C S E C The Commercial Sexual
Exploitation of Children In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/childprostitution/Thailand.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
and accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the
situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of child prostitution are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got started, how they survive, and how
some succeed in leaving. Perhaps your
paper could focus on runaways and the abuse that led to their leaving. Other factors of interest might be poverty,
rejection, drug dependence, coercion, violence, addiction, hunger, neglect,
etc. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the manipulative and dangerous adults who control this
activity. There is a lot to the
subject of Child Prostitution. Scan
other countries as well as this one.
Draw comparisons between activity in adjacent countries and/or
regions. Meanwhile, check out some of
the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. HELP for Victims International Organization for
Migration ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** The Bangkok
attraction Jeremy P. Meyer, www.denverpost.com/jonbenet/ci_4244063 [accessed 30 July
2011] Most disturbing
about One boy,
10-year-old "Ice," said three times a month someone offers to pay
him for sex. He always declines. But social workers fear the lure of money
will someday change his mind. Ice and his brother sleep on the floor in his
grandmother's one-room shack in a shantytown. She makes money by scavenging
for scraps of metal while he begs. Student on mission
to expose Heather LaRoi, www.asia4u.info/news/536.html [accessed 30 July
2011] "You can read
about it and watch documentaries all you want, but until you're actually
there and you're offered children, you can't grasp how horrendous it
is," said Quinnell, explaining that his being male,
white, solo and in Thailand often added up to the assumption that he was a
so-called "sex tourist." He'll never forget the first time he
was offered a girl no older than 12. "These children didn't choose
anything about their lives," he said. "They're just born into
it." ***
ARCHIVES *** ECPAT Country
Monitoring Report [PDF] Veyoma Hevamange,
ECPAT International, 2011 www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/a4a_v2_eap_thailand_1.pdf [accessed 8
September 2020] Desk review of
existing information on the sexual exploitation of children (SEC) in
Thailand. The report looks at protection mechanisms, responses, preventive measures,
child and youth participation in fighting SEC, and makes recommendations for
action against SEC. Human
Rights Reports » 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 10, 2020 www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/thailand/ [accessed 8
September 2020] SEXUAL
EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN - The law provides heavy penalties for persons who
procure, lure, compel, or threaten children younger than 18 for the purpose
of prostitution, with higher penalties for persons who purchase sexual
intercourse with a child younger than 15. Authorities may punish parents who
allow a child to enter into prostitution and revoke their parental rights.
The law prohibits the production, distribution, import, or export of child
pornography. The law also imposes heavy penalties on persons convicted of
sexually exploiting persons younger than 18, including for pimping,
trafficking, and other sexual crimes against children. Child sex
trafficking remained a problem and the country continued to be a destination
for child sex tourism, although the government continued to make efforts to
combat the problem. Children from migrant populations, ethnic minorities, and
poor families remained particularly vulnerable, and police arrested parents
who forced their children into prostitution. Citizens and foreign sex
tourists committed pedophilia crimes, including the commercial sexual
exploitation of children, and production and distribution of child
pornography. The government made
efforts throughout the year to combat the sexual exploitation of children,
including opening two new child advocacy centers in Ubon
Ratchathani and Kanchanaburi
provinces, adding to existing centers in Chiang Mai, Pattaya,
and Phuket that allow for developmentally appropriate interviews of child
victims and witnesses. The centers allowed both forensic interviewing and early
social-service intervention in cases of child abuse, trafficking, and
exploitation. The multiagency Thailand Internet Crimes against Children Task
Force continued to accelerate its operations, leveraging updated regulations
and investigative methods to track internet-facilitated child exploitation. 2018 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor Office of Child
Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking, Bureau of International Labor
Affairs, US Dept of Labor, 2019 www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2018/ChildLaborReportBook.pdf [accessed 8
September 2020] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor [page 1109] In 2018, the
government identified 1 child victim of forced labor and 40 child victims of
commercial sexual exploitation, and worked on 34 child pornography cases. Reports indicate
that there is a lack of understanding of human trafficking issues in some
provincial governments and courts if the victims are boys engaged in
commercial sexual exploitation. In addition, there are reports of
underreporting human trafficking incidences for fear that reporting them
would demonstrate law enforcement deficiencies. (3,37) Concluding Observations
of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 9 October 1998 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/thailand1998.html [accessed 29
December 2010] [30] The Committee
expresses concern at the continuing high rate of sexual abuse of children,
including child prostitution and trafficking and sale of children, which
affects both girls and boys. In this regard, the Committee recommends that
measures be taken, on an urgent basis, to strengthen law enforcement and to
implement the State party's national program of prevention. Abolitionists tell
story of Michele Willer-Allred, www.vcstar.com/news/2010/oct/13/abolitionists-tell-story-of-thailands-child-sex/ [accessed 18
September 2011] archive.vcstar.com/news/abolitionists-tell-story-of-thailands-child-sex-slaves-ep-367247911-347232382.html [accessed 15
November 2016] In 2006, Batstone
met Nam in northern Thailand during his research around the world for his
seventh book called “Not for Sale.” Most had been
kidnapped or sold by their parents, and all ended up in the child-sex
brothels of Chiang Mai. Some had
escaped from the brothels but feared they would be recaptured. Once in Education may
prevent human trafficking Casey Northcutt, The
At one time this article
had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here [accessed 28 August
2011] Hundreds of
thousands of men and women in northern Gateways to
exploitation Globe and Mail, Nov.
