Sex Trafficking in Thailand

With many migrants and refugees populating the country, Thailand does face the issue of sex trafficking.  Many victims come to Thailand seeking work from neighboring countries.  The “2014 Trafficking in Persons Report” on the U.S. Department of State Diplomacy in Action estimated “two to three million migrant works in Thailand” hail from Burma.  The number of migrants from nearby countries, including Burma, that become victims of sex trafficking while in Thailand is estimated to be tens of thousands.

            Thailand is a transit country.  This means that many times victims are taken from Thailand to a different country, and Thailand acts as the middleman.  In the other countries, the victims are traded between larger trafficking groups.  An article on www.humantrafficking.org listed that victims from Thailand include citizens from “North Korea, China, Vietnam, Pakistan, and Burma” and are taken to countries such as “Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Russia, Western Europe, South Korea, and the United States.” 

            Migrants, minorities, and stateless people are at a higher risk of being trafficked because many times these people are less skilled and become indebted to agencies.  Through this debt, the victims are forced into sexual exploitation for repayment. 

This graph shows the number of females out of primary school that end up in human trafficking.  Thailand is over 300,000
en.wikipedia.org

            Throughout the entire region of Asia, sex trafficking is an issue.  Some countries are transit, like Thailand, and some are destination.  Destination countries are where the exploitation takes place.  The humantrafficking.org article described destination countries as the countries that have the connections.  The article explained that organizations abroad are “often collaborating with employers and, at times, with law enforcement officials.”  Most of the countries that seem to be destination countries are in Western Europe but it happens throughout Asia as well.  With power and connections like many of these organizations have it’s very difficult to get out once the victim has been enslaved.

            The fight against human trafficking doesn’t seem to be as prominent as many other issues in the world today.  Born Free by Sarah E. Mendelson talks about the cash cow that sex trafficking really is.  The huge number of people involved raises the question of why this issue isn’t being addressed the same way other issues are like racial discrimination.

            Mendelson proposes seventeen goals in Born Free.  Goal five sticks out to me as we discuss sex trafficking because many times females are the victims being trafficked.  Goal five is to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”  This goal is very important because it seems in many countries the respect given to women in so minimal that trafficking is an option.  Some women use trafficking to get out of abusive home lives and with gender equality this issue could be less intense.  But gender equality wouldn’t cover all bases of sex trafficking because men are trafficked as well.

            Goal sixteen is to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”  This goal is so important because creating a peaceful society could help build up a conscience of the individuals in charge of the trafficking.  All people are people whether they’re in debt to someone or not.  Selling them into sex slavery is not the way to get back what you’re owed and maybe with a more peaceful environment these people would realize that.  Also, having a sustainable development in the country may lead people to taking on other occupations to make money.  Promoting a positive environment and the opportunity for success would help with the people who are trafficked as well because then they may have more opportunity to not gain so much debt that they are forced to be sold.  Overall, goal sixteen would have a great impact of ay society.

            In the country of Thailand, sex trafficking is a large issue.  For a few years now the Thai government has been working to lessen the amount of trafficking done in the country but it still happens today.  Worldwide, the issue is growing but the ideas discussed in Sarah E. Mendelson’s goals could help the world in the right direction.

Diane Giron, student, protests against the sex trafficking in Thailand.
http://dateline.ucdavis.edu