USD 128 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 200 is provided to the woman/children to start up a small business and thereby generate income by using skills obtained in the shelter. In the case that they cannot return to their family/community, CWCC tries to find them a live-in workplace. Interestingly, former shelter residents have formed five self-help groups in the area where they live, with the reintegration staff paying them regular visits. Apart from helping each other, the members of these peer support groups also provide information relating to violence against women/children, migration and human trafficking to others. Nonetheless, cross-border migration is still a preference for many women living in and outside the shelter despite income generating initiatives and skills training. There is a need to review whether the types of skills training are in line with the actual needs of the residents; i.e. a girl expressed that she did not want to undergo formal schooling, because her interest was to learn traditional dance and make this her future profession. It is thus important to broaden options away from gender-stereotypical skill trainings to viable alternatives that respond to the aspirations of women and children.

104. CWCC has been recognised by GOs and NGOs as a legal assistance providing agency for victims of gender-based violence and human trafficking. CWCC collaborates with the police and authorities on seeking evidence to file legal complaint against perpetrators. Currently, 97 cases (22 cases of domestic violence, 65 cases of rape and 10 cases of human trafficking) are pending at the provincial, appeal and supreme courts. The judiciary system has not yet gained the full public confidence, and there are legal loopholes along with resource shortages that prevent effective law enforcement. Still, the role of CWCC is crucial to enable victims who are socially excluded to get access to justice. 105. Another component of CWCCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities is advocacy work at the community level where reintegration of trafficked women/children has occurred, in that the re-integrated women/children are encouraged and accompanied to share their migration/trafficking experience with community members. CWCC also organises trainings for governmental officials and community leaders to enhance their understanding on domestic violence, sexual violence, migration and human trafficking. Since many agencies are involved in advocacy campaigns and trainings on human trafficking, there is a need for more cooperation and streamlining; it is equally important to assess the impact of these activities and to review the content as well as methods of training, so as to consolidate their efforts and to attain more effective victim protection and prevention campaigns on human trafficking.

IV.

The Way Forward: Proposals to Improve Programs and Services to Help Those in Need

106. 3 key areas of action for TdH and the three partner organisations have been defined, which, based on the conducted interviews, observations, site surveys, etc., cut across the countries for their relevance. These 3 key categories are (1) Authorities/Policies; (2) Service Providers/Shelters; (3) Victims/Family/Community. For the sake of clarity, they will be presented separately, although cross cuttings and overlapping evidently exist. They have been identified and chosen with a view to areas in which TdH and the partners can contribute to improving the situation of trafficking victims and those at risk. For each category, a number of recommendations have been formulated that are concrete enough to guide actions and yet broad enough to allow for adjusted interpretations in the local context. It is realised that not all proposals can be implemented at all times,and it is ultimately up to the organisations concerned to decide to what extent – and in what list of priorities – they should be followed through.

Level of Action 1: Work with Authorities and Policies Victim Identification Procedures 107. It has become evident in the course of this assignment and beyond that improving victim identification procedures remains a top priority. Research projects 46have proven that large numbers of trafficking victims or people exposed to other forms of exploitation slip through points were identification mechanisms are – or should be – in place, such as at immigration detention centres or international borders in the four countries concerned. Two reasons seem particularly relevant for this: (1) a lack of capacity on behalf of authorities; (2) limited involvement of trained NGO personnel. Authorities are crucial in identifying victims of trafficking, as they operate the mentioned institutions where many vulnerable or victimised people pass through; they are also significant, because it makes all the difference for the provision of assistance and services, if the state defines a person as a criminal (irregular migrant) or a victim with comprehensive rights to protection. We must therefore reach out to authorities and work with them on enhancing their capacities and commitment to identify victims, also because it is not always possible for other, perhaps better-trained stakeholders to be present. 108. At the same time, however, it seems equally crucial to push for a boost in presence of civil society organisations at these points. Social workers from NGOs specialised in human trafficking will always be more suited to talk to potential trafficking victims than a police officer. The interviewee could perceive the officer as a threat and may be hesitant to open up, and the policeman might not have the required sensitivity to discuss migration experiences. It must not be forgotten either that there is a potential clash of interests for the latter: an officer has few incentives to actually identify a person as a trafficking victim, as it causes them much more work than an irregular migrant to be deported across the border. In

