Thailand

Around 80,000 women and children have been sold into Thailand's sex idustry since 1990, with most coming from Burma, China's Yunan province and Laos. Trafficked children were also found on construction sites and in sweatshops. In 1996, almost 200,000 foreign children, mostly boys from Burma, Laos and Cambodia, were thought to be working in Thailand. (Mahidol University's Institute of Population and Social Research, "Trafficking of children on the rise," Bangkok Post, 22 July 1998)

Pattaya has a multi-billion dollar multinational sex industry with links to drug trafficking, money laundering and an expanding regional cross-border traffic in women. (Mark Baker, "Sin city can¹t shake vice¹s grip," Sydney Morning Herald, 17 May 1997)

In Thailand, trafficking is a Bt500 billion annual business, which is 50%- 60% of the government's annual budget and more lucrative than the drug trade. (Authorites and activists, Kulachada Chaipipat, "New law targets human trafficking," The Nation, 30 Novermber 1997)

Twenty years ago, Thailand was in the forefront as a sending country for trafficked women. Thailand has now become a destination country, receiving women from Russia, Yugoslavia, Poland, and the Czech and Slovak Republics, South America. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Women from Thailand are trafficked particularly to the Netherlands and Germany of the European Union, Japan, Austrlia, India, Malaysia and nations of the Middle East. ("Trafficking of Women to the European Union: Characterisitics, Trends and Policy Issues," European Conference on Trafficking in Women, (June 1996), IOM, 7 May 1996) and (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

The internal traffic of Thai females consists mostly of 12-16 year olds from hill tribes of the North/ NorthEast. Most of the internally trafficked girls are sent to closed brothels, which operate under prison-like conditions. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Thousands of women from rural Thailand, China, Laos, Burma and Cambodia are sold to brothels in Bangkok or in other countries by unscrupulous "job brokers," who often operate in organized international syndicates. ("Survival the name of the game," Bangkok Post, 3 July 1998)

One million women from Burma, southern China, Laos, and Vietnam have been trafficked into Thailand. (CATW - Asia Pacific "Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific" (17)

In 1996, foreign women made up the majority of prostitutes in 40 sex establishments in 18 border provinces that are brothels masquerading as karaoke bars, restaurants and traditional massage parlours. In some venues, there are no Thai women at all. (Kritaya Archavanitkul, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, The Passage of Women in Neighbouring Countries Into the Sex Trade in Thailand, "Academic urges action in war against flesh trade," Yindee Lertcharoenchok, Mukdawan Sakboon, The Nation, 28 May 1997)

Large numbers of women and children from neighbouring countries are lured into prostitution and trafficked through the four Thai borders: Chiang Rai, Ranong and Mae Hong Son at the Burmese border, Trat and Sa Kaew at the Cambodia border, Mukdahan and Nong Khai at the Lao border and Yala and Narathiwat at the Malaysian border. (Wanlop Phloytaptim, Sirinya Wattanasukchai, "Flesh trade shrugs off new risks," The Nation, 1 May 1997)

In mid-1997 an increasing number of young girls, more than 60% of which are under 18 years old, were entering Thailand through Mae Sai checkpoint into massage parlors, brothels etc. (World Vision¹s Bansit Thathorn, the coordinator of the NGO Burmese women, Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Influx of Burmese sex workers via Mae Sai," Bangkok Post, 2 June 1997)

50% of the prostituted women in Chiang Rai are Burmese. Thousands of indigenous Burmese women from Shan State in the north and from Keng Tung in Eastern Burma have been sold into brothels in Bangkok and throughout Thailand. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Women from Burma's Shan state and China's southern province of Yunnan constitute 16% of the 77,000 women in the sex industry in Thailand. (Kritaya Archavanitkul, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, The Passage of Women in Neighbouring Countries Into the Sex Trade in Thailand, "Academic urges action in war against flesh trade," Yindee Lertcharoenchok, Mukdawan Sakboon, The Nation, 28 May 1997)

10,000 foreign women are trafficked for sexual exploitation each year from nearby countries to replace Thai women who have moved on other roles in the sex industry. (Kritaya Archavanitkul, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, The Passage of Women in Neighbouring Countries Into the Sex Trade in Thailand, "Academic urges action in war against flesh trade," Yindee Lertcharoenchok, Mukdawan Sakboon, The Nation, 28 May 1997)

Fewer girls from Northern Thailand have entered the sex industry in the past few years. As their numbers decline they are replaced by women and girls from Burma and southern China. (Kritaya Archavanitkul, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, The Passage of Women in Neighbouring Countries Into the Sex Trade in Thailand, "Academic urges action in war against flesh trade," Yindee Lertcharoenchok, Mukdawan Sakboon, The Nation, 28 May 1997)

There are 500 Chinese and 200 European women in prostitution in Bangkok, many of whom entered Thailand illegally, often through Burma and Laos. Earlier reports, however, suggest there were thousands of foreign women in the sex industry. (Police Colonel Sanit Meephan, deputy chief of Tourism Police Bureau, "Thailand popular haunt for foreign prostitues," The Nation, 15 January 1997)

