Thread: Thailand : Ending prostitution an uphill battle

Ending prostitution an uphill battle
Sanitsuda Ekachai
14/08/2010

Thailand has many laws to curb the flesh trade and help victims of human trafficking, but the commercial sex industry continues to thrive

Get out of Bangkok in one month. That was the order from the police to sex workers and brothel owners in 1953 in an effort to cleanse the capital city of prostitution.


Back then, the figure of sex workers recorded in Bangkok brothels was only 300, according to a report in the Bangkok Post on July 6, 1953. (See box story.)

The move was apparently fruitless.

In 1960, the government passed a draconian law to punish prostitution with imprisonment and/or a fine. Yet, the flesh trade flourished unabated and was fanned out by the Vietnam War during which Thailand served as a rest and recreation base for US troops.

When the economy and tourism industry peaked in the 1990s, Thailand had already become infamous as an international sex hub. The births of baby girls were celebrated in many villages in the North, then the country's biggest source of sex workers. The girls were seen as the family's gateway out of harsh poverty. Agencies argued over the number of prostitutes, ranging from 20,000 to 2 million. But they agreed that a large number were children forced or tricked into prostitution.

Fast forward to 2010.

The dimly lit, dingy brothels where prostitutes toiled in confinement have nearly become a thing of the past. Nowadays, the customers can buy sex openly from willing partners at ubiquitous karaoke bars, cocktail lounges, massage parlours, nightclubs, hotels, guest houses, male hair salons, restaurants, and along the streets at night. In the internet era, call girls - and call boys - are also openly offering their services on social networking sites.



Gone is the stereotype that sex workers are poor, uneducated rural girls under debt bondage. The rampant child prostitution in the '90s had led to the government's policy to extend compulsory education from six to nine years to keep young girls in schools. And it worked.

As young Thai girls remain in the school system, the vacuum in the child prostitution market has been filled by hill tribe and migrant girls from neighbouring countries, making Thailand the centre of human and sex trafficking in the region.

As more and more Thai women are trafficked into the international sex trade, Thailand has also attracted foreign sex workers, such as those from Russia, Eastern Europe and China to serve sex tourism. Thai or foreign, however, most trafficked women are unaware of the inhumane working conditions that await them.

Meanwhile, a large number of young local girls have responded to the consumerism craze and little opportunities for well-paid jobs by freelancing in the sex business for quick money, or by offering sexual services to their steady patrons.

The pervasiveness of the flesh trade, then and now, might lead many to believe that prostitution is legal in Thailand.

It is not, and never has been.

Legally, prostitution is a vice to be suppressed. Practically, the authorities view it impossible for prostitution to be entirely eliminated. This ambiguity to prostitution reflected in conflicts between different laws. The 1960 Prostitution Act, for example, severely punishes sex workers with the aim of eliminating prostitution. The Entertainment Places Act, however, allows the setting up of prostitution-related businesses including massage parlours, go-go bars and nightclubs where sex trade routinely takes place.

"This legal ambivalence stems from sexual double standards which condones men's quest for sexual pleasures outside marriage but condemns women who sell sex as bad women," says Naiyana Supapueng, former national human rights commissioner. This gap between law and culture has also encouraged widespread police corruption, adds Ms Naiyana, a feminist and a lawyer by training.

Although it takes two to tango, prostitutes faced more than one year of detention under the 1960 prostitution suppression law. Brothel owners faced only one year, procurers three months, and customers not at all.

"Back then, the brothel owner and pimps had effectively used the jail term and harsh conditions in the rehabilitation centres to scare the girls and to keep them from running away," recalls Ms Naiyana. "That was why after the rescue, the girls still refused to be witnesses, ran away, allowing the procurers and brothel owners to escape from their crimes."

Despite concerted efforts between activists and legislators, it took nearly three decades to fix the draconian 1960 prostitution suppression law. One important resistance came from the prevailing belief that prostitution is easy work for morally loose women who should be punished for contaminating social mores.

"It took the death of two young girls to make society accept that forced prostitution was real," Ms Naiyana recalls. One girl was found dead in chains after a brothel in Phuket was burned down. The other was brutally killed at City Hall where she was seeking help after having escaped from a brothel in Songkhla province.

Their shocking deaths helped make society realise that prostitutes are poor girls who are victims of organised crime. Coupled with the Chuan administration's determination to eradicate child prostitution, the draconian 1960 prostitution suppression law was finally repealed by the new Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act in 1996.

A legal breakthrough, the new law seeks to help sex workers through decriminalisation and to stop child prostitution through harsher punishment for traffickers, pimps, as well as accomplices including the parents and the customers.

