RESEARCH TITLE: Child Sex and Child Labour Trafficking in Thailand: Challenges of Investigation and Prosecution in the Criminal Justice System

Abstract: My project aims to map out how child sex trafficking and child labour trafficking cases are currently being investigated and prosecuted in Thailand, to identify gaps and challenges in the successful investigation and subsequent prosecution of child sex trafficking and child labour trafficking cases, and to draw solutions from the literature and from practitioners to address some of these challenges. This study involves extracting data from police investigative case files utilising scripting analysis and interviews with police officers, prosecutors, judges, social welfare officers and NGO staff.

About Phirapat – click here to [read more] I graduated from the Royal Police Cadet Academy, Thailand and hold a master’s degree in Countering Organised Crime and Terrorism from University College London (UCL), UK funded by the British Chevening Scholarship. I have been pursuing a PhD in Security and Crime Science also at UCL, funded by the Thai Government Scholarship.

For my professional life, I have been working as a police officer for nine years both as an investigator for five years and lecturer for four years. I investigated various types of criminal cases related to cybercrime, car accidents, drugs and human trafficking etc. I am also an investigation specialist on child trafficking at the TICAC taskforce (Thailand Internet Crimes Against Children), working with other key stakeholders, such as prosecutors, judges, social workers, NGO staff, FBI or even NCA to investigate cases and find ways to prevent children from being trafficked. [/read]