GENEALOGY OF THAILAND’S POLICY AND APPROACH TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING FOR LABOR AND SEXUAL PURPOSES
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Published:
Aug 20, 2020
Keywords:
THAILAND ANTI TRAFFICING POLICY POLICY GENEALOGY POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ANTI TRAFFICKING POLICY RESCUE INDUSTRY MICRO-LEVEL INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL ANALYSIS AND INTERMEDIATE
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Abstract
This paper discusses the genealogy of the anti-trafficking policy in Thailand since the needs for such policy arose from the recent past to the present practices (1900-2017). The explicit question this paper asks are blow-by-blow narrative of the policy changes and the relatively recent stationary position of such policy evolution. The methods are historical narratives, turning points, and other necessary steps in the genealogy and political economy approach. The materials are taken from some research data and secondary data. To follow the clues from Sorajjakool’s (2013) clues on the most important issues in trafficking, this paper takes two of the most important aspects of human trafficking in Thailand: trafficking for sexual purposes and for labor. The analysis of the two phenomena is based on [policy] genealogical methods (problematization, episodical retrace, exemplary narrative, and cyclical recurrence). Using the political economy analysis, the paper shows that Thailand recently has ended up with a rather mixed way between the micro- and intermediate-level of analysis and policy approach through the creation of border and immigration/security system to manage migration along with the care of the victims through government-sanctioned "raids" to trafficking sites.
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Research articles
References
Reference
Antaseeda, Poona, (1997). More Foreign Workers Join Sex Industry as Fewer Thai Girls Enter Flesh Trade, Bangkok Post, November 24.
Bales, K. (1999). Disposable people: New slavery in the global economy. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.
Barry, K. (1984). Female sexual slavery. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Bartelson, Jens, (1995). A Genealogy of Sovereignty, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bernstein, Elizabeth, and Shih, Elena. (2014). “The Erotics of Authenticity: Sex Traffcking
and ‘Reality Tourism’ in Thailand.” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State, and
Society 21, no. 3: 430–60.
Bertone, Andrea M., (2000). Sexual Trafficking in Women: International Political Economy and the Politics of Sex, Gender Issues, Winter 2000, pp. 4-22.
Bhatiasevi, Aphaluck, (1998). Vice Purge Hinders Campaign as Prostitutes Go Underground, Bangkok Post, 17 June 1998.
Boonchalaksi, W., and Guest, P., (1998). Prostitution in Thailand. In L.L. Lim (ed.) The Sex Sector: The economic and social bases of prostitution in Southeast Asia, Geneva: International Labour Organization, pp. 130-169.
Brennan, D. (2014). Life interrupted: Trafficking into forced labor in the United States. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Chandravitoon, Nikom, (1972), Raeng ngan Thai kap utsahakam, Bangkok: Samnak Pim Smakhom Sangkhomsat Haeng Prathet Thai (in Thai).
Chokevivat, Vichai, (1997). “Sex Industry Census Shows More Venues”, The Nation, 29 July 1997.
Chuang, J. (2013). Exploitation creep and the unmaking of human trafficking law, American University, WCL Research Paper. Washington, DC: American University-Washington College of Law.
Crane, A., (2013). Modern slavery as a management practice: Exploring the conditions and capabilities for human exploitation, Academy of Management Review 38(1): pp. 49-69.
Davidson, A.I. (1986). Archeology, genealogy, ethics, in D.C. Hoy (Ed.) Foucault: A Critical Reader, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 221-233.
Dreyfus, H. and Rabinow, P., (1986). Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, Brighton: Harvester Press.
Foucault, M., (1972). The Archeology of Knowledge. London: Travistock.
Foucault, M., (1977). ‘Nietzsche, Genealogy, History’ in D.F. Bouchard (ed.), Language, Counter-Memory, Practice, Ithaca: Cornell.
Gale, T., (2001). Critical Policy Sociology: Historiography, archeology and genealogy as methods of policy analysis, Journal of Education Policy, Vol. 16, pp. 379-393. doi:10.1080/02680930110071002.
Jeffreys, S. (1997). The idea of prostitution. Melbourne, Australia: Spinifex.
Jirawoot, Yodsapol (2017). Anti-trafficking Through Reporting: The Case of the TIP Report and Thailand, Journal of Political Economic of Burapha, Year 5, Edition 1, pp. 90-125.