In 1997, the Anti-Human Trafficking Law was also fixed to provide the victims with legal assistance, compensation and safe return to their homes. Yet, the laws have proved weak in the face of strong cultural bias against sex workers and the systematic corruption in Thai officialdom.

Under the new law, for example, sex workers are not subject to arrest except when they are loitering in public places. Yet, this legal aspect is often ignored.

"Despite legal amendments, it is still the sex workers who are legally and socially punished while customers, procurers and sex business operators remain largely intact," Ms Naiyana explains.

Meanwhile, many critics believe harsher punishment does not ease the problem of trafficking or child prostitution. Instead, it pushes child prostitution further underground while children refuse to cooperate with the rescuers, fearing punishment for their parents.

Money is unquestionably a powerful factor for lax legal enforcement. The flesh trade is far too huge and benefiting too many powerful people to be shaken easily. According to research by economist Pasuk Phongpaichit in 1996, prostitution generated about 100 billion baht a year, the second biggest illegal economy in Thailand.

With that kind of money, elimination of prostitution is out. Zoning and legalisation have become the options that regularly come up as a guise for state efforts to keep the sex business under control.

ZONING AND LEGALISATION

The effort to get prostitutes out of Bangkok in 1953, as reported by the Bangkok Post, reflects the belief that zoning is the way to control the so-called "bad women" who are blamed as the sources of sexually transmitted diseases, notes Ms Naiyana, who is also part of the women's rights movement to decriminalise prostitution.

The zoning effort was reintroduced several times after the 1953 debacle. After sex tourism became a big foreign-income earner, the country faced a moral dilemma as to how to regulate the booming sex trade.

When Thailand was hit by the Aids scare, which began in 1984, sex workers were also blamed as the main transmitters of the disease, leading to more calls for prostitution zoning.

Along with zoning is the recurrent effort to legalise prostitution through registration. In 1989, for example, Interior Minister Pramarn Adireksarn wanted to legalise prostitution to serve the tourism industry and to control the spread of Aids. When hit with fierce criticisms, he backed down to propose the zoning of prostitution instead.

The proposal was immediately aborted. Moralists viewed it unacceptable to openly embrace a sinful business. Rights groups also disagreed because it would put sex workers under severe social stigma, which would also affect their children.

"The businesses also disagreed because they knew they would lose customers if they had to go to a special zone to buy sex," explains Ms Naiyana.

The latest attempt to legalise prostitution took place in 2003 under the Thai Rak Thai government, with the aim of reaping substantial tax revenues from the 4.3 billion baht industry instead of losing it as tea money for the corrupt police force.

Apart from generating tax revenues, registration supporters believe it will decriminalise commercial sex work, give the sex workers better welfare protection through social security, and allow them to set up unions.
The opponents, meanwhile, criticised the registration of sex workers as dehumanising, reducing women to the status of "cattle" while subjecting them to long-term social stigma. The registration also legitimises patriarchy, treats women as sex objects, and benefits the sex tycoons, not the sex workers, they argued.

Welfare and labour protection is also already possible under the Entertainment Places Act, adds Ms Naiyana. "But the employers refuse to do it while the sex workers, having no bargaining power whatsoever, do not dare take their employers to court."

The prostitution registration proposal was eventually dropped because it was still too controversial. But the issues on registration and zoning of prostitution will surely crop up again and again, says Ms Naiyana, as long as prostitution is still big business and sexual double standards are still the rule in Thailand.

Law Enforcement Still Lacking

Although the sex industry has been Thailand's big income earner for many decades, there are still no accurate figures of commercial sex workers in the country - only estimates. And the estimates vary widely from 200,000 to 2 million, according to different organisations.

One thing they agree on: a large number of them are children who are lured, tricked or forced into prostitution. Many of them are stateless hill tribe girls and immigrants from neighbouring countries, namely Burma, Laos and Cambodia.

These girls are at the lowest rung of the sex trade, serving customers in shabby brothels along the border. Hence, the effort to assist them through the 1997 Measures in Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking in Women and Children Act.

Before, the stateless and migrant girls were treated as criminals who broke the immigration law and were subjected to immediate deportation. Without witnesses, the traffickers remained smugly intact.

Under the new law, the girls are considered victims of human trafficking and entitled to receive official assistance, including temporary shelter, food, vocational training, legal assistance and logistic support for them to return home safely.

The new law also gives harsher punishment for traffickers and abetters while giving the authorities more power to search the venues under suspicion to assist the victims.

Under the new child-friendly court system, the victims - regardless of nationality - can also testify in court with assistance from social workers without having to confront the intimidating traffickers. After the testimony, they can return home while the court case is being processed.

