On 17 October 2013, HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Thailand to the Republic of Austria and Permanent Representative of Thailand to the United Nations in Vienna, deposited on behalf of Thailand the two instruments of ratification for the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and for the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime with the representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

In accordance with Article 38 of the Convention and Article 17 of the Protocol, the Convention and the Protocol will enter into force for Thailand on 16 November 2013.Thailand signed the Convention on 13 December 2000 and the Protocol on18 December 2001 respectively.

The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime establishes a comprehensive framework to promote cooperation in preventing and combatting transnational organized crime and their criminal groups more effectively and efficiently. The Convention aims to prevent, investigate and prosecute criminal offences of participation in an organized criminal group, money laundering, corruption and obstruction of justice as well as other serious crimes constituting an offence punishable by a maximum deprivation of liberty of at least four years or a more serious penalty where the offence is transnational in nature and involves an organized criminal group. In order to fight transnational organized crime, the Convention relies on international cooperation through extradition, the transfer of sentenced persons and mutual legal assistance as well as law enforcement among the Parties. The Convention entered into force on 29 September 2003. By its ratification, Thailand became the 179th party to the Convention.

The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, has as its main purpose the prevention and combating of trafficking in persons as well as protecting and assisting the victims of such trafficking. By ratifying the Protocol, Thailand made a commitment to adopt the legislative and other necessary measures to establish the conduct of trafficking in persons, when committed intentionally, as criminal offences, to protect the privacy and identity of victims of trafficking in persons, including by making legal proceedings related to such trafficking confidential, to provide for the physical, psychological and social recovery of victims of trafficking in persons and to facilitate the return of victims of trafficking in persons to their country of origin. Thailand became the 158th party to the Protocol, which entered into force on 25 December 2003.

At present, Thailand has enacted implementing legislation to ensure effective compliance and cooperation under the Convention and its Protocol, namely the Anti-Transnational Organized Crime Act of 2013 and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008.

The ratifications of the Convention and its Protocol mark an important milestone for Thailand in its efforts to fight transnational organized crimes in particular, by providing its law enforcement agencies with additional tools to assist in their investigation and prosecution of offenders, which in turn will help strengthen long-term economic and social stability.