Russian females, supplied by prostitution rings in Pattaya and Bangkok, have become a common sight since 1994. Although no one knows their exact number, some estimate there are at least 20 in Pattaya and hundreds flying in and out upon orders given mostly by wealthy Thai men. ("Pattaya: Murder, prostitution and tourists," Bangkok Post, 22 April 1998)

Of the estimated 20,000 prostitutes in Pattaya, hundreds are children who are either lured from their villages by the idea of opportunity or by criminal networks. (Mark Baker, "Sin city can¹t shake vice¹s grip," Sydney Morning Herald, 17 May 1997)

Chinese women paid Bt40,000 to Bt50,000 for expenses and received Bt1,500 to Bt2,000 for servicing men. Procurers take at least half of what the women make. Those women from Europe paid Bt60,000 to Bt70,000 for expenses and stayed at apartments in Pratunam or Soi Nana. As Westerners, the women received a comparatively more, Bt4,000 to Bt5,000 for servicing men in area venues in Thong Lor, Sukhumvit and Sam Yan. ("Thailand popular haunt for foreign prostitues," The Nation, 15 January 1997)

In 1991, Thai women were being sold to Japan for US$2,4000-18,000 each. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Many Thai girls, some in their early teens, have been reported at various times working in brothels in Sydney, Australia. An investigation is underway into a gang trafficking Southeast Asian girls to North America and Australia. ("Survival the name of the game," Bangkok Post, 3 July 1998)

Girls, age 13-15, from Ban Vanaluang, were sold to pimps for 5,00 - 10,000 baht by their parents, who may be drug addicted. The girls are deceived about their destination, which is often Chiang Mai. (Anjira Assavanonda, "Drugs and prostitution flourish in quiet village," Bangkok Post, 3 January 1998) Trafficking women and children from the Mekong countries - China, Burma, Laos and Cambodia has been increasing. The largest groups of newly trafficked women into the sex industry are from Burma¹s Shan state, and minority women from the Northwest border areas. (1996 study conducted at 40 commerical venues in Bangkok, Kulachada Chaipipat, "New law targets human trafficking," The Nation, 30 Novermber 1997)

Experts fear a resurgence of commercial sexual exploitation, child prostitution and human trafficking across the region, because Thailand's economic meltdown has doubled unemployment to more than two million people; pay cuts have reduced living standards for millions more and the government has cut social security funding. Experts warn conditions are ripe for sex traffickers "job brokers" who sell women and girls to brothels in Thailand and overseas. ("Survival the name of the game," Bangkok Post, 3 July 1998)

Child trafficking will increase in Thailand due to the Asian economic crisis. There is a child labor shortage resulting in a need for labor from neighboring poorer countries as well as an increase in domestic child labor. Middle class Thai children are increasingly becoming involved in prostitution, drugs, and begging. ("Children hard-hit by Asian crisis," United Press International, 22 September 1998)

The Asian economic crisis is leading to an increase in street children in Thailand. Before the crisis the majority (80%) of street children where from poor families; in 1998, 10-15% of the children are from middle class families. The children are involved in prostitution, drugs, and begging. Some have lived in the streets so long and have suffered abuse, that they begin abusing younger street children and trafficking in children for prostitution. Official estimates there are 15,000 street children. ("Expert says Thailand turns into hub of child trafficking," Bangkok Post, 22 September 1998)

Thousands of girls from China's southern are trafficked into Thailand's sex industry; some go on to Malaysia or Singapore. The economic crisis has no impact on this segment of the sex industry. More affluent Chinese businessmen from mainland China or Taiwan who do business in Thailand purchase sex from these Chinese girls. (Supalak Ganjanakhundee, "Migrant workers booming as Asian economy declines," Kyodo News, 23 September 1998)

Thailand is becoming a center for human trafficking, taking in people from neighboring countries and sending its own citizens to developed nations such as Japan. (Supalak Ganjanakhundee, "Migrant workers booming as Asian economy declines," Kyodo News, 23 September 1998)

Methods and Techniques of Traffickers

Victims of trafficking from other nations are easily deceived or lured because they face poverty, unemployment, broken families and unstable governments in their own countries. (Sirinya Wattanasukchai, "Flesh trade shrugs off new risks," The Nation, 1 May 1997)

Girls in China are kidnapped and trafficked through Burma to Thailand. In one kidnapping scheme in the central Thai provinces, an agent photographed village girls on their way to school; showed the photos to a brothel keeper who ordered the girls he wanted. The agent returned and kidnaped the chosen girl. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

The networks in Thailand involved in the trafficking of women have liaisons in Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. (Chulalongkorn University, "There¹s money everywhere for Thai police," The Nation, 25 February 1997)

Thailand is a staging point for the international trade in prostitutes and illegal workers, with facilities for the production of false travel documents and processing of foreign nationals to third countries. (Chulalongkorn University, "There¹s money everywhere for Thai police," The Nation, 25 February 1997)

Russion women, looking for a better life and to escape the Russian economic crisis, are being trafficked to Pattaya. Most of the women became involved with job placement agencies offering high-paying work as dancers, waitresses, domestic servants or sale representatives. Trafficking networks in Russia charge the women anywhere from $1,500 to $3,000 (60,000 to 120,000 baht) and once in Thailand, the women are kept in constant fear. They have their passports taken away upon arrival. The women are forced to work long hours for little pay and threatened with death or the death of their families if they don¹t cooperate. ("Pattaya: Murder, prostitution and tourists," Bangkok Post, 22 April 1998)

