Thailand sex tourism crackdown targets brothels and underage prostitutes

[VN4now]

4 hours ago, Merylhighground said:

Sensationalist claptrap, utterly (deliberately) blurring the lines between the 'domestic' and 'tourist' sex trade with the usual ham-fisted, amateur-like imbecility of the Western media when dealing with this topic.

 

The blatant 'do-gooder' Christian agenda doesn't help promote the truth nor offer any solutions to the 'problem'. 

It's their country. If they want to not have red-light districts in their cities and resort areas who are any non-thais to have a problem with that. Do you see red light districts in Times Square anymore, Combat Zone in Boston - no. They have in fact been replaced by theaters and restaurants and nothing terrible happened to those economies. Maybe they want to move beyond the reputation of a sex tourist location. If all these venues are gone that would happen and the karaoke clubs etc. will still cater to locals. 

[gemguy]

However, that could all be about to change.

 

Nope..... that is a fallacy and wishful thinking on the part of those that like to fantasize about a Thailand free of prostitution.

Sure they will crack down on  sex for sale establishments here or there ...but short of an all out war on prostitution, that would end in social disaster anyhow, the sex for sale industry is not simply going to go away...ever....as in never.

 

Meantime...human trafficking should be stringently policed and the laws enforced and those involved severely penalized for their human  trafficking activities  while under age girls should be policed also and penalized in benevolent ways but not criminalized while indentured sexual servitude should also be policed and enforced and eliminated where possible.

 

Meantime we know that most of the prostitution that goes on here in Thailand is done in a manner that everyone involved knowingly understands the ground rules and all the  participants more or less willingly engage themselves while they can decide to participate or not participate...

 

That aspect of prostitution should not be criminalized nor should anyone be demonized for participating whether it be the entrepreneur who operates a business establishment that accommodates the prostitution or the workers that prostitute themselves or the patrons, as it is not going to go away and better that is all above board and not deemed illegal and therefore operating in the shadows.

 

But ...go ahead and try to eliminate prostitution and learn the hard way it is impossible to eliminate.

 

Cheers

[Choice]

Lmao Hell yea !!! I luv Thailand ..Great place n people [emoji106][emoji111][emoji41] Peace.

[MyFriend You]

5 hours ago, Plutojames88 said:

Correct.

Interestingly , the author also works for the organisation involved .Destiny Rescue.

And the publisher was her old job as a junior reporter.

The scam involves deception ...so deliberate .

Blurring the lines.

And dramatic speech.

Target audience ...churches ...who can do some tax avoiding by donating.

Individual s on the website .

Sponsors of a rescue for $1500 can "" praise god"" the pagan Buddhist is baptised with Jesus .

Coffee shops and program's conceal the sham .

And money rolls in.

The only catch is occasionally articles like this need to be printed to stir up some donations.

Telling the truth , that most under age sex workers are servicing Thai men won't get donations.

So they particularly blame Australian men.

And make no differential between the hags in bars and children in the Mai sai border towns , where they do most rescues, along with golden triangle.

As Christian organisations go .

Truth is often first causality .

 

"" praise god"" the pagan Buddhist is baptised with Jesus" 

Try that shi'ite (converting a Mslim to Christian) in a Muslim country and you will wind up in prison, or with your head in your lap.        

[SiSePuede419]

Why would anyone here be concerned about this?

 

Unless you frequent brothels and use underaged prostitutes…

Oh wait.  555.

[Mudcrab]

6 hours ago, haroldc said:

Consider the issue with regard to under-18 sex workers from Laos...  Outside of Vientiane province, some 50% of women have had their first sexual experience at age 15 or younger (read the UN and health-related NGO reports).  With some of the minority groups, the Akha for example, it is customary for girls to be initiated into sexual intercourse shortly after their first menstruation, as early as age 11, after which they are considered to be adults.

 

The minimum wage in Laos is currently 900,000 kip per month (about  3,600 baht), up from 626,000 kip (about 2,500 baht) prior to 2015.  Of course, the minimum wage only applies to workers in formally operated factories and businesses.  The most one can expect to make working in a small, local business is about 1,500 baht per month.