an area with a large grey zone between human trafficking and irregular migration, this issue may be prevented through the presence of qualified NGO staff, who for their very profession have a more profound interest in the wellbeing of the case at stake. It is clearly not enough to only have checklists and interview forms47to identify victims of trafficking; the interviewer also needs to have the skills and the position to meaningfully apply those.The current forms of collaboration between immigration officials and NGOs in the Bangkok IDC to identify and refer vulnerable children and women deportees to organisations in their home countries provide a good example in this context, which is well worth enhancing and perhaps replicating elsewhere. Cooperation Mechanisms between Governments and Civil Society 109. NGO staff’s participation in screening processes as well as reception and transfer of deportees may also be crucial to avoid other vulnerabilities in border areas. There are numerous reports on migrants being exploited by officials e.g. through extra charges for passage, or by taxi drivers who are sometimes said to cooperate with officials to exploit the vulnerable situations of deportees. It is interesting – and promising – to note e.g. that the Association of Taxi Drivers has been invited into the steering committee of the Vangtao Reception Centre, Laos, following reports on exploitation of returnees by cabs. The presence of NGOs can contribute to enhanced transparency at border areas and other crucial points dealing with migrants, and may thus have positive implications in a variety of ways for the wellbeing of deportees, trafficking victims or those exploited in other ways. 110. More efforts need to be undertaken also more generally to establish a basis of cooperation between NGOs and authorities for the benefit of people in need. In some, especially more authoritarian states with traditionally weak – if at all existent – civil societies, such mechanisms may also contribute to both sides gradually getting more comfortable to work with each other, with potential positive implications on a larger scale. The Vangtao Reception Centre is again a good example in this context, as here governmental and non-governmental agencies have joined forces to identify victims of trafficking and other forms of exploitation48. In Mae Sot, the shelter has obtained a permit from the police to help identify as well as accommodate people in need of assistance, while the ultimate authority lies with the police to determine victims of trafficking. These are promising developments; it is now the task of partner organisations to push for larger roles as well as fill those already developed spaces with meaning. 111. The above argues against exclusive government-to-government cooperation mechanisms to deal with human trafficking, as they are operational at certain levels in some countries. This is by no means to argue that well-established working relations between governments are not important; they are and need to be fostered further. It is insightful, e.g. to remember the increase in officially identified trafficking victims repatriated from Thailand to Laos following the signing of the corresponding MoU between the two countries. However, it is equally important to support cooperation between GOs and

NGOs, especially in states where this is still a relatively new development. In increasingly diversifying and complex societies, there is no way for governments alone to provide comprehensive services to all people. Civil society organisations – in Southeast Asia and indeed across the globe – have been filling these gaps and are often more specialised and better positioned for certain tasks, especially in social affairs and legal protection. Governments need to be pushed to recognise this and to allow for more NGO-GO cooperation to evolve in these fields. Recommendations  Establish and improve involvement and cooperation on pushback cases, to avoid vulnerabilities at border points through e.g. agents, taxi drivers or corrupt officials;  Push towards more training for officials in victim identification procedures, ethics in dealing with potential trafficking victims, etc., with a view to the development of common regional checklists and systems for such actions;  Seek to supplement GO-GO cooperation with NGO involvement wherever necessary and advisable, especially in social affairs, victim identification, legal protection, repatriation processes, case follow-up, etc.;  Push for the removal of bureaucratic and other burdens on cross-border movement to makeregular migration processes faster and less costly;  Seek to collaborate with the private sector and work out a system of best practices and a list of employers with a proven record for migrant workers.