Most European women in prostitution in Thailand are from Russia, the Czech Republic and Romania. The women enter via procurers in Thailand and their native nations. Procurers take women to Yaowaraj, Surawongse, Urupong and Kingphet to be prostituted in apartments. ("Thailand popular haunt for foreign prostitues," The Nation, 15 January 1997)

Brothel owners in Thailand prefer foreign women because they are easier to control and more ''loyal". ''They will not cheat us like Thai women do, or escape from us. They are also abundant in number. Certainly, the clients prefer them to Thai women, they say the foreign women are less likely to be infected with HIV." (Kritaya Archavanitkul, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, The Passage of Women in Neighbouring Countries Into the Sex Trade in Thailand, "Academic urges action in war against flesh trade," Yindee Lertcharoenchok, Mukdawan Sakboon, The Nation, 28 May 1997)

The AIDS pandemic is how the sex industry is excusing recruiting more young girls from remote areas in Thailand, Shan State in Burma, Southern China, Kampuchea and Laos, under the false pretense that younger girls will not be infected with the disease. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Cases

Three sisters left Nong Khai province, Thailand in June 1997 with a man who promised them a job in a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Instead he trafficked them into prostitution. They were rescued after one sister convinced a man who bought her to let her make a phone call. She called her mother who alerted officials. On July 23, 1997, about 50 Malaysian policemen, accompanied by a few Thai officials, broke into the downtown Namapaya Restaurant. The group, headed by Kuala Lumpur police chief Dato Baki, found 35 girls - including Mrs Chandee's daughters - locked up behind bars on the third floor of the building. (Of flesh and blood: Forced Prostitution: One family recounts a journey into hell and back, Surat Jinakul, Bangkok Post, May 17, 1998)

Thai police are looking for an ethnic Chinese man and his accomplices who lured local women to South Africa and forced them into sex slavery. A police spokesman told Reuters at least seven Thai women had complained they had been offered jobs in South Africa as dancers or hostesses in night clubs but when they arrived found they were required to serve as unpaid prostituted women. The women said they were tricked into paying the gang a "commission" for their tickets, work permits and employment before they left Thailand. In South Africa they were forced to work day and night, they said. "Some of them have already returned home and some are in the process of repatriation," said the police spokesman. He said the operation appeared to be part of a well-organized business sending Thai women and girls to Africa but did not say how the women had managed to escape. ("Thai women lured to South Africa as sex slaves," Reuters, 24 August 1998)

The story of two Thai women:

Two Thai women forced trafficked to Saudi Arabia have come forward leading to the surrender of their trafficker, another Thai woman named Suna Thianmanee. Both women had contacted Suna in hopes of finding high paying work in Saudi Arabia, but instead were forced into prostitution. The women were forced to travel, in a tiny compartment below the truck's undercarriage or empty oil tank of the vehicle tanker in the scorching sun, from one construction site to another and to offer their sexual services.

Upon arriving in the Saudi capital, they were forced to share a five-metre-by-four-metre room with seven other girls, one of whom was Suna's sister. They were told that they would be engaged in prostitution, not restaurant helpers as promised, if they wanted to live. One of the women said that all nine girls, including herself and Suna's sister, had been wrongfully lured into the sex trade. Each girl had to service four to ten customers a day. Suna would earn about 200 to 800 riyals (Baht 2,000-Baht 8000) per visit while the girls would get free room and boarding and earn occasional tips. In five months, Suna was able to expand her brothel by renting a two-story, three-bedroom house. Most customers were Thai and Filipino workers and some Saudi citizens. (Preecha Sa-Ardsorn, "Saudi woman procurer surrenders before police," The Nation, 19 July 1998)

A Taiwanese man, Chen Chin En, 48, was arrested and charged with the procurement of Thai women for prostitution in Taiwan. A Thai man complained to police in July 1998, that his wife had been told by Chen she would work as a housewife in Taiwan, promising her a salary of Baht 15,000 per month. His wife had to register for a marriage certificate with another Taiwanese man in Thailand to apply for a visa. When she arrived in Taiwan she was taken to a brothel in Kaosung and forced into prostitution. Police said more than 500 Thai women had been lured into prostitution in Taiwan under the same method used by the gang. ("Taiwanese Œprocurer¹ held," The Nation, 29 July 1998)

Policy and Law

Children are increasingly trafficked across Southeast Asia for prostitution, with Thailand being the main destination. Government policy to repatriate some 300,000 illegal workers was criticized because the measure would push illegal migrants, especially children, "further underground". (International Labour Organization, "Trafficking of children on the rise," Bangkok Post, 22 July 1998)

In Thailand, the new Measures in Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Women and Children Act only issues authorities the right to detain suspected victims of trafficking, not the suspected traffickers. (Kulachada Chaipipat, "New law targets human trafficking," The Nation, 30 Novermber 1997)

