Trafficking Government Tensions & Risk Reduction

Early this morning I had a big meeting with the One Stop Crisis Center (OSCC). They are a government organization that works primarily in hospitals and it responsible for handling and taking care of all cases of abuse and suspected trafficking in the area. When i arrived at the hospital they were currently handling to cases: a young girl age 12 brought into the hospital who was abused sexually and violently by her father, and another case of abuse for girl in a brothel. The meeting went well. They didn't have many statistics to share, real cases to discuss or any helpful methodologies in after care trauma care therapy. Most of the children and young women that are brought to the OSCC are from Hilltribes; the most vulnerable group when it comes to labor and sex trafficking. The children often don't know how old they are, neither do they have any identification to prove that they were born in Thailand. So after running a bone test to determine the age of the individual if they cannot prove legal citizenship they often are deported back to the bordering country they migrated from and left as orphans,  which in many cases results in them being trafficked again.

(Every name and picture used has not been taken or used without the consent of the individual recorded or photographed)

I had the opportunity to meet with Pee Ko who currently works for TRAFFCORE an organization dedicated to rescuing and investigating cases of persons trafficked. My meeting with him was very insightful. Before coming to work for TRAFFCORE he formally worked as an undercover investigative agent for an NGO in Thailand. He worked in the regional police department as well as for the NGO. He also spent time working with the police department. While working with the police department he saw many levels of corruption. Many of the police officers were married to or affiliated with in different ways many of the Karaoke bar, Pub, and restaurant owners. He found that almost on every level bribery with money was involved. According toe Pee Ko, it is often the police who warn the brother managers when a raid is about to go down and so they tell them to hide all the underage children/workers that they have.

Pee Ko has been working in the are of human trafficking for the last 10 years shifting into different specified areas of interest but has never left the field human trafficking. He said that his work is very sad but that someone must do it. When he first got involved in the work he did undercover visits to the brothel auctions and Karaoke bars and wrote up reports to submit to higher trustworthy government officials as evidence for what was taking place. He said that this work was difficult because often while working with a case (a child trafficked into a brothel unwillingly) within days of him writing and submitting his report the child would be moved and disappear forever.

He made a very good point: Most NGO's often try and assist at the end of the problem - when the situation is at its worst  - when a person has have been trafficked - but  there are several leading causes that work towards a young child or teenager being trafficked. He says trafficking is the end of the problem it is better that we work to alleviate the initial causes. (poverty, lack of awareness, little to no education or knowledge)

It has been tiring and frustrating meeting with some of the government officials. Trying to track down information or get statistics or even understand the problem more clearly is difficult. The trafficking problem becomes more and more complex the more i hear stories in the villages and sit down with officials. But i have come to realize that little to no information is a lot of information.

(On the way up into the mountains)