Thailand's sex workers petition to decriminalise prostitution

[snoop1130]

Thailand's sex workers petition to decriminalise prostitution

By Nanchanok Wongsamuth

 

 

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Sex workers in Thailand have launched a petition calling for prostitution to be decriminalised and urging authorities to remove all penalties for selling and buying sex.

 

Empower Foundation, a Chiang Mai-based group that supports sex workers, said it hoped to collect 10,000 signatures and present the petition to parliament to help persuade lawmakers to consider changing the country’s prostitution law.

 

“The law punishes sex workers - 80% of whom are mothers and the main breadwinner for the whole family,” said Mai Junta, a representative from Empower.

 

“It turns us into criminals,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Tuesday.

 

More than 1,000 people had signed the petition since it was launched on Saturday.

 

Thailand is predominantly Buddhist and deeply conservative, but is home to an extensive sex industry, largely catering to Thai men.

 

Hordes of tourists also flock to the bright lights of go-go bars and massage parlours in the Thai capital Bangkok, and the country’s main tourist towns.

 

Women and LGBT+ rights activists say the current law, which made prostitution illegal in 1960, does little to protect sex workers, while repeated arrests and fines for doing sex work has driven them further into poverty.

 

A 2014 report by the U.N. agency fighting AIDS estimated that there were 123,530 sex workers in Thailand but advocacy groups put the figure at more than twice that number and say it includes tens of thousands of migrants from neighbouring Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

 

Prostitution is currently punishable by a fine of up to 40,000 baht ($1,274) or two years in prison, or both, while people who pay for sex with underage workers can be jailed for up to six years.

 

More than 24,000 people were arrested, prosecuted and fined for sex work-related offences in Thailand last year, according to the Royal Thai Police.

 

The ministry of social development and human security’s women’s affairs and family development department was unable to give an immediate comment.

 

Surang Janyam, director of the Service Workers in Group, a Thailand-based support organisation for sex workers, said the prostitution law should be repealed to allow sex workers to be protected under labour laws.

 

“The sex industry generates massive income (for the country), but there is no mechanism to protect (sex workers),” Surang said.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-09-22

 

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[RotBenz8888]

7 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

“The sex industry generates massive income (for the country), but there is no mechanism to protect (sex workers),”

Of course. If it was legalized, it would be more difficult to milk money(and free service...) from the sex workers. 

[jonclark]

Could at least post a link to the petition. 

[Matzzon]

Hey, totally irrelevant! Nobody enforce those rules and laws anyway. Why would they think that a new law would be different? 

[Justgrazing]

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

 

Thailand is predominantly Buddhist and deeply conservative, but is home to an extensive sex industry, largely catering to Thai men

 

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

 

More than 24,000 people were arrested, prosecuted and fined for sex work-related offences in Thailand last year, according to the Royal Thai Police

The finest hypocrisy available .. 

 

[Pattaya46]

Title is "Thailand's sex workers petition to decriminalise prostitution"

and picture is a photo of a East European dancer (aka "Russian dancer")

near the "Russian bar" XO Club, on Pattaya Walking Street.

 

Russian dancers clearly have nothing to do with the article...

[Enoon]

3 hours ago, jonclark said:

Could at least post a link to the petition. 

 

This is where an apparent link to Empowers petition took me:

https://www.empowerlibrary.online/blank?fbclid=IwAR0WGgdxGzJ6RaPmfOFqLOfBSpuz-vj-crIsiLlwUA_Bv7E1DGS8isq76fg

 

 

[Brunolem]

What prostitution... where??? 

[elliss]

Sadly , i am tarred with the same brush ,

as you sexpats who visited Thailand for sex with lady , younger more .

My wife , is 5 years my elder ..

What do we have in common ?, 

No sex , no conversation ...

Thx , TVforum , and Kindle ..555

 

 

[Enoon]

34 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

Title is "Thailand's sex workers petition to decriminalise prostitution"

and picture is a photo of a East European dancer (aka "Russian dancer")

near the "Russian bar" XO Club, on Pattaya Walking Street.

 

Russian dancers clearly have nothing to do with the article...

 

It conforms to usual editorial practice:

 

Avoid depicting Thais as much as possible when illustrating societal "problems/controversies/issues" in Thailand, involving Thai people.

 

Use images of foreigners.

 

You'll see the same thing with alcoholism, drug addiction, child abuse, violence against women.....etc.

 

When illustrating "difficult" issues concerning foreigners..........open season.

 

 

 

[elliss]

2 hours ago, jonclark said:

Could at least post a link to the petition. 

 

   Do you have a direct link to the Major decision makers ?.

[sammieuk1]

No punters left they are all exhausted at trying to get back in ???? 

[fasteddie]

I'll sign it, where is it?

[fasteddie]

7 hours ago, Matzzon said:

Hey, totally irrelevant! Nobody enforce those rules and laws anyway. Why would they think that a new law would be different? 

Well if nothing else it would entitle them to help at times like the present pandemic, as it is they've been hung out to dry (no pun intended).

[Tounge Thaied]

It's criminal to not decriminalize. A victimless crime... is not a crime. 

[Matzzon]

2 hours ago, Tounge Thaied said:

It's criminal to not decriminalize. A victimless crime... is not a crime. 

Said from the side of a male supporter for female prostitution. A victimless crime? How do you figure that?

Do you think all the girls you see in the bars in Pattaya, Bangkok and many other places in Thailand that offer the possibility to go with them (sex included) had that on their list of wishes in life? Are you sure that it´s a victimless crime just because they can´t report it or that they do not have any physical scars or marks? Hoe do you define a crime? Is that a person breaking the law or a person that causes harm to a victim according to your definitions?

