Govt teams up with UAE to fight trade

Thailand and the United Arab Emirates have joined hands in tackling human trafficking to stamp out a scourge that local security forces have so far struggled to contain.

Minister of Social Development and Human Security Anantaporn Kanjanarat signed an MoU to this effect with Ahmed Abdulrahman Al Jarman, the UAE’s assistant minister for human rights and international law, in Bangkok on Wednesday.

The binding agreement to enhance bilateral ties in this area focuses on women and children, specifically protecting victims, enforcing the law, and repatriating and reintegrating victims back into society.

The countries will work together to help rehabilitate victims of trafficking by providing them with appropriate housing, counselling, medical, psychological and material assistance, as well as employment, and educational and training opportunities, according to the MoU.

The deal binds the countries closer and it is hoped they will come up with ways to prevent trafficking in respective territories, officials said. Thailand is still seen as a regional hub for traffickers.

Only last month a high-end “soapy massage” parlour in Bangkok called Victoria’s Secret Massage was raided.

A number of suspected human trafficking victims were rescued, mostly from neighbouring Southeast Asian nations.