Sex Trafficking of Women and Children in Thailand is as defined by the U.N., is the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of deception, of the abuse of power or of position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.” [1] There are currently two patterns of sex trafficking that exist in Thailand. The oldest pattern is called the two-step pattern and is trafficking a woman or child from their village to a larger town and then to a foreign country.[2] The newer one-step pattern is directly taking a person from their village to a foreign country.[2] Women who have never been a part of the sex industry tend to partake in the one-step pattern of trafficking. The Foundation for Women found that the women in the one-step pattern are more likely to be exposed to harsher forms of sexual exploitation.[2] Once the women and girls are trafficked into their destination country, they are forced into prostitution, serving both locals and sex tourists.
In Thailand, local women and children are trafficked into other countries, especially wealthier Asian countries.[3] It is estimated that 100,000 to 200,000 Thai females, including girls and women, work in a variety of overseas venues where sex is sold. The number of trafficked Thai females in Japan alone is between 50,000 and 70,000.[4] Most of these females are between the ages of 12 and 16 and are sent to brothels in their destination country.[5]
Trafficking in Thailand is not limited to natives; many women and children from other countries are trafficked into Thailand to work in Thailand’s own sex industry. More than 80,000 women and children have been sold into the Thai sex industry since 1990.[5] The majority of the sex workers in Thailand are foreigners and more than 60% of females entering the country to work in the sex industry are under the age of 18.[5] There are 75,000 prostituted children in Thailand; this includes both children trafficked into Thailand and local children within the country.[5]
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Before the 1970s, commercialized sex in Thailand was a considerably small industry. It was in the 1970s that the sex industry began to flourish in Thailand. The use of Thai cities as U.S. bases and rest and relaxation destination for American soldiers during the Vietnam War was a large contributing factor to this seemingly instantaneous increase within the industry.[2]
In the 1980s Thai women moved to European countries of their own free will for the purpose of working in entertainment or to live with European sex tourists.[2] This original migration of Thai women internationally contributed to the sex trafficking business of women and children.[2]
It is estimated that during the 1990s the number of children and women engaged in the sex industry was no less than 400,000.[2]
Academics and experts alike are unable to agree on one specific cause for people entering the sex industry through trafficking. These multiple causes can be categorized as economic, familial responsibilities, and religious beliefs. Many suspect that women and children sell sex because they have been coerced, abandoned, kidnapped, or sold into virtual slavery to pay off parental debts.[4]
The economy of Thailand is considered one of the driving forces of trafficking because many families are poor farmers in the North. One of the only ways to earn a decent living is for daughters in farming families to take part in the sex industry. Lisa Rende Taylor, an anthropologist that has conducted studies on sex trafficking in Thailand, found that commercial sex work is a lucrative industry based on the economic inequality and opportunity between Thailand’s rural areas and Bangkok, and between Thailand and wealthier Asian nations.[3]
Children often try a variety of other jobs such as scavenging, working in sweatshops, or begging.[6] These jobs, however, do not pay well enough to convince children to not go into the better paying businesses within the sex industry. Prostitution represents the only way for a girl to earn enough money to maintain and enhance her family’s property and status within her home village.[4]
Economic strife does not only influence women and children native to Thailand, but to those who are trafficked into Thailand itself. Victims of trafficking that come from other nations are “easily deceived or lured because they face poverty, unemployment, broken families, and unstable governments” in their countries of origin.[5]
Other experts believe that poverty is not the main cause behind the trafficking of Thai children and women. Girls from both poor and well off families become trafficked prostitutions in roughly equal proportions.[4] Many girls feel an obligation to their family to repay for past sacrifices. Money is used as payment by improving the family’s financial standing and status.[4] Prostitution is one of the only professions available to Thai girls and young women that pay enough to be used for enhancing their family’s property and status.[4]
If there is more than one daughter within the family, it is usually the middle or youngest child that chooses to join the sex industry. The eldest daughter within a Thai family usually stays at home to assist their parents in maintaining the house and farm.[4] It is the middle born daughters that are expected to financially help the family. The youngest daughters usually receive more schooling due to the earnings her older siblings has made; however, the youngest daughter may also spend time in the sex industry as well.[4]
A large amount of Thailand’s population follows Buddhism. These Buddhist beliefs, especially in northern Thailand, contribute to community acceptance of prostitution and sex trafficking.[4] Thai Buddhists hold that “each person’s soul inhabits many physical bodies over time, with the quality of each life influenced by the soul’s store of merit.” [4] Merit can be earned by providing aid to one’s family; prostitution builds up merit, despite the nature of the work itself.[4] The merit gained would, in essence, bless the girls and young women in their next life, negating the effects of having been a prostitute. Nearly 300 million dollars is transferred yearly by trafficked women engaged in prostitution back to their families in Thailand.
