2.1.2 Smuggling of Migrants

operation of these ‘individual, local-level networks’ may consist of a man or woman from a town in Myanmar recruiting girls locally and sending them to the receiving exploiter based in Bangkok.

Child sex trafficking into Thailand is mainly driven by the local demand, but child sex tourism fostered by foreigners is still a very serious issue of concern.

2.1.2 The Smuggling of Migrants

International definition of smuggling of migrants:

“The procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident” (Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air of 2000, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, Article 3(A)

Applicable domestic laws in Thailand:

Immigration Act of 1979; Royal Decree on management of Alien working of 2017; Penal Code; Criminal Procedure Code.

Although there are legal avenues for regular migration for workers, many still rely on illegal means, which has resulted in cases of undocumented migration. Undocumented migration usually results from economic factors such as poverty, a lack of jobs,120 limited awareness of regular migration channels and difficulties in obtaining a legitimate passport when living in remote areas. Although it is estimated that there are approximately 3.8 million foreign workers from neighbouring countries in Thailand, the registered number of foreign workers is just above 1.8 million.121 The approximately three million foreign workers who are not registered account for a huge amount of money circulating in the migrant smuggling industry.

These foreign workers work primarily in fisheries, manufacturing factories, or as sex workers. The UNODC estimated that 80% of undocumented migrants from Cambodia, Myanmar and Lao PDR resort to smugglers when moving into Thailand.122 According to some respondents, the smuggling fee from a neighbouring country into Thailand is usually around 10,000 baht per person. Some respondents have reported much lower fees, such as 1,500 to 2,500 baht per person.

120 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2015). Migrant Smuggling in Asia. Current Trends and Related Challenges. UNODC Regional Office for East Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, 60. 121 The Nation Thailand. Thailand’s refusal to recognise Rohingya as refugees leaves them in illegal limbo. Retrieved from https://www. nationthailand.com/asean-plus/30340157 122 (n 122), p. 58.

Smugglers adapt their strategies to the origin of the labourers. Fraudulent documents are more common if the immigrants are migrating through a major airport. The fraudulent passports commonly detected by law enforcement are either genuine passports with fraudulent biodata pages, or fake passports. In this regard, the Department of Security Investigation is aware that criminal groups will buy fraudulent documents to use for various types of TOC, including the smuggling of migrants.123

Labourers who do not have fraudulent documents are more likely to move across land borders. Labourers from Cambodia tend to seek employment in Thailand’s central regions, which is where organized criminal groups are involved in smuggling operations. Such labourers may pay the smugglers about 1,500 baht per person in order to get them to Bangkok, and about 2,500 baht to get them to Pattaya, Sri Racha and Samut Prakarn. Generally, since Thailand’s system of border passes allows foreigners to be in the Kingdom for 90 days, migrants frequently make use of the border pass to cross into Thailand. However, the border pass rules are violated once the labourers move inland to find work and stay over 90 days.

Prosecuting the organized criminal groups for migrant smuggling has proven to be difficult since many labourers enter Thailand legally on their own free will without the services of the organized criminal groups involved in smuggling. Even when the labourers are caught moving inland with the aid of the organized criminal groups involved in smuggling, in practice the police often cannot find enough evidence to charge the smugglers with bringing in undocumented migrants.

123 Department of Special Investigation of Thailand. (2016). DSI’s Administration of TOC in 2014 - present. Official data provided in response to TIJ request, Bangkok.

As for Myanmar workers who are looking to migrate to Thailand, they usually form a group, which will then seek the support of the head of the village in order to persuade even more villagers to join them. Occasionally the village head will even become the migration group leader, since persons in the group trust him. He will then cooperate with the smugglers in arranging the trip. The leader of the group is not necessarily the perpetrator, but merely the liaison between the prospective labourers and the organized criminal groups involved in the smuggling. For example, in a province along the Thai-Myanmar border visited in the course of this field research, the smuggling of migrants is an apparent problem because migrants from Myanmar do not know how to migrate legally, and therefore turn to Thai agents. The agents will take the victims to the Thai side of the border without using the legitimate border crossing, and instead cross unpatrolled natural borders. Irregular border crossing is coupled with the use of fraudulent passports produced locally. The passports usually indicate an age older than 18, since anyone younger than 18 cannot legally work in Thailand. The cost of the fraudulent passport ranges from 8,000 to 15,000 Baht. (ca. USD 250 – 500).