Kapoor, Ilan, (2013). Celebrity humanitarianism: The ideology of global charity. New York: Routledge.
Kempadoo, K., (2013). The modern-day white (wo)man’s burden: Trends in anti-trafficking and anti-slavery campaigns, Journal of Human Trafficking 1(1): pp. 8-20.
Le Baron, G. and Phillips, N., (2019). States and the Political Economy of Unfree Labour, New Political Economy, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 1-21. doi:10.1080/13563467.2017.1420642.
Lindblom, C., (1959). The science of muddling through, Public Administration Review, 19, pp. 79-88.
Mah, Megan, (2011). Trafficking of Ethnic Minorities in Thailand: Forced Prostitution and the Perpetuation of Marginality, Undercurrent Journal Vol. VIII Issue II: Fall/Winter, pp. 65-72.
Mendel, J. and Sharapov, K., (2014). “Human Trafficking and Online Networks”. Policy Briefing, Center for Policy Studies, Central European University. Available at:< http://cps.ceu.edu/sites/cps.ceu.edu/files/cps-policy-brief-upkat-human-trafficking-and-online-networks-2014.pdf > [Accessed 10 August 2015].
Mendel, J., and Sharapov, K., (2016). Human Trafficking and Online Networks: Policy, Analysis, and Ignorance, Antipode Vol. 48 No. 3, pp. 665-484.
MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) (2015). Thailand’s Progress Report on Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts, (Online). Available at: [Accessed 26 October 2019].
National Operation Center on Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking (NOCHT), (2010). “Measures in Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Women and Children,” Online. Available at: [Accessed 19 November 2010].
O’Connell Davidson, J., (2015). Modern Slavery: The Margins of Freedom. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ouyyanont, P., (2001). The Vietnam War and Tourism in Bangkok’s Development, 1960-70, Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 157-187.
Persaud, S. (2012). Sex work and media discourses of “slavery”: Unpacking Al Jazeera’s “Slavery: A 21st Century Evil.” In K. Kempadoo and D. Daydova (Eds.), From bleeding hearts to critical thinking: Exploring the issue of human trafficking (pp. 11–19). Toronto, Canada: Centre for Feminist Research, York University. Online. Available at:< http://cfr.info.yorku.ca/fbh/>[Accessed 10 October 2019].
Pink, Ross Michael, (2013). Child Trafficking in Thailand: Prevention and Prosecution Challenges, Asian Affairs: An American Review, 40: pp. 163-174.
Puttanurak, J., Raksachat, C., and Somsawat, N., (2007). Kan kha manut: Phinit nai naeo satri niyom, nai puenthi internet, krabuan kan thang kotmai, lae nuai ngan ratchakan, Chiang Mai: Women’s Study Center Chiang Mai University.
Quayson, A., and Arhin, A., (2012). Labour Migration, Human Trafficking, and Multinational Corporations: The Commodification of Illicit Flows, New York: Routledge.
Quirk, J. (2011). The anti-slavery project: From the slave trade to human trafficking. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Raymond, J. G., and Hughes, D. M. (2001). Sex trafficking of women in the United States: International and domestic trends. New York: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women.
Roujanavong, Wanchai, (1999). Trafficking in Women and Children, Bangkok: Amarin.
Seabrook, J. (2001). Travels in the Skin Trade. Tourism and the Sex Industry. London: Pluto Press.
Sea Fish (2015). Thailand Profile. (Online). Available at: [Accessed 27 January 2016].
Sex eZine, The, (2010). Sex Trafficking in Burma and Thailand—Slavery and Prostitution, Online. Available at: [Accessed 23 November 2010].
Shih, Elena, (2017). Freedom Markets: Consumption and Commerce across Human-Trafficking Rescue in Thailand, Online. Available at: [Accessed 10 October 2019].
Simon, H., (1960). The New Science of Management Decision, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Slater, T., (2014). The myth of “broken Britain”: Welfare reform and the production of ignorance, Antipode 46(4): pp. 948-969.
Sorajjakool, Siroj, (2013). Human Trafficking in Thailand: Current Issues, Trends and the Role of the Thai Government, Chiangmai: Silkworm Books.
Stephens, Shelby, (2017). Show, don’t tell: How Thailand can and must make advancements in the fight against human trafficking in the Thai fishing industry, Emory International Law Review, Vol. 31 Issue 3, pp. 477-503.