10, 2007 -- Source: ECPAT International www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/gateways-to-exploitation/article1089077/ [accessed 7 October
2012] THAILAND - Estimates of the
number of child prostitutes living in Children lured into
Thai sex industry Nopporn Wong-Anan, Reuters,
Pattaya www.reuters.com/article/2006/12/15/us-children-thailand-sex-idUSBKK8192720061215 [accessed 31 July
2011] Under the
neon-lights of Pattaya, the Thai town
renowned for its sex industry, boys and girls as young as seven try to
sell flowers to western tourists. Some will end up selling their bodies.
''These kids start by selling sweets to tourists who aren't interested, so
they use sexual tactics like holding arms or legs,'' said Sudjai
Nakphain of World Vision, who works on a project
for children in Pattaya. ''While some kind adults just give them
money, others exploit those selling tactics and many kids, who have already
been sexually abused by their families, end up selling sex,'' she said. Lin Lin childexploitation.org At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 31 July
2011] "Lin Lin" was thirteen years old when she was recruited
by an agent for work in A perfect lure for paedophiles Editorial, The
Nation, August 22, 2006 www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/08/22/opinion/opinion_30011609.php [accessed 31 July
2011] factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Thailand/sub5_8d/entry-3247.html [accessed 15
November 2016] But
anti-human-trafficking experts say the situation in Thailand in regard to
child prostitution has improved dramatically from the 1990s. The availability
of children under 18 for commercial sex has been sharply reduced, thanks to
intensified crackdowns over the years. Far fewer children are in the
country's sex trade, because the economy has improved, and fewer poor
families need to take their children out of school to help make ends meet. Tillie Fong, Rocky
Mountain News, August 17, 2006 m.rockymountainnews.com/news/2006/Aug/17/thailand-is-a-major-stop-for-those-seeking-child/ [accessed 31 July
2011] But a 2004 story in
The Nation reported that a study by Nitet Tinnakul, of Trip inspires
student's mission against sex trade in Thailand Megan Twohey, web.archive.org/web/20080316032351/http:/www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=468398 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 31 July
2011] But Quinnell didn't want to document just the horrific. He
wanted to capture glimpses of hope, too.
He found them in the Development Education Program for Daughters and
Community, a school near Mae Sai that provides free education and counseling
to orphans and other undocumented children. The school, which
is credited with saving hundreds of children from child prostitution, is run
by Sompop Jantraka. Jantraka, whom Time magazine counts among the top 25
Asian heroes, has been twice nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Thai families
partners in child sex trade - Border area's products are drugs and daughters Andrew Perrin, San
Francisco Chronicle, Mae Sai, www.sfgate.com/news/article/Thai-families-partners-in-child-sex-trade-2877185.php [accessed 16 August
2012] When Burmese
migrant Ngun Chai sold his 13-year-old daughter
into prostitution for $114, his wife, La, had one regret
-- they didn't get a good price for her.
"I should have asked for 10,000 baht ($228)," La Chai said.
