Thailand drafts bill to decriminalize its billion-dollar sex trade

[webfact]

FILE - Dancers wearing face shields dance inside a bar at Patpong nightlife district in Bangkok, July 9, 2020.

 

By Zsombor Peter

 

BANGKOK — From the rows of massage parlors, pulsing night clubs and rowdy bars of Thailand’s gaudy red-light districts, the country’s billion-dollar sex trade operates all but in the open.

 

Technically, the sex they sell is illegal, but a new government-led plan aims to change that. It calls for repealing the 1996 Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act, which makes most sex work a crime, and replacing it with a new law, the Protection of Sex Work Act, affirming the rights of sex workers and their places of business to sell sex.

 

The bill’s proponents hope it will help the country’s sex workers — estimated to number anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 — ply their trade more safely and earn higher wages. Opponents fear it will leave many sex workers exploited by middlemen and trafficking gangs, and clash with the country’s values and traditions.

 

“The law is now out of date,” said Jintana Janbumrung, director-general of the Department of Women’s Affairs and Family Development, which is spearheading the reform effort.

 

By giving sex workers legal status, she said, “they can be workers who have access to the same welfare as other occupations, whose rights will not be violated, who will not be exploited by their clients or sex business operators [and have] a better quality of life.”

 

Full story: https://www.voanews.com/a/thailand-drafts-bill-to-decriminalize-its-billion-dollar-sex-trade/7040409.html

 

-- © Copyright Voice of America 2023-04-08

 

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[Celsius]

Another bill that makes no sense as there is no sex trade in Thailand. 

 

 

[sidneybear]

It's illegal? Who would have thought.

[Artisi]

What sex trade? 

[quake]

So Happy endings are official now. 

 

[Moonlover]

29 minutes ago, quake said:

So Happy endings are official now. 

 

Not yet.

[bob smith]

what sex work? what are they on about? ive never seen anything of the sort!

[bamnutsak]

This has about the same chance of passing in the next Parliamentary session as the Cannabis Control Act.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2023 by bamnutsak

[quake]

33 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

Not yet.

I guess the curtain will stay up for now. 

[stoner]

my spidey senses are tingling....

[Will B Good]

2 hours ago, sidneybear said:

It's illegal? Who would have thought.

If I had known that i would have stayed well clear......too late now (after 30 years).

Edited April 8, 2023 by Will B Good

[Lucky Bones]

1 hour ago, Moonlover said:

Not yet.

Happy Endings not yet official, they are still cumming.????????

[expat_4_life]

Thailand, progressive on policy, first weed, now sex workers.

Much better than the absolute prudes that ran the show during and since the Thaksin regime.

[d4dang]

sex workers vote too....Boys in green fishing?...getting desperate?

Edited April 8, 2023 by d4dang
grammar

[hansnl]

A lot of revenue will be sorely missed.

[renaissanc]

The Police in Bangkok, Pattaya, etc., will be crying now. How will they be able to extort money from sex trade workers, bars, and whoever else each month when the law has been passed? 

[Snig27]

1 hour ago, expat_4_life said:

Thailand, progressive on policy, first weed, now sex workers.

Much better than the absolute prudes that ran the show during and since the Thaksin regime.

I hate to tell you this, but Prayut has been in power for 9 years now and none of these advances had anything to do with his closeted mind. 

But Thaksin, Thaksin…….

[Purdey]

Things will continue but the RTP won't extort money from the girls. I guess the pubs will still be guilty of human trafficking though. 

[connda]

That's a good idea.  Legalize it and regulate it.  And with the regulation of the trade, focus on ending human trafficking, especially under-aged minors.

[klauskunkel]

Quote

Thailand drafts bill to decriminalize its billion-dollar sex trade

I wonder if they thought this through... This means that there will suddenly be prostitutes in Pattaya and maybe elsewhere.

Edited April 8, 2023 by klauskunkel

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

From the rows of massage parlors, pulsing night clubs and rowdy bars of Thailand’s gaudy red-light districts, the country’s billion-dollar sex trade operates all but in the open.

It must all be an illusion from what we've been previously told.

It doesn't exist.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The bill’s proponents hope it will help the country’s sex workers — estimated to number anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000

That's just Pattaya right?

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, quake said:

So Happy endings are official now. 

 

No not yet...

[Lacessit]

44 minutes ago, renaissanc said:

The Police in Bangkok, Pattaya, etc., will be crying now. How will they be able to extort money from sex trade workers, bars, and whoever else each month when the law has been passed? 

Nothing will change in that respect. I've seen owners of legitimate businesses not connected with the sex trade making payoffs to police. I assume it's a form of protection to ensure the Thai mafia stay away.

Gambling breaks Thai law too, pa som sip is the Thai national card game played in all the rural villages.

[pegman]

1 hour ago, renaissanc said:

The Police in Bangkok, Pattaya, etc., will be crying now. How will they be able to extort money from sex trade workers, bars, and whoever else each month when the law has been passed? 

Don't worry about them. They will find a way

[bkk6060]

All sounds like a terrible inflationary idea to me.  

[Mywayboy]

5 hours ago, Artisi said:

What sex trade? 

Chicken farmers they raise C$%ks

[Iron Tongue]

1 hour ago, connda said:

That's a good idea.  Legalize it and regulate it.  And with the regulation of the trade, focus on ending human trafficking, especially under-aged minors.

Nobody cares about that.

Legalized = taxable

[madmitch]

Interesting timing with Parliament currently dissolved and an election  due in a month.

[TKDfella]

2 hours ago, connda said:

That's a good idea.  Legalize it and regulate it.  And with the regulation of the trade, focus on ending human trafficking, especially under-aged minors.

Like many other things I doubt if they will set up an agency to regulate it. If it's going to be anything like 'regulating' (policing) the traffic then...you know what I mean. My guess is that the workers will get little aid but the the Taxman will be thinking 'shall we tax per ฿1000, by client or by service performed'...Wonder if VAT will be added?