Strauss, K., (2012). Unfree again: Social reproduction, flexible labour markets, and the resurgence of gang labour in the UK. Antipode 45(1): pp. 180-197.
Walk Free Foundation. (2014). About the Global Slavery Index: Walk Free Foundation-Global Slavery Index 2014. Online. Available at:[Accessed 10 October 2019].
Weitzer, R., (2014). New directions in research on human trafficking. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 653, pp. 6-24.
Wylie, G., and McRedmond, P., (2010). Human Trafficking in Europe. In G. Wylie and P. McRedmond (eds.), Human Trafficking in Europe: Character, Causes and Consequences, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 1-17.
Zimmerman, M., (2013). State AGs ask Congress to gut critical CDA 230 online speech protections. Electronic Frontier Foundation 24 July. (Online). Available at: [Accessed 10 August 2015].
Antaseeda, Poona, (1997). More Foreign Workers Join Sex Industry as Fewer Thai Girls Enter Flesh Trade, Bangkok Post, November 24.
Bales, K. (1999). Disposable people: New slavery in the global economy. Oakland, CA: University of California Press.
Barry, K. (1984). Female sexual slavery. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Bartelson, Jens, (1995). A Genealogy of Sovereignty, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bernstein, Elizabeth, and Shih, Elena. (2014). “The Erotics of Authenticity: Sex Traffcking
and ‘Reality Tourism’ in Thailand.” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State, and
Society 21, no. 3: 430–60.
Bertone, Andrea M., (2000). Sexual Trafficking in Women: International Political Economy and the Politics of Sex, Gender Issues, Winter 2000, pp. 4-22.
Bhatiasevi, Aphaluck, (1998). Vice Purge Hinders Campaign as Prostitutes Go Underground, Bangkok Post, 17 June 1998.
Boonchalaksi, W., and Guest, P., (1998). Prostitution in Thailand. In L.L. Lim (ed.) The Sex Sector: The economic and social bases of prostitution in Southeast Asia, Geneva: International Labour Organization, pp. 130-169.
Brennan, D. (2014). Life interrupted: Trafficking into forced labor in the United States. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Chandravitoon, Nikom, (1972), Raeng ngan Thai kap utsahakam, Bangkok: Samnak Pim Smakhom Sangkhomsat Haeng Prathet Thai (in Thai).
Chokevivat, Vichai, (1997). “Sex Industry Census Shows More Venues”, The Nation, 29 July 1997.
Chuang, J. (2013). Exploitation creep and the unmaking of human trafficking law, American University, WCL Research Paper. Washington, DC: American University-Washington College of Law.
Crane, A., (2013). Modern slavery as a management practice: Exploring the conditions and capabilities for human exploitation, Academy of Management Review 38(1): pp. 49-69.
Davidson, A.I. (1986). Archeology, genealogy, ethics, in D.C. Hoy (Ed.) Foucault: A Critical Reader, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 221-233.
Dreyfus, H. and Rabinow, P., (1986). Michel Foucault: Beyond Structuralism and Hermeneutics, Brighton: Harvester Press.
Foucault, M., (1972). The Archeology of Knowledge. London: Travistock.
Foucault, M., (1977). ‘Nietzsche, Genealogy, History’ in D.F. Bouchard (ed.), Language, Counter-Memory, Practice, Ithaca: Cornell.
Gale, T., (2001). Critical Policy Sociology: Historiography, archeology and genealogy as methods of policy analysis, Journal of Education Policy, Vol. 16, pp. 379-393. doi:10.1080/02680930110071002.
Jeffreys, S. (1997). The idea of prostitution. Melbourne, Australia: Spinifex.
Jirawoot, Yodsapol (2017). Anti-trafficking Through Reporting: The Case of the TIP Report and Thailand, Journal of Political Economic of Burapha, Year 5, Edition 1, pp. 90-125.
Kapoor, Ilan, (2013). Celebrity humanitarianism: The ideology of global charity. New York: Routledge.
Kempadoo, K., (2013). The modern-day white (wo)man’s burden: Trends in anti-trafficking and anti-slavery campaigns, Journal of Human Trafficking 1(1): pp. 8-20.
Le Baron, G. and Phillips, N., (2019). States and the Political Economy of Unfree Labour, New Political Economy, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 1-21. doi:10.1080/13563467.2017.1420642.
Lindblom, C., (1959). The science of muddling through, Public Administration Review, 19, pp. 79-88.
