Thai police nationwide to be trained to handle human trafficking, as cases rise
- Anti-trafficking chief Jaruvat Vaisaya says officers based outside Bangkok have a limited ability to handle such cases
- Thailand says it rescued a record 1,807 trafficking victims last year, many of whom were Myanmar migrant workers bound for Malaysia
Thailand’s top anti-trafficking police officer has vowed to boost training for the police force nationwide to better respond to a rising number of cases of sexual exploitation and forced labour outside Bangkok.
“We have found an increase in cases in provincial areas where we couldn’t send our staff (from Bangkok) in time,” Jaruvat said in an interview ahead of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons on July 30.
About three-quarters of 283 trafficking cases nationwide last year were investigated outside Bangkok – up from two-thirds of 301 cases in 2018 – according to government statistics.
“Officers in general don’t know how to handle (trafficking cases) … some still can’t identify victims,” Jaruvat said. “In the past, we conducted simple training, and mistakes happened.”
Jaruvat said 150 police officers and civil servants from across the country had this week started a training course to help them better identify and deal with victims of trafficking.
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Pakistani Christian girls trafficked to China as brides speak about their ordeals
In total, Thailand has 1,640 specialist anti-trafficking officers nationwide, more than 100 of whom are based in Bangkok.