Yongyut, aged 56, is an orchardist living in Khao Saming district in Trat province. He is the Chairman of the Trat Social Development and Human Security Volunteer (SDHSV) program under the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. The SDHS volunteers work to support local authorities in identifying vulnerable groups and supporting them to access basic social welfare services.
“The objective of SDHSV is to identify vulnerable groups, such as children, elders, people with disabilities, and support them to receive access to the basic social welfare services provided by the government. This also includes monitoring potential human trafficking in the community…” Yongyut explained.
Yongyut participated in a World Vision Thailand activity in February 2019 as part of his community leader assignment, where he learned about human trafficking and labor rights. World Vision Thailand, one of USAID Thailand Counter Trafficking in Persons implementing partners, manages activities such as organizing capacity-building training to support the community leaders, particularly providing support to local authorities to identify TIP victims and how to report human trafficking as well as labor exploitation cases.
Yongyut applied what he learned from this training in January 2020 when he received a report that a migrant worker was being forced to work in poor conditions and paid unfair wages. Yongyut and his team of volunteers supported this migrant helping him understand his options and find alternative work. Although proud of the support he gave, looking back over his training and work, he knows more can be done.
“In our hearts, we feel responsible for all trafficking cases, and only case identification without further action is not enough; we need to follow-up, or the case may not be solved,” Yongyut explains.
Yongyut believes that the training of community leaders is key to effectively combatting human trafficking in Trat. He hopes more community leaders are given the knowledge and training.
Photo by Suthep Kritsanavarin