Level of Action 2: Work to Improve Shelters/Services Vocational Training/Employability 112. Of particular importance to prevent relapse is the area of vocational training or perhaps bettertermed employability. There seems to be something of a standard set of trainings that has developed across the countries involving sewing, beauty salon, gardening, weaving and others. It is unclear though how much these often gender stereotyped trainings have really helped residents in ensuring sustainable livelihoods once they leave shelters. In fact, success stories – although existent –are rare, which is why it is important to address the question of how to improve the educational and professional services so as to reach the set goals. Part of the problem is that the range of in-house trainings as it stands is in no position to really cover the whole spectrum of individual interests of residents at stake, also because

there are rather constant replacement processes of people, with new aspirations coming in almost all the time. At the same time, shelters themselves will undoubtedly never be in a position to respond to all educational and professional interests at stake. The wider question though is: should shelters aspire to provide customised training programs of the above type at all? 113. The core services of such facilities may be described as supplying a safe environment for victims of different types of exploitation to regain trust, confidence and to have their physical and psychological wounds treated. It is a secure place from which to engage with society and perhaps follow whatever educational and professional path a person may choose. Now, this is for the scarcity of resources and other reasons not always possible, but it is perhaps worth considering how to tailor trainings more to the needs and interests of those concerned. One such way could be to reach out to other institutions providing professional and educational trainings, and establish cooperation mechanisms on a whole range of such services. On top of this, a number of core, supplementary lessons may be maintained at the shelters, such as life skills, basic business or perhaps agricultural trainings49. But the very heart of shelters lies in their social, psychological and medical services as well the safe and cheerful environment they provide. 114. In the few – yet very promising –occasions where successful job placement has actually occurred, it was often a combination of a chosen profession, which the concerned person had a real interest in and that was supported by both the organisation as well as the family, and where direct market access was supported or ensured. This, however, cannot be provided through a one-fits-all approach, at whose end victims have been supported in a way that does neither reflect their actual interests nor the realities of the day-to-day life in their respective context. It is believed that more can be done to reach out to organisations and companies with educational and/or employment opportunities to link shelter residents to those professions they are really interested in. It is also crucial to keep in mind in this context that the ultimate goal is to help residents in shelters to find decent employment. This means that, if they leave for a certain employer, every effort has to be undertaken to ensure that conditions of work are not exploitative again. Limits to freedom of movement, very long working hours or unreasonably low salaries coupled with severe financial punishments for mistakes are clear indications of exploitation. In this case, the wellbeing and best interest of the child has to be more important than a “success story” for the organisation to have ensured employment after the shelter stay. Concept of Re-integration 115. The above also relates to concepts and practices of re-integration. There seems to be an overall assumption that re-integration is about sending a child back to their family in often far-away rural communities. Now, in many cases this is worthwhile, especially so since it is often the desire of the person concerned. Yet, it must not be forgotten that sometimes it was the very situation in that place which led to out-migration and trafficking in the first place. In fact, sometimes there are so severe family

problems that going back may put the child’s physical and emotional wellbeing in jeopardy. While identifying this is the role of the family and needs assessment as service providers readily conduct them, there seems to be a somewhat understandable tendency to send residents to their communities in any case. However, job opportunities and access to markets are often more likely to exist in or around urban areas – and since shelters and their organisations are also located in such places, it can often be a vital alternative to ensure employment there. In fact, VFI in Laos has seen some success stories of this type, e.g. a former shelter resident now works at a hospital in Pakse as a physiotherapist following the completion of a training program there. Victim-Centred Approach 116. On a more conceptual level, a discussion is needed about what is often referred to as a victimcentred approach, i.e. it is the duty of service providers to put themselves in the position of the children they serve, and work with these towards their best interests in a rights-based framework50. There is no doubt that this is a challenging role to play, with many different stakeholders involved. For the concerned partner organisations, this is easiest implemented in their own shelters, where the first crucial step is to consider how to open up these spaces. While it seems important to remain strict about potential visitors coming into the premises, it is at the same time essential to explore opportunities to enable residents to do more activities outside. A shelter must not feel like another confinement to their freedom of movement. Staying in one and the same place, albeit very nice and safe ones, for many months with few opportunities to leave the walls behind may seem more like detention than is assumed. It is important to engage in a dialogue with residents on ways in which to allow them to spend time elsewhere. It seems somewhat contradictory that, whilst it is the very intension of our operations to ensure successful re/integration into society, many efforts are made at first to keep children away. This also relates to channels for residents to contact people outside the shelter. There appears to be no reason for why there should be a general “no mobile phone” policy at shelters, with phoning time restricted to a few times a month through a shelter phone. Legal Proceedings 117. It is equally important to consider the best interest of a child in relation to potential legal proceedings. Whilst there is a lot of pressure from state agencies, especially the US government to increase the numbers of convictions and prosecutions for human trafficking cases, we still have to bear in mind the potential consequences for victims. Being a witness in sometimes very long court cases and having to remain in shelters, often abroad and without the opportunity to work in the meantime, in many ways adds to the suffering already caused by the experience of exploitation. This is all the more so, if the compensation granted to the victim at the end of the process is marginal – or non-existent. Although the perpetrator may be sentenced as a consequence, providing for a degree of justice to the affected person, the latter’s often economically vulnerable position makes compensation payments and