In Thailand, close to 400,000 children under the age of 16 are believed to be in the sex trade, working in clubs, bars, and brothels.[5] A survey in 1998 shows that 54.01% of these workers were located in the North, 28.90% of them were in the Northeast, and 9.67% were in the Central Region.[5] Prostitution of trafficked and native peoples is a very lucrative business: “between 1993 and 1995 it is estimated that prostitution produced an annual income between 22.5 and 27 billion dollars alone.” [5]
Common methods of trafficking include, but are not limited to, physical force, coercion such as debt relief for family, job, marriage, threats, and passport theft.[1] Girls can also be kidnapped or lured into the industry by promises of high paying work as dancers, waitresses, domestic servants, or sale representatives.[5]
Recruitment is another method commonly used by traffickers. Girls are recruited at a young age into the sex industry, often by former prostitutes who are an agent for a brothel or “massage parlor.” [5] These agents have a specific agenda. They scout poor villages and when a potential candidate is found, the agent offers a down payment for the girl to her parents.[5] The agent returns when the girl is 12 to make the final payment and to pick up the “goods.” [5]
The family structure in Thailand is one reason that young women and children are often trafficked into the sex industry. Parents often select their middle born daughters for prostitution to limit any damage to the household should they fail to yield revenue.[4]
Another reason that young women and girls are increasingly trafficked into prostitution is the demand of the men who use the services of the sex industry. Promises of youth, virginity, and innocence have led to increased demands for children in the global sex trade.[6] Researches have found that the characteristics that men find attractive in Thai women are “simplicity, loyalty, affection, and innocence.” [6]
There are two types of men who use trafficked children. The first type is preferential abusers that actively seek out sex with children of a particular age.[6] The second type is situational abusers that might have sex with children if an offer is made, however their sexual preferences are not necessarily for children. These men are commonly sex tourists, or those who travel to other countries specifically looking for sex.
The increasing amount of people with AIDS is another reason for the increasing recruitment of young girls. The sex industry uses AIDS as an excuse “under the false pretense that younger girls will not be infected with the disease.” [5]
HIV/AIDS, STD’s, and pregnancy are major risks for young children and women involved in the sex industry. Most women are likely to be under control of their owners after being trafficked into a new country. Due to this, they are not in the position to negation with customers to protect themselves from disease or pregnancy.[2]
In the 1990s, Thai prostitutions believed that they would get pregnant or be infected with a disease only if it was their fate.[4] Due to this belief, many women never used contraceptives or received medical checkups and thus were at a higher risk of contracting a disease or getting pregnant.[4]
Multiple laws were enacted in the 1990s to help prevent prostitution trafficking and to protect those who are trafficked.
In 1992, Thailand initiated a program to work with families and society to alter positive attitudes toward child prostitution.[7] Legal measures were also implemented to suppress sexual trafficking.[7]
In 1996, Thailand introduced a new law on the suppression and prevention of prostitution; prostitution of adult women is considered an offence that “upsets public morality” in Thailand.[2] Women are fined, and minors are forcibly rehabilitated.[2] If parents were directly involved in the selling of their children to sex traffickers, they were severely punished as well.[2]
In 1997, Thailand enacted a new anti-trafficking law.[2] This law included women, girls, and boys of not only Thai people, but people of other nationalities who were trafficked into Thailand as well.[2]
Thailand initiated a memorandum of Understanding for the Treatment of Trafficking of Women and Children in 1999.[2] It is a guideline for responsible governmental agencies to take legal action against traffickers and “provide social assistance to trafficking women and children of Thai and other nationalities.” [2]
Currently, a draft for a national plan to suppress and prevent trafficking of women and children awaits cabinet endorsement in Thailand.[2] The draft was written by the National Committee, which is composed of representatives from both governmental and non-governmental organizations.[2]
A Protocol on Trafficking in Persons includes a universal definition of human trafficking and requires state parties to provide, if appropriate and possible in accordance with their international laws, assistance to the trafficked persons and set up mechanism and cooperation.[2] As of now over 150 countries including Thailand have signed the Protocol.[2]