Human Trafficking in [Laos] [other countries]
Street Children in [Laos] [other countries]
Child Prostitution in [Laos] [other countries]
 

Child Prostitution

The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos) [ Country-by-Country Reports ]

The Lao People's Democratic Republic [map], located in SE Asia, is bordered by China (N), by Vietnam (E), by Cambodia (S), and by Thailand and Myanmar (W). Its capital and largest city is Vientiane. Laos is characterized by a high degree of geographic, cultural and linguistic diversity. The country's rich traditions survive, including respect for cultural and religious beliefs and practices and utilization of consensus in decision-making.

CAUTION:  The following links and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Laos. Some of these links may lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated, misleading or even false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content.

ECPAT – On-line form for reporting child prostitution and other sexual offences against children

Quick Search for Missing Children - Select Gender, Country (Lao), and Years Missing

National Plan of Action

Bur of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor - Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005

CHILDREN - Trafficking in girls for prostitution and forced labor was a problem. Other forms of child labor generally were confined to family farms and enterprises.

Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1997

[27] The Committee is concerned by the increasing phenomenon of child prostitution and trafficking, which affects boys as well as girls. It is worried about the insufficiency of measures to prevent and combat this phenomenon, and the lack of rehabilitation measures.

47 Laotian women rescued from Thai prostitution dens [DOC]

Thai police on Wednesday raided two karaoke bars in a province near Bangkok and rescued 47 women from neighboring Laos who were forced to work as prostitutes, police said.

The women rescued from the bars in Chachoengsao province, 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of the capital, included eight girls under age 18, said police Col. Kraibun Songsuat. He said the bars' operators had kept the doors to the bars locked to keep the women from escaping.

ECPAT: Fifth Report on implementation of the Agenda for Action [DOC]

[B] COUNTRY UPDATES – LAOS – the Department of Social Welfare has been carrying out research on the sexual exploitation of children with support from UNICEF and has carried out a campaign on the rights of the child.

ECPAT: Acknowledgment & Prevention

In 1999, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare carried out research on sexually exploited and sexually abused children in urban areas of 4 provinces. This research was considered an important step as the problem of CSEC in Laos was acknowledged and the results of the research were accepted by the government.

Trafficking of Women and Children in Laos

THE SITUATION IN LAOS - There is some acknowledgment of the problem of child prostitution in its admission that prostitution occurs mainly in urban areas, such as in Vientiane municipality. Most of the young female prostitutes work as hostesses in bars and some have been sent for re-education several times. The causes of prostitution are a lack of employment and a poor level of education, knowledge and skills.

The Protection Project - Country Report [DOC]

FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO THE TRAFFICKING INFRASTRUCTURE - In Laos, the only available employment for many children and young women is a factory job with poor working conditions and a low salary. The bleak employment situation motivates children to take jobs in pubs, selling alcohol; they then gradually drift into prostitution. Other children are trafficked into prostitution through false promises of jobs as domestic servants.

Fight Child Prostitution By Curbing Demand – Groups

MORE LOCAL THAN FOREIGN CLIENTELE - In neighboring Laos, a government report released in October notes that child trafficking for prostitution was rampant in all 17 provinces, according to a media release of UNICEF and ECPAT. “Interviews with 253 victims (of whom 60 percent were girls between the ages 12 and 18), their families and other key informants found that regional economic disparities, a lack of opportunity at home and the negative influence of the media all contribute to vulnerability.

Government Transnational And Cross-Sector Cooperation

EXAMPLE 7 - A Memorandum of Understanding between the governments of Thailand and Laos on Cooperation to Combat Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, was signed on 13 July 2005. The MOU will commit Laos and Thailand to joint action, including establishing joint working groups to run operations to combat human trafficking.

Examples Of Measures Taken By The Corporate Sector To Help Stop Child Prostitution

Starting in 2002, training sessions were organized for Accor hotel staff in Thailand with the aim of teaching them how to act and react if they come across abuse of this kind in or out the vicinity of the hotels. These sessions were then extended in 2003 to Indonesia, Laos and Cambodia, bringing the number of trained staff to over 5,000.

Mission To Laos On The Issue Of Trafficking Of Children - 1998

[37] Child involvement in commercial sex is not very apparent in Laos. However the Special Rapporteur received reports that there are some establishments that may have clandestine operations in this respect. There are also some reports that children as young as 12 to 14 years of age have been used in the production of pornographic films subsequently brought out of the country. The Special Rapporteur remains gravely concerned that Laos could increasingly become exposed to the phenomenon as it transforms from a centrally planned to a market economy.

Thematic Reports

SR ON THE SALE OF CHILDREN, CHILD PROSTITUTION, CHILD PORNOGRAPHY - The report notes that the situation of children who are at risk or are victims of commercial sexual exploitation or trafficking is, for most purposes, usually considered under the more general category of "Children in especially difficult circumstances". Children identified as being in such circumstances are those: with narcotic addictions; who have dropped out of school; with "bad behavior"; who have committed acts of theft; beggars; working as waitresses in nightclubs; in prostitution; and others with "difficulties".

Millions Suffer in Sex Slavery

Statistical estimates indicate 300,000 women have been sold into the sex trade in Western Europe in the last 10 years, and since 1990, 80,000 women and children from Myanmar (formerly Burma), Cambodia, Laos and China have been sold into Thailand's sex industry.

New Weapons Against Child Trafficking In Asia

In recent years, large numbers of children from Cambodia, China, Laos and Myanmar have been forced to work as prostitutes in Thailand. Both girls and boys from poor rural areas are lured by professional recruiters and traffickers with promises of legitimate jobs in Thailand's booming economy. Children from Laos are brought across the Mekong River into various provinces in north and northeast Thailand.

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Human Trafficking in [Laos] [