Lao Girls Tricked Into Sex Work

[webfact]

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Lao girls tricked into sex work

By Mayuree Sukyingcharoengwong

The nation

Published on September 17, 2009

11 young women rescued from brothel tell minister of scam

A human trafficking gang smuggled young Lao women into Nong Khai before moving them to a traditional massage shop in Phetchaburi for sex work. They did this by disguising the young women as tour bus hostesses, Social Development and Human Security Minister Issara Somchai revealed yesterday.

A total of 11 Lao girls and young women aged from 15 to 22 were rescued after a raid on Saturday on a brothel in downtown Phetchaburi. One man and two women were also arrested.

Issara visited the victims yesterday at Baan Kredtrakan Shelter in Nonthaburi's Pak Kred district.

The minister said he was told the young women were lured by compatriots to work as waitresses in a Nong Khai restaurant. The restaurant owner allegedly taught them how to dress beautifully, how to put make-up - later billed at Bt4,000 a set - and took some girls to an eyebrow tattooist to make them look prettier.

The restaurant owner paid for these costs but later made the girls repay all expenses. They were then convinced to prostitute themselves and the restaurant owner would either take the girls in personal cars send them on tour buses, with the girls disguised as hostesses to avoid police attention.

Costly transport expenses of Bt15,000 to Bt20,000 were also charged and recorded for later collection from the women, Issara was told. At the massage shop, they were forced to provide sex services for customers at Bt510 per time, although the girls' real payment was just Bt150, while the rest went to the managers.

For those who had not repaid their supposed debts, the Bt150 payments for sex went to clear "debts" first. Thus, many didn't earn a single baht until the "debts" were paid off, he said.

All the rescued 11 women told Issara they had repaid their debts but hadn't kept the money they had earnt from sex-work. Instead they gave it to the brothel owner.

Some of the girls who had worked at the shop for eight months had given the brothel owner up to Bt50,000, Issara was told. The owner would then wire the money to the women's parents in Vientiane, while the women had to stay at the brothel at all times and weren't allowed to go outside.

Issara said all the young women told him they wanted to go home and never wanted to work as prostitutes again. He said the women would be given accommodation, three meals a day and vocational training while at the shelter, until their case went was dealt with by a court, which should take around three months. They would then be sent home.

-- The Nation 2009/09/17

[imapig]

isnt this a no no topic?

[kaosoi]

A No No topic?...that is almost as depressing as the article.

[PeaceBlondie]

Not exactly. From the rules

"18) Not to discuss the specifics of prostitution.

Thailand has a visible sex industry, and acknowledgment of that fact is not forbidden. However ThaiVisa is not the place to seek or give information on this topic, regardless of your sexual habits, preferences or orientation."

[Scott]

I think this is an OK topic as long as it focuses on the issue of human trafficking and not on prostitution per se. It remains to be seen whether posters can abide by the rules.

I find it interesting and laudable that these girls are treated with such generosity and relative kindness by the government, while the Rohingya men languish in jail with 2 teenagers dead. Seems there are different strokes for different folks.

[RKASA]

This one is not about prostitution its about human exploitation and the non taxed profits of morally devoid operators, that have broken immigration laws left and right and done so with full knowledge of what they where doing.  If its death for drug trafficking then at least put these clowns away for life, every signal operator involved.  Sorry but have to send the poor girls home, even if they knew they were going into the sex trade they were taken advantage of and its wrong. They are victims of being poor and thats about the only thing they really did wrong.

[Moonrakers]

A No No topic?...that is almost as depressing as the article.

Maybe he's just got out of bed bed and is still sitting in his jim jams.

[teetersb]

This one is not about prostitution its about human exploitation and the non taxed profits of morally devoid operators, that have broken immigration laws left and right and done so with full knowledge of what they where doing.  If its death for drug trafficking then at least put these clowns away for life, every signal operator involved.  Sorry but have to send the poor girls home, even if they knew they were going into the sex trade they were taken advantage of and its wrong. They are victims of being poor and thats about the only thing they really did wrong.

Spot on!

[debcmai]

'the money was wired to their parents in Vientienne..." ??? What on earth! Does that mean what I think it does, and if so, that is quite an open acknowledgement of what is often going on in these scenarios. Poor, poor girls. Good on the authorities to have stepped up and helped them. Long may it continue!!!

Edited September 17, 2009 by debcmai

[TAWP]

510 baht per time, 15-22 year old girls...safe to say, they were NOT being sold to foreigners.

Take notice now, pseudo-journalists from The Sun and others that google your way to this article...