 

Even in the most rural areas, they know that it is possible to make far more money selling sex in Thailand.  The first step is to make contact with a broker - some are referred by a friend, some meet a recruiter who travels from village to village.  For 25-50,000 baht (this will be a debt, and the amount depends on the broker's estimate of the girl's potential income), the broker arranges for a Lao identity card showing her age as 18 and then a passport.  The girl is then escorted across the border to her first workplace in Thailand with a 30 day visa on arrival.  The first workplace is usually in a province bordering Laos.  The girl starts working and for the first months the manager holds most of the service fees (75-80%) to repay the debt to the broker.  If the girl gets tips, she can keep them or use all or part to repay the debt more quickly.  Every 30 days, the girl goes back to Laos for a few days and then returns to Thailand with another 30 day visa.  Once the debt has been repaid, the girl is a free agent and typically gets 50% of the service fee.  If she wants to move to a different workplace to be with friends or relatives, or where there is the possibility of making more money, she needs to pay an exit fee of 10-15,000 baht after which she will be placed at the new venue.  If the new venue is high-end, she may also need to pay an entrance fee.  Or she can pay the exit fee, stop working, and go back to Laos.  If she leaves a venue without paying the exit fee, she won't be able to get work in Thailand again (the business is very well organized).

 

There is no "sex-slavery" or deception involved. The girls who decide to take this route know in advance exactly how it works and do so of their own free will.

 

Note that none of the above applies to Burmese or Cambodian sex-workers in Thailand, nor does it apply to sex-workers who are placed in countries other than Thailand --   these are different businesses of which I have no knowledge.

 

       

Or any knowledge at all...just cut and paste

[mettech]

Prostitution is a good business for the pimp not so good for the girl who work her bottom all night every night.

I was in Germany in the 60's and prostitution was legal and also controlled and business was doing good for the girls and also for the landlord hat was renting these flats to the workers.

Nothing wrong with prostitution sometime it lower the stress and the day look better after it is done.

[MyFrenU]

"Hundreds of thousands of Australians crowd into the steamy streets each year, and while some prefer the beach or the buzzing nightclubs, others make a beeline forThailand’s dark underbelly. They seek out the neighbourhoods where women are bought and sold like meat, where even their most sordid sexual desires can be satisfied if the price is right."

 

Making Fosters Lager is a far worse crime!

[Plutojames88]

Destiny Rescue operates in several countries and this particular news item was a favour to an ex employee now involved with the Rescue organisation.
The coffee shop and other projects employes saved girls.
There is no denying some good comes of it all.

What's outrageous is the deception and lengths they go to in manipulating donors to support them.
Taking advantage of Thai press releases (of reforming the Vice industry, ) and infusing it with an underage narrative and western sex tourism.

The organisation freely admits that most rescues occur away from the western sex tourism.
But continue to seek sponsors by linking it.

They realise that Thai authorities get annoyed at being told their citizens are largely involved in sex trafficking of minors and exploitation of girls.
Not westerners.

The Church Packs sent to multitudes of churches in westerner countries carefully keep the sinful western tourist imaginary alive.
As responses are significantly higher.
They also try to avoid local authorities finding out about their programmes that require the save girl to drop her Buddhist beliefs in exchange for training and/ or work.

The scam is simply a case of actually supplying sufficient real evidence of intervention whilst maintaining strong demonisation of western males and blurring the lines on who is whom.
The story doesn't actually name girls saved in major red light areas as they main operations are in Thai on Thai locations in the far north.
But for propaganda purposes they occasionally head south and produce items that generate hatreds for the reader to digest.
And have them conclude western men and not Thais are involved.

For that reason they should be widely seen as scammers.

 

As for teaching Buddhists on Thai soil their religious beliefs are wrong ....Thai authorities are being sent this picture along with the organisational mission statements.

[free123]

its sad that thailand is mostly  associate with the sex business.....its a great country with great people ( sure always a lots of scam around but this is like everywhere in the world....and despite the last incidents in tourist areas i think bkk is way more saved that any europaen city ) ....so many times thai people would help me when I required something...lots of jai dee....

but its a third world country ..a lot of poor peolple and prostitution seems to be easy money a lot of family pressure on the girls from very poor uneducated classes ..... and thais think very different to western people.......

I think is a good move to crack down on forced child prostitution .... but dont they try along time to do something about ....???? and nothing seems to change ...corruption etc.a third world situation....

they should start with good free and compolsery education for the village girls up to university level .... languagge skills technical skills ....and if they doing well give them a stipendia.... there is alot of potential amongst thai youth....sad only the kids of wealthy can make it and the rest ends up as young mothers in a red house....sad indeed....

