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Viewing cable 08BANGKOK3443, Labor Fraud Case: Thai Workers to Libya

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08BANGKOK3443 2008-11-21 10:16 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Bangkok
VZCZCXRO6492
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHBK #3443/01 3261016
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 211016Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5147
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 5881
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 0348
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 0007
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 003443 
 
Department for G/TIP MTaylor, DRL/IL MJunk 
DOL/ILAB for Jennifer Piorkowski and Brandie Sasser 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PHUM KTIP TH
 
SUBJECT: Labor Fraud Case: Thai Workers to Libya 
 
BANGKOK 00003443  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified.  For Official Use Only. 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary: According to Thai authorities, in August and 
September 2008, the Thai Consular Section in Cairo, Egypt helped 
repatriate 57 Thai construction workers from Libya back to Thailand. 
 The workers, all male adults, traveled to Libya to work for a 
construction firm and contacted the Thai embassy in Egypt after not 
receiving payment as promised by the Thai labor broker who 
facilitated their travel.  The Thai government considers the case to 
be one of labor abuse through fraud, but not human trafficking 
(TIP), since the purpose of the fraud committed by the labor broker 
was not for exploitation.  The labor broker, who remains in Libya, 
is being charged with two criminal counts under Thai law.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.  (SBU) Comment: According to an official with the International 
Organization for Migration, there are legitimate cases of Thai 
laborers traveling to work in Libya.  While details regarding this 
particular case remain unclear (e.g., the identity of the 
construction firm involved), a United Nations counter-part stated 
that the RTG's determination that the laborers were not TIP victims 
is reasonable.  Nonetheless, we will report developments of interest 
should they arise.  End Comment. 
 
3.  (SBU) According to working level contacts at the Ministries of 
Labor (MOL), Foreign Affairs (MFA), and Social Development and Human 
Security (MSDHS), the Royal Thai Government (RTG) helped repatriate 
57 Thai construction workers from Libya back to Thailand in August 
and September 2008.  After a month working without pay in Libya, the 
construction workers (all men age 30-45) contacted the Thai Embassy 
in Cairo to request repatriation assistance (the Thai government has 
no diplomatic presence in Libya).  The workers reported that, with 
the help of a Thai labor broker, they traveled to Sadao near the 
Thailand-Malaysia border and from there traveled into Malaysia in 
order to obtain Libyan tourist visas.  They stated the broker 
promised to help change their tourist visas to work visas at some 
future date.  Each worker reportedly paid between approximately USD 
1,800 and 2,600 to the broker for his services. 
 
4.  (SBU) Upon repatriation (apparently), police officers and 
officials from the MOL and MSDHS interviewed the laborers in 
question, at least some of whom reside in northern Thailand.  The 
laborers reported that after arriving in Libya and working for one 
month with a construction firm (NFI) in Sabha, none of them received 
payment from the broker as promised, even though their employer (the 
construction firm owner) had provided funds to the broker to pay 
salaries.  The broker reportedly claims that he only received from 
the firm's owner part of the money to pay the workers, and that he 
(the broker) did not pay the Thais because they did not work. 
 
5.  (SBU) The workers told RTG officials that over the course of 
their stay in Libya, they had to ask other Thai workers to share 
food (or catch rabbits themselves) to have enough food to eat 
(workers interviewed by the RTG estimated that an additional 150 
Thais were also working in Libya, potentially under similar 
circumstances).  According to the RTG, the 57 Thai workers explained 
that they maintained their travel documents at all times, were not 
physically abused, and were not forced to work.  The RTG has 
determined the laborers are not victims of human trafficking since 
the purpose of the fraud committed was not exploitation.  (Note: 
Under Thailand's June 2008 TIP law, for a person to be guilty of 
trafficking in persons, three elements must exist: an action 
(procuring, buying, selling, vending, bringing from or sending to, 
detaining or confining, harboring, or receiving), a means (the 
threat or use of force, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power, 
or of the giving money or benefit), and an intention of exploitation 
(defined as seeking benefits from the prostitution, production or 
distribution of pornographic materials, other forms of sexual 
exploitation, slavery, causing another person to be a beggar, forced 
labor or service, coerced removal of organs for the purpose of 
trade, or any other similar practices resulting in forced extortion, 
regardless of such person's consent).  End Note). 
 
6.  (SBU) Thai authorities have filed criminal charges against the 
labor broker (who remains in Libya) for operating without a broker 
license and for labor fraud.  The RTG is now coping with the 
challenge of potentially repatriating the additional 150 Thai 
workers in Libya, made more difficult by Thailand's lack of an 
embassy there.  A team of officials from the MFA and MOL are working 
on a repatriation plan.  A contingent from the MFA flew to Libya 
November 12 and another team from MOL will fly to Libya on November 
22.  Note: The Libyan government originally declined, but then 
granted, visas to the MFA team.  End Note. 
 
 
BANGKOK 00003443  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
7.  (U) Minimize considered.