Meanwhile, migrants from other places, for example from Eastern Europe, use different methods, in which they cross the border legally with a visa, but then stay past their visa period.

As for the migrant smuggling operated by organized criminal groups, each group uses different approaches in committing crimes. For example, some groups appear to be quite large, comprising of a chain of agents hired by the organization from among the local coordinators in the victims’ recruiting area, to the smugglers who merely accompany the victims to the border. A smuggler usually accompanies the victims because they cannot speak English and the smuggler will accompany them until they reach the border, where the smuggler receives the fee and ends his job. Afterward, the migrants will proceed to cross the border on their own.

In 80% of the cases of migrant smuggling occurring through one of Thailand’s main airports, authorities found one victim accompanied by one smuggler. The largest victim to smuggler ratio differential was five victims to one smuggler; this particular case involved a Russian smuggling five Syrians. In most cases the victims are not of the same nationality as the smuggler, and if they are being smuggled in a group, the victims tend not to know each other.

Smuggling Routes

Thailand is primarily a transit and destination country, although interviewees have occasionally reported incidents in which Thailand is an origin country. The routes and methods involved in the smuggling of migrants vary, since smugglers use a combination of local networks, organized criminal groups and individual brokers that the UNODC qualifies as ‘high flexible meta-networks’.124 The UNODC has also noted that migrant smuggling in Southeast Asia primarily involves young men, although a growing number of women are also seeking to migrate to Thailand in order to obtain work in the domestic service, entertainment and hospitality industries.125

Thailand as a country of origin, transit and destination for smugglers

Thailand is not typically a source country for the smuggling of migrants, but in some instances Thai women have been smuggled to Korea, and Thai nationals have been smuggled to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Brunei. Undocumented migrants from Thailand tend to stay within the Asian labour markets as these countries are similar to their homes in terms of environment, society and culture.126

Thailand usually acts as a transit country in the smuggling of migrants. People travelling to Australia or New Zealand from South Asia may go through Thailand as part of the route. A companion usually holds dual passports to make the transition smoother and less suspect. Migrants coming from Africa may go through Thailand en route to the United States and Europe. Rohingya migrants from Myanmar, as well as migrants from Bangladesh and Uyghur from China, may go through Thailand to other Muslim countries. A number of sources estimate that since 2012, roughly 100,000 Rohingya migrants have passed through Thailand.127 In many cases, Cambodian Muslims are also trying to reach Malaysia, a majority Muslim country, in order to find work.

Thailand’s economy has encouraged many migrants to see Thailand as a destination country. Specific groups migrating illegally to Thailand include Myanmars, Cambodians, Eastern Europeans, Laotians, and Indians. This is because economic development in Thailand is significantly more advanced than in most other ASEAN member states, and therefore many migrants from Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar come to find work in Thailand in order to live in a place with a higher quality of life than in their home country.128 Migrants from Myanmar tend to enter through the border provinces of Tak and Mae Hong Son. Cambodian migrants, in turn, tend to enter through the border passes of Aranyaprathet. In both cases, these migrants usually enter Thailand across unpatrolled natural borders. Many migrants from Laos are ultimately trying to reach Bangkok, often using the northern province of Chiang Khong as the key entry point into Thailand. Those coming from South Asia will usually enter at an airport. For some migrants, Thailand becomes the destination country when they are not successful in their transfer to another intended destination.

124 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. (2015). Migrant Smuggling in Asia. Current Trends and Related Challenges. UNODC Regional Office for East Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, 85. 125 Ibid., 61, 87. 126 Chantavanich, S., Middleton, C., & Ito, M. (Eds.). (2013). On the Move: Critical Migration Themes in ASEAN. International Organization for Migration and Asian Research Centre for Migration. Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 156. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/TIJ008/ Downloads/OntheMove%20(1).pdf 127 Nation Thailand. Thailand’s refusal to recognise Rohingya as refugees leaves them in illegal limbo. Retrieved from https://www. nationthailand.com/asean-plus/30340157 128 Ibid., 175..