"He robbed us." The Development and
Education Program for Daughters and Communities (DEPDC), a nongovernmental
organization in Mae Sai that works with local girls who are at risk of being
sold, estimates that of Pa Tek's 800 families, 7 in
every 10 have sold at least one daughter into the trade. 47 Laotian women
rescued from Thai prostitution dens [DOC] Associated Press AP,
www.no-trafficking.org/content/Country_Pages_LaoPDR/laopdr_pdf/47
laotian women rescued from thai
prostitution dens2.doc [accessed 31 July
2011] 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. Khmer girls'
trafficking ordeal Kylie Morris, BBC
News, Thai-Cambodian border, 2 June 2005 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4599709.stm [accessed 29
December 2010] "At first I
refused to have sex with men. Then I was beaten so badly I had to hide my
face for a month, until it healed. Then I was told again I would have to
sleep with the customers. I knew if I refused I would be beaten again. I had
no choice but to agree." Briton nabbed on
child sex charges Agence France-Presse AFP, At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 31 July
2011] School teachers
came to us and asked us to investigate after their grade five and six
students disappeared and came back with a lot of money. Business News,
October 24, 2005 [accessed 31 July
2011] Many girls and
children in Five Years After ECPAT: Fifth Report
on implementation of the Agenda for Action ECPAT International,
November 2001 www.no-trafficking.org/content/web/05reading_rooms/five_years_after_stockholm.pdf [accessed 13
September 2011] [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – Report
by Special Rapporteur [DOC] UN Economic and Social
Council Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-ninth session, 6 January 2003 www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/0/217511d4440fc9d6c1256cda003c3a00/$FILE/G0310090.doc [accessed 31 July
2011] [72] The Department
of Public Welfare has designated four protection homes to provide temporary
shelter and a recovery program for women and children who are victims of
trafficking. A special reception centre
in People's Daily
Online, December 14, 2001 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 31 July
2011] Thailand’s Position
on Child Prostitution Royal Thai Embassy
in At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 31 July
2011] During Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai
Administration, combating child prostitution became one of the priorities of
his government. His policy initiatives have eventually led to the passing of
the Prostitution Prevention and Suppression Act of 1996 that includes
penalties for customers, procurers, as well as parents who knowingly send their
children into such trade. An Update on Don't!
Buy! Thai! The Zero - The
Official Website of Andrew Vachss, December 20,
2000 www.vachss.com/mission/dbt_update.html [accessed 31 July
2011] Child Prostitution
in Sirirat Pusurinkham,
The Witness Magazine, 19 December 2001 thewitness.org/agw/pusurinkham.121901.html [accessed 31 July
2011] Girls as young as
10-12 years old service men in the sex industry. Many of the girls typically
have sex with ten to fifteen men every day, and
sometimes as many as 20 to 30. In The children go
because they feel that they can help their families. They feel in debt to
their families, and want to help improve their lives. Thai culture
emphasizes that children should listen to their parents and help their
parents. Sex 'Tourist' Gets
Seven Years BBC News, 20
October, 2000 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/980337.stm [accessed 31 July
2011] In his final words
to the court before the jury retired to consider its verdict, he broke down
and apologized to the girl, now 17, for stealing her childhood.
Dave in www.sexwork.com/Thailand/child.html [accessed 31 July
2011] It was pointed out
that it is only our Western morality that considers it a "problem."
Since it's a long tradition of youth helping out their parents financially,
which is encouraged by Buddhism, even if it's from sex work, it’s only our
Western values that consider it a "problem" and what right to we
have to impose our moral judgments on a different culture? At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 31 July
2011] Hotelier Acts On
Child Prostitution BBC News, 19
February, 2003 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2780957.stm [accessed 31 July
2011] Accor, a major hotel
group, has agreed to tackle child prostitution in its hotels in Prostitution
touches lives of Cable News Network
CNN, www-cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/southeast/9911/19/thai.child.prostitution/ [accessed 31 July
2011] Her mother, who was
heavily in debt, forced her into prostitution when she was 9 years old. She was a child prostitute for one
year. "I refused several
times," Rin recalled. "Then my mother took me out of school
and kept telling me to do 'the job.'
