By Luke Hunt
Thai authorities are bracing for a downgrade to Tier Three on the U.S. State Department’s watch list of countries with the worst records in combating human trafficking. At a recent panel discussion, the government made it clear this wasn’t what they wanted to hear, nor did they think it’s fair.
Thailand was initially classified as a Tier Two country on the Trafficking in Persons list in 2010 for not complying with minimum standards required to address the trafficking of people across borders who were then pressed gang into forced labor ranging from prostitution to working on fishing vessels.
The relegation is almost a matter of course. If a country shows no sign of improvement after two years at that level it automatically drops into the bottom, or Tier Three, list alongside North Korea, Cuba and Burma.
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