the right to work during the court case much more significant. The combination of having to stay far away from home for a long period of time, without the opportunity to work nor often a realistic chance of being compensated, as well as having to go through sometimes highly uncomfortable court proceedings and being face-to-face with the trafficker leads to many people avoiding to be identified as victims of human trafficking. It is important here to work with authorities to improve the status of victims, pushing for more rights and assistance, as well as making sure that being witness in a court case ultimately remains a voluntary decision. The official collaboration between Thai and Cambodian authorities in facilitating the witness to visit their family and come back during the court trial is a good first initiative that should be expanded in scope and re-applied in other countries too. Service to Male Victims 118. It is evident from this and other research projects that men often make up the clear majority of returnees in deportee populations, many of who have experienced some forms of exploitation during their stay abroad. Yet, services to these male returnees are still limited; in fact, in some countries, there are no institutions at all to deal with victimised men, nor does the law actually provide for the same protection and assistance as their female counterparts and children are entitled to. There is a need to explore possibilities to extend social services and legal protection to male victims. MSDHS in Thailand has accommodated trafficked men/boys in a separate shelter from Kredtakarn; and FFW also refers vulnerable cases of boys from the Bangkok IDC to stay in the Mae Sod shelter and arranges for their safe repatriation. Such types of services to male victims must be expanded in scope, and TdH partner organisations should engage in a dialogue on lessons learned and best practices to improvethe current provisions to men in nationally appropriate manners. Psychosocial Services 119. It is evident that psychosocial support is a significant – perhaps the most significant – core component of shelters to help residents on their way back to a “normal” life; in some seriously traumatised cases, the recovery process may require professional care from psychiatrist or psychotherapist. There are however fundamental systemic weaknesses in some of the countries concerned that pose real challenges to shelter-operating organisations. In places where the whole range of related professions does not exist, as no institutions educate people to work in this field, it is practically impossible for partner organisations to provide adequate services. In such environments, it becomes an advocacy task, on the one hand, to encourage and support the government to boost a country’s capacity in this context. On the other hand, efforts should be undertaken for partner organisations to benefit from each other and other organisations concerned. There is regional expertise in this field, which partners may want to tap into to improve their expertise in working with traumatised victims. Counselling and therapy are culturally distinct concepts depending on the countries involved, so it appears to be a good approach to make use of regional experiences instead of bringing in far-away

experts. Inviting residents to give opinions on how to deal with their experiences can also create interesting initiatives within institutions. Generally, counselling and therapeutic skills are not obtained in ad-hoc, single workshops for a few days, which is why organisations are encouraged to work out partnerships that are more fundamental and mid- to long-term for the benefit of shelter residents. A good practice is the collaboration between VFI, FFW and psychiatrists in provincial hospitals to provide regular medical treatment and psychosocial care to shelter residents in Thailand.

