Australian Charity Rescues Child Sex Workers In Thailand

[Buchholz]

Queensland charity rescues child sex workers

An Australian organisation comprising ex-police and special forces soldiers has rescued four child sex workers from an illegal brothel near the Thailand-Cambodia border. The team of volunteer operatives from The Grey Man, a Brisbane-based charity, staged the successful operation at a brothel in the Thailand town of Aranyaprathet, 1 km from the Cambodian border, on Saturday. Organisation president John Curtis said the brothel trafficked girls from Vietnam and Cambodia to Thailand where they were being offered to customers for sex.

"The Grey Man team in an initial investigation obtained video and audio and then called in the Royal Thai Police force for assistance," Mr Curtis said. "The Thai unit was briefed on the location and a plan formulated." "The Grey Man operatives then re-entered the brothel with police nearby ready to conduct a raid." Mr Curtis said 20 Thai police officers were involved in the raid with the Grey Man team - all of whom had a background in the police force or in Australian special forces.

Continues:

http://www.qt.com.au/story/2010/09/13/aussies-rescue-sex-workers-in-thailand/

AAP - September 13, 2010

[Buchholz]

An Australian news story from 2008 on "The Grey Man" organization

[TAWP]

This might be one of the few legit organizations around, that actually do some work...

[FarangBuddha]

Big-whoop...now they can find them work de-feathering birds at a chicken processing plant or or gutting fish at a tuna cannery for starvation wages.

[whybother]

Big-whoop...now they can find them work de-feathering birds at a chicken processing plant or or gutting fish at a tuna cannery for starvation wages.

How about giving them an education?

They're too young to be working, and they are definitely too young to be performing sex acts with some perverted prick.

[slapout]

Big-whoop...now they can find them work de-feathering birds at a chicken processing plant or or gutting fish at a tuna cannery for starvation wages.

Or they could be sent to a trade school or back to finish their education, which was probably cut short, and give them s lift up in life. Not knowing the Australian group well enough to speak with authority about their program, it is probably more thought out than your comment, even if it were in jest.

[Wallaby]

Big-whoop...now they can find them work de-feathering birds at a chicken processing plant or or gutting fish at a tuna cannery for starvation wages.

How about giving them an education?

They're too young to be working, and they are definitely too young to be performing sex acts with some perverted prick.

Ditto. What a pathetic human being to think it is ok for children to be in the sex trade all because they make more money.

[neverdie]

Big-whoop...now they can find them work de-feathering birds at a chicken processing plant or or gutting fish at a tuna cannery for starvation wages.

I'd have to wonder about anyone that came out with a comment like this to a story like this one.

Of course, even at the extreeme surely you recognise a fairly significant difference between children being used as a sex slaves & a cannery worker? What about you do some reading about the organisation at question & then you might realise that they do everything within their powers to get these children into the education system & child protection help etc etc.

Give credit where credit is due, what could be your motivation for putting the grey man down?

[Buchholz]

Big-whoop...now they can find them work de-feathering birds at a chicken processing plant or or gutting fish at a tuna cannery for starvation wages.

The Grey man do this:

Therefore, in tandem with our rescue work, we began a prevention program where we support educational infrastructure projects in the ethnic minority villages (a major source of trafficked children). We have found that the best way to prevent trafficking is to provide funds for education and family assistance but to link this assistance to a child's progression in school. Presently we support three villages in Thailand with various projects.

http://www.thegreyman.org/

What "big-whoop" do you do for them?

[somo]

This is not that new. I know of an ex aussie policeman who was involved in undercover work of this sort 10 years ago working for ECPAT (he may well have been involved in this one) Many of the raids then were undermined by the Thai police warning the mama saan so the fact that this one went off successfully is great.

The sad thing is that it takes a foreign organisation to force the police here to take action.