Mah, Megan, (2011). Trafficking of Ethnic Minorities in Thailand: Forced Prostitution and the Perpetuation of Marginality, Undercurrent Journal Vol. VIII Issue II: Fall/Winter, pp. 65-72.
Mendel, J. and Sharapov, K., (2014). “Human Trafficking and Online Networks”. Policy Briefing, Center for Policy Studies, Central European University. Available at:< http://cps.ceu.edu/sites/cps.ceu.edu/files/cps-policy-brief-upkat-human-trafficking-and-online-networks-2014.pdf > [Accessed 10 August 2015].
Mendel, J., and Sharapov, K., (2016). Human Trafficking and Online Networks: Policy, Analysis, and Ignorance, Antipode Vol. 48 No. 3, pp. 665-484.
MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) (2015). Thailand’s Progress Report on Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts, (Online). Available at:
National Operation Center on Prevention and Suppression of Human Trafficking (NOCHT), (2010). “Measures in Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Women and Children,” Online. Available at:
O’Connell Davidson, J., (2015). Modern Slavery: The Margins of Freedom. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ouyyanont, P., (2001). The Vietnam War and Tourism in Bangkok’s Development, 1960-70, Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 157-187.
Persaud, S. (2012). Sex work and media discourses of “slavery”: Unpacking Al Jazeera’s “Slavery: A 21st Century Evil.” In K. Kempadoo and D. Daydova (Eds.), From bleeding hearts to critical thinking: Exploring the issue of human trafficking (pp. 11–19). Toronto, Canada: Centre for Feminist Research, York University. Online. Available at:< http://cfr.info.yorku.ca/fbh/>[Accessed 10 October 2019].
Pink, Ross Michael, (2013). Child Trafficking in Thailand: Prevention and Prosecution Challenges, Asian Affairs: An American Review, 40: pp. 163-174.
Puttanurak, J., Raksachat, C., and Somsawat, N., (2007). Kan kha manut: Phinit nai naeo satri niyom, nai puenthi internet, krabuan kan thang kotmai, lae nuai ngan ratchakan, Chiang Mai: Women’s Study Center Chiang Mai University.
Quayson, A., and Arhin, A., (2012). Labour Migration, Human Trafficking, and Multinational Corporations: The Commodification of Illicit Flows, New York: Routledge.
Quirk, J. (2011). The anti-slavery project: From the slave trade to human trafficking. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Raymond, J. G., and Hughes, D. M. (2001). Sex trafficking of women in the United States: International and domestic trends. New York: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women.
Roujanavong, Wanchai, (1999). Trafficking in Women and Children, Bangkok: Amarin.
Seabrook, J. (2001). Travels in the Skin Trade. Tourism and the Sex Industry. London: Pluto Press.
Sea Fish (2015). Thailand Profile. (Online). Available at:
Sex eZine, The, (2010). Sex Trafficking in Burma and Thailand—Slavery and Prostitution, Online. Available at:
Shih, Elena, (2017). Freedom Markets: Consumption and Commerce across Human-Trafficking Rescue in Thailand, Online. Available at:
Simon, H., (1960). The New Science of Management Decision, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Slater, T., (2014). The myth of “broken Britain”: Welfare reform and the production of ignorance, Antipode 46(4): pp. 948-969.
Sorajjakool, Siroj, (2013). Human Trafficking in Thailand: Current Issues, Trends and the Role of the Thai Government, Chiangmai: Silkworm Books.
Stephens, Shelby, (2017). Show, don’t tell: How Thailand can and must make advancements in the fight against human trafficking in the Thai fishing industry, Emory International Law Review, Vol. 31 Issue 3, pp. 477-503.
Strauss, K., (2012). Unfree again: Social reproduction, flexible labour markets, and the resurgence of gang labour in the UK. Antipode 45(1): pp. 180-197.
Walk Free Foundation. (2014). About the Global Slavery Index: Walk Free Foundation-Global Slavery Index 2014. Online. Available at:
Weitzer, R., (2014). New directions in research on human trafficking. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 653, pp. 6-24.
Wylie, G., and McRedmond, P., (2010). Human Trafficking in Europe. In G. Wylie and P. McRedmond (eds.), Human Trafficking in Europe: Character, Causes and Consequences, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 1-17.
Zimmerman, M., (2013). State AGs ask Congress to gut critical CDA 230 online speech protections. Electronic Frontier Foundation 24 July. (Online). Available at: