Thailand: Memorandum Between NGOS, Police and Government on the Treatment of Trafficked Children
May 1, 1999 ·
Published in ECPAT International
(May 1999)
June 30th 1999, in Bangkok, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed on behalf of the Office of the Prime Minister, the Department of Social Welfare, the National Police Forces, the Global Alliance against Trafficking in Women and Children and The National Council of Children and Youth.
The MOU provides the interpretations which will be put on the Prostitution Prevention and Suppression Act (1996) and the Women and Children Trafficking Act (1997)
The most significant interpretation set out in the MOU is that trafficked persons are to be considered as victims, and their treatment after detection must recognise that status. Children are all persons under the age of 18. Foreign children must be accorded the same rights as Thai nationals.
Following the MOU, training courses for policemen in the border provinces in Thailand will be held. Efforts will be made by the Thai government to enter into similar MOU’s with Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Burma.
(ECPAT International)
