Children traffickers arrested in Thailand

DVB ( September 10, 2003 )

Five human traffickers who have been enslaving ten Burmese children were arrested by the Thai police at Nonthaburi District, in northern Bangkok on 9 September.

Among the five arrested, four are Burmese nationals and the other being their Thai hostess. The rescued victims are aged between 5 and 11 and seven of them are girls.

DVB's Aung Lwin Oo reports:

The children were forced to sell things in the streets and beg for money at Nonthabury District and they are often beaten up when they didn’t earn the appointed incomes. Four Burmese nationals and a Thai national are being detained with the charges of human trafficking, employing under-aged children and tortures.

The children are currently being looked after by a mother and child care centre and they are likely to be handed over to authorities in Burma after the trial.

There is no effective law to deal with human trafficking at the moment in Thailand. A special commission was formed to draft a new law dealing with the problem and a meeting was held in April to discuss the matter. The new law is expected to be ratified by the Thai parliament at the end of this year.