In the end, I gave in. I felt
pity for my mother. I wanted to help
her." Tat Supports Fight
Against Child Prostitution Tourism Authority of
www.travelthailand.net/traveltips.htm#Child%20Prostitution [accessed 31 July
2011] In April 1996, the
government of Adventist Professor
Highlights Horrors of Child Prostitution in Jonathan Gallagher,
Adventist News Network ANN World News Bulletin, 18 May 2000 news.adventist.org/en/archive/articles/2000/05/18/adventist-professor-highlights-horrors-of-child-prostitution-in-thailand [accessed 7 October
2012] "An estimated
800,000 children below the age of 16 work as
prostitutes in Child Prostitution
in Siroj sorajjakool,
Child prostitution in Click [here]
to access the article. Its URL is not
displayed because of its length [accessed 31 July
2011] In Harbor House
Foundation Siamese Dream of www.siamese-dream.com/charity-Harbor-House.html [accessed 31 July
2011] The Foundation
shelters 25-30 girls who are between 10 and 16 years old. Those who belong to
families with members already in the flesh trade, or broken families with drug
and/or alcohol addiction, and those who suffer physical/sexual abuses from
family members, have been given priority to be accepted in the Foundation. Prevention of Child
Prostitution in June Narber, Non-Profit
Organizations, You can help www.hercurian.com/nonp_thailand.htm [accessed 18
September 2011] DEP is in desperate
need right now for financial contributions in order to take care of the girls
it has rescued from child prostitution The girls at Daughter's
Brothel agents
travel into the rural areas of One young girl that
I met had been locked in a room and forced to serve upward of ten men a day.
She was only eight years old Children in
prostitution, pornography and illicit activities - Thailand - Magnitude of
problems and remedies [PDF] Hervé Berger & Hans
van de Glind, International Labour
Organisation ILO & International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour
IPEC, August 1999 www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/documents/publication/wcms_bk_pb_6_en.pdf [accessed 2 March
2015] A woman approached
a Buddhist monk, and said: "When I was 12, my parents, who were very
poor, sold me to a brothel and I have had to do this work ever since. I must
beg your forgiveness for my sin." The monk replied;
"There is no need to beg forgiveness from me. It is I and the world who
should beg your forgiveness, for we have not done enough to protect you.
Please forgive me and the world for having failed to protect you in the first
place." - Mettanando Bhikkhu, Thai
Buddhist monk ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** ECPAT Global
Monitoring Report on the status of action against commercial exploitation of
children - THAILAND [PDF] ECPAT International,
2006 www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/EAP/Global_Monitoring_Report-THAILAND.pdf [accessed 31 July
2011] While the
international and Thai media may focus on Western offenders, it is clear that
Asian exploiters, including Thai nationals are also responsible for the
sexual abuse and exploitation of children. According to group discussions
with college students who volunteer for the Centre for Girls, (a partner of
the ECPAT Foundation in the North of the country), college students are being
approached and sexually exploited by local adult men, i.e. wealthy men who
act as a ‘sugar daddy’ for the girls, giving them gifts and money in exchange
for sexual favours. As seen from news reports,
Internet cafés can become places where local men sexually exploit children,
including young boys, in exchange for playing online games for free in a
private room at the back of the café. According to the Office of the Basic
Education Commission, between January and September 2006, 25 cases of sexual
harassment against school children were reported in a total of 175
educational districts nationwide. The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/thailand.htm [accessed 29
December 2010] Note:: Also check out this country’s report in the more recent edition DOL
Worst Forms of Child Labor INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children are likewise involved in the trafficking of
drugs in Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61628.htm [accessed 11
February 2020] CHILDREN
-
Trafficking in children, including for commercial sexual exploitation,
remained a serious problem (see section 5, Trafficking). Pedophilia
continued, both by citizens and by foreign sex tourists. The government,
university researchers, and NGOs estimated that there were as many as 30
thousand to 40 thousand prostitutes under 18 years
of age, not including foreign migrants. The Prostitution Prevention and
Suppression Act makes child prostitution illegal and
provides for criminal punishment for those who use prostitutes under 18. Parents
who allow a child to enter into prostitution also are punishable. During the
year there were a few arrests and no prosecutions of parents who allowed a
child to enter into prostitution. Custom and tradition made it rare for
children to accuse their parents in court proceedings. TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– The majority of prostitutes
were not kept under physical constraint, but a large number worked in debt
bondage. Brothel procurers reportedly advanced parents a substantial sum
against their child's future earnings. The child was then obligated to work
in a brothel to repay the loan. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin,
"Child Prostitution - |
