Trafficker of rose-selling children on Bangkok's Khaosan Road arrested

[kuifje]

To me the saddest part of this story is that this has been going on for many years and it is only after an inquiry from a newspaper AND THE US DOWNGRADING, that something is seen to be done. It really shows that the US report was quite correct in that Thailand is not serious about stopping this.

This action from the present power in Thailand to be have nothing to do with the US downgrading or a story in a newspaper. Many documentaries were made before about this subject, but no any action from any government (not only Thailand).

This time It's an action which was planned by this government long before and only now exicuted.

[slipperylobster]

Well that is one. Go to almost any intersection or tourist locality anywhere in Thailand and you will see tiny children peddling wares into the early hours of the morning. They are not hard to find as they are everywhere.

Many countries have the same...

If they have more children than they can feed - they are put into service.

In China they are given to an Aunty, who looks after them like their own but they work 7 days a week 10/12 hours

Whatever the course....but

These children have a right to an education. Employing them outside day/night entertainment areas and beer bars is not protecting children. Buying flowers/or handing out money only enriches and emboldens the traffickers of these children. I hope none of us, including me, ever buys a single item or gives money to these kids. Do not think it is helping their families nor the kids themselves. It would be nice to have them taken off the street and have a government sponsered program to donate money to....if you feel so obliged to help.

[ClutchClark]

The tragedy of unwanted children.

Birth control should be encouraged globally.

@ClutchClark: it appears that your comprehension of the various cultures in "poor" nations, around the globe, is less than fractional.

You have to appreciate the fact that in those nations, there is no such thing as 'Social Security' - there are NO safety-nets for the people. There's also NO life-insurance to be had, so the solution (for these poor folks) is to produce as many children as possible, in the hope (and expectation) that IF the parents fal on hard times and/or 'old age' (and unable to work), that these many children will support these parents, so they don't simply starve to death.

Here in Thailand, the proof is everywhere too; a young couple gets together; have kid, or kids and guess who brings-up these children ? ? Grandma does, which enables the young couple to work and garner the money to support not only themselves, but also their kid(s) AND the grandmother. I realize this is very hard to 'stomach' when looking through 'Western-Eyes", but this is precisely what's happening all around the world.

Hey <deleted>. Can you not converse as an adult ?

Obviously when a parent sells a child for $50 then it is not the situation you describe. It is an unwanted child.

You have been placed on Ignore.

Edited June 23, 2014 by ClutchClark

[Tanlic]

_{Well , are the children better off than being "home" where they were sold .}

There's obviously 2 answers to that question.

Many will remember the 2 Indian looking girls, who used to work Cowboy

One night I was talking to the younger one who was running a fever and I suggested she should go home and go to bed. "I want but my Mum said I can not"

She looked like she was ready to drop so you can imagine what I thought of the mother.............a few weeks later I was in Jomtiem having a swim in the sea and a young girl tapped me on the shoulder.

It was the older one and there were the two girls happy as happy can be and they told me there Mum had brought them for a weeks holiday...........sorta had mixed feeling about the mother after that.

I also know of 2 guys from the USA through one girl, they felt sorry for, led to them raising millions of baht running golf outings. The money went to the girls village to buy vehichles and clothing do the kids could get to school.

Obviously if they are making money for their own family they are better off but if they are working for some trafficer and just surviving with no fringe benefits then of course they are not better off

This guy being arrested seems to be related to Thailand being downgraded and this person making a documentary.

I dont think anyone deserves a slap on the back for this one as they all seem to have other motives that led to it happening

[philthebook]

The kids families probably did not know that they were being sold to work as flower sellers/slaves on the streets, these gangs are clever, they would spin some story to the parents that they will be taken in by some Thai family that are unable to have their own kids, they are going to have a better life etc.

[arisaje]

“Most of them start with an agreement of how much money they will they get monthly and when the kid will be back,” said Mr. Witanapat said. “But then it becomes human trafficking because the handlers stop paying the families and refuse to return the child.”

Curious definition. Apparently, child rental is deemed to be okay.

@garyinhuahin… i was thinking the same reading that article, it seems as though renting out your child to be whisked away to a different country is okay, only becomes an issue when the families are not paid and child is not returned?

What i don't understand is how they get them across the border so easily, and why don't the Police and/or NGO's round them up regularly to get them off the streets? find out who their parents really are, Thai or otherwise?

I was not at all surprised that the International Community have downgraded Thailand to the lowest 3rd Tier Status in Human Trafficking, but what i was surprised about was that the foreign affairs or foreign ministry people were surprised and upset at being downgraded? When they knowingly have these kids on the streets until all hours of the morning, in direct contact with foreign business people and tourists?

