Thailand: Smuggling of Thai people to North America to work as domestic workers for expatriate Thai families; information on extortion of these domestic workers and their families in Thailand and whether the police can protect domestic workers from retribution when the workers return to Thailand without having paid the entire amount owed to their smugglers

No reports of specific incidents in which Thai people have been smuggled to North America to work as domestic workers for expatriate Thai families and have had their families and themselves subjected to extortion could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

In the absence of specific reports, however, a number of documentary and oral sources indicated the possibility of this practice. For example, a report from "Voices of Thai Women" reprinted in Women's International Network News states:

In Thailand, the predominant purpose for trafficking [transportation from one region to another] of women and children was found to be for prostitution. Domestic labour, factory work and the mail order bride business also feature (Winter 1997, 59).

Thai women smuggled to countries including Canada are frequently subjected to "debt bondage". Debt bondage in the context of trafficking in woman, is described in The Human Rights Watch Global Report on Women's Human Rights:

In addition to treaty provisions that address trafficking particularly, other human rights instruments apply to practices commonly associated with the trafficking industry. The 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery (Supplementary Slavery Convention) bans all slavery-like practices, including debt bondage and forced marriage. Debt bondage is defined as: "the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal services or of those of a person under his control as security for a debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined." (August 1995)

In the wake of "Project Trade", a joint operation of Toronto area police forces that broke up a Thai smuggling and prostitution ring, it was revealed that the women faced debts of $50,000 (Toronto Star 4 Dec. 1998, B1).

In telephone interviews with the Research Directorate, an Assistant Director with the Centre for Asia Pacific Studies at the University of Victoria and the Executive Director of the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women - Canada (GAATW-C) stated that although they were not personally aware of cases in which Thai women had been smuggled to work for expatriate Thai families, they had seen that pattern with other Asian countries including Indonesia and the Philippines (15 Jan. 1999; 21 Jan. 1999). In a telephone interview a detective with the Toronto-based Combined Forces Asian Investigation Unit involved in the "Project Trade" operation also added that the principal recruiting territories for the organized crime networks in Thailand involved in trafficking in women were the rural areas and the ranks of domestic workers in Bangkok (21 Jan. 1999).

All of the specialists confirmed that the extortion of "debt bondage" could also be applied to the families of the victims in their home countries including Thailand. This was corroborated by an Asian organized crime specialist with the RCMP's Criminal Intelligence Service Canada in a telephone interview (18 Jan. 1999).

All specialists agreed that when the victim had failed to pay off the debt bondage both they and their families could be at risk. Among the countries in which organized crime rings carry out these operations it was stated that Thailand was one of the most difficult to guarantee police protection. The Executive Director of GAATW-C went further, stating that police protection in Thailand for victims is virtually non-existent and added that there have also been incidents in which corrupt law enforcement officials have actually harassed victims.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted.

References

Centre for Asia Pacific Initiatives at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. 15 January 1999. Telephone interview with the Assistant Director.

Combined Forces Asian Investigation Unit. 21 January 1999. Telephone interview with Detective.

Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women - Canada. 21 January 1999. Telephone interview with Executive Director.

The Human Rights Watch Global Report on Women's Human Rights. August 1995. [REFWORLD].

RCMP Criminal Intelligence Service Canada. 18 January 1999. Telephone interview with Asian organized crime specialist.

The Toronto Star. 4 December 1998. Peter Edwards. "Raids Linked to Global Crime: Prostitution Ring Just One Example, Officer Says."

Women's Information Network News [Lexington, MA]. Winter 1997. "Thailand: New Information on Traffic in Women."

Additional Sources Consulted

News from Asia Watch. 19956 - 1998.

Women's Information Network News [Lexington, MA]. 1993 - 1998.

Resource Centre Amnesty International File on Thailand. 1995 - 1998.

Resource Centre Country File on Thailand. 1995 - 1998.

Resource Centre Thematic File on Women. 1996 -1998.