Parents of trafficking victims testify in Thailand
Chab Sanna, 67, on January 26 told a courtroom how her three sons had been lured from their Svay Rieng province home in search of work abroad only to be trafficked into a life of near-slavery on a Thai fishing vessel. It’s an all-too-familiar tale, though one made unique by the setting: a Thai courtroom. Sanna was one of two parents to testify in the case of 15 Cambodian fishermen rescued early last year off the coast of Thailand’s Ranong province. They are believed to be the first Cambodians to have ever testified in a human-trafficking case in Thailand who weren’t victims themselves, NGO officials said on January 26. The trial of the captain and the owner of the fishing dock, who were arrested just over a year ago, began its hearings last week at the Provincial Court of Ranong, according to Chonticha Tang, program coordinator of the Human Rights and Development Foundation in Thailand.