Lets hope the new push by the military will also help in this situation, because children are the most vulnerable. The biggest problem though….is sending these kids home to parents who have no money and sold them in the first place is not much of a future either…

[Stradavarius37]

1 down - 100,000+ to go....Keep working BIB

[Stradavarius37]

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Why does it take someone doing a documentary and a downgrade by the US before things finally start to get done. There are hundreds more all over the tourist destinations and beyond. You have made a tiny, tiny dent in the problem and have a long, long way to go so get moving.

Lets be accurate - it takes a COUP, a documentary, and a downgrade to get things done....

[Yann55]

Yikes - I had no idea - I regularly give these kids 20 Baht on the road next to Khaosan since I thought I was helping there families with the money - Gee I feel real bad now that I was actually aiding this trafficking...And also stupid that I did not think this situation through.

Kudos to you for being such an honest dude, spambot. It's kind of easy to get all sanctimonious here, claim 'I me myself never give a dime because I know it just encourages the traffickers' and call the givers idiots... when reality is a lot more 'grey' and complicated (as always)...

1/ for one thing it's absurd to say 'if no one gives ' because that will simply never happen. When you're in front of the kid and your heart aches, you're not in front of a theory or a principle, you're struggling with your own guilt and empathy.

2/ Let's imagine that after a long and laborious campaign, people do stop buying flowers, or keyrings or whatever on tourist spots like Khaosan road. Will the problem be solved ? Of course not, because the flower selling is only the end of the chain, so the kids will continue to be exploited albeit in other, and probably worse places, where they will cease to be seen, that's all.

3/ the worst situation, for the kids, is admittedly if and when most people don't buy their flowers (for whatever reasons, including the noble ones), because in effect, the kid gets beaten up, not given food etc. How does that fit in with the high moral 'principles', no matter how right they are ?

Edited June 23, 2014 by Yann55

[Emster23]

Police may have acted in that she was making a documentary, and they wanted "happy ending" by arresting. I hope she has the funds to wait and follow through to trial, if there is one, likewise sentence. Recall Thai statements about the 100's arrested and prosecuted for trafficking, but no mention of convictions or jail time. That is when it gets somewhat real, if they don't pay off jail and are let out early....

[Brian Corrigan]

Debaucherous revelers = foreigners

Revelers = Thais

Its the Thai's who are the traffickers. Re-write Debauchery = Thai's.

[wealth]

reminds me on an almost funny incidence in CM 24 years ago when a handful of DEA agents complaint in the beer-garden(with boxing shows) about children being there and selling stuff.

Police was called to arrest the complainers but 11(I think it was) of the police men go beaten up severely and they ran out of backup forces. - A couple of days later the DEA agents were sent home. It was like pictures out of an action movie.

Edited June 23, 2014 by wealth

[Fullstop]

This morning, Khaosod English was informed that its inquiry on Wednesday prompted police to investigate the area last night and bring five rose-selling children back to the police headquarters

They were "prompted" to "DO THEIR JOB!"

I'd like to prompt them with an electric cattle prod shoved up their khyber pass!

Edited June 23, 2014 by Fullstop

[Traveller45]

Sure, I realise this. But the way out really starts in people's own heads, and that means, mostly in the parents' heads. It must dawn on them that selling their kids into beggary is simply not a good idea. Apart from being disgusting, it's not even worthwhile financially. How long will those 50 USD last them? For I doubt that they will get much more. These kids might as well stay home and build a society. They would get a lot more benefit from them, their labour, their presence. You can laugh now if you like, but cash is basically not necessary. A rural community can work without it. Of course, provided you let them live their life. It won't apply to refugee camps or other such artificial and emergency environments. The way out starts in the head. Isn't that what is currently happening in ISAAN, the previous home of destitutes? They are really doing a good job in pulling themselves out of the swamp by their own bobtails. And, yes, it would be a good idea not to buy flowers or anything from kids anymore, cruel though it might appear

[Malthus101]

Let the children be.

Is that too much to ask?

roflol

[paulrobertlane]

“Most of them start with an agreement of how much money they will they get monthly and when the kid will be back,” said Mr. Witanapat said. “But then it becomes human trafficking because the handlers stop paying the families and refuse to return the child.”

Uh? So selling them, shipping them to Bangkok and have them working under the age of 15 is "OK" in the first place???

