of available interpreters for trafficking victims. The government also did not proactively identify many trafficking victims among fishing workers, or irregular migrants.

RECOMMENDATIONS  FOR THAILAND:
Prosecute officials allegedly complicit in trafficking, and convict and punish those found guilty; increase efforts to identify, prosecute and convict traffickers, including those who subject victims to sex trafficking, debt bondage, or forced labor in Thailand’s commercial and export oriented sectors; increase understanding of labor trafficking and debt bondage indicators among labor inspectors and law enforcement; designate prosecutors who specialize in human trafficking cases; significantly increase efforts to proactively identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable populations, particularly migrants, deportees, refugees, persons in prostitution, and stateless people; increase training for marine police and navy to detect and stop human trafficking at sea; improve the consistency for victim identification, screening, and interview procedures, and prioritize the rights and safety of potential victims; investigate and improve labor recruitment practices for migrant workers; process and approve all legal status applications at the national, district, and provincial level in a timely manner; continue to increase the availability of interpretation services across government agencies with responsibilities for protecting foreign migrants, refugees, and victims of trafficking; enhance government capacity to implement laws and regulations by providing effective training, especially at state and local levels, and increasing staff dedicated to implement the law; cease prosecuting criminal defamation cases against researchers or journalists who report on human trafficking; establish an environment conducive to robust civil society participation in all facets of human trafficking; allow adult trafficking victims to travel, work, and reside outside shelters in accordance with provisions in Thailand’s anti-trafficking law; increase incentives for victims to cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases, including by providing legal alternatives to the deportation of foreign trafficking victims to countries in which they would face retribution or hardship; develop additional specialized services for child sex trafficking victims and ensure their cases progress quickly; increase anti-trafficking awareness efforts directed at employers and clients of the sex trade, including sex tourists; make efforts to decrease the demand for exploitive labor; continue to increase regional cooperation on anti-trafficking efforts; and improve migrant workers’ rights, legal status, and labor migration policies to minimize the risk of trafficking.

PROSECUTION
The government sustained anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts. The 2008 anti-trafficking law criminally prohibits all forms of trafficking and prescribes penalties ranging from four to 10 years’ imprisonment which are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with penalties prescribed for other serious offenses, such as rape. In March 2015, the government amended the law to impose harsher penalties on human traffickers (up to life imprisonment

and a maximum fine of 400,000 baht ($13,333)) and protect whistleblowers. The new laws also give authorities power to temporarily halt operations and immediately suspend licenses of businesses found involved in human trafficking.
The government reported investigating 280 trafficking cases (compared with 674 in 2013), prosecuting 155 traffickers (483 in 2013) and convicting 151 traffickers (225 in 2013). Despite the prevalence of forced labor in Thailand, the government reported only 58 investigations (154 in 2013) involving suspected cases of forced labor and prosecuted only 27 traffickers of forced labor (109 in 2013). Twenty traffickers received prison sentences greater than seven years, and the majority of convicted offenders received sentences of more than two years’ imprisonment. The Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) reported that 107 money laundering cases associated with suspected human trafficking are under investigation. In one case the AMLO seized two million baht ($62,500), and in another case it seized 30 million baht ($1 million); these cases remained pending in court.
The government investigated ship owners, captains, and brokers for labor trafficking in the commercial fishing industry in four cases related to Ambon Island, each with multiple perpetrators, and identified 32 Thai fishermen who were forced to work on Thai fishing vessels in Indonesia. In the first case, four arrests were made and the case remained pending in court; other cases were in the investigation phase.The government reported investigations involving Rohingya asylum seekers believed to be victims of trafficking are still ongoing. Judges awarded 4.6 million baht ($141,000) to the plaintiffs in the case of a fourteen-year-old Karen girl who was kidnapped and forced to work as a housemaid and subjected to assault resulting in serious physical injuries; both offenders absconded when released on bail and remained missing at the end of the reporting period. The government reported investigating some criminal networks involving traffickers that subjected victims to sex and labor trafficking; investigations were ongoing at the end of the reporting year.Two perpetrators were sentenced to 4.5 and six years in prison in a 2013 case involving 12 Burmese victims of forced labor. A case involving Thai female sex trafficking victims identified in South Africa in 2013 and a separate case involving forced labor ofThai masseuses recruited to work in South Africa did not result in prosecutions or convictions.
The government continued to provide training to thousands of public officials on trafficking victim identification and the provisions of the anti-trafficking law and reported multiple cooperative international investigations. Challenges with collaboration between police and prosecutors, and frequent personnel changes among law enforcement, prosecutors, and multidisciplinary team members limited the success of prosecution efforts.The government initiated the process to establish a new data collection system that could improve interagency information sharing. More formalized interagency coordination occurred in 2014, including expanded use of multidisciplinary teams. The justice system increased the speed at which it resolved criminal cases for most cases, though some trafficking cases continued to take three years or longer to reach completion. In 2014, courts rendered verdicts in 118 human trafficking cases, including human trafficking cases that were filed prior to 2014. Results showed 90 cases were completed in less than one year, 27 cases took one to two years to reach a verdict, and one case took two to three years. Some suspected offenders fled the country or intimidated victims after judges granted bail, further contributing to a climate of impunity for trafficking crimes.The Office of the Judiciary announced new measures in