Thailand's unfinished battle against human trafficking

Thailand's unfinished battle against human trafficking

In Thailand, hundreds of thousands of members of minority ethnic groups legally have no national affiliation to Thailand. The Thai government officially recognizes only nine of the tribes in the remote highlands, leaving the rest without Thai citizenship. Because they have no legal national affiliation to Thailand, these groups have no right to education, employment, healthcare, or even freedom of movement.

Although stateless people have a right to attain citizenship under Thai law, the process is extremely difficult. Thai law states that eligible applicants can obtain citizenship within 90 days, but in reality, the process often takes as long as three years or more. Additionally, in many cases, government officials are reluctant to help stateless people proceed with the application process due to corruption, which further slows the process.

Lehmann says lack of citizenship makes stateless people vulnerable to human trafficking in several ways.

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The missing piece of the U.S. anti-human trafficking effort

The missing piece of the U.S. anti-human trafficking effort

"unless the U.S. addresses the problem of American youth entering the sex industry to pimp others, its fight against human trafficking will never stop.

One scholar says that the problem of American youth pimping others, among many other crimes, is attributed to the lack of proper role models in their lives. Surely, youth need positive role models who will teach them that exploiting others are wrong and that their actions bear consequences. But, that is not enough. They also need changes in their mindsets that they can be anything but “a drug dealer, a thug, or a pimp in the hood.”

Meet Prontiss Houseworth. He was arrested for sex trafficking women in Nashville, Tennessee just a few weeks ago. According to local news, Prontiss allegedly threatened to kill the victims and their families if the victims refused to prostitute for his financial gain.

The victims stated that Prontiss put them in the back of his car with the child locks on and transported them against their will from Atlanta, Georgia to Nashville, Tennessee. They also testified that upon arrival in Nashville, Prontiss confined them in a motel room "

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Domestic workers in Lebanon: Employed or enslaved?

Domestic workers in Lebanon: Employed or enslaved?

Sina traveled to Lebanon from Nepal to become a housemaid a few years ago. When her employment agent reached out to her in her impoverished rural community, the agent told Sina that a housemaid job in Lebanon would not only enable her to support her siblings but also help her pay for her mom's hospital bill. Sina thought that the opportunity seemed to be too good to pass by. Therefore, she immediately packed her belongings and flew to Lebanon.

Upon her arrival in Lebanon, Sina quickly discovered that her work situation was quite different from what she had imagined. After confiscating Sina’s passport and identification, the employers wanted her to work fourteen hours a day, seven days a week. They gave Sina only bread and tea to eat each day. For months, the employers also demanded that she work at their relatives’ houses.

Employers never mentioned anything about her salary, which she had not received. When Sina finally confronted her employers about the unpaid salary, the employers became physically and verbally abusive towards Sina. They also locked her in a room every night so that Sina could not escape from the employers’ house.

Today in Beirut City, Sina’s story is all too common to ignore among foreign housemaids. Some housemaids also face sexual abuse by their employers and have no legal recourse or other ability to protect their rights.