This simply shows the utter ignorance of the polie officers here. That ignorance is one of the main causes of this problem

[Beng]

Only 20% of the kids are returned to their families. That is ridicoulus, let alone being sold by the parents at very young age. Poor little kids they are. What a world this is.

[MK1]

reminds me on an almost funny incidence in CM 24 years ago when a handful of DEA agents complaint in the beer-garden(with boxing shows) about children being there and selling stuff.

Police was called to arrest the complainers but 11(I think it was) of the police men go beaten up severely and they ran out of backup forces. - A couple of days later the DEA agents were sent home. It was like pictures out of an action movie.

The problem has been allowed to flourish for so long that most of us including Thai’s have just given up and ignored the problem by placing into the too hard basket. I also recall complaining about the problem going on outside the front of Nana Hotel over 10+ years ago and in the end I believe they just relocated the activity around the corner. What surprised me though, was the activity had been allowed to go for so long there within almost an eye shot of a police-box not more than 100m away. Good to see the army is finally cracking down on the problem.

Edited June 23, 2014 by MK1

[The stuttering parrot]

Well Thailand is well practiced on the art of curfews so why not have one on children selling flowers?

If adults want to wander around at 10pm selling them fine but bring laws in with harsh penalties and get the children off the street.

Tourists should also be made aware where the money is going and not support these industries in anyway!

[makkam]

Nothing new here junta guys, those Burma and Cambodia street kids have been around

for as long as I remember, beggars women with "rented" babies, crippled, limbless, crunches

hoping men and women every where, there are tourists... nothing new here... how come

it's become a major issue now? and who's to pay for past misdeeds.... who?

Fantastic post, better still you got likes of 2 fellow numbskulls.

It's gone on for years so lets leave well alone eh.

Why don't you get yourself to the middle east..your fellow Taliban comrades need you

[Mr Yim]

The congratulations should go out to those seeking to bring people trafficing and slavery to the fore and the United States for down grading Thailand accordingly. The authorities are simply reacting to international opinion and the possibility of sanctions being imposed.

Edited June 23, 2014 by Mr Yim

[Lupatria]

I was just thinking, what is going on in a 10 year old kid to be sent "home" to the folks that sold them?

[oldsailor35]

At the end of the day, it seems that all of Thailands problems are centered around corruption, and that the whole question of corruption can clearly be placed in the lap of the Royal Thai Police Force. So get to the root of the problem.....Sort the RTP. Sack them precinct by precinct and put in place newly trained police who are paid good money and willing to end any corruption and uphold the laws of the country.

All the sacked police can volunteer for reinstatement but if selected after investigation, must be retrained and start their careers from scratch.

[belg]

bib blind for many years or wait for it : just did not care as there is no money to be made

[drand11]

Interestin to see that finally, after years of news reports and National Human Rights Groups that report that the kids that sell flowers in Bangkok are trafficked kids. On Saturday, Thailand gets downgraded to level 3 for human trafficking and all of a sudden the police do something about the most well know human trafficking scheme in Thailand? Coincidence? I am happy to see that steps are being taken, but Thailand doesn't improve as a nation waiting for outsiders to call them on these sort of tragic situations. Someone in Thai Government needs to take the lead and rid the nation of human trafficking.

[drand11]

Only 20% of the kids are returned to their families. That is ridicoulus, let alone being sold by the parents at very young age. Poor little kids they are. What a world this is.

Sad that it takes other nations to call out Thailand on their handling of these tragic issues... to get Thailand to react. Thailand gets downgraded to a level 3 offender of Human Trafficking and within 2 days, they start to clean up these illegal groups. Everyone knows they exist, but nobody does anything about it.

[Sparkles]

Nothing new here junta guys, those Burma and Cambodia street kids have been around

for as long as I remember, beggars women with "rented" babies, crippled, limbless, crunches

hoping men and women every where, there are tourists... nothing new here... how come

it's become a major issue now? and who's to pay for past misdeeds.... who?

Its a major story now only because the army have done something about it.... a totally useless police force did nothing

[Paulzed]

Does Thailand have a Department for Backpackers and Debaucherous Revelers (DFBAD) ?

Just curious.

[bkkstooge]

Yikes - I had no idea - I regularly give these kids 20 Baht on the road next to Khaosan since I thought I was helping there families with the money - Gee I feel real bad now that I was actually aiding this trafficking...And also stupid that I did not think this situation through.

That's why I like this forum, members and viewers actually do learn necessary and informative information.

[Andre0720]

Purchased from the family, sick, just sick. The family and the guy involved. $51 for a child ! How could they? I bet the family buffalo is still at home !

That family is most probably more POOR than SICK...