Prostituted women who are illegal immigrants when found by police are deported and blacklisted. (Police Colonel Sanit Meephan, deputy chief of the Tourism Police Bureau, "Thailand popular haunt for foreign prostitues," The Nation, 15 January 1997)

Most of the police operations, which work closely with the Immigration police and Crime Suppression Division to suppress foreign prostitution rings, were against procurers and sex establishment operators rather than the women. ("Thailand popular haunt for foreign prostitues," The Nation, 15 January 1997)

Official Response and Action

Local law enforcement officials have ignored the expansion of Russian traffickers¹ involvement in prostitution in Pattaya, because it causes "no trouble." ("Pattaya: Murder, prostitution and tourists," Bangkok Post, 22 April 1998)

A crack-down on a prostitution ring in Saudi Arabia, into which Thai women are trafficked, in being coordinated by Bangkok Member of Parliament and women's and children's rights advocate Paveena Hongsakul. (Preecha Sa-Ardsorn, "Saudi woman procurer surrenders before police," The Nation, 19 July 1998)

Thailand¹s President Wan Muhammad Noor Matha said that Bangkok should make it clear to Saudi officials that the Thai government wants justice in a case in which nine Thai women were forced into prostitution in Saudi Arabia. Wan Noor said he was confident the Saudi authorities would co-operate with their Thai counterparts. ("Wan Noor urges Riyadh to punish wrongdoers," The Nation, 18 July 1998)

Thai women were being lured into prostitution in Ivory Coast, Japan and Australia and Member of Parliament Paveena Hongsakul in August 1998, sought help from the Foreign Ministry. Paveena Hongsakul and relatives of the women met Deputy Permanent Secretary Sakthip Krairiksh who assured them that embassies would do their best to trace and help those coerced into prostitution. ("Help for women sought," The Nation, 7 August 1998)

The Thai Embassy in Japan helps hundreds of trafficked Thai women return to Thailand every year. Many of them were abducted or tricked into prostitution in Japan. (Supalak Ganjanakhundee, "Migrant workers booming as Asian economy declines," Kyodo News, 23 September 1998)

Reduced punishments for prostituted women and harsher penalties for pimps and brothel owners has not curbed the problem of trafficking into Thailand. Officers in charge of enforcing the law, particularly immigration police do not take the matter seriously, or fail to take immediate action against violators. (Senator Keerana Sumawon, Sirinya Wattanasukchai, "Flesh trade shrugs off new risks," The Nation, 1 May 1997)

Official Corruption and Collaboration

Marut, a well-known pimp in Pattaya, was introduced to Russian traffickers by a local expatriate restaurateur. The Russians needed a local link to clients, especially wealthy Thai men. Over 60% of Marut's clients are government officials, including policemen. Some do not pay for what Marut describes as "special service," because they are powerful men. The price for "special service" is 3,000 to 6,000 baht depending on the status of the client. ("Pattaya: Murder, prostitution and tourists," Bangkok Post, 22 April 1998)

Some trafficked women, who were detained at immigration offices, were escorted out of the office at night with permission from officers or ordered to have sex with officers. In one cases four Laotian girls were gang-raped by inmates at a Rayong police station where the women were detained on charges of illegal entry and gambling (Surita Sandosham, Sirinya Wattanasukchai, "Flesh trade shrugs off new risks," The Nation, 1 May 1997)

Close to 300 million dollars is transferred yearly to rural families by women engaged in prostitution in urban areas, a sum that in many cases exceeds the budgets of government-funded development programs. Between 1993 and 1995, it is estimated that prostitution in Thailand produced an annual income of between 22.5 and 27 billion dollars. (Dario Agnote, "Sex trade key part of S.E. Asian economies, study says," Kyodo News, 18 August 1998)

There are 200,000 to 300,000 prostituted persons in Thailand. Prostituted persons are mainly adult women, but there are also male, transvestite and child prostitutes, both girls and boys. (International Labor Organization. Dario Agnote, "Sex trade key part of S.E. Asian economies, study says," Kyodo News, 18 August 1998)

A 1993 estimate showed 30,000 to 35,000 children, who were forced into prostitution due to poverty. (Dario Agnote, "Sex trade key part of S.E. Asian economies, study says," Kyodo News, 18 August 1998)

There are 75,000 prostituted children in Thailand. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

In Thailand, up to 400,000 children under the age of 16 are believed to be working in brothels, clubs or bars. (Jill Serjeant, "Asia to launch joint crackdown on child sex trade," Reuters, 1 April 1998)

There are 300,000 people in prostitution and many more in related sex industry ventures. (Chulalongkorn University, "There¹s money everywhere for Thai police," The Nation, 25 February 1997)

