PHUKET: Graphic video of a gang rape may be the first real evidence of the brutal treatment of captives in the secret camps run by human traffickers in the jungles and plantations of southern Thailand.
If authenticated, the video provides a compelling visual reference in support of survivors' claims that rapes, killings and beatings are still taking place as Thailand's horrific trade in people continues unabated.
Phuketwan understands the disturbing footage has been passed to Immigration authorities south of Phuket in the hope they can trace the perpetrators and have them charged.
The woman and the faces of two of the rapists are clearly identifiable.
In the worst moment of the video, one of the rapists turns while carrying out the rape and smiles at the camera as the victim covers her face with her arms.
It is believed the victim and her two rapists may still be in a jungle camp in Thailand, along with the person who recorded the video.
Survivors from the camps have told Phuketwan and other news outlets that the traffickers have become so free from fear of being caught that rapes and killings remain part of the process of extracting ransom payments from the relatives of Rohingya boatpeople.
The Rohingya, mostly from Burma's Rakhine state but also sometimes from refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, are fleeing ethnic cleansing or poor treatment and hope to find sanctuary in Malaysia.
The beginning of the ''safe'' sailing season in two weeks is likely to produce an explosion in the numbers of boatpeople travelling south.
Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, which tracks the movements of the would-be refugees fleeing Burma and Bangladesh, says that 9000 boatpeople departed in November last year and a similar number or more are expected to take to the sea north of Thailand this year.
''A massive number of people have started moving now,'' she said. ''I am fearful of what is going to happen.''
Local authorities north of Phuket recently intercepted a large group of boatpeople as traffickers prepared to move them south by road to the jungle camps where the abuses and mass extortion takes place.
Police along Thailand's Andaman Sea coast usually document arriving boatpeople as illegal immigrants and seldom if ever investigate claims that human trafficking is taking place.
However, claims that mass kidnapping is now occurring inside Bangladesh and that most new arrivals in Thailand are destined to become slave labor on fishing boats or in factories in Malaysia or Indonesia has triggered intervention by local residents in Phang Nga, the province north of Phuket.
The district chief in the town of Takuapa, backed by local Muslim, Buddhist and Christian residents, has interviewed 134 boatpeople at length and declared that, according to international standards, they are victims of human trafficking.
A special report published yesterday by Reuters news agency adds weight to claims that because Thai authorities have failed to enforce laws against human traffickers on land or at sea, abductions are now taking place in Bangladesh. Thai vessels are said to sail north to collect the victims.
The alleged rape video highlights the audacity of the traffickers and the impunity with which they are pursuing their trade in people through Thailand.
Since 2009, when Phuketwan reporters working with the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong first revealed the inhumane ''pushbacks'' of boatpeople from Thailand, a lax approach to investigating human trafficking has led to Thailand being downgraded this year to Tier 3, the lowest level on the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons register.
Thailand is unlikely to regain Tier 2 status unless there is evidence that a serious attempt is being made to halt the growing trade in people through Thailand and arrest those now heading the human traffickers.
Declaration of Interest: In July next year, Phuketwan journalists Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian face a continuing trial over criminal defamation and Computer Crimes Act charges brought by the Royal Thai Navy, citing a 41-word paragraph from a Pulitzer prize-winning Reuters special report on the Rohingya boatpeople. Reuters and other news organisations in Thailand that published the same paragraph have not been charged. The charges were laid before the military takeover in Thailand.
If authenticated, the video provides a compelling visual reference in support of survivors' claims that rapes, killings and beatings are still taking place as Thailand's horrific trade in people continues unabated.
Phuketwan understands the disturbing footage has been passed to Immigration authorities south of Phuket in the hope they can trace the perpetrators and have them charged.
The woman and the faces of two of the rapists are clearly identifiable.
In the worst moment of the video, one of the rapists turns while carrying out the rape and smiles at the camera as the victim covers her face with her arms.
It is believed the victim and her two rapists may still be in a jungle camp in Thailand, along with the person who recorded the video.
Survivors from the camps have told Phuketwan and other news outlets that the traffickers have become so free from fear of being caught that rapes and killings remain part of the process of extracting ransom payments from the relatives of Rohingya boatpeople.
The Rohingya, mostly from Burma's Rakhine state but also sometimes from refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, are fleeing ethnic cleansing or poor treatment and hope to find sanctuary in Malaysia.
The beginning of the ''safe'' sailing season in two weeks is likely to produce an explosion in the numbers of boatpeople travelling south.
Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, which tracks the movements of the would-be refugees fleeing Burma and Bangladesh, says that 9000 boatpeople departed in November last year and a similar number or more are expected to take to the sea north of Thailand this year.
''A massive number of people have started moving now,'' she said. ''I am fearful of what is going to happen.''
Local authorities north of Phuket recently intercepted a large group of boatpeople as traffickers prepared to move them south by road to the jungle camps where the abuses and mass extortion takes place.
Police along Thailand's Andaman Sea coast usually document arriving boatpeople as illegal immigrants and seldom if ever investigate claims that human trafficking is taking place.
However, claims that mass kidnapping is now occurring inside Bangladesh and that most new arrivals in Thailand are destined to become slave labor on fishing boats or in factories in Malaysia or Indonesia has triggered intervention by local residents in Phang Nga, the province north of Phuket.
The district chief in the town of Takuapa, backed by local Muslim, Buddhist and Christian residents, has interviewed 134 boatpeople at length and declared that, according to international standards, they are victims of human trafficking.
A special report published yesterday by Reuters news agency adds weight to claims that because Thai authorities have failed to enforce laws against human traffickers on land or at sea, abductions are now taking place in Bangladesh. Thai vessels are said to sail north to collect the victims.
The alleged rape video highlights the audacity of the traffickers and the impunity with which they are pursuing their trade in people through Thailand.
Since 2009, when Phuketwan reporters working with the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong first revealed the inhumane ''pushbacks'' of boatpeople from Thailand, a lax approach to investigating human trafficking has led to Thailand being downgraded this year to Tier 3, the lowest level on the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons register.
Thailand is unlikely to regain Tier 2 status unless there is evidence that a serious attempt is being made to halt the growing trade in people through Thailand and arrest those now heading the human traffickers.
Declaration of Interest: In July next year, Phuketwan journalists Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian face a continuing trial over criminal defamation and Computer Crimes Act charges brought by the Royal Thai Navy, citing a 41-word paragraph from a Pulitzer prize-winning Reuters special report on the Rohingya boatpeople. Reuters and other news organisations in Thailand that published the same paragraph have not been charged. The charges were laid before the military takeover in Thailand.
Be proud of yourself Thailand!
Posted by sky on October 23, 2014 12:47