Project to Combat Trafficking in Women and Children
- CLOSED -
Our Law Centre works to help local hilltribe communities on all types of legal issues, both criminal and civil. We deal with cases on an individual basis, and our team is never short of work, unfortunately. The Mirror Foundation's trafficking project work is labour intensive, and requires a dedicated and knowledgable staff, who are fully conversant in a number of tribal languages, as well as Thai and English. The team is comprised entirely of Akha and Lahu hilltribe members, who have worked together for many years now.
The individual cases are picked up by the staff of our Law Centre, usually by villagers coming to our office, but quite often when the team is out on another case - 'off the cuff' conversations regularly uncover abuses or legal issues which we can help with. The team not only works with the local community, but also with local government - working from within the system can help change bad laws or expose corruption.
To extend the project's work - to include taking presentations out to local schools and villages, with the aim of informing children, parents and teachers, of the dangers of trafficking and how to prevent or solve problems - is currently not an option. This increase in workload would require extra staff, extra wages, and a stable funding programme (minimum of three years to be able to recruit the right applicants).