Anti-trafficking Through Reporting: The Case of the TIP Report and Thailand

Authors

  • Yodsapon Chirawut A Master Student of Department of War Studies, King's College London, United Kingdom

Keywords:

Trafficking, Trafficking in Persons Report, Indicators

Abstract

The Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP Report) is the US government’s principal diplomatic tool in advocating other governments to adopt and implement anti-trafficking policies. This article argues that the TIP Report does affect Thailand at a policy level. The policy change happens mainly because the government became concerned with potential economic loss from non-tariff barrier, the withdrawal of the GSP, and negative publicity for Thai exports. A secondary reason is that the downgrade reflected poorly on the Thai government’s performance. Regarding the framework of the TIP Report, there has been a shift from prostitution and transnational crime frames towards a labour rights protection frame. This frame is sufficient to allow the consideration of demand-side factors of human trafficking. Although the TIP Report acknowledges supply-side factors that induce migration and increase the risk of being trafficked, the report only includes policies intended to improve equal opportunity. This approach, however, may overlook some development initiatives that have clear and direct impacts on the human trafficking problem.

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2019-06-28

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