Country
Modern slavery in Thailand
17 documented cases recorded in Thailand, 2008–2024. Locations are deliberately generalized to protect survivors.
Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
Indian nationals rescued from scam compound after being recruited with fake IT job offers. Passports confiscated beaten for failing quotas Accused: Indian-Chinese recruitment network.
Songkhla, Thailand
Human Rights Watch documented systemic forced labor aboard Thai fishing vessels, interviewing 248 current and former fishers, mostly from Myanmar and Cambodia, who described confiscated documents, 14+ hour days, and confinement at sea for months. Accused: Thai fishing vessel owners and captains.
anlong veng, cambodia, Thailand
"The three unmarked police cars ahead of us pulled up in front of the brothel, and the police and prosecutor ran in. Somaly and I followed and watched as police with assault rifles confiscated cellphones from the brothel manager, a middle-aged woman, and her male partner, so that they couldn’t call for reinforcements. We quickly found five girls and one young woman, three Cambodians and three Vietnamese. The youngest turned out to be a seventh grader trafficked from Vietnam three months earlier, making her about 12 years old. The anti-trafficking police found 10 rooms equipped with beds and full of discarded condoms in the trash; the rooms all locked with padlocks from the outside, presumably to incarcerate girls inside. Several other young girls Somaly had photographed in her earlier visit couldn’t be found, despite a frantic search of all the locked rooms. 'They’re probably kept at another house in town, but we don’t know where it is,' Somaly said." --http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/opinion/sunday/kristof-fighting-back-one-brothel-raid-at-a-time.html
Chiang Rai, Thailand, Thailand
Noi Noi comes from a very poor family in the northeastern part of Thailand. She is the oldest of 4 children. Her father is an alcoholic and is very aggressive when drunk. He would consistently beat the whole family. After several years her mother could not handle the situation any longer and invited Noi to take poison so that they would die together. Noi was afraid. Not long after that her mother committed suicide. Noi was 9 years old. From then on Noi became her father’s “wife”. Many times a week her father abused her and he also invited his friends over to do the same. From the age of 9 till 12 her life was all misery. With no mother, no protection; she had to take care of her younger siblings.
Chiang Rai, Thailand, Thailand
Fortunately a teacher discovered what was going on and she helped her to find a way out.
Chiang Rai, Thailand, Thailand
She has the sweetest face, the biggest smile. You’d never know the heartache hidden in her heart. Her name is Manee, just 6 years old when she came into HE this year. She came in so hungry for hugs and love. Both were sadly lacking in her family. She has the sweetest face, the biggest smile. You’d never know the heartache hidden in her heart. She is so tiny – it is hard to imagine someone wanting to beat someone so little, so defenseless. Her mother is not there to defend her as during the day, she is hired to work in someone else’s fields. Manee’s future looked bleak, until HE came to her village. After assessing the needs, after talk and more talk with the mother and stepfather, Manee was released into the care of HE A safe place at last for a tiny little girl with a wounded heart. That’s Manee.
Chiang Rai, Thailand, Thailand
The Mirror Foundation was given information about the child. They rescued him, and are now helping him get an education at the local school for disabled.
Chiang Rai, Thailand, Thailand
A thirteen year old girl's boyfriend brought her to Chaing Rai. He sold her to a brothel in the Southern Islands of Thailand to work as a prostitute.
Chiang Mai, Thailand, Thailand
Eighteen year old's mother sold her into marriage to earn profit. After being with her first husband for two months, where she worked as a housekeeper, nanny, and cook, her husband found another wife and her mother took her back. Her mother then sold her again to a different man, collecting her earnings for a second time.
Ranong, Trang, South Thailand, Thailand
Victims trafficked by Burmese gangs. Two of the brokers are ethnic Mon men from Burma. Most traffickers worked on and ran fishing boats. They trafficked the victims by road and told them they would work on a construction site, earning a sufficient wage. If captives complained, the traffickers threw them overboard or sold them to other boats.
