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Thai Govt Recognizes Problem of Exp
- Subject: Thai Govt Recognizes Problem of Exp
- From: Rangoonp@xxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 21:52:00
Subject: Thai Govt Recognizes Problem of Exploitation of Women
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Thai Govt Recognizes Problem of Exploitation of Women
Inter Press Service
08-FEB-99
NEW YORK, (Feb. 5) IPS - Deep-rooted social attitudes in
Thailand have made it difficult to implement appropriate
measures to suppress prostitution and trafficking in
women,
the Bangkok government admitted here.
Thai authorities also recognized that the sexual
exploitation
of women was a "major human rights problem" in the
country.
Thailand this week presented its second and third reports
to
the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), whose 23
all-female members meet once a year to assess the
implementation by states parties to the United Nations
anti-discriminatory convention.
Thailand stated that, despite laws penalizing commercial
sex
workers and those who profit from prostitution, the
enforcement of the legislation was a "major problem."
Together with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the
Thai government has launched programs directed towards
girls and women, offering them alternatives prostitution.
Some of these programs are aimed at changing the attitude
of parents and potential customers of sex workers,
explained
Saisuree Chutikul, an adviser in the Thai prime
minister's
office who introduced the government report here.
"There has been an increasing realization that these
attitudes are not simply related to poverty, but that
social
attitudes play an important part both in the demand for
commercial sex services and the trafficking of women and
exploitation which occurs within the industry," Chutikul
said.
In Thailand, a young man who admits he is a virgin is
ridiculed by his peers, the report admitted. It is
considered
normal for a man's first sexual contact to be with a
prostitute,
usually accompanied by some friends. Moreover, visits to
commercial sex workers are still considered as part of a
group leisure behavior.
In 1989, the Thai Ministry of Public Health estimated
that 4.2
million men visited commercial sex workers. According to
other studies, 75 percent of Thai men have had sex with
prostitutes at some time in their lives and 48 percent
experienced their first sexual encounter with a
commercial
sex worker.
Many women in Thailand believe that prostitution protects
"good" women against rape, and wives prefer their
husbands
visit commercial sex workers rather than take a minor
wife,
which is perceived as a greater threat to family
stability, the
report said.
Nevertheless, recent studies show a decline in the trend
toward of using commercial sex workers, "partly in
response
to the perceived threat of HIV/AIDS and partly due to
perceptions that non-commercial intercourse is more
possible now due to changes on social behavior," the
report
explained.
This trend was made evident by research among vocational
students in Bangkok and military conscripts in Chiang Rai
but the report estimated that 20 to 30 percent of men
still
regularly visited brothels in Thailand.
A new law to replace the 1960 Anti-Prostitution Act is
introducing changes that would mean lighter penalties for
commercial sex workers and an increase of penalties for
brothel owners, pimps, procurers and traffickers. It also
introduces penalties against parents who knowingly sell
their
children into prostitution.
University and college female students become commercial
sex workers on a part-time basis in order to get money
for a
relatively lavish lifestyle, according to the report
presented to
CEDAW. Also the promotion and growth of international
tourism played also an important role in the
establishment of
entertainment centers for tourists, which provide sex
services.
"The origins of this sector of the commercial sex
industry in
Thailand developed during the Vietnam War" the report
said.
From 1964 to 1976, 50 000 foreign soldiers were based in
Thailand, while about 700,000 annually visited the
kingdom
on leave from the fighting in Vietnam.
After the war, the sex businesses converted into the
international tourist trade. Thailand received 5.3
million
people in 1991, a number, which is increasing every year
since then and, a survey in 1990, found that 65 percent
of
these visitors were unaccompanied males.
Although it is difficult to produce accurate numbers,
Thai
authorities estimated there were 150,000 to 200,000
female
commercial sex workers, of whom 15 to 20 percent were
under age 18.
Women working in the entertainment business are not
protected by the labor laws and there are no regulations
concerning their hours or conditions of work. The basic
salary usually was below the minimum wage and women had
to depend on tips, drinks and customers for their pay,
the
report said.
"Thailand is taking very seriously the fact that the
rights of
women and children are part of overall human rights
development," declared Thai government counsellor Apirath
Vienravi.
While the U.N. Convention could not be used as a legal
instrument within the kingdom, it had a "powerful
influence"
on government action to end discrimination against women
and ensure their human rights, he said.
CEDAW officials revealed that studies by NGOs estimated
that 20,000 to 30,000 women and girls from Burma also
were
working in the commercial sex industry in Thailand, with
10
000 new entrants each year. It is the largest group of
foreign
sex workers together with Chinese women and girls --
mainly
from Yunnan province, which has linguistic and cultural
ties
to Thailand.
Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese women and girls also were
involved in the Thai sex traffic but in smaller numbers
and
most were illegal immigrants.
On the other side of the problem, there was a traffic in
Thai
women in foreign countries for working in the sex
industry.
Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Germany and other developed
nations not named in the report were reported to be the
main
offenders.
In an attempt to prevent the traffic in women, the
government
of Thailand, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has
adopted a strict policy of passport checking in order to
fight
against forged passports both in the country and abroad.
It also monitors applicants believed to be in high-risk
categories. But the report conceded Thailand still had a
long
way to go as traffickers use a variety of techniques to
avoid
these checks, in some cases simply smuggling the women
from the country, in other case using bribery or false
marriage.