The 'green rice season', when farmers are short of money, is the prime season for girl hunting in the rural and hill tribes. Prostitution agents recruit girls into prostitution or buy them from their parents. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Origin of Thai prostituted persons in Thailand ­ from survey conducted nationwide in January 1998. 54.01% of prostituted persons came from the North, 28.90% from the Northeast, and 9.67% from the Central Region. (Thai Public Health Ministry. Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Vice purge hinders campaign as prostitutes go underground," Bangkok Post, 17 June 1998) Between 12,000 and 18,000 children including 5,510 foreigners mainly from Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China¹s Yunnan province were involved in the sex industry in Thailand in July 1998. About 90,000 women, girls and boys were prostituted in Thailand, with large numbers of street children from Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Pattaya being lured into the sex trade. (Mahidol University¹s Institute for Population and Social Research study, "Study probes Thai child prostitution," UPI, 28 July 1998)Of 16,423 foreign persons engaged in prostitution in Thailand, 30% are younger than 18. (Mahidol University's Institute of Population and Social Research, "Trafficking of children on the rise," Bangkok Post, 22 July 1998)From 1994 to 1997 the prostitution industry grew into a Bt60 billion business in Thailand. (Sangsit Piriyarangsan, an expert on the outlaw-economy, "Researcher discovers vice is big business," The Nation, 1 June 1997)Earnings from prostitution average $800 a month in Thailand and are higher than in other unskilled jobs. (International Labor Organization, Elif Kaban, "UN labour body urges recognition of sex industry," Reuters, 18 August 1998)There are between 200,000-300,000 persons in the sex industry in Thailand, which generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year. "You are talking about billions of baht of seedy, dark money being involved. It's not just the person in the brothel, or the brothel owner, but the whole chain in the economy... It's a massive phenomenon," said Vitit Muntarbhorn, a former UN special rapporteur on human trafficking. ("Survival the name of the game," Bangkok Post, 3 July 1998)In 1994, there were 200,000 prostitutes in Thailand. (paper presented to a regional conference on the prevention of human trafficking, quoting independent research reports compiled in 1994 by the Thai Red Cross Society and Mahidol University's Institute for Population and Social Research, Kulachada Chaipipat, "New law targets human trafficking," The Nation, 30 Novermber 1997)4.6 million Thai men regularly, and 500,000 foreign tourists annually, buy women in prostitution. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)8,016 establishments offer the "services" of 63,941 person engaged in prostitution (61,135 women and 2,806 men), says a Public Health Ministry survey conducted nationwide in January 1998.

The survey is considered accurate because it involved representatives from the Interior, Labour and Social Welfare ministries, the Thai Red Cross Society, the Prime Minister's Office, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, various universities and NGOs. The survey, classifies prostituted persons into 25 categories, includes freelancers ranging from call girls to those who solicit in public places. The 1997 survey showed there were 7,759 establishments and 64,886 persons engaged in prostitution. (Thai Public Health Ministry. Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Vice purge hinders campaign as prostitutes go underground," Bangkok Post, 17 June 1998)Bangkok has 1,421 sex venues that employ 26,361 workers and attract 36,473 patrons per year. In the provinces, there are 6,338 venues employing 38,525 workers and attracting 67,789 patrons per year. ("Sex industry census shows more venues," The Nation, 29 July 1997)There are 1-2 million people in the sex industry in Thailand. (NGOs, "Sex industry census shows more venues," The Nation, 29 July 1997)There are 60,000 brothels and other sexual service centers in Thailand. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)Number of persons engaged in prostitution per type of sex industry establishment: 11,665 persons in restaurants; 9,397 in traditional massage parlors; 7,338 in karaoke bars; 5,964 in massage parlors; 5,743 in cafes; 5,229 in beer bars; 5,155 in brothels; 3,340 in go-go bars; 2,555 in cocktail lounges; and 1,936 in gay bars. Survey conducted nationwide in January 1998.

(Thai Public Health Ministry. Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Vice purge hinders campaign as prostitutes go underground," Bangkok Post, 17 June 1998)Half a million women are in sexual slavery, accounting for 18-20% of all Thai women aged 18-30. (Pino Arlaccki, Head of UN International Drug Control Programme, in charge of UN efforts to fight organized crime, Associated Foreign Press, 13 November 1997)The number of prostitutes is falling while the number of venues for prostitution is rising. In 1996 venues increased 5% from 7,759 to 8,200.

The number of prostitutes decreased from 86,494 in 1990 to 64,886 in 1997. (Dr Vichai Chokevivat, Health Ministry, Annual sex industry census, "Sex industry census shows more venues," The Nation, 29 July 1997)Women are prostituted in bars, brothels, massage parlors, hair salons, restaurants and golf clubs. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)2,237 of the 64,886 prostitutes in Thailand are male. (Dr Vichai Chokevivat, Health Ministry, Annual sex industry census, "Sex industry census shows more venues," The Nation, 29 July 1997)55% of the total number of women in prostitution and 75% of men in prostitution became involved in prostitution when they were under 18 years of age. (Mahidol University Institute for Population and Social Research, Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Child Prostitute Problem Worrying," Bangkok Post, 28 July 1998)Officials estimate that there are between 12,000 and 18,000 children under the age of 18 engaged in prostitution in Thailand, 5,510 of them foreign nationals. Out of 17,978 of these children, 16,651 are girls and 1,327 boys, and of foreign children, 5,419 are girls and 91 boys.