[ratcatcher]

48 minutes ago, free123 said:

its sad that thailand is mostly  associate with the sex business.....its a great country with great people ( sure always a lots of scam around but this is like everywhere in the world....and despite the last incidents in tourist areas i think bkk is way more saved that any europaen city ) ....so many times thai people would help me when I required something...lots of jai dee....

but its a third world country ..a lot of poor peolple and prostitution seems to be easy money a lot of family pressure on the girls from very poor uneducated classes ..... and thais think very different to western people.......

I think is a good move to crack down on forced child prostitution .... but dont they try along time to do something about ....???? and nothing seems to change ...corruption etc.a third world situation....

they should start with good free and compolsery education for the village girls up to university level .... languagge skills technical skills ....and if they doing well give them a stipendia.... there is alot of potential amongst thai youth....sad only the kids of wealthy can make it and the rest ends up as young mothers in a red house....sad indeed....

 

"but its a third world country"

 

If you live in Thailand, ask yourself why you choose to live in what you call a "third world country".

If not, check this link and found out what a real third world country has to offer.

 

http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/third_world.htm

 

[louse1953]

18 hours ago, moe666 said:

Because the NGO is Aussie

He is not an NGO,he is a Christian trying to convert the locals from one religion to another,because his is "better".That's how religions work.Help here,convert there, take money out your pocket by using guilt.

[haroldc]

8 hours ago, Mudcrab said:

Or any knowledge at all...just cut and paste

 

FYI, the information that I provided has nothing to do with "cut and paste."  It is based on my direct experience and knowledge gained during 28 years of living and working in in Thailand and Laos, including 8 years as a consultant to numerous Thai governmental bodies, including the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Royal Thai Police.

[Toscano]

Today , Friday 5th August , I cannot access Thaivisa.com , I keep getting ERROR 403 FORBIDDEN .  Please Advise .

Could it be due to the Up and Coming Referendum ?  I am currently here via my yesterday's history .

[Chapelroad]

1 minute ago, haroldc said:

 

FYI, the information that I provided has nothing to do with "cut and paste."  It is based on my direct experience and knowledge gained during 28 years of living and working in in Thailand and Laos, including 8 years as a consultant to numerous Thai governmental bodies, including the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Royal Thai Police.

 

Your consultations to numerous governmental bodies over 8 years, does not seem to have helped the country. 

[haroldc]

1 minute ago, Chapelroad said:

 

Your consultations to numerous governmental bodies over 8 years, does not seem to have helped the country. 

 

Well, the job of a consultant is to analyze and advise.  Whether the advice is taken or not is entirely up to the client.

[OnTheRun]

On ‎4‎/‎8‎/‎2016 at 9:09 AM, geriatrickid said:

 

Are you able to cite any actual facts to back up your claim, or are you just tossing this out because you are uncomfortable with the fact that prostitution is indeed located in key tourist locations?

 

I note that there is criticism of some  faith based groups who attempt to assist sex trade workers. I have one question for the critics: Who else is willing to deal with some rather disgusting and diseased people? I'll be blunt, I won't go near some of them. I have heard too many sob stories that are BS and I have seen far too many hookers in Thailand who are infected with HIV, Hepatitis, Herpes, HPV etc. who willingly spread the disease because they are angry at the world and the customers who infected them.

 

 

 

 

You wont go near them but you've seen too many that are infected with HIV hep etc. Are you able to cite facts?

 

 

[MyFrenU]

6 hours ago, haroldc said:

 

FYI, the information that I provided has nothing to do with "cut and paste."  It is based on my direct experience and knowledge gained during 28 years of living and working in in Thailand and Laos, including 8 years as a consultant to numerous Thai governmental bodies, including the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Royal Thai Police.

Plastic Copper then,Tourist Police?

[wotaplonker]

for what it matter, ive visited pattaya now about 14 times since 2004 and ive never seen

any sign of underage prostitution, not saying it does not occur (and i was not looking for it !!)

but all the bargirls/gogo girls massage gals ive seen were clearly over 18, isn't the truth that

its thai men who do the far greater abuse of underage girls in village and small community brothels

in the hinterlands and rural areas of thailand

 

ok just imagine overnight no sexual services in pattaya and other resorts where they are available

all bars//gogos/massage parlours/clubs would be presumed by the authorities and closed down.

