On Monday 17th November 2014, the Office of the Attorney General, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand, hosts a conference on the practice of Thailand’s obligations under the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, at Centara Hotel, Lad Prao, Bangkok. More than a hundred participants from several Thai agencies attend the conference, including law enforcement forces and other agencies responsible for suppression of human trafficking and transnational crimes.

This conference aims at enhancing capability of Thai authorities concerned in combatting and suppressing transnational organized crimes, especially human trafficking, by promoting understanding of Thailand’s obligation under UNTOC and its Protocol. The conference will promote exchange of opinions and sharing of practical experience and lessons learned from the implementation of the two related Thai laws, and will also open the discussions on challenges and good practices on transnational crime and human trafficking suppression. This will contribute to more efficient law enforcement on the matters.

Apart from Thai experts, the Conference will also hear from panelists from UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Action for Cooperation against Trafficking in Persons (UN-ACT), for better understanding of Thailand’s obligations, as well as possible approaches towards international cooperation through the Convention and its Protocol, particularly in areas of suppression and prosecution.

This activity is another evidence reflecting the high priority and serious commitment Thailand attaches to addressing human trafficking and other forms of transnational organized crimes, especially through direct capacity building at the practitioners’ level, in order to better honour Thailand’s obligations under related UN convention.

Thailand ratified the UN Convention and its Protocol on November 16th 2013; the implementation of which are carried out under two enabling Thai laws, namely the Anti-Transnational Organized Crime Act of 2013 and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008.