At a March 29 seminar organized by the German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG), based at the Thammasat University Faculty of Law, children’s rights in the ASEAN community were discussed as part of a series about human rights. An international workshop copresented by the Hanns Seidel Foundation, an organization working to strengthen international cooperation, examined law enforcement and civil society perspectives on how to make investigations more effective and lessen child exploitation and abuse. Dr. Karl-Peter Schönfisch, director of the Laos/Thailand Office of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, offered welcoming words. According to its website, the mission of the Hanns Seidel Foundation is to be

in the service of democracy, peace and development.

The website continues:

In addition to work on behalf of our democracy, freedom, the rule of law and a just social order, the fundamental principles and norms of our community also have to be ensured and firmly anchored in the conscience of all citizens. The fast-paced and far-reaching changes currently facing our country have increased the demand for values, reliable structures and a comprehensible order. In other words, the increasing pressure on state and society, on the economy, science and technology to be innovative makes it even more necessary to recall our historical roots and our intellectual and cultural foundations.

The Thammasat University Libraries own books co-sponsored for publication by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. For 50 years, the foundation has worked to promote more personal civic responsibility, for a culture of self-reliance and an active civil society. In an article posted online, Dr. Schönfisch pointed out that on Thai television series, people from the provinces are sometimes shown as ignorant, while residents of Bangkok are supposedly better informed. Yet the reality is different:

In local urban centers, such as Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen and many other places, an educated citizenry has emerged, partly on the same level as the monied elite of Bangkok in terms of its social and economic position. Bangkok will retain its outstanding position in Thailand. From a political point of view, however, it is imperative that the creative, not to say powerful and influential forces of the city, adapt themselves against a background of social changes in the kingdom. Otherwise, further social divisions threaten to counteract desired national integration and reconciliation.

On March 29, Police Captain Apichart Hattasin, Thailand Internet Crime Against Children (TICAC), Royal Thai Police, was an outstandingly informative speaker. Captain Apichart described his experiences in his native city of Chiang Mai. Even before the Anti-Trafficking Persons Act B.E 2551 (2008), with provisions to prevent and suppress trafficking of women and children, Captain Apichart noted that there was popular demand for such rules:

Interestingly, in 2004, before the law existed defining child abuse, the community of Chiang Mai was waiting for these sick people abusing children to be arrested.

He added that many people do not think of police employees as having great affection for children:

People think that if you love kids, you become a social worker. But as in the movies, being in the police means catching the bad guys.

Captain Apichart described how his office collaborates with British and Australian police to capture offenders. Parallel investigations are run between Thailand and Australia. For example, if an Australian offender is arrested in Thailand, the Australian police may do a coordinated search of the prisoner’s home in Australia. One of the ongoing challenges in working with child exploitation is the difficulty in identifying potential victims and getting cooperation. It is important for local police departments to schedule activities with children who are potential victims to build confidence in the police. Some potential victims have contacts with criminality, or are addicted to drugs. At times, social workers may be reluctant to work with these children as a matter of personal safety. When a case gets to court, it is necessary to interrogate children repeatedly, which can be unpleasant for the children, to get enough evidence to file charges against offenders. For that reason, Captain Apichart explained, it can be less uncomfortable for the victims of exploitation if investigations can be centered around computer evidence. The TICAC task force was established with assistance from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). More help was also provided by Homeland Security Investigations (HIS), an investigative arm of the US Department of Homeland Security, to combat criminal organizations. Benefiting from the expertise of these larger organizations, the TICAC fights exploitation through shared intelligence. As the FBI website details:

Modeled on the American Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the TICAC is administered by the Royal Thai Police and includes personnel from other Thai law enforcement such as the Department of Special Investigations, an arm of the Ministry of Justice. A multidisciplinary group of prosecutors and social service organizations are also part of the team.

Captain Apichart concluded by observing that instead of focusing on getting information from child victims, by working with computers investigators

focus on the bad guys: At the end of the day, the victim must be involved, too.

Dr. Bernhard Egger, Chief Superintendent of the Central Investigation Services Division at the State Office of Criminal Investigation Bureau, Munich, Federal Republic of Germany, also contributed compelling reflections about the task of child protection. Dr. Egger analyzed how how developments in high technology enhance investigative efforts. Facial recognition systems, a computer application capable of identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source, have improved. Now searches can be done quickly through databases containing millions of faces in some countries. International face recognition will be an important asset in the future, Dr. Bernhard predicted. He added:

In photos [of suspects,] sometimes you can see their fingers. Fingerprints can be identified from these fingers in pictures, which can be useful in future, the quality of [online] pictures gets better and better.

There are also sophisticated approaches to identifying victims in online photographs. Since only in a last resort would police ask the general public if they recognize a child shown in an online photo, teachers in schools are asked instead. Working with a local server of the Thai Ministry of Culture, in some cases schoolteachers have correctly identified children being exploited:

We have six to eight very bad cases, and in 50 percent of these cases, we have succeeded [with teachers identifying the children.] Teachers say, ‘I know this kid.’

Dr. Egger underlined the importance of prevention measures, in letting children know how to deal with social media. Most children are aware that webcams can be turned on remotely, so it is safer to disable them at home. Strengthening communities so that children are empowered is an essential means of prevention, although ongoing poverty is a source of vulnerability. When children are interviewed by the police, Dr. Bernhard noted, a proper system of witness protection is also needed.

Mr. Joseph Fonseca, Assistant Legal Attaché with the FBI, currently travels across Southeast Asia to 13 US embassies to do training sessions. He noted that internet giants such as Facebook, Google, and Yahoo are helpful with crime investigators in cases of abducted children:

They are people, believe it or not, and they want us to recover children.

Another aspect is that the Council of International Schools now helps to arrange for better background checks on schoolteachers.

Although several other speakers made valuable contributions to the discussion, Mr. Christian Ehrlich, Police Attaché of the German Embassy in Bangkok, explained why some child exploitation crimes go unreported. The reason is that child trafficking victims need money. Some offenders commit crimes for years, but none are officially reported. Agreeing with Dr. Bernhard about the vital necessity for preventive measures, Mr. Ehrlich suggested that the way to stop crime before it starts is to establish a peer-to-peer network to warn children about possible risks. Just sending criminals to jail is not enough. Victims must be helped so that offenses do not occur again.

Also present at the seminar were Moden Yi of APLE Cambodia, a Cambodian Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) dedicated to prevent the exploitation of Cambodian children, and Tania Anguelova of ECPAT International, another association fighting to end exploitation of children worldwide.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).