The Mahidol University' Institute for Population and Social Research and several other governmental, non-governmental and international agencies, also estimate that there are 90,000 persons engaged in prostitution, contrasting with the Public Health Ministry's latest survey, which comes up with a figure of 63,941. (Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Child Prostitute Problem Worrying," Bangkok Post, 28 July 1998) Estimates from January 1998 show 14% of prostituted persons are younger than 18 years and most of them from neighboring countries. (Thai Public Health Ministry. Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Vice purge hinders campaign as prostitutes go underground," Bangkok Post, 17 June 1998)40% of the two million in prostitution in Thailand are under 18, meaning that about 850,000 children are in prostitution. (Centre for the Protection of Children¹s Rights, Chris Gelken, "Row Over Call to Boycott ŒPaedophile Playground¹," Gemini News, 28 February 1997)400,000 children under the age of 16 are exploited in brothels, clubs or bars in Thailand. (Campaigners, Robin Cook, "Clampdown on child sex tourism," BBC News, UK, 4 April 1998)There are 200,000 children in prostitution. (Chris Beddoe, representative of the international End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT), Chris Gelken, "Row Over Call to Boycott ŒPaedophile Playground¹," Gemini News, 28 February 1997)250,000 children are bought and sold for sex in Thailand alone. (UNICEF, "UK police join fight against Thai child sex tourism," BBC, 9 December 1997)The government accepts that there are 200,000 "sex workers," 25% are probably below 18. (Dr. Saisuree Chutikul of the National Committee for Women¹s Affairs, Chris Gelken, "Row Over Call to Boycott ŒPaedophile Playground¹," Gemini News, 28 February 1997)There were 14,250 homeless children in 1997, up from 13,227 in 1996. Most are between eight and 14 years of age, 90% are boys.

More than 5,000 are in Bangkok, in places such as Hua Lampong train station, parks or "red light" districts. They survive by begging, washing cars, collecting plastic bottles or by prostitution. (The National Committee on Social Welfare, "Street teachers help overcome false starts," Ratchada Chitrada, News-Scan International Ltd, 2 October 1997)In every brothel raided over the past two years (1996-1997) children were found. (Wanchai Boonphacra, Centre for the Protection of Children's Rights, "More foreign workers join sex industry as fewer Thai girls enter flesh trade," Poona Antaseeda, Bangkok Post, 24 November 1997)

Men who use women in prostitution are the largest cause of the spread of AIDS in Thailand. Young boys often have their first sexual experiences in brothels. Grown-up men regularly buy prostitutes. ("Opening our eyes to the Aids problem," The Nation, 20 May 1997)There are more brothels than schools in Thailand. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific) Children work in fisheries, construction, industrial and factory work, the service sector, and agriculture, in 14 border provinces and the Bangkok area. Prostitution was the highest paid with children earning about 6,281 baht a month. The money was spent on clothes and cosmetics and sent home to families for house construction and electrical applicances. (Prof Kusol Sunthorntada, Researcher, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, ("More foreign workers join sex industry as fewer Thai girls enter flesh trade," Poona Antaseeda, Bangkok Post, 24 November 1997)

Northern girls in Thailand are prized for their pale complexions so tok khiao or ''fishing for the green" is particularly prevalent in that part of the country (khiao is the colour of tender young rice shoots). Girls are recruited for the sex industry in the following way: an agent for a brothel or ''massage parlour" (often a former prostitute herself) visits a poor village to scout out likely recruits. Her prey are girls reaching the end of their compulsory term of primary education ­ usually students in Prathom 5 or 6 Having identified a potential candidate, the agent then visits the girl's parents and offers a down-payment in cash for their daughter. When the girl finishes primary school, usually around the age of 11 or 12, the agent returns to make the final payment and receive delivery of the ''goods". ("Fishing for the Green," The Nation, 30 April 1997)

Among the factors leading to the selling of girl children in the North is the arrival of electricity and television in rural areas, the new-found ''need" for consumer goods and the diminishment of the old sense of community where neighbours helped each other with the planting and harvesting of crops. Filmmaker Supachai Surongsain says, "Electricity has become a part of their lives so now everybody must have a refrigerator, a TV and a radio. Motorised ploughs that require gas and oil have now replaced buffaloes. All these things require money, of course. People no longer help each other for free; they want to be paid for their time." Consumerism has severely weakened the villagers' traditional customs and values. ("Fishing for the Green," The Nation, 30 April 1997)

The network between brothels keeps women from escaping bondage. The owner sells prostituted girl or women to another brothel just before she repays her "debt." She then must pay a new "debt," starting at the next brothel. (CATW - Asia Pacific, Trafficking in Women and Prostitution in the Asia Pacific)

Child prostitutes are badly treated by the brothel owners and the men who buy them. Brothel owners make them work without a day off, steal their wages and warn them not to leave their work places telling them they will be arrested as illegal immigrants. Some are beaten for refusing to work and men who buy them may become violent if the girls refuse to perform various sex acts. (Prof Kusol Sunthorntada, Researcher, Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, ("More foreign workers join sex industry as fewer Thai girls enter flesh trade," Poona Antaseeda, Bangkok Post, 24 November 1997) In Thailand, Patpong, Soi Cowboy, Nana Plaza and Pattaya are main areas of the child sex industry. (Laura Bobak, "For Sale: The Innocence of Cambodia," Ottawa Sun, 24 October 1996)

