Exclusive: US to improve on Thailand in annual human trafficking report – sources

By Jason Szep, Matt Spetalnick and Andrew RC Marshall WASHINGTON/BANGKOK (Reuters) – The United States has decided to remove Thailand from its list of the worst human trafficking offenders, officials said, a move that could help to smooth relations with the military government in Bangkok. . The improvement, confirmed to Reuters by a U.S. official in Washington and a Bangkok-based official of an international organization with direct knowledge of the rankings, would mark a rare boost for U.S.-Thai relations. Ties between the two countries have deteriorated since the Thai military seized power in a 2014 coup that Washington strongly condemned. It also comes as President Barack Obama works to forge a united front among wavering Southeast Asian countries against China's pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea. Bangkok has publicly protested to Washington to have it removed from the lowest ranking in the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, which is due to be released on Thursday. The report is expected to cite improvements in Thailand's efforts to combat human trafficking, particularly in its vital multibillion-dollar seafood industry, the U.S. official said. The upgrade would place Thailand on what is known as the “Tier 2 Watch List” and remove it from the ranking of countries with the worst records for human trafficking, known as Tier 3. Report organizes countries into tiers based on trafficking records: Tier 1 for countries that meet U.S. minimum standards; Level 2 for those who make significant efforts to meet these standards; Level 2 “Watchlist” for those who merit special consideration; and level 3 for countries that do not make significant efforts. Thailand was demoted to last place in June 2014, just weeks after the military seized power. Thai officials were furious last year when Malaysia was reclassified from Level 3, but Thailand was not, and even human rights advocates agreed that Bangkok had tried harder than Kuala Lumpur to fight against human trafficking. In this year's report, the State Department chose to keep Malaysia at the higher rank it received last year, according to the U.S. official. State Department spokesman John Kirby declined to comment on the rankings: “We will not comment on the contents of this year's report until it is released,” he said. The junta has repeatedly pledged to crack down on human trafficking, particularly in its multibillion-dollar seafood industry. Thailand is the world's third-largest seafood exporter and much of the workforce employed by the fishing industry comes from neighboring Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Thailand recently reformed its anti-trafficking laws and introduced a fishing vessel tracking system, as part of what it called “comprehensive and irreversible” measures to clean up its supply chain and combat illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing. But rights groups say millions of migrant workers remain vulnerable to abuse in Thailand's fishing sector and other industries. Investigations by news agencies and rights groups have revealed widespread trafficking and abuse, raising fears of a Western consumer backlash against seafood from Thailand. The Obama administration has been destabilized by warming ties between China and Thailand's junta, which has sought to offset the cooling of its traditionally strong relationship with the United States, U.S. officials say. A Reuters investigation published last August found that senior diplomats repeatedly ignored the State Department's anti-trafficking unit and inflated ratings for 14 strategically important countries, including Malaysia. The State Department has denied any political considerations, but U.S. lawmakers have raised questions about the report's credibility and called for reforms. The TIP report interests Thai generals not only because the U.S. assessment could affect a key industry. The junta, widely criticized at home and struggling to revive a flagging economy, also wants to improve its ability to solve problems that previous civilian governments did little about. (Additional reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre in Bangkok and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; writing by Matt Spetalnick; editing by Stuart Grudgings.)