And good thing the girls was rescued. These 'get-girls-into-debt'-scams are the kinda things that are only made easier to pull through since hostessing/massages/bar-girls/gogo-girls/prostitution is operating in a shady industry, not fully legal and regulated. Shame on activist-groups that cannot see what their morality-crusades are infact causing girls (and some cases boys) in the long run.

Edited September 17, 2009 by TAWP

[G54]

Good to see the authorities have acted and are taking care of these young ladies.

Always sad to hear of young lives being wasted like this.

[harleyclarkey]

A truly dreadful thing to do to any human being and especially ones so young. Kidnapped, sold as sex slaves, confined to probably a dump, no contact with your family, friends the outside world???

To have your life destroyed by utter depraved sub humans is a disgrace. I can only imagine the pain, isolation and utter helpless these poor unfortunates must have felt. What their captors have done is unspeakable and no doubt they will give some corrupt, filthy official the nod and they will be off to enjoy their torrid lives and forget about the devastation they have left behind.

I hope to God they will have a speedy mental recovery.

Edited September 17, 2009 by harleyclarkey

[Ga-gai]

In Japan, prostitution and sexual services are totally legal. In fact, prostitution in Japan is more or less considered as a normal work. No shame in that. A lot of Japanese housewives also expect their husband to use services from prostitutes occasionally, since he works a lot and doesn't have time to relax etc. That almost sounds to good to be true.

Humm... Why didn't I marry a Japanese woman instead?

[johnnort]

Looked after until the courts have time to prosecute them. Poor girls. My heart aches. And yes, the real perps. will remain free - they are Thais after all.

[Yoshitaka]

<br />In Japan, prostitution and sexual services are totally legal. In fact, prostitution in Japan is more or less considered as a normal work. No shame in that. A lot of Japanese housewives also expect their husband to use services from prostitutes occasionally, since he works a lot and doesn't have time to relax etc. That almost sounds to good to be true.<br /><br />Humm... Why didn't I marry a Japanese woman instead? <img src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

Being a Japanese woman, I have to disagree with you.

[BSJ]

Exploiting children or adults is unacceptable at any level. One would hope the victims are repatriated by Thai authorities to their homes.

[otherstuff1957]

I find it interesting and laudable that these girls are treated with such generosity and relative kindness by the government, while the Rohingya men languish in jail with 2 teenagers dead.

You're not thinking like a Thai Scott. The Lao girls are basically the same as Thai girls: they speak almost the same language, they're Buddhists, they have almost Thai names, etc... The Rohingya, on the other hand, don't look Thai, they don't speak Thai, they are Muslim, etc... Of course they're not going to be treated the same way. The Western concept of non-discrimination just doesn't exist here.

'the money was wired to their parents in Vientienne..." ??? What on earth! Does that mean what I think it does, and if so, that is quite an open acknowledgement of what is often going on in these scenarios. Poor, poor girls.

IMHO, the parents are just as much to blame as the traffickers. They almost certainly knew what was going on. However, as long as the money came in, they weren't going to complain. The sad truth seems to be that many victims of Human Trafficking are initially sold by their parents.

[wilsongbrown]

Exploiting children or adults is unacceptable at any level. One would hope the victims are repatriated by Thai authorities to their homes.

So you okay with post-pubescent pre-'age of majority' teens then?

[wilsongbrown]

I find it interesting and laudable that these girls are treated with such generosity and relative kindness by the government, while the Rohingya men languish in jail with 2 teenagers dead.

You're not thinking like a Thai Scott. The Lao girls are basically the same as Thai girls: they speak almost the same language, they're Buddhists, they have almost Thai names, etc... The Rohingya, on the other hand, don't look Thai, they don't speak Thai, they are Muslim, etc... Of course they're not going to be treated the same way. The Western concept of non-discrimination just doesn't exist here.

'the money was wired to their parents in Vientienne..." ??? What on earth! Does that mean what I think it does, and if so, that is quite an open acknowledgement of what is often going on in these scenarios. Poor, poor girls.

IMHO, the parents are just as much to blame as the traffickers. They almost certainly knew what was going on. However, as long as the money came in, they weren't going to complain. The sad truth seems to be that many victims of Human Trafficking are initially sold by their parents.

And men, you forgot 'men' ...

And then shagged by their customers ...

[Heng]

The several thousand tricked into the trade each year do deserve to be rescued, the hundred thousand or so who apply willingly shouldn't be confused with the former though, particularly if arrested while working in their chosen 'profession.'