Health and Well-being

In 1990 there were fewer than 200 reported AIDS carriers, and only a handful of AIDS patients. By 1997, the number of reported carriers is believed to have far exceeded one million, with more than 30,000 deaths recorded in official papers. The AIDS epidemic has threatened to overwhelm at least six upper Northern provinces - Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lamphun, Lampang, Phayao and Mae Hong Son. Hospitals in these provinces are usually packed with AIDS cases, who outnumber other patients. At a certain hospital ward in Chiang Rai, AIDS patients occupy 15 out of the ward's 22 beds. ("Opening our eyes to the Aids problem," The Nation, 20 May 1997)

Of 103 prostitutes tested for AIDS this year, 37.8% were HIV positive, most of them from Burma's Shan state. (Dr Sura Kunkongkaphan, Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Influx of Burmese sex workers via Mae Sai," Bangkok Post, 2 June 1997)

NGOs say most prostitutes come from provinces in the north; a large number after travelling to cities like Bangkok to work return to their villages once they become infected with HIV/AIDS. They in turn, infect others. AIDS is mostly transmitted through heterosexual contact. Men often get the disease from a prostitute then infect their wives who then infect their unborn children. Northern Thailand accounts for about half of the country¹s 800,000 cases of HIV. (Sutin Wannabovorn, "Thai Prime Minister vows end prostitution, AIDS victims react," Reuters, 29 July 1997)

Thailand has the fourth largest number of AIDS cases in the world with nearly 60,000. This is only the number of officially reported cases and health workers say the actual number is sveral times higher. (Sutin Wannabovorn, "Thai Prime Minister vows end prostitution, AIDS victims react," Reuters, 29 July 1997)

More than 70% of Thailand¹s returning migrants are HIV positive. The men buy women in prostitution when they are abroad. Of 500 returning migrants in Khon Kaen, more than 400 are HIV positive. Migration is a key factor in the spread of AIDS. (NGOs working on HIV/AIDS issues in Issan, recent informal sample by a doctor, IOM, Leyla Alnayak, "Returning migrants to Thailand show high AIDS incidence," Earth Times, 11 April 1998)

Cases

Two Pattaya policemen have been arrested for running an operation that sold under-age boys to prostitution tourists and planted drugs on other boys in order to blackmail them. Another officer has been charged with running a brothel and kidnapping a 15-year-old girl for prostitution. (Mark Baker, "Sin city can¹t shake vice¹s grip," Sydney Morning Herald, 17 May 1997)

A 25-year-old woman, named Ploywilai, was enslaved in a brothel for 12 years. After she was rescued in a raid, she told police she ran away from home at the age of 13 to stay with her boyfriend in Mahachai, Samut Sakhon province. After her boyfriend was arrested for using marijuana, a man lured her into prostitution in a brothel in Mahachai. After staying there for about two months, she was sold to the brothel in Ratchaburi. ''I was at Baan Nok Pirab for 12 years and they never let me go out. I wanted to go home but escape seemed impossible," she said. Ploywilai said she wrote to her mother to seek police help and asked a brothel visitor to be her messenger. ("Police rescue 18 women to end prostitution ring," The Nation, 31 July 1997)

Policy and Law

In August 1997, The House of Representatives passed the first reading of a government bill to outlaw the laundering of money obtained from prostitution and the drug trade. It will permit authorities to freeze assets suspected of having been obtained from the drug trade or prostitution. The owners would be required to prove that they had earned the assets legally. (Jintana Panya-Arvudh, "House votes on new money laundering bill," The Nation, 7 August 1997)

According to an anti-prostitution law, it is criminal to procure anyone under 18, the punishment of which is four to twenty years in jail and an 80,000 to 100,000 baht fine. (Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Influx of Burmese sex workers via Mae Sai," Bangkok Post, 2 June 1997)

Since enforcement of the anti-prostitution law in December 1996, police pursue cases of child prostitution less frequently, partly because the cases are complicated. According to Professor Kritaya Archavanitkul of Mahidol University's Institute for Population and Social Research, "The police at local level do not cooperate much because the Interior Ministry has announced that police authorities will be penalized if child prostitutes are found in areas under their responsibility." (Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Child Prostitute Problem Worrying," Bangkok Post, 28 July 1998)

Enforcement of the Prostitution Prevention and Suppression Act of 1997 caused movement of many prostituted persons from brothels to restaurants and beer bars. This puts them out of the reach of health workers, which hampers efforts to control sexually transmitted diseases by driving prostituted persons from the mainstream red-light premises. (Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Vice purge hinders campaign as prostitutes go underground," Bangkok Post, 17 June 1998)

Budget cuts have forced the Communicable Diseases Control Department to cut its free condom distribution program from 45 million pieces in 1997 to 12 million in 1998. In fiscal 1999, the ministry has requested funds to buy 25 million condoms. (Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Vice purge hinders campaign as prostitutes go underground," Bangkok Post, 17 June 1998)

The Asian economic crisis is affecting the sex industry. Before the economic crisis, each prostituted woman had at least four customers per day but now it is about three every two days. This has potentially lead to a decrease in the in the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases because of a decline in the frequency of intercourse with prostituted persons. (Thai Public Health Ministry. Aphaluck Bhatiasevi, "Vice purge hinders campaign as prostitutes go underground," Bangkok Post, 17 June 1998)

