4.06 Foreign Policy

Human Trafficking is the act of recruiting, holding, transporting, or receiving a person by force to exploit them. In Thailand, this has been a problem going on for a long time, in fact prostitution was even legal in the country between the 1300s and the 1700s. In more recent times, it grew even more during the 1960s and 1970s, through the use of Thailand as a “recreational” place for US military servicemen during the Vietnam War and rising rural poverty. This led to urban migration throughout the country.

This issue affects primarily those who flee from harshly poor conditions to Thailand, especially those under the age of 18. Illegal immigration into Thailand gives traffickers opportunities to force immigrants into these conditions, most of the time being misled into them.

Numerous international organizations, including the United Nations (UN), and NGOs have stepped in to help the Thailand government fight against this problem. A treaty was signed in 2000 by most of the UN member nations. Those who sign it are agreeing to “commit themselves to taking measures against international organized crime, including the creation of laws within their countries to combat human trafficking.” Their goals are to free those who are victims, prevent it from further happening, and to hold those responsible accountable for their actions. The US specifically has a tool called the Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP), which is published annually, with the goal of engaging foreign governments on human trafficking.

The closest foreign policy spectrum that these responses would relate to is diplomacy. Keep in mind that the other nations are not directly stepping in/intervening or taking over anything at all, they are just aiding the efforts of the Thailand government through various methods. Various countries and organizations, such as the UN, are trying to help out the Thailand government in solving this problem.

Obviously these responses have not been fully successful in combatting against human trafficking, otherwise this problem would be at a much better state right now. First off, the penalties for this are not harsh enough. If they were harsh enough, the number of traffickers would significantly go down, trying to stay away from getting in trouble. In more simple terms, the traffickers are not being pressured enough to stop what they are doing. Others around the world should also step up to help combat against this problem. By making this a priority, this problem could actually be resolved. However, for anything to get done in life, effort needs to be put into it. Otherwise, nothing will ever get done.