Human Trafficking in [Thailand] [other countries]Street Children in [Thailand] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Thailand |
Child Prostitution The Commercial Sexual Exploitation of
Children In the
first ten years of the 21st Century -
2000 to 2009
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CAUTION: The following links and accompanying text have been culled
from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Most disturbing about Bangkok's sex
culture is that it has snared children into prostitution and
pornography. On a recent night in the Soi Cowboy district, several street children wandered
among the gawkers and tourists, selling flowers and
gum. One 10-year-old boy stopped an American in the street and pleaded for
him to buy a flower. Then he offered something else - oral sex for 20 baht,
or about 50 cents. While waiting for an answer, the boy rolled his tongue at
the foreigner. 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. ***
ARCHIVES *** www.ecpat.net/A4A_2005/PDF/EAP/Global_Monitoring_Report-THAILAND.pdf 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. U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Children are likewise involved in the trafficking of drugs in Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 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. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1998 [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. Education
may prevent human trafficking Hundreds of thousands of men and
women in northern Thailand are captured each year and forced to work in
farms, sweatshops and brothels, according to Humantrafficking.org. Malarin Visetrojana, English as a Second Language student from
Bangkok, Thailand, said children especially are captured by this trap. In the
rural northern regions, many families are so poor that instead of sending
their children to school, they send them to cities to work as servants for
the rich. Sometimes, "middlemen" approach a child's parents,
pretending to represent a wealthy family in search of help. "They know that the children will go
to work as servants or as housemaids for big families," Visetrojana said. "They don't know that their
children will be prostitutes." THAILAND - Estimates of the number of
child prostitutes living in Thailand range from 12,000 to the hundreds of
thousands, according to the U.S.-based research institute the Protection
Project. Their involvement in the sex trade is associated with poverty, lack
of education and social conditions, including pressure to contribute to
family income. Children
lured into Thai sex industry 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 www.childexploitation.org/prostitution2.html At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
"Lin Lin"
was thirteen years old when she was recruited by an agent for work in Student on
mission to expose Thailand sex trade "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." Most disturbing about Bangkok's
sex culture is that it has snared children into prostitution and
pornography. On a recent night in the Soi Cowboy district, several street children wandered
among the gawkers and tourists, selling flowers and
gum. One 10-year-old boy stopped an American in the street and pleaded for
him to buy a flower. Then he offered something else - oral sex for 20 baht,
or about 50 cents. While waiting for an answer, the boy rolled his tongue at
the foreigner. 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. A perfect lure for paedophiles 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. Thailand
is a major stop for those seeking child sex But a 2004 story in The Nation
reported that a study by Nitet Tinnakul,
of Chulalongkorn University, estimated there were
2.8 million sex workers in Thailand between 1999 and 2002. Of that total, the study estimated 800,000
were boys and girls under the age of 18. There were about 60,000 sex service
businesses, according to Tinnakul's study. Trip inspires student's mission against sex trade in
Thailand www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=468398 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
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 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] 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 "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 independent-bangladesh.com/news/jul/16/16072005ap.htm#A21 At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] 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. UK charity helps Thai girls and
children out of prostitution Many girls and children in ECPAT: Fifth Report on implementation of the Agenda for
Action [DOC] www.ecpat.net/eng/Ecpat_inter/publication/other/english/Doc_page/ecpat_5th_a4a_2001_full.doc At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [B]
COUNTRY UPDATES – Report
by Special Rapporteur [DOC] [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 english.people.com.cn/200112/14/eng20011214_86677.shtml At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
Thailand’s Position on
Child Prostitution 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! Child
Prostitution in Thailand 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. Sex 'Tourist' Gets
Seven Years 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.
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? www.namibian.com.na/2001/April/world/01E15EC036.html At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] Hotelier Acts On
Child Prostitution Accor, a major hotel group, has agreed
to tackle child prostitution in its hotels in Prostitution
touches lives of Thailand's children 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 - In April 1996, the government of Thailand passed stringent anti-prostitution laws with the most severe penalties reserved for those involved in child prostitution. Now customers, procurers, brothel owners, those who force children into prostitution and even parents, face long prison sentences as well as large fines. Adventist Professor Highlights Horrors of Child Prostitution in Thailand news.adventist.org/2000/05/avetist-professor-highlights-horrors-of-chil-prostitutio-i-thaila.html www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/8931/anrbulletin.html news.adventist.org/data/2000/04/0958664206/index.html.en "An estimated 800,000
children below the age of 16 work as prostitutes in Child Prostitution in Thailand: Listening to Rahab [BOOK BY SIROJ SORAJJAKOOL, PHD]
In Harbor House Foundation www.siamese-dream.com/page/siam1/CTGY/charity-child-prostitution At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
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 hercurian.com/community/child_prostitution.htm At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here]
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 Education
Program Development Center live on site in bamboo huts, that are over run
with huge rats. (I also experienced these "rats" when I lived on
site in a bamboo hut. These rats are the size of cats). These Thai hill
tribe girls do not have any money, and almost no school supplies. DEP
provides the girls with a basic education, and life skills training (how to
cook, clean for themselves). It is hoped that when the girls grow up, they
can move back to their home villages and become teachers and help fight child
prostitution on the community/ local level. Brothel agents travel into the
rural areas of North Thailand and look for virgins they can buy or
"rent" from their parents. Often they tell lie and tell the
parents that their daughters will work in a Bangkok hotel or otherwise
respectable job, while in reality, they will be selling their bodies, often
several times every day to make the pimps money. Once the girls are enslaved,
there is no escape. They are lucky if they are not beaten or killed. They see
none of the "prostitute money" as the pimps keep it all, to make
the girls pay off their keep. The pimps charge them for room and board and
the initial money that was paid to their parents. 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 All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Thailand] [other countries]Street Children in [Thailand] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Thailand