Social Enterprise Model 120. It may also be worth considering for the organisations concerned to build up own social enterprise capacities. A number of NGOs in the concerned countries have been very successful at this, ensuring sometimes up to 40% donor independence through self-generated income. At the same time, it gives some shelter residents with corresponding interests a chance of on-the-job training in a market environment and potentially even a direct job opportunity once education is completed. Even if the latter is not possible at all times, a well-established social enterprise business and a good brand name will make trainees with experience in the organisationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shop interesting candidates for jobs with other companies in the same field. It is also worth noting that shelters, through their vocational training programs, often have products that can be marketed in different ways. CWCC in Cambodia has a relatively sophisticated system of displaying and selling products as well as ofproducing on the basis of external orders already, but generally more can be done to improve quality, market products better and to add the social element to the brand name, especially if the decision is taken to maintain some of the in-house programs there are. Monitoring and Evaluation 121. Finally, an element needs to be addressed that again cuts across the themes, i.e. monitoring and evaluation (M&E). More can â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and indeed must â&#x20AC;&#x201C; be done in this crucial field, as it is here that organisations find out if the resources spent achieve the desired outcomes. Very good intentions are evident across the concerned organisations; there is no shelter or service provider in this analysis that would not sincerely aspire to do good to their target population. However, good intentions do not always deliver good results, and it is precisely here that M&E has the potential to make a difference. Log-frames and other reporting mechanisms are useful in some ways, yet they often remain quantitative in nature, which is why in-built and routinely applied M&E mechanisms with the involvement of the target population are of utmost importance. In fact, establishing and applying in-built M&E mechanisms is an important exercise to boost the organisational capacity in strategic planning and management, which is of high benefit for its performance in the future.

Recommendations  Involve the children – and most often their families – as much as possible in questions around their own future as they have a right to be in control of their fate;  Find out if the child really wants to stay at the shelter or if it was a purely parental decision;  Allow contact with the family as much as possible/wanted;  Provide for regular opportunities to leave the shelter and see different environments;  Prepare the victim for testifying in courts– if they voluntarily agree on court proceedings with their involvement – and ensure that legal cases remain as short and as appropriate as possible and includes compensation for the victim;  Consider other forms of reintegration into society that go beyond merely focusing on familychild relations if need be;  Take family and needs assessment not only as a study of the family, but particularly also of what the child needs for their human security;  Consider the feasibility to open a social enterprise for the generation of income for both the organisation and the residents;  Carefully re-asses the needs of residents for future employment, and consider ways of providing a wider and more tailored range of programs, e.g. by cooperating with other educational/professional stakeholders;  Establish working relations with a number of key companies/organisations with a proven record for training and potential employment;  Pay regular follow-up visits to ensure that residents are well off and have decent work;  Consider ways to broaden the target audience to also serve the many vulnerable and victimised men especially in the deportee populations with residential facilities and other comprehensive services;

 Seek to cooperate with other partners in the country and the region to learn from each other and improve performance and collaboration on case assistance;  Try to introduce and improve elements of psychosocial support in every way possible, including through cross border collaboration;  Advocate for more courses of psychosocial support in the educational system with the authorities;  Develop and apply standardised, in-built monitoring and evaluation mechanisms with a focus on beneficiaries’ interests to ensure that program aspirations and realities match.

Level of Action 3: Work with the Victim/Family/Community Family and Agents 122. From the interviewsand stories during the research, it seems evident that two key stakeholders play crucial roles in a child’s migration out of the village, perhaps as far as to Thailand: (1) the parents; (2) the agents. Parents often take such decisions on behalf of their children, against the background of what they believe to be in the best interest of the family. Traditional, rather hierarchical divisions of roles within families leave the child without much of a choice but to obey the decision made by their parents. The agent often facilitates or speeds up these processes. They may either implant the idea of seeking employment elsewhere51or, by offering to provide for the migration process from origin to destination, make the ultimate decision much easier. It is thus crucial for both service providers and authorities to work at this level to ensure that families take an informed decision on potential outmigration. It is equally important to establish watchdog units at community level to ensure a degree of transparency and monitoring as to the migration processes and the people involved in their facilitation. This is undoubtedly not an easy task, especially in communities with long histories – and often wellestablished migration networks – of cross-border migration for their livelihoods. Identifying and dealing with precisely these networks may be a good starting point to introduce elements of safe migrations and awareness of the dangers of exploitation and trafficking. TdH partner organisations are also advised to exchange lessons learned and best practices in this field. Safe Migration 123. This directly relates to the concept of safe migration. From the interviews conducted particularly also with local officials, there is a broad consensus that migration cannot be prevented. Some have even suggested that it is a basic right, whereas others have point out that, considering patterns of mass

