Nikon discusses advancing anti-human trafficking efforts, adopts eight U.S. recommendations to address weaknesses, accelerates victim screening for online deception, and cracks down on officials involved in trafficking networks.
On 11 Nov 2026 GMT+7, at the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, Nikon Somklang, Minister of Social Development and Human Security, serving as chair of the subcommittee overseeing anti-human trafficking efforts, met with Chokchai Wichianchaiya, Permanent Secretary and vice-chair of the subcommittee. They convened the second subcommittee meeting of 2026 to drive Thailand’s anti-human trafficking policies and measures toward concrete results, focusing on protecting human rights and dignity while swiftly addressing all forms of human trafficking.
Nikon stated that Thailand has maintained its Tier 2 ranking in the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report for 2026, marking the fifth consecutive year from 2022 to 2026. This reflects Thailand’s ongoing efforts to prevent and combat human trafficking.
However, key issues require urgent development to improve agency efficiency, especially standardizing victim screening and identification, protecting those forced to commit crimes in online deception schemes, enforcing labor and forced labor laws, and preventing corruption or complicity among government officials.
The meeting reviewed strategies based on eight critical U.S. recommendations, covering investigations and prosecutions of officials involved in trafficking, enhancing the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) to screen and protect victims—particularly those escaping online deception rings in neighboring countries—by thoroughly assessing risks and verifying facts before repatriation to ensure victims receive proper protection and are not treated as offenders.
Additionally, emphasis was placed on upgrading multidisciplinary team operations, protecting workers in the fishing and other sectors, training frontline officers to identify trafficking victims, strengthening forced labor law enforcement, and improving shelter standards and victim assistance across legal, psychological, and rehabilitation services, focusing on victim-centered care that acknowledges psychological trauma and individual needs.
The meeting also considered the draft 2026 report on Thailand’s anti-human trafficking efforts, compiling results from related agencies in prosecutions, law enforcement, victim protection, prevention, NRM operations, and addressing trafficking linked to online deception rings. The report aims to verify and align statistics accurately to comprehensively reflect Thailand’s performance.
This meeting accelerates transforming recommendations into actionable measures through cooperation among all relevant agencies to ensure comprehensive anti-trafficking efforts covering offender prosecution, victim protection, and prevention of victimization. It aims to raise Thailand’s operational standards toward the sustainable elimination of all forms of human trafficking, Nikon concluded.