A1 Oral presentation

[2A205] The Conflict between Human Security and National Security in the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons:
Human Security and Human Development for Children from Myanmar to Thailand

*Yuriko SAITO¹ (1. Daito Bunka University)

Keywords:Trafficking in Persons, Human Security, Migrant children, Education, Thailand

A quarter of a century has passed since trafficking in persons was defined as an international organized crime in the Protocol on Trafficking in Persons (2000), which is attached to the Convention on International Organized Crime, and since then international coordination and cooperation have been activated. There has been debate since before and after the establishment of the Protocol on Trafficking in Persons as to whether measures to combat trafficking in persons should promote human security or ensure national security. In recent years, government agencies, civil society groups, and residents of various countries have developed their own arguments regarding the security of cross-border victims (including potential victims), border control, and management of migrants and refugees (displaced persons), leaving migrants and refugees (displaced persons) in a vulnerable position, as they do not have regular residency status in the country where they stay.
This study is a case study of a certain elementary school in Ang Thongt Province, central Thailand, in 2023, which was responsible for the education of 126 children from Myanmar, and where the principal was initially arrested as a case of trafficking in persons (charges of trafficking in persons were later dropped).
First, the history of Thailand's measures against trafficking in persons, mainly the international cooperation of Japan and the U.S. to the Thai government, will be reviewed, and then the fact that this case was charged by the police as a case of trafficking in persons will be discussed. Then, considering that this case involves children (many of them stateless) crossing the border for the purpose of education from Myanmar, a neighboring country in a state of conflict, and that Thailand has been promoting “education for all,” we will examine the conflict between human (especially child) security and human development, and border control that is becoming increasingly strict as national security. Furthermore, the issues of border crossers (especially children) fleeing war-ravaged Myanmar in Thailand are being discussed in relation to Thailand's immigration policy and aging society with low fertility, and future issues such as the response of neighboring countries including ASEAN to resolve the protracted conflict within Myanmar, which is the background of the rapid increase in border crossers, will also be presented.