WUNRN
Northern Thailand - Development
& Education Programme for Daughters & Communities
NORTHERN THAILAND - CHILD
TRAFFICKING & SEXUAL EXPLOITATION - GIRLS
At an age
when we would regard them as still being children, thousands of young children
from
|
While
|
The
children come from families in the region already trapped in a cycle of poverty
and debt. Their parents are subsistence farmers or landless villagers with few
work opportunities. Their traditional lifestyle and values are being constantly
eroded by the influx of consumer goods. Many young parents and young people
have also given into the lure of heroin and amphetamines which are cheap and
freely available in the region. Often parents who are drug addicts are arrested
and gaoled, leaving their children to fend for themselves. Those who are still
at home are unable to provide proper care for their families. Many children
along the border do not have birth certificates or family documents leaving
them easy prey for traffickers.
|
|
|
Faced with
these pressures parents come to view their daughters as commmodities who can be
traded. Agents working on behalf of brothels have established effective and
comprehensive networks throughout the countryside, systematically targeting
families undergoing economic hardship in the hope of recruiting new girls. From
DEPDC's experience, once a family is targeted an agent or a middleman, who may
be a well respected member of the village, approaches the parents of the child
with offers of work. Cash incentives are offered and the parents sign a
supposedly legal contract. The 'contract' may specify the period of employment
and the amount of debt plus interest the child must pay back. It can take years
to pay off the debt as extra costs are often added such as doctors visits,
food, penalties for disobedience and interest.
On reaching
the destination many find that the reality is very different to what has been
promised. Many believe that they are going to work as housemaids, in beauty
salons, shops, bars or restaurants but instead find themselves victims of gross
human rights violations. They are imprisoned in brothels, forced to endure
deplorable conditions and practices akin to slavery. They endure sexual,
physical and mental abuse whilst being forced to serve customers and endure dirty,
over crowded conditions. They also face a high risk of catching AIDS or other
sexually transmitted diseases, addiction to drugs and long term psychological
problems.
The
'luckier' ones find themselves trafficked into establishments with close links
to the sex industry including bars, restaurants, pubs, cafes and karaoke. Here
both boys and girls may wait on tables but also may be available to keep the
customer company. They may also be rented by the hour or the night. Also in
Guesthouses, hotels, and motels young women are available to provide room
service or to act as a "friend" to the guest for the period of their
holiday.
On the
whole, these places tend to escape prosecution as on the surface the children
seem to be doing legitimate work.
Local leaders,
including some village headmen, police and government officials are involved in
the recruitment and transportation of girls from the area to work in the sex
industry throughout Thailand. Protection is provided for brothels in the Chiang
Rai area and for agents moving girls to the South. Assistance is given in
matters such as the establishment of an apparently legitimate business as a
disguise for a brothel. Documentation is arranged which will allow young girls,
without the necessary legal papers, to travel around the country.
|
|
|
There are numerous people involved in the movement of a child from the village to the brothel and hundreds of people stand to profit when one girl enters the sex trade. From the very beginning of the process the children are caught in a cycle of evil, where a diverse cast of characters take a cut of the proceeds in recruiting the child. Unlike other industries these expenses are not passed onto the consumer, they are added to the debt which the victim must ultimately pay off. Mr Jantraka terms this process the blood sucker cycle. Below is a brief summary of the various players involved in the exploitation of one child:
- Parents
or family will be contacted by a middleman to sell the girl for a price of one
TV set (around 10,000-20,000 baht)
- Middleman will earn 2000 or 3000 baht per girl
- Village headman will get some gift or a share of the profits for looking the
other way
- Teachers are well fed or the school recieves donations for new water tanks,
libraries and such
- Monks at the temple will be given donations for "Tamboon" (making
merit)
- Drivers will drive groups of girls south from the villages for 3000-5000 baht
per trip (interviews of the returnees revealed that most were policemen)
- At the check-point the driver has to stop to pay 2000 baht per head if the
girl doesn't have an ID card
- If the girl has no documents (from foreign country) she needs to pay for
immigration
- Pimps at the brothels will be paid by income of the girls which helps protect
their jobs
- Brothel owners benefit most from the income from the girls
- Mafia, gangs and police need to be paid each month per girl for the brothel
to remain in business
- Taxi drivers will get at least 10% of the profit for bringing one customer
- Tour guides will get at least 30% of the profit for bringing one customer
- Doctors from local clinics are paid to check for STD's or to renew any girl's
health certificate
- Banks and trusts provide loans to sex business
- Beauty salons get money for doing the girls make up every day
- Tourist companies run expensive sex tours and receive large profits
- Most of Thailand's income comes from tourism of which the most profitable
branch is sex tourism
- There are large international agencies who can organize sex tours to Thailand
- The international mafia can also be found behind the business of trafficking
girls
- The airport immigration officers also look the other way in exchange for
bribes
|
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to:
wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.