In theory, if they won the court case for compensation, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security will act on their behalf to contact the public attorney authorities to make the traffickers pay.

"But in reality, that doesn't happen. The victims get only a piece of paper saying they won," says human rights lawyer Siriwan Vongkietpaisan.

At present, the authorities and social activists tend to focus on the raid-and-rescue missions without being able to pursue the court case till the very end to get compensation for the victims.

When the traffickers are declared bankrupt, for example, the authorities are too tied up with their routine work to go through the complicated legal process to confiscate the traffickers' properties and get the money for the victims.
"Without money to start a new life, many of them are forced with the harsh reality to return to the flesh trade again."

When the law is enforced half-heartedly like this, the traffickers' pockets will not be hit and the victims, already fearful of the traffickers, will be reluctant to cooperate with the authorities.

A legal amendment is needed to empower the victim to pursue the confiscation of assets themselves through their representatives. But having a good law is not enough, she says. "We must also implement it fully to help the victims start a new life. And if there is anything that is hindering this, it must be cleared if we're really serious about fighting human trafficking."

bangkokpost.com

end a 3000 year old occupation.....???

more like a down hill struggle. unstoppable.

Originally Posted by Mid

Along with zoning is the recurrent effort to legalise prostitution through registration. In 1989, for example, Interior Minister Pramarn Adireksarn wanted to legalise prostitution to serve the tourism industry and to control the spread of Aids. When hit with fierce criticisms, he backed down to propose the zoning of prostitution instead.

Pramarn Adireksarn dies
20/08/2010

Pol Gen Pramarn Adireksarn, former leader of the now-defunct Chart Thai Party, died on Friday evening of heart failure at Vichaiyudh Hospital. He was 96.

Dr Manoon Leechawengwong, chief of the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital, said Pol Gen Pramarn was admitted to the hospital nine days ago.
Pol Gen Pramarn was born on Dec 31, 1913 in Saraburi province.

He graduated from the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy and served in the army until receiving the rank of major-general.

He was bestowed the ranked of police general on Oct 27, 1988 while serving as interior minister.

Pol Gen Pramarn was a co-founder of the Chart Thai Party, now dissolved.

bangkokpost.com

Nothing uphill about it. The more prostitutes they remove from the streets, the faster Thailand will spiral downhill.

Who would want to live in a Thailand without cheap golf and sexually-pliant women?

The moral morons are everywhere. If you do not prostitution, stay away from it. What consenting adults do is no one else's concern.

R and R during the Vietnam war was a factor but the thai prostitution industry's main clientele is thai not farang

Take away prostitution and the girls lose money, the pimps lose money, and many further up the chain lose money too

I blame it on Thai men's wifes

"It took the death of two young girls to make society accept that forced prostitution was real," Ms Naiyana recalls. One girl was found dead in chains after a brothel in Phuket was burned down. The other was brutally killed at City Hall where she was seeking help after having escaped from a brothel in Songkhla province.

any details on this...?

Originally Posted by brouhaha

"It took the death of two young girls to make society accept that forced prostitution was real," Ms Naiyana recalls. One girl was found dead in chains after a brothel in Phuket was burned down. The other was brutally killed at City Hall where she was seeking help after having escaped from a brothel in Songkhla province.

any details on this...?

On December 1, Songkhla police investigating the murder announced that six suspects had been charged: two provincial officers, two police, the son-in-law of the brothel owner and a pimp. (116) The investigation revealed that two police officers to whom Passawara initially turned for assistance had tried to convince her to return to the brothel and work off her "debt" to the owner. These officers reportedly threatened to arrest her for prostitution if she refused to return. (117) An independent inquiry conducted by an ad hoc committee of the lower house of the Thai parliament, found that the police station implicated in the case had received payoffs from the brothel owner involved. (118)

Following the investigation, twenty Songkhla policemen were reportedly transferred. The transfer announced by the Provincial Police Commissioner of Bureau 4, was said not to be related to the death of Passawara Samrit, but rather to the officers' poor performance, idleness and willingness to allow "bad incidents to occur." (119) One sergeant was also charged with taking bribes from the brothel owner.