The thai police are well informed and could easily take the lead in stamping out child prostitution but there is more money in being paid to ignore it. I can feel sympathy with the average cop suplimenting his low wages with on the spot fines for traffic offences but profiting from the expoitation of kids is way out of order. TIT

[473geo]

Excellent work by the The Grey Man team, and theThai Police. Not only for saving these innocents from a horrific traumatic childhood, but to raise awareness that disgusting practices continue and are in existance. I wish The Grey Man team every success in their future endeavours.

[Buchholz]

This is not that new. I know of an ex aussie policeman who was involved in undercover work of this sort 10 years ago working for ECPAT (he may well have been involved in this one) Many of the raids then were undermined by the Thai police warning the mama saan so the fact that this one went off successfully is great.

The sad thing is that it takes a foreign organisation to force the police here to take action.

The thai police are well informed and could easily take the lead in stamping out child prostitution but there is more money in being paid to ignore it. I can feel sympathy with the average cop suplimenting his low wages with on the spot fines for traffic offences but profiting from the expoitation of kids is way out of order. TIT

Also from the greyman website:

Over the past year we have increasingly run operations in conjunction with the Thai police. This has led to the arrest of 15 traffickers and a number of pimps. We expect our arrest rate to increse significantly through 2009 and our ongoing involvement with the Thai police should be an enduring relationship. We have found them a great ally in the fight against child trafficking. You can find out more about recent operations on the new Grey Man blog.

[sirchai]

This might be one of the few legit organizations around, that actually do some work...

"The Grey Man team in an initial investigation obtained video and audio and then called in the Royal Thai Police force for assistance,"

Guess it's a kind of strange that Aussies are doing Thai cops jobs. Or were some of them also customers?

[TaoNow]

It's very noble what Grey Man is trying to do.

I was involved with agencies that were trying to get young women (girls) out of brothel work during the beginning of the Thai HIV epidemic in 1989 or so.

A few Thai doctors tried paying money to the brothel managers to release the girls from their debt bondage.

When some of the girls were followed up back home, it turned out that their parents had re-sold them back to another procurement agent and a new brothel.

When more and more of the northern Thai brothel workers left the brothels out of fear of AIDS, their places were filled with Shan and Lao young women (and girls).

So you begin to see the dilemma. You can try to "rescue" these girls, chase the procurers and arrest the agents forever and ever.

But unless you also address the demand side, then you will never succeed in keeping young women out of commercial sex.

Thus, the primary target has to be the customers of the underage brothel workers. With very stiff fines/imprisonment and aggressive enforcement.

Only then will you begin to see a sustainable decline child sex workers.

[Renbe]

Nothing but compliments for the Australian organization, but it does make me wonder why the Thai police is not able to find these brothels without foreign assistance.

The SE Asian sex-industry in general and the child-sex industry in particular is nothing but bad reputation and loss of face for the countries involved. When I started visiting

Thailand a few years ago, being over 50 years old and a bachelor, even close friends could not resist making bad jokes about my presumed reasons for visiting. As if

every man that visits SE Asia only has one goal in mind...

[somo]

Nothing but compliments for the Australian organization, but it does make me wonder why the Thai police is not able to find these brothels without foreign assistance.

They do know where they are but are paid to look the other way. Organisations like the greyman and ecpat will always praise the cooperation of the thai police because they need them to make the arrrests having no power to do so themselves. The sad fact is that many of these raids fail because the police tip off the brothels but the failures don't make the news.

[souvenirdeparis]

not often that I see news which actually make me feel good .Good luck to the kids .

But they speak of "illegal' brothel, aren't they all ?

[FarangBuddha]

Big-whoop...now they can find them work de-feathering birds at a chicken processing plant or or gutting fish at a tuna cannery for starvation wages.

Or they could be sent to a trade school or back to finish their education, which was probably cut short, and give them s lift up in life. Not knowing the Australian group well enough to speak with authority about their program, it is probably more thought out than your comment, even if it were in jest.

Yeah...that economy along the Thai-Cambodian border is just booming isn't it!

Every time I do a visa run I see new 5-star resorts and industrial estates just begging for more workers...I guess all those people wandering about dressed in tattered rags, with bony hands extended at me when I pass by, are only in my imagination.