Trang Province in southern Thailand, Thailand
In October, police in Thailand, as well as human rights activists in Mahachai, raided two of the brokers houses, rescuing 18 detained fishermen. Many other men were found locked up in cabins on a ship. These men were forced work on fishing boats for many months without pay–many of them were forbidden to even go onto shore. Some were even killed, or thrown overboard, if they questioned authority. Most of the victims were ethnic Mon, from eastern Burma. Many of the 51 men were from the Irrawaddy delta, Pegu, Mon State and Tenassirm Division. Authorities have arrested several of the traffickers, however many of them escaped. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=17331
Sankhongluang Rd, Chiang Rai town, Thailand
The trafficker was the owner of a noodle restaurant in this region, specifically on Sankhongluang Rd. The situation arose when a 14 year old girl from the Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand, ventured out into the town looking for work and a place to stay – she was enticed by a “better life”. Her parents were drug addicts – that was her push factor. The restaurant owner offered her work and pay at 2000 Baht a month and board in their house. She was paid for the first two months, but then they stopped or occasionally paid her 200 Baht per month. She worked in the restaurant until closing and then was forced to do domestic chores around the house. She was not allowed out. The owner had taken her citizenship papers and so she was scared to report the exploitation. She threatened to leave, which the owner responded to by threatening her life and the lives of her family – he apparently pointed a gun at her. Eventually the girl escaped, finding a family member. She contacted Mirror Foundation and is now safe.
Chiang Rai, Thailand, Thailand
Wan* was supposed to die. She had been sold to be a human sacrifice to a village seeking gold. That sounds awful, and it is, but her story is even sadder than that. At age 8, her brother-in-law forced her to come and look after his children. Wan knew he wasn’t a nice man from her sister, who had been forced into marriage with him. It wasn’t very long before he raped her. And not too long after that, he sold her to a village who believed a human sacrifice would help them find gold. Thanks to a brave man who rescued Wan, she ended up, broken and afraid, on the doorstep of HOR.
Xishaungbanna, Yunnan province, China, Thailand
Three traffickers - referred to in China as "snakeheads" - tried to sneak 124 people out of China in early December 2008. The "snakeheads" had overseas backing according to the Chinese police (as reported by the Xinhua News Agency). They brought their victims to Yunnan with promises of jobs. In reality, they planned to traffick them into Myanmar with the collaboration of Burmese casino operators where they would be forced to construct roads. Numerous casinos run by drug lords and ethnic rebels operate on the Myanmar side of the long border with China. The victims were from poor families from villages near Chaoyang and Dandong in the Liaoning province - close to the main border between China and Korea.
bangkok, thailand, Thailand
Nikki, who is from Central Asia, was desperate to find a job after her husband died of a heart attack. A friend told her that she could make a lot of money in Bangkok serving as a "companion" for wealthy clients at exclusive hotels. So she left her two children in her home country to try out the new job in Bangkok. She didn't realize until her first night in Bangkok that she would be prostituting herself, and she did not realize it would turn into three years of hell. But by then it was too late. The owners of the hotel intimidated and threatened her into submission.
Tachilek, Myanmar, Thailand
It is in process now, in that the baby's mum has borrowed money and is now on the way to get the baby back.
Mae Sai, Thailand, Thailand
In two separate cases, young Burmese children were rescued from trafficking situations. Pim, the girl, is eight years old. Her Burmese mother forced her to go to the border bridge every day to beg for money. The mom is addicted to opium which grows widely in the Golden Triangle region. The mother tells Pim not to come home unless she comes back with 300 baht (roughly $10). With local events in Myanmar already depressing the low tourist season, finding donors is tough business. The abolitionist Kru Nam hears through the street grapevine that the mother is looking to sell Pim to the highest bidder. The boy, Kho, is 11. Two years ago he was trafficked into Thailand for child labor. He escaped and found refuge at Buddies along the Roadside. His Burmese family made contact and demanded that Kho come back home, and Kru Nam happily complied with their request to reunite Kho with his family. Two months passed, and Kru Nam ran into Kho in the streets of Mae Sai. He begged Kru Nam to return to Buddies. His family is forcing him to sell drugs - primarily ice and amphetamines - on each side of the border. When kids are caught selling drugs, the police treat them lightly. Adults, on the other hand, will be sentenced to long prison terms. So many adults use kids as their drug peddlers.