migration, it is much more important to focus on safe migration than on preventing migration. This is in line with the observations during this research. Some interviewed victims have indicated that pretty much all young people in their villages have left for Thailand; others, despite having had bad experiences themselves, will go back to Thailand again regardless of efforts in shelters to avoid this development. Some shelter residents are back for the second or even third time, raising questions as to the purpose of their stay. It seems clear that patterns of labour migration are systemic, they are deeply rooted and part of every-day’s life in certain areas of the four countries concerned. A consorted approach seems required, in which the government is pushed to enhance channels for legal labour migration by ensuring that required papers are issued speedily and affordably as well as by connecting potential migrants to decent employers abroad with a proven record; at the same time, NGO’s awareness-raising campaigns in high-risk communities with large-scale migration patterns should also focus on elements of safe migration. A particular concern, however,are small children who largely depend on their parents and the community for their fate. There are significant numbers of small children on the streets in urban centres begging for money or selling products. Such migratory tendencies must be avoided through effective prevention and protection/support systems to children, their families and, indeed, the wider community at stake. Awareness-Raising in Communities 124. The organisations concerned in this research are not only engaged in protection but also in prevention work. For the latter, it is crucial to make use of an extremely valuable pool of information, i.e. the shelter residents. The willingness of trafficking victims and migrant returnees to talk about their experiences during this research was extraordinary. Many also indicated to be interested in sharing their stories in awareness-raising events at village level to prevent others from getting into similar problems. Although this can by no means be generalised – and it is necessary to be very careful here to avoid creating new problems, e.g. in form of stigmatisation or others – the design of awareness-raising activities may benefit from the input of former trafficking victims, especially also at the planning stage. Finding out more about what caused them to end up being exposed to exploitative situations and what in their views could have helped them protect themselves from this has the potential to feed outreach campaigns with insights to avoid others from having similar experiences. Involvement in such campaigns may also be a very empowering experience for victims themselves, with positive implications for selfconfidence, life skills development, etc. VFI’s youth volunteers are a good example for how young people grow in their personalities through engagement in the organisation’s outreach activities.This ultimately also serves the purpose of enabling the children involved to effectively protect themselves and escape from undesirable harmful situation if need be.

A Note on Relapse

125. A crucial task for service providers and authorities is to prevent relapses of trafficking cases from happening. Concerned state agencies and relevant NGOs, in particular the three subjected partners of TDH, have exerted a high degree of efforts to provide for alternative livelihoods to women and children with previously horrendous migration experiences. Nonetheless, such policies do not always match the expectations and desires of the beneficiaries, which is part of the reason why significant numbers of recipients of assistance from both state agencies and NGOs continue to move across borders in search of better economic opportunities. While there is a need to prevent relapse by improving current types of services as mentioned in the above recommendations, it is also important to view migration as a basic right – and not something that organisations should aspire to stop. Instead, it is more important to combat patterns of enforced migration especially of children as well as exploitative work environments in destination areas. In order for this to be achieved, the structural root causes that deprive marginalised people from equal opportunities either politically, socially or economically need to be tackled. All agencies have to take this into consideration when providing protective services and implementing prevention activities, so that actions move away from a charity/basic-needs approach to the undeniably more challenging task of enabling beneficiaries to exercise their rights and attain defacto equality and access to social justice. Recommendations  Consider mechanisms at village level in form of watchdog entities or contact points that can monitor migration tendencies, identify agents, provide advise and contacts for safe migration and potential alternatives, etc.;  Look into counselling services for families with problems at village level as identified by watchdog entities and make timely and appropriate interventions;  Consider the involvement of (former) shelter residentsin awareness-raising campaigns, especially with volunteer groups; be careful with this and ask cautiously in what form and under what conditions the person concerned may want to get involved;  Collaborate with all stakeholders to review contents and methods of advocacy campaigns, and develop a comprehensive, rights-based curriculum on migration and trafficking as well as life skills building for awareness raising activities in schools and at community levels.

iii.

