BANGKOK (AFP)--Thailand Wednesday adopted new guidelines to combat the increasing problem of human trafficking in the kingdom, where 54 Myanmar migrant workers were found suffocated to death on a truck in April.
Thousands of people from Myanmar illegally cross the border into Thailand each month seeking a better-paid job but often end up exploited by employers.
"Because we have a long borderline with our neighboring countries and there are difficulties in the economic situation of those countries, there have been influxes of people coming into our country and they have been exploited," said labor ministry deputy permanent secretary Pornchai Yooprayong.
"We will act in every possible way to support our personnel to implement the operational guidelines we are signing today," Pornchai told reporters as the labor and social development ministries signed the new guidelines.
The document, produced in conjunction with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), establishes a coordinated response where trafficking is suspected and the rescue of exploited workers is required.
It complements a trafficking law that comes into effect on June 5, which builds on an existing law to penalize exploitative employers.
Saisuree Chutikul, an independent adviser to the process, said it was important the guidelines were now acted upon and a training program established.
"These are just words and they easily die. So can we make this a living document and put it into real practice?" she said.
The focus on human trafficking comes after 54 Myanmar migrant workers were found dead in a cold storage container on a truck on April 9 in the border province of Ranong as they were smuggled over the border.
ILO sub-regional director Bill Salter said: "I would urge both ministries to implement these guidelines without delay." Exploitation of trafficked workers was worst among domestic servants and in the fishing, seafood processing, agriculture and construction industries, he said.
However, Salter and Saisuree acknowledged Thailand could only succeed in stamping out the problem with increased help from the Myanmar authorities, which have abandoned a memorandum of understanding on trafficking previously agreed with the Thai government.
Saisuree said she hoped the agreement could be reactivated this week during a visit by six senior Myanmar government officials to Thailand.
About 540,000 migrant workers are registered to work in Thailand, most of them from Myanmar, according to the labor ministry, but as many as one million undocumented workers are believed to be in the kingdom.
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