In many cases the girls that offer this kind of services are young and lured by other friends into this business, with the promise of riches and a great life. Many use drugs to cope with their situation in life. many are also mentally unstable and easily falls into deep depression, but still with a smile on their face to the next customer.

Why do you think so many bargirls that offer prostitution comes form poor areas in Isaan and have poor education? They are of course victims because they are basically forced into this line of work out of the feeling of need to support their families. I am not saying that there are not girls working with prostitution that actually likes it and see it as the good part outweighs the bad. However, most a not comfortable with what they are doing and therefore they are victims without a real choice in life.

[RJRS1301]

10 hours ago, Matzzon said:

Hey, totally irrelevant! Nobody enforce those rules and laws anyway. Why would they think that a new law would be different? 

24,000 people arrested and gaining police records for a victimless crime (mostly)

Legalisation could give employment protection, increased health compliance for sexual health checks, increased taxation, decrease exploitation of workers by managers and others. 

[Poet]

9 hours ago, elliss said:

Sadly , i am tarred with the same brush ,

as you sexpats who visited Thailand for sex with lady , younger more .

My wife , is 5 years my elder ..

What do we have in common ?, 

No sex , no conversation ...

Thx , TVforum , and Kindle ..555

 

 

Upgrade. I don't mean your kindle.

 

[fredwiggy]

3 hours ago, Tounge Thaied said:

It's criminal to not decriminalize. A victimless crime... is not a crime. 

Hardly a victimless crime. Most if not all sex workers are either forced into it by traffickers or suffering mental illness. A woman doesn't have to sell her body to make money here. And the ones that have children are teaching them that being a whore is okay. A lot of prostitutes are forced into depraved acts, beaten and killed every year. Spreading diseases isn't victimless either. Of course a lot of officials either partake in the trade, or are benefitting by it, so there's money to be made. The only ones that would okay a petition are the ones that are buying women, and contributing to this act. How many children are created by sex from a prostitute? Where are the fathers? Back home in a foreign land contributing nothing to the development of the child. Of course, here there are millions of fatherless children because of the amount of cheating that goes on, and the fact that the sperm donors aren't held accountable for their actions, and the women think that their men will be there for them after the baby is born. A tad off topic,but the result the same. Hardly a victimless crime, prostitution.

+

 

 

[BritManToo]

13 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Most if not all sex workers are either forced into it by traffickers or suffering mental illness.

 

The only ones that would okay a petition are the ones that are buying women,

1) Only ever met one woman in Thailand forced into it (by her parents).

Mental illness appears to be a problem most women suffer.

According to you 66% of your wives had it, presumably they weren't prostitutes.

 

2) Almost every man in Thailand then, or did your much younger wife not marry you because you had a lot of money?

[Fex Bluse]

10 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

 

The finest hypocrisy available .. 

 

Exactly. How it should read is something like

 

"most Thais believe that Thailand is deeply conservative and Buddhist but struggle to reconcile its globally infamous sex industry and likewise the many other pervasive ills of its national character that are anthema to its professed Buddhist conservative ideals" 

 

 

[ChipButty]

Does that mean all the office workers have to register as being on the game?

[elgenon]

10 hours ago, Pattaya46 said:

Title is "Thailand's sex workers petition to decriminalise prostitution"

and picture is a photo of a East European dancer (aka "Russian dancer")

near the "Russian bar" XO Club, on Pattaya Walking Street.

 

Russian dancers clearly have nothing to do with the article...

So they don't do the horizontal bop? Even with Ruskies?

[baansgr]

Why not get the absent Father's to pay child support so they don't have to go into prostituion....

[AhFarangJa]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Hordes of tourists also flock to the bright lights of go-go bars and massage parlours in the Thai capital Bangkok, and the country’s main tourist towns.

Not any more they don't. At least for the foreseeable future.

As an aside, if they decriminalize it then the fine upstanding law abiding B.I.B. will lose millions........

[yellowboat]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

.... but is home to an extensive sex industry, largely catering to Thai men.

Uh oh, the cat is out of the bag.  

[animalmagic]

12 hours ago, Matzzon said:

Hey, totally irrelevant! Nobody enforce those rules and laws anyway. Why would they think that a new law would be different? 

The attached quote from the article would suggest you are wrong re the laws being enforced - 

'More than 24,000 people were arrested, prosecuted and fined for sex work-related offences in Thailand last year, according to the Royal Thai Police.'

The problem is the law is enforced selectively and gives others the leverage and power to force the sex workers to comply with their wishes.

[fredwiggy]

27 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

1) Only ever met one woman in Thailand forced into it (by her parents).

Mental illness appears to be a problem most women suffer.

According to you 66% of your wives had it, presumably they weren't prostitutes.

 

2) Almost every man in Thailand then, or did your much younger wife not marry you because you had a lot of money?

I'm guessing you haven't met more than a  hundred out of the thousands of prostitutes, and actually got the truth from them? Mental illness is suffered by millions of women, and men, around the world. It isn't a problem suffered by most women, nor men. Two of my wives have (had)  it, and I'm not into prostitutes. My wife married me for the same reasons others around the world do. I'm fit, healthy, loving, caring, generous , a good father, and have money coming in. The last one is the most important here I know, from what I can see.

[Crusader]

The whole thing is a bad situation really, and i don't know which is worse - the girls who end up on the game, or the people who come here just for sex (sad).  Always found it interesting when co workers turned up with new 'girlfriends' saying, "she is not a bar girl".  Then when she starts talking - BANG - the low standard of Thai language says something else.  Then of course then they are often on their phones to other 'boyfriends' at the same time...interesting.  

[BritManToo]

Just now, Crusader said:

Then of course then they are often on their phones to other 'boyfriends' at the same time...interesting.  

Almost all women worldwide have other boyfriends these days, it's just the way life has become.

I don't mind because now I've learned to have other girlfriends as well.