If these charities really want to help improve the lot of poor people, let them promote free-market economic policies that will increase investment and therefore economic output in them. This will in turn increase demand for labour and hence increase wages and slowly lift people out of poverty. Saving a few girls from the sex-industry, while good for raising money in the West to fund the salaries of the NGO employees, does little to solve the underlying issues that give rise to the problem in the first place.

Edited September 13, 2010 by FarangBuddha

[neverdie]

Big-whoop...now they can find them work de-feathering birds at a chicken processing plant or or gutting fish at a tuna cannery for starvation wages.

Or they could be sent to a trade school or back to finish their education, which was probably cut short, and give them s lift up in life. Not knowing the Australian group well enough to speak with authority about their program, it is probably more thought out than your comment, even if it were in jest.

Yeah...that economy along the Thai-Cambodian border is just booming isn't it!

Every time I do a visa run I see new 5-star resorts and industrial estates just begging for more workers...I guess all those people wandering about dressed in tattered rags, with bony hands extended at me when I pass by, are only in my imagination.

If these charities really want to help improve the lot of poor people, let them promote free-market economic policies that will increase investment and therefore economic output in them. This will in turn increase demand for labour and hence increase wages and slowly lift people out of poverty. Saving a few girls from the sex-industry, while good for raising money in the West to fund the salaries of the NGO employees, does little to solve the underlying issues that give rise to the problem in the first place.

Well they are doing their little bit, I never read or heard anywhere that the grey man was trying to solve all world issues.

You seem so critical of their efforts, I imagine it must be because you have done so much more OR is that just more of that stuff coming out of your avatars rear end?

It must be so hard for you sitting up on your high horse, looking down on everyone and everything they do

Edited September 13, 2010 by neverdie

[somo]

Big-whoop...now they can find them work de-feathering birds at a chicken processing plant or or gutting fish at a tuna cannery for starvation wages.

Or they could be sent to a trade school or back to finish their education, which was probably cut short, and give them s lift up in life. Not knowing the Australian group well enough to speak with authority about their program, it is probably more thought out than your comment, even if it were in jest.

Yeah...that economy along the Thai-Cambodian border is just booming isn't it!

Every time I do a visa run I see new 5-star resorts and industrial estates just begging for more workers...I guess all those people wandering about dressed in tattered rags, with bony hands extended at me when I pass by, are only in my imagination.

If these charities really want to help improve the lot of poor people, let them promote free-market economic policies that will increase investment and therefore economic output in them. This will in turn increase demand for labour and hence increase wages and slowly lift people out of poverty. Saving a few girls from the sex-industry, while good for raising money in the West to fund the salaries of the NGO employees, does little to solve the underlying issues that give rise to the problem in the first place.

Well they are doing their little bit, I never read or heard anywhere that the grey man was trying to solve all world issues.

You seem so critical of their efforts, I imagine it must be because you have done so much more OR is that just more of that stuff coming out of your avatars rear end?

It must be so hard for you sitting up on your high horse, looking down on everyone and everything they do

Well said.

I am sick and tired of hearing that free market economics will solve the worlds problems when in many cases it just creates more. These organisations are going straight to the heart of the problem and anyone who thinks that is not a good thing to do doesn't know s**t

[creck]

Big-whoop...now they can find them work de-feathering birds at a chicken processing plant or or gutting fish at a tuna cannery for starvation wages.

This comment may be valid for some adult workers. The children are too young to give consent – it is a very different situation.

[damian7000]

the place they showed in the video is sayuri in chiang mai. i've never seen any girls that look younger than 20.

[neverdie]

the place they showed in the video is sayuri in chiang mai. i've never seen any girls that look younger than 20.

I would imagine that they just took some footage to show people that have never seen this sort of thing. Helps people visualise whats going on. Perhaps the pickup full of children was unrelated as well, but it gives people a picture to put with the words.