In a tacit admission of police involvement in or, at a minimum, tolerance of prostitution, Assistant Police Chief Pracha Prommok told southern police officers in the wake of the Songkhla murder to "suppress prostitution in areas under their jurisdiction." He warned that policemen discovered accepting kickbacks will face tough and punitive action." (120) Pracha also ordered southern police to make maps of all the illegal brothels operating in their areas and warned that if child or forced prostitution were found in any area, chief police officers would be punished. (121)

However, despite this clear prohibition on police involvement, with the exception of the Songkhla case, not a single Thai police officer has been charged or prosecuted for such activities. In a September 1993 interview, Prime Minister Chuan again acknowledged the continuing role of "immorality and negligence by government officials" in obstructing the effort to suppress prostitution. (122) Police Major General Bancha Netinan indicated that the police department was "cracking down on staff involvement of the flesh trade." (123) He told reporters that 302 inactive posts had been prepared for police officials found to be involved in prostitution. While any improvement in efforts to curtail official involvement in child and forced prostitution is welcome, the transfer of guilty officers is no substitute for the prosecution and punishment of state agents involved in such abuse.

Sex Trafficking in Burma and Thailand - The Sex eZine

Thanks, Mid.

1992. jesus.

Originally Posted by brouhaha

1992. jesus.

Expand please ?

1992, is the date the woman was murdered in Songkhla.

Any more info on the case cited of the woman burning to death while chained in a brothel?

Originally Posted by brouhaha

1992, is the date the woman was murdered in Songkhla.

indeed and nothing has come of it in the following 19 going on 20 yrs

as for the poor soul chained in the brothel , whilst a quick search turns up scant info I've absolutely no doubts as to the validity of the claim

Originally Posted by brouhaha

1992, is the date the woman was murdered in Songkhla.

Any more info on the case cited of the woman burning to death while chained in a brothel?

I think he's referring to the case in the south where five girls died in a brothel during a fire in 1984. They were chained to bars inside the room. See this UN report:

"The problem of CSEC in Thailand became a public concern and awareness in
1984 when five girls who had been trafficked domestically were died in a fire in a
brothel in one of the southern provinces. The girls were chained to the iron
window bars and – during the fire – had no way to escape and were burnt

beyond recognition."

http://www.unescap.org/esid/gad/issues/CSEC/Thailand.pdf

^ thanks.

^^ nor do i.

Bangkok Post : CRIMINAL LAW IN THAILAND Part LXI: Sex crimes _ prostitutes and their customers

CRIMINAL LAW IN THAILAND Part LXI: Sex crimes _ prostitutes and their customers

• Published: 1/05/2011 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: Spectrum

Last time we discussed the legal side of prostitution from the perspective of the sex worker. If the solicitation of the customer is done in public, particularly where it is annoying to other people, or at places known to the public as prostitution establishments, this is where Thai law will punish the sex worker.



Would a private residence, such as the home of a customer, be considered a ''prostitution establishment'' if it is used by a customer to buy sex? This is possible in theory but unlikely in practice. We questioned officials about this and were told that arrests for prostitution practically never happen in places like the customer's house or hotel room.

What about in a private house with, for example, three bedrooms and someone regularly selling sex out of each? This would be considered a prostitution establishment and the persons selling sex out of these rooms could be punished accordingly.

But even when it is a crime for the sex worker, the punishment is not harsh.

Let's look at a couple of examples. Let us say that Ms X is a prostitute. She receives referrals by word of mouth and gets calls at home from customers and meets them at their homes or hotel rooms. Under Thai law, there has been no crime committed under Section 5 of the Prevention and Supression of Prostitution Act BE 2539 because she is not selling sex ''in an open and shameless manner or causing nuisance to the public''. As we mentioned last week, Section 6 the Act punishes prostitutes for soliciting in public or hanging around ''prostitution establishments'', which would include brothels and bars where there are available bar girls. As discussed above, in practice, a customer's hotel room or home would not be considered a ''prostitution establishment''.

The act may punish a sex worker in one more situation. Where the sex worker or another person solicits customers by printed matter or otherwise the punishment under Section 7 of the act is a fine and/or imprisonment of up to two years.

Let's see how Section 7 would work in terms of our example, above. Business has not been good for Ms X lately. She decides to change her business model. Instead of passively waiting for calls, she contacts the classified editor of the local newspaper. She places an advertisement making it clear that she is selling sex with a description of the services she offers.

Both Ms X and the publisher of the newspaper would be guilty of violations of Section 7.

Wait a minute, you say. Every newspaper in Thailand has ads like that. So why are they allowed to run?

Take a look at the ads, though. They operate in a grey area. They don't openly say that sex is for sale. Instead they offer massages, escort services or dating. It is very difficult to police every little ad, and as a practical matter, this kind of thing just goes on. Also, this is a situation where press freedoms intersect with the criminal law. In societies where there are rudimentary individual freedoms, freedom of speech _ even commercial speech _ gets some leeway.

