The meeting of Subcommittee for Monitoring Disciplinary Actions and Prosecution against Government Officials to Avert Involvement in Human Trafficking no. 3/2565

The meeting of Subcommittee for Monitoring Disciplinary Actions and Prosecution against Government Officials to Avert Involvement in Human Trafficking no. 3/2565

       On December 23, 2022, at 1.30 p.m. Mrs. Aranya Thongnamtako (Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice) chaired the meeting of Subcommittee for Monitoring Disciplinary Actions and Prosecution against Government Officials to Avert Involvement in Human Trafficking no. 3/2565. The Human Trafficking Bureau as the Secretary invited the Subcommittee consisting of the Office of the Court of Justice, the Office of the Attorney General, the Royal Thai Police, the Anti-Money Laundering Office, the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, and the Office of Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission to attend the meeting via video conferencing. The meeting followed up on the progress of the proceedings against government officials involved in human trafficking. According to the statistics from 2012 until the present, there have been 116 government officials involved in human trafficking (14 civil servants, 8 military officers, 78 police officers, 16 local politicians), 120 criminal cases prosecuted (4 government officials prosecuted for 2 cases each), disciplinary proceedings against 96 officials (no disciplinary information of 20 officials) and properties worth 78.1 million baht seized. Besides, the Human Trafficking Bureau of the Department of Special Investigation as the Secretary proposed the 9 additional matters to be considered by the Subcommittee, including the case of Department of Employment officer and police officer who requested bribes in exchange for facilitating the travel of human trafficking victims to pass the screening checkpoint without being checked and intercepted. Mrs. Aranya Thongnamtako (Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice) emphasized the importance of fighting human trafficking, especially the case of government officers involved in wrongdoings. The problem of government officers involved in human trafficking was one of the important point stated in the TIP REPORT 2022 that upgraded Thailand from Tier 2 Watch List to Tier 2, and it was the important problem that the Government focuses on solving to raise Thailand to Tier 1.