Bangkok: Attorneys of the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) have given legal assistance to Girl A (pseudonym), a migrant worker from Lao PDR and a trafficking survivor who had been raped are informed of the decision in her effort to apply for compensation aggrieved persons in criminal cases from the Ministry of Justice. They have been informed via phone by the Samut Prakan Subcommittee to Review the Compensation to Aggrieved Parties and the Accused in Criminal Cases that the Subcommittee has decided to not grant compensation to Girl A citing that even though the child had not been involved with the commission of the offence, but given her voluntarily entering the country illegally, she could not be considered an “injured person” and is therefore illegible for the compensation for an aggrieved person in a criminal case.    

The case stems from an incidence in 2014 when Girl A from Champasak Province, Lao PDR, who was then just ten years old and her older brother were lured by Laos agents to work as homeworkers in a house belonging to well-to-do persons in Samut Prakan Province. There, she was subjected to torture and various forms of other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment for a number of years. For example, she was beaten up, stabbed with scissors, had her skin cut and slashed all over the body. She was even forced to eat together with cats and dogs in the house, among others. The injured person has suffered horrendous injuries, physically and mentally. In 2019, Girl A managed to escape from her employer’s house after several futile attempts. But as she had no idea how to return to her family in Lao PDR, she was deceived by Mr. Kalong Muangchan, a resident in Samut Prakan who raped her repeatedly. Eventually, she was rescued by the police and was transferred to the custody of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. On 19 February 2020, the Samut Prakan Provincial Court convicted and sentenced Mr. Kalong to ten years and three months of imprisonment for raping a child who is yet fifteen years old. Meanwhile, the employer and their relatives who were complicit with the abuse of Girl A are being tried for trafficking in person. 

After being rescued by officials from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, she has applied for compensation for an aggrieved person in a criminal case, since she had been physically abused by her employer and even sexually assaulted by Mr. Kalong. The MoJ has, however, denied her application refusing to pay her the compensation even though she was an injured person of such crime claiming she had entered the country illegally and voluntarily. 

Having worked to give legal assistance to a number of migrant workers, HRDF has found that the MoJ often refuses to provide compensation to migrant workers who are victims of criminal offence by simply claiming that they have entered the country illegally. 

Regarding this, Chonticha Tangworamongkon, HRDF’s Director, has this to say;

“The state is obliged to uphold  human dignity and the rights and freedoms of life and body of all persons in the country without discrimination based on any reasons and is obliged to suppress criminal activities. If the state has failed to uphold the duties, it is incumbent on them to provide immediate compensation to the survivors per the Act for the Granting of Compensation to Aggrieved Parties and the Accused in Criminal Cases 2001 which stipulates in Section  17 that an injured person of certain criminal offences including physical abuse and sexual assault, such as what happened to Girl A, shall be entitled to a basic compensation from the state, except when the injured person has been involved with the commission of the offence. Therefore, it is not in the spirit of the law to exclude undocumented migrant workers from having access to the compensation. If so, it should have been specifically provided for by law. 

Therefore, the orders and guidelines that deprive migrant workers of compensation by invoking their undocumented status is incompatible with the spirit of the Act for the Granting of Compensation to Aggrieved Parties and the Accused in Criminal Cases 2001. They also inadvertently constitute an exclusion and discrimination against migrant workers contrary to the Constitution and international human rights laws to which Thailand is a state party. 

In addition, as the Subcommittee decides that Girl A had entered the country illegally and voluntarily, HRDF finds this decision unlawful and contrary to the interest of justice since Girl A had been brought to Thailand when she was only ten years old. At the age, she was intellectually incapable of making a decision by herself. She was also lured to travel here. How could it be fair to say that she had entered the country illegally and voluntarily? 

HRDF will therefore help Girl A to appeal the decision of the Subcommittee through to the end to ensure the “Ministry of Justice” ensure “justice” for her. 

“In addition, the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) also urges the MoJ to refrain from invoking the undocumented status as a reason to discriminate against and to exclude migrant workers from having prompt access to state remedy even though they are survivors of criminal offences in the country” said the HRDF Director.