Official Response and Action

Two economic advisers to Thailand¹s Interior Minister recommended that prostitution be legalized, so the 200,000 women in prostitution could generate Bt60 billion per year for the Thai government. (Pasuk Pongpaijit and Sangsit Piryarangsan of the Economics department of Chulalongkorn University, Parith Iampongpaiboon, "Plan for illegal work proposed," The Nation, 1 July 1997)

21 men have been arrested under the Anti-prostitution Act aimed at curbing child prostitution from December, 1996, when it took effect to April 1997. (Wanlop Ploythaptim the director of Occupational Assistance Division, "Police asked to focus raids on prostitution," The Nation, 11 April 1997)

Thailand is now one of the world's AIDS capitals. The crisis is most severe in the North, where it is recommended that a state of AIDS emergency should be imposed. Suggested strategies include the immediate closure of all brothels in the region because the main route of transmission of AIDS is prostitution. ("Opening our eyes to the Aids problem," The Nation, 20 May 1997)According to a survey, the percent of army conscripts visiting brothels declined from 58 percent in 1991 to 23 percent in 1995. The group increased their condom use from 60 percent to 90 percent during that time. At the national level, the number of 21-year-old male conscripts with HIV was down from 3.7 per cent in 1993 to 2.5 per cent in 1995. (Werasit Sittitrai, UN AIDS Policy, Strategy and Research Coordinator, "HIV spread declines as prevention advice heeded," The Nation, 23 May 1997)

Official Corruption and Collaboration

It is widely accepted that illegal businesses exist under the patronage of the police in Thailand. There is also evidence that some police and military figures actively participate in illegal businesses. Some of the protection rackets that prey on gambling and prostitution businesses are said to be based in the army. Political figures are also involved. In the last parliament, 20 to 30 MPs were said to be involved in illegal businesses. (Chulalongkorn University, "There¹s money everywhere for Thai police," The Nation, 25 February 1997)

In the past, the Thai government covered up the reality of AIDS fearing tourism would be hindered. ("Opening our eyes to the Aids problem," The Nation, 20 May 1997)

NGO Action

Prostitution Tourism

The Amazing Thailand tourist campaign for 1998-1999 is predicted to bring more children into the sex trade. (Montri Sintawichai, General Secretary, Child Protection Foundation, "More foreign workers join sex industry as fewer Thai girls enter flesh trade," Poona Antaseeda, Bangkok Post, 24 November 1997)

Official Response and Action

Pattaya, a sex tourist destination, has 3,000 persons engaged in prostitution. City leaders are trying to clean up the image of Pattaya and market the resort to family vacationers. Pattaya attracted nearly 2 million visitors between January and June 1998, a 4% increase over 1997. "The sex image is something that dates back 20, 30 years," said Sethaphan Buddhani, the local director of tourism. "Of course, sex is still here, but in our marketing I don't emphasize it or deny it. If you're not here for service girls, then how about trying one of our 15 golf courses?" He adds, "The next market we're going after is the handicapped. We'll be the only city in the region with access ramps and handicapped facilities in restaurants, bars, everywhere. Japan alone has 12 million handicapped. That's a huge potential market. If they want sex tours, we'll arrange special guides." (David Lamb, "Thai Reinvent Gomorrah for Family Crowd," Los Angeles Times, 15 August 1998)

In Pattaya, more than 50 suspected child prostitution tourists have been arrested in the past two years, yet only one case has gone to trial. (Mark Baker, "Sin city can¹t shake vice¹s grip," Sydney Morning Herald, 17 May 1997)

Laws governing the conviction of paedophiles have been tightened in more than 20 countries from August 1996 to August 1997, resulting in a decline in child sex tourism to Thailand. (End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism, BBC, 8 Nov 1997)

Official Corruption and Collaboration

Thailand is among the world¹s biggest sex-tour operators, along with the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Taiwan in organizing sex tours for foreign tourists. Sex tour operators prey on children. Thailand¹s officials ignore the reality of prostitution. (Vicha Mahakhun, Deputy Chief Justice of the Central Juvenile and Family Court, "Judge blames officials for rise in child abuse," Piyanart Srivalo, The Nation, 26 July 1997)

In northern Thailand villages girls as young as five are fitted with copper collars weighing ten pounds. The number of collars are increased, stretching the neck, until the girl becomes 25. When the women speak they are barely audible. Women are vulnerable to men who will kill them if they take off the collars. (Halima Embarek Warzazi, expert from Morocco, "Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of MinoritiesAddresses Harmful Traditional Practices Affecting Health of Women and Girls," DPI-Releases, 13 August 1997)

Women from Burma¹s Karenni tribe kidnapped by a Thai businessman are being exhibited as a tourist attraction at a human zoo in Northern Thailand. From the age of five, the women wrap heavy copper coils around their necks to elongate them. Their necks eventually become so long and weak that they cannot support their heads without the coils. In some tribes the coils are removed to punish women who have committed adultery. ("ŒAmazing Thailand¹ offers human zoo," BBC World, 16 January 1998)