Let's turn now to the customer. First, as with the prostitute, the provisions of Section 5 of the act apply to the customer. So, if the prostitute is soliciting in a public place and is picked up, the customer is exposed criminally to the same penalty _ a fine not exceeding 1,000 baht.

If the customer is arrested for ''mingling'' in a ''prostitution establishment'' as discussed above, there is a potential of a fine of 1,000 baht and/or imprisonment of up to a month.

Next time, we'll discuss how the customer can really get into hot water _ with underage sex workers.

Originally Posted by Mid

Ending prostitution an uphill battle

What's this all about?

makes no sense!

Is this US religious crap against sex? Sex for money is ok if all parties willing. Not with minors, in Thailand less than 18 years of age. Above that age of both parties I do not see why government or society should intervene.

Sex Oh its a sin, listen to Pet Shop Boys.

Bangkok Post : CRIMINAL LAW IN THAILAND Part LXII: Sex crimes _ underage prostitutes

CRIMINAL LAW IN THAILAND Part LXII: Sex crimes _ underage prostitutes

• Published: 8/05/2011 at 12:00 AM
• Newspaper section: Spectrum

Over the last few weeks we've seen that Thai criminal law does not impose major penalties for prostitution between consenting adults. This lax approach is in contrast to how Thai law treats those patronising underage prostitutes.



Under Section 8 of the Prevention and Supression of Prostitution Act, if the prostitute is aged 15 to 17, the customer would be subject to a fine and imprisonment from one to three years.

If the prostitute is under 15 years of age, the customer would be subject to a larger fine and imprisonment from two to six years.

It is interesting to note that the offences punished by Section 8 are only those that occur in a ''prostitution establishment''. Last week, we mentioned that punishment of prostitution between adults in a private home or hotel room was unheard of because in that context these places are generally not considered ''prostitution establishments''.

This is not the case with underage prostitution.

Even a private house or hotel room could be considered as falling within the definition of a ''prostitution establishment'' to punish those who procure the services of underage prostitutes.

People have been punished for using the services of underage prostitutes in their hotel rooms.

This is a grey area of the law. Section 4 of the Suppression of Prostitution Act defines a ''prostitution establishment'' as:

- A place established for prostitution or;

- a place in which prostitution is allowed or,

- a place used for soliciting or procuring emanother person for prostitution.

Arguably, anywhere prostitution occurs, it is being allowed in that place, so the second definition could be applicable even to the customer's home or hotel room. Where public policy favours such an interpretation, such as in the case of underage prostitution, the law can be interpreted that way.

What about possible defences for those arrested for underage prostitution?

What if the person you hired looked a lot older than 17? Is this an adequate defence against such a charge?

Let's look at a couple of examples.

You walk into a bar and strike up a conversation with one of the girls. Since you don't want trouble, you ask her how old she is, point blank. She says 20. An hour later the police burst into the room at the short-stay hotel you've taken her to and arrest you for consorting with an underage prostitute under Section 8. It turns out that she's 17. You are charged, and face real jail time, even though you did ask.

Here's another example. You are so concerned about avoiding the penalties of the act tied to the underage issue you find an escort service on the web that has a disclaimer saying that all employees of the service are certified to be over 20 years of age. Furthermore, you call the service and ask to speak to the owner, who promises to introduce you to someone who is well over 18.

You go to meet your escort in a club in a red light district. An off-duty policeman sees you with her and arrests you because he knows she's only 16.

Can you be prosecuted in these cases? It is a general principle of Thai law that ignorance of the facts (in this case, not knowing that the prostitute was under 18) can only be used against you when the law in question specifically provides for guilt in such an instance.

For example, Article 59, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code provides that if the defendant does not know the facts constituting the elements of the offence, it cannot be deemed that he or she desired or could have foreseen the effect of his or her acts.

Section 8 of the act doesn't say anything about guilt if you were ignorant of the prostitute's age. Thus, if you really didn't know her age, you could use this as a defence to a charge of violating Section 8.

But here we get into a what lawyers call a question of fact. Anybody who is charged with having sex with an underage prostitute is going to say he didn't know her age. Thus, though you might make this claim, a judge, looking at the totality of the circumstances, and seeing the sex worker involved, might think it obvious that you really knew she was underage and allow the prosecution to go forward anyway.

In this case, what we call due diligence is important.

In both of the above examples, you would say you were told the prostitute was over 18.

In the second case, you would have additional points to make. For example, you would argue that you checked the website's certification and were told by the madam that none of her employees were underage. A judge, after seeing the sex worker involved, might not believe you, but with this additional proof your argument would be stronger than in the first case mentioned.

In light of the above, it's an understatement to tell you that if you're going to hire a hooker, you'd better be careful about that person's age.