The Phenomenon of Cross-Border Human Trafficking: Complexities of Exploitation Issues in Thailand

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the phenomenon of cross-border human trafficking relating to the complexities of exploitation in Thailand. Drawing on some empirical research, but mainly offering conceptual ideas, this paper demonstrates the complexities of the exploitative issues of both human trafficking in labor and sexual exploitation in women and children in which the different forms of vulnerability and exploitation have been neglected and de-conceptualized in the context of trafficking and protection in international human rights regime. Most cases of trafficking have been interpreted in the wider perspective of illegal migration and transnational crime and have often been undermined or duplicated in the context of human smuggling or have not been applied to the protection measures under the trafficking laws. Recent discourses have revealed the complicated characteristics of emerging exploitation in other aspects of migration i.e. border crossing and procurement of travel documents, the process of repatriation, child labor engaged in slave-like employment, illegal recruitment, malpractices of private labor recruitment agencies etc. The diversities and complexities of exploitation need to be addressed. The complexities of exploitation have not only been apparent in evidence regarding the vulnerability in sex trafficking and labor migration which has resulted from transformation in the political-economy and the globalization process. Their manifestations have also been critical in national and transnational advocacy in which the definitions and interpretations of trafficking applied by the Royal Thai Government do not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking according to the Protocol. This has contributed to the complexities and challenges in theoretical and practical debates regarding the management of migration policy and labor.