1. An Endemic Approach: Understanding Corruption and
Migration as Vulnerabilities to Labor Trafficking in Thailand
Sarah A. Scott, International Psychology
The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
Abstract Introduction
Thailand is a country laden with internal labor trafficking issues – a convenient destination for Human trafficking is one of the most pressing, multifaceted problems of the current time period; one
individuals trafficked from other countries and a prime hub for syndicates who wish to transport that operates predominately on a clandestine, deleterious, and international scale. As estimated by the U.S.
Thai persons nearby and abroad. Despite significant attempts to combat this issue in Thailand, there Department of State (DOS) Trafficking in Persons Report (2011), there are upwards of 25 million persons
remains a dearth of empirical research on the cultural idiosyncrasies and vulnerabilities trafficked each year. Eradicating the issue of human trafficking is imperative, as those who are enslaved
perpetuating this problem. Therefore, this potential research undertaking will attempt to fulfill the may be subjected to severe forms of abuse, a loss of freedom and dignity, exposure to disease, extreme
gaps in the human trafficking body of literature by employing a mixed-methods design, selecting a manipulation, and severe isolation, amongst many other acts of inhumanity (Gozdziak and Bump, 2008).
representative sample that includes men and individuals from various economic backgrounds, and SE Asia, according to Ghosh (2009), accounts for approximately three trafficked persons per 1,000
investigating the extent to which underlying factors – corruption and migration – perpetuate the inhabitants – one of the highest rates of trafficking occurrences in the world. For reasons endemic to the
pervasiveness of labor trafficking throughout Thailand. country itself, Thailand, in particular, has been perennially inundated with human trafficking cases that are
exceedingly lucrative and pervasive. This SE Asian country has been consistently laden with demand,
supply, and transit issues – penetrable borders and institutional corruption foster a convenient destination
for migratory workers and allow syndicates to effortlessly transport Thai persons across countries.
Method Therefore, innumerable cases are left unreported, countless perpetrators operate freely, and governmental
efforts to comply with universal anti-trafficking legislations are limited (U.S. DOS, 2011; Willman, 2009).
As such, Thailand is currently placed on the Tier 2 Watch List from the ranking system developed and
Participants implemented by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. The Tier 2 Watch List rank
100 native Thai men and women, aged 18-30, each of whom has survived at least one experience encompasses those countries that do not fully act in accordance with the minimal standards of trafficking
in a trafficking operation regardless of the entry method (e.g. voluntarily versus involuntarily) or prevention, protection, and prosecution, despite experiencing an extensive amount of cases.
location (e.g. internally or abroad) but no greater than one year from the time of the study. Accordingly, this potential research project will attempt to uncover the extent to which institutional
Definitions
corruption and (illegal or legal) migratory patterns underpin the labor trafficking system in Thailand and
Procedure generate such commonness and tolerance in this SE Asian country. Written as an addendum to the United Nations Convention Against Organized Crime, the Protocol
Collaboration will occur with gatekeepers from a neutral anti-trafficking organization operating
in Thailand. Given the high emotive content of and the danger interrelated with this topic, field to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons (as cited by the United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime [UNODC], 2011), to which 117 countries are currently signatories, defines human trafficking
access will also be established through partnerships with liaisons for the police, legal, and visa
offices in the area. Criterion, opportunistic, and respondent-driven sampling will be utilized, and as: “Trafficking in persons shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of
the sample will be adequately representative of the population-at-large. The informed consents, persons by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of
deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments
surveys, and interview sessions will each be explained and translated by a native speaker and will
be culturally relevant. All interviews and surveys will be conducted in a safe, anonymous locale or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of
so as to ensure the safety of the participants and those circuitously connected to them. Follow-up exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or
sessions and protective resources will be made available to all participating individuals as a other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery,
second, precautionary measure. servitude or the removal of organs.”
According to the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act (2000), labor trafficking is defined as: “The
Instruments recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor services, through the
use of force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt
In-depth individual interviews will be facilitated and standardized surveys – procured from the
Appendixes of Turukanova (2009) – will be administered. The International Organization for bondage or slavery.”
Migration [IOM] (2008) Global Human Trafficking Database will be utilized for standardized
support and comparison purposes.
References
Rationale
Ghosh, B. (2009). Trafficking in women and children in India: Nature, dimensions and strategies for
As Gozdziak and Bump (2008) elucidate, survivor interviews are far too few in number, mixed-methods prevention. The International Journal of Human Rights, 13(5), 716-738.
designs are rarely conducted, and empirically supported research on the topic of human trafficking is Gozdziak, E. M., & Bump, M. N. (2008). Data and research on human trafficking: Bibliography of
scarce. Moreover, men are typically excluded from sample selections, the impecunious and indigenous research-based literature. Retrieved from: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/
are oftentimes the sole subjects of inquiry, and sex trafficking is the topic most readily investigated. Heckathorn, D. D. (2002). Respondent-Driven Sampling II: Deriving Valid Population Estimates from
Accordingly, this research venture will aim to satiate the dearth of relevant, efficacious information that Chain-Referral Samples of Hidden Populations. Social Problems. Retrieved from:
exists in the human trafficking body of literature. Idealistically, obtaining insight into the cultural http://www.respondentdrivensampling.org/
nuances of Thailand’s problematic and widespread labor trafficking system will generate information International Organization for Migration (IOM) (2008). Human Trafficking: New Directions for Research.
relevant for the ensuing: Educating communities about trafficking, its consequences, and vulnerability Retrieved from: http://www.iom.int/
factors; formulating and implementing prevention planning strategies; monitoring and evaluating Turnukova, E. (2009). Model Methodology of a Baseline Survey of Human Trafficking in the Regions of
regional responses to combat trafficking; developing region-specific policies on victim protection and the Russian Federation. Moscow, Russia: Bureau of the International Organization for Migration
perpetrator punishment; and, supporting local anti-trafficking projects, amongst others. Most (Bureau of IOM). Retrieved from: http://www.no2slavery.ru/files/model_methodology_eng.pdf
importantly, however, this research design will function as an emancipatory agent; one that will provide United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) (2011). Human Trafficking. Retrieved from:
a voice for the trafficking survivors, one that will protect vulnerable others, one that will prosecute the http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html?ref=menuside
wrongdoers, and one that will work to terminate this global problem in its entirety, commencing with Willman, M.N. (2009). Human trafficking in Asia: Increasing individual and state accountability through
Thailand…breaking the chains to sustain change in Thailand and beyond. expanded victims’ rights. Columbia Journal of Asian Law, 22(2), 283-313.