[damian7000]

the place they showed in the video is sayuri in chiang mai. i've never seen any girls that look younger than 20.

I would imagine that they just took some footage to show people that have never seen this sort of thing. Helps people visualise whats going on. Perhaps the pickup full of children was unrelated as well, but it gives people a picture to put with the words.

i understand. bit misleading, the news, isn't it. videos of kids who weren't rescued child sex workers and of brothels where no children work. i understand the purpose and i'll leave it at that before i get off topic and start ranting about pictures painted by media.

[Thongkorn]

well done to the Aussies, The question is what about the girls of legal age, The girls that are pressured into the sex industry because of parents /boyfriends and the Mafias, Would it have been better to address the men who abuse these girls, Name and shame the abusers in there own country , Put there picture in the national papers of there own country, But then again the old saying , a standing dick knows no conscience. But at least somebody is prepared to attempt to do some thing, good luck to them if i could assist i would and will.

[mmh8]

Big-whoop...now they can find them work de-feathering birds at a chicken processing plant or or gutting fish at a tuna cannery for starvation wages.

Or they could be sent to a trade school or back to finish their education, which was probably cut short, and give them s lift up in life. Not knowing the Australian group well enough to speak with authority about their program, it is probably more thought out than your comment, even if it were in jest.

Yeah...that economy along the Thai-Cambodian border is just booming isn't it!

Every time I do a visa run I see new 5-star resorts and industrial estates just begging for more workers...I guess all those people wandering about dressed in tattered rags, with bony hands extended at me when I pass by, are only in my imagination.

If these charities really want to help improve the lot of poor people, let them promote free-market economic policies that will increase investment and therefore economic output in them. This will in turn increase demand for labour and hence increase wages and slowly lift people out of poverty. Saving a few girls from the sex-industry, while good for raising money in the West to fund the salaries of the NGO employees, does little to solve the underlying issues that give rise to the problem in the first place.

Flaming comment removed

Edited September 14, 2010 by Mario2008

[ozzieman05]

I have spend t the last 8 years working in the film industry in Thailand, I have a Thai wife and a Thai child, in theory this idea is good, but sadly in many many instances all what you do is make a better quality prostitute that will be back on the streets in only a short time

We produced a documentary for channel 2, 8 years ago where we filmed such a girl, and paid her family debt as her film release, 3 years later when I returned to her Thai province I went to visit her family village only to be told that she was now working in a Thai bar in Pattaya, the money and life style was just to great

As I said these ideas have merit but you can not change a culture a hundred years old that wants these things to happen, in my years of filming I have visited many Thai bars for Thai men only, and all your efforts will never change their culture

[somo]

well done to the Aussies, The question is what about the girls of legal age, The girls that are pressured into the sex industry because of parents /boyfriends and the Mafias, Would it have been better to address the men who abuse these girls, Name and shame the abusers in there own country , Put there picture in the national papers of there own country, But then again the old saying , a standing dick knows no conscience. But at least somebody is prepared to attempt to do some thing, good luck to them if i could assist i would and will.

Name and shame the police officers taking money for ignoring things and perhaps it would deter others from doing the same. They are a disgrace to Thailand and are as much to blame as those that run this disgusting business. It won't happen of course but that again is another stain. There are so many wonderful things that Thailand can offer the world but until normal people here stand up to such outrageous behaviour from those that are supposedly defending the rule of law and order they stand accused of not caring about this issue. This in itself is sad but true. To hel_l with everything except the Baht in your pocket seems the rule. So much for the free market because that is what drives this.

[asiawatcher]

Big-whoop...now they can find them work de-feathering birds at a chicken processing plant or or gutting fish at a tuna cannery for starvation wages.

What a stupid comment - and you use the word Buddha in your avatar. Get a life.

[geriatrickid]

Sometimes progress is madewith babysteps. One life helped is better than the status quo. The children were most likely offered jobs in factories only to end up in a brothel, Now if only they would name and shame the customers and the local officials that allowed the brothel. Maybe PM Abhisit an say something on this.............