Bibliography

Chandarraot, K. and Dannet, L. (2009). Living Wage Survey for Cambodia’s Garment Industry. Retrieved October 14, 2011 from http://www.fes.or.id/fes/download/Survey_Result_Cambodia.pdf. Eng, C. B. (2011, April). Migration vs. Trafficking in Persons: Challenges and Responses. Retrieved October 19, 2011, from http://www.aipasecretariat.org/wpcontent/uploads/2011/04/Migration_Vs_Trafficking_in_person_eng1.pdf. Human Rights Council. (2011,October). Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Thailand. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR%5CPAGES%5CTH Session12.aspx. Integrated Regional Information Networks [IRIN]. (2011, August). Cambodia-Thailand: Men trafficked into “slavery” at sea. Retrieved October 4, 2011, from http://www. irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93606. International Labour Organisation [ILO]. (n.d.). Labour Migration From Cambodia. Retrieved October 12, 2011, from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/--asia/---ro-bangkok/documents/publication/wcms_160944.pdf. International Organisation for Migration [IOM]. (2011). Thailand Migration Report. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from http://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/activities/countries /docs/thailand/TMR-2011.pdf. Lewis et al. (2010, April). GMS Migration Policy Briefing. Retrieved October 18, 2011, from http://pioneer.netserv.chula.ac.th/~ldaniel/Socrates/Migration/ GMS%20Migration%20Policy%20Briefing.pdf. Mekong Migration Network [MMN]. (2008). Migration in the Greater Mekong Subregion. HongKong: Clear-Cut Publishing and Printing Co. Mon, M. (2010). Burmese Labour Migration into Thailand: Governance of Migration and Labour Rights. Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 15(1), 33-44. Phetsiriseng, I. (2007, February). Gender Concerns in Migration in Lao PDR. Retrieved October 4, 2011, from http://apmrn.anu.edu.au/conferences/8thAPMRN conference/17.Gender%20Concerns%20in%20Migration%20in%20Lao% 20PDR.pdf. Sciortino, R. and Punpuing, S.(2009). International Migration in Thailand.Bangkok: International Organization for Migration.

Soda, F. (2009, May). Migration in the Greater Mekong Subregion: A Background Paper for the 4th Greater Mekong Subregion Development Dialogue. Retrieved October 5, 2011, from http://www.adb.org/Documents/Events/2009/WGHRD-9/ Background-Paper.pdf. Sophal, C. (2009). Review of labour migration management, policies and legal framework in Cambodia. Retrieved October 8, 2011, from http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/ groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/documents/publication/wcms_ 106497.pdf. United Nations. (2000). Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime. Retrieved October 8, 2011, from http://www.uncjin.org/Documents/Conventions/dcatoc/final_documents_2 /convention_%20traff_eng.pdf. United Nations Human Rights Council [UNHRC]. (2009, September). National Report Submitted in Accordance with Paragraph 15(a) of the Annex to Human Rights Council Resolution 5/1: Cambodia. Retrieved October 10, 2011, from http:// lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session6/KH/A_HRC_WG6_6_ KHM_1_E.pdf . United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region [UNIAP]. (2010). Mekong Region Country Datasheets. Human Trafficking 2010. Bangkok: UNIAP. UNIAP. (n.d.). UNIAP Myanmar. Retrieved October 12, 2011, from http://notrafficking.org/myanmar.html. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC]. 2004. Definition of Trafficking. Retrieved October 7, 2011, from http://www.unodc.org/documents/human-trafficking/Toolkit-files/08-58296_tool _1-1.pdf. U.S. Department of State. (2011). Trafficking in Persons Report 2011. Retrieved October 17, 2011, from http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011. World Bank.(2006). Labour Migration in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region. Bangkok: World Bank.

Young, B. Y. F. (2007). Life and Death away from the Golden Land: The Plights of Burmese Migrant Workers in Thailand. Asian-Pacific Law and Policy Journal, 8(2), 485-535.

Endnotes: 1

Following the flow of the river, these are Yunnan Province/China, Burma/Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. 2 Mekong Migration Network, (MMN) 2008. 3 UNIAP, 2010. 4 MMN, 2008. 5 Soda, 2009, para. 41. 6 IOM, 2011; estimates of the number of irregular migrants from the GMS in Thailand speak of another 2 million (Soda, 2009, para. 35). 7 Lewis et al., 2010, p. 1. 8 Soda, 2009, paras. 39-40. 9 IOM, 2011, p.11. 10 MMN, 2008, p. 87 11 The five criteria established by the Lao government are: (1) to have full Laotian nationality; (2) to be at least 18 years of age; (3) to have completed at least primary education; (4) to be in good health; and (5) to be a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;goodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; citizen (MMN, 2008). 12 Phetsiriseng, 2007. 13 Especially because the Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre used to deport Lao citizens through Vangtao; a policy which, as of April 2011, has changed to Savannakhet. 14 Sophal, 2009, p. ix. 15 ILO, n.d. 16 Sophal, 2009, p. x. 17 ILO, n.d. 18 IOM, 2011, p. 12. 19 ILO, n.d. 20 Sophal, 2009, pp. 18-19. 21 Sophal, 2009, p. ix. 22 Irin, 2011. 23 ILO, n.d. 24 MMN, 2008, p. 73 25 Young, 2007, pp. 488-489. 26 MMN, 2008, pp. 73-75 27 IOM, 2011.

MMN, 2008, p. 75 Young, 2007, pp. 511-512. 30 IOM, 2011 31 “Trafficking in persons’ shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced Labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs; The consent of a victim of trafficking in persons to the intended exploitation set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article shall be irrelevant where any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) have been used; The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in persons” even if this does not involve any of the means set forth in subparagraph (a) of this article” (UNODC, 2004). 32 The so-called Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT) was started in 2004, when the GMS countries signed a MoU against trafficking in persons and therebycommitted themselves to a coordinated response to human trafficking at multi-lateral, bilateral, and government-NGO levels. UNIAP serves as the Secretariat of the COMMIT process, whose implementation is based on sub-regional and national plans of actions and which is governed at national level by a COMMIT taskforce in each country, comprising all relevant governmental actors for anti-human trafficking initiatives. 33 Thailand Universal Periodic Report, Human Rights Council, 2011. 34 On 4 October 2011, 148 Lao people were deported from Mukdahan, of who 32 male and 12 female wereunderaged. 35 It is the Secretariat too that is in charge of writing the country’s NPA as part of the COMMIT-process; a plan that should have been released by the government many years ago. 36 Eng, 2011. 37 UNIAP, 2010. 38 UNIAP, n.d. 39 UNIAP, n.d. 40 U.S. Department of State, 2011. 41 Article 20 of Immigration Act B.E.2522 stipulates that the period of custody must not be longer than 48 hours, although in special cases this may be prolonged to a maximum of 7 days. 42 Mae Sod border was officially re- opened on 5th December 2011 43 Interview in the Bangkok IDC on 25 August 2011 with a 12 year old girl who had moved to Thailand at the age of two with her mother to beg in Bangkok. 44 Interview with a local NGO in Aranyaprathet on 21 September 2011. 45 The average person living in Phnom Penh needs about US$ 3 per day (Chandarraot, K. and Dannet, L., 2009). 46 See in particular the UNIAP sentinel surveillance studies. 47 These also need to be assimilated to a standard template across a country, as there are too many different – and sometimes no – victim ID forms in place. 29

Although it needs mentioning that surprisingly few cases of exploitation have thus far been determined, making the VRC a case for what is proposed a little later, i.e. more monitoring and evaluation efforts to improve wellintended, existing mechanisms. 49 It is important to remember that the number of residents who go back to their communities and end up helping on the fields again â&#x20AC;&#x201C; regardless of the skills learned at the shelters â&#x20AC;&#x201C; is significant. 50 Right-based approach incorporates the international human rights principles and standards that ensure nondiscriminatory treatment, participation and empowerment of victims. 51 Although in contexts of well-established migration networks and tendencies of mass migration at village levels this is not always necessary.