 

how would that affect the local economy, imagine the whole soi buokao area, for example street food vendors, burger stall, kebab stalls, etc

ok there would be some thais who might use them (though ive never seen a thai eat a kebab wrap?)

with no farang to purchase goodbye income,  local thai food vendors ok they would get some trade but there would be

no girls who once populated the sex servicew places to buy from them. goodbye income

 

fruit stalls, no farang some sold to thai locals but goodbye income, 

 

also what about the supply chains for fruit, food in general, bars, booze suppliers (think of the enormous amount of alcohol sold

in pattaya alone!!!) wonder what the shareholders in the various buisinesses involved will think, let alone the farms that supply

food stuffs,

 

hotel trade ?? largely gone especially from the many smaller lodgings places that depend on the occasional sex tourist.

rerstaurants ? forget it, when did you last see the average thai family at one of pattays spiffy restaurants ?

many restaurants, cafes virtually exclusively serve farang, goodbye income and jobs,

 

hotel staff, gone waitressing gone, laundries many will close down

 

even the golf world of pattaya will be affected as many mongers also play golf (like me!) during their holiday

now think of this all over thailand, and i suppose will the thai govenment be giving all thew redundant workers associated

with a no sex tourist policy unemplomemnt benefit ?

 

in my trips i have probably contributed between £25 to 30K to the thai economy and im a budget rtraveller

many will spend i would estimate 4 to 5 times as much as me on their holiday, now simply multiply such totals by hundreds of thousands each year for each visitor and the effect on local economies will be huge

 

cheers wap

 

ps will ST now be up to 1500 ?

 

[haroldc]

33 minutes ago, MyFrenU said:

Plastic Copper then,Tourist Police?

 

No, "nakwittyakorn piset" in Thai - translates roughly as "special adviser."

[tomyumchai]

To find the underage workers you have to visit the thai karaoke bars. Theres 1 across the road from me but for some strange reason i never see any underage girls working in there when ive gone over for a beer, even tho they come in the salon to get their hair done. Hmmmmm,

[tomyumchai]

On Thursday, August 04, 2016 at 2:40 PM, metro33777 said:

Australians once again bringing us all down. Clean up your acts because this is my home and all Westerners are basically grouped together due to your words and actions. I strive to be a better citizen here than USA because I've worked my whole life with one goal which was to retire and live the rest of my life in Thailand. It's Thailand not yourland and you should respect this beautiful country in every detail as do the Thais. It sickens me to see these huge loudmouth failures scream and yell at local cops because the laws are being enforced and they don't like it. Go back if you are not happy. Look at this forum and see the how progressively difficult it is becoming to live here for those who truly love living here not with their small head but heart first and big head.

I spat my beer out at.... 'you should respect this beautiful country in every detail as do the Thais.'....... cant be bothered to write anymore after that gem....

[metisdead]

Inflammatory posts and replies have been removed. 

[GOLDBUGGY]

On ‎8‎/‎4‎/‎2016 at 8:06 AM, Plutojames88 said:

Destiny Rescue Facebook page has the image below of Baptism -

On its website it suggests $1500 will sponsor a rescue and also says 26 rescues last month.

 

The article says its hard to find underage girls in bars in Pattaya these days.

So , in reality their targets they admit are elsewhere.

 

Which leads us back to the closing of sex industry making them happier?

 

Not that this will happen.

However, the agenda is clearly influenced by dogma .

 

All we need now is their sponsored mouth pieces to turn up here again with the shame tactics.

 

Whilst they may have a role , ( Destiny Rescue) clearly a Christian fundamentalism is at work.

Underage girls in bars in Pattaya?

 

Hell! The last time I was there is was hard to find any sex worker under the age of 30.

[morrobay]

On 8/4/2016 at 8:58 PM, VN4now said:

It's their country. If they want to not have red-light districts in their cities and resort areas who are any non-thais to have a problem with that. Do you see red light districts in Times Square anymore, Combat Zone in Boston - no. They have in fact been replaced by theaters and restaurants and nothing terrible happened to those economies. Maybe they want to move beyond the reputation of a sex tourist location. If all these venues are gone that would happen and the karaoke clubs etc. will still cater to locals. 

 

Your on pretty shaky ground if your trying to equate the entertainment alternatives in NYC to those anywhere in Thailand.

And in general : The mainland Thai beaches are unremarkable. Mainland Vietnam and Indonesia have clear water.

Not really much left here to do that cannot be done better in other countries in the region 

[Winniedapu]

9 minutes ago, morrobay said:

 

Your on pretty shaky ground if your trying to equate the entertainment alternatives in NYC to those anywhere in Thailand.

And in general : The mainland Thai beaches are unremarkable. Mainland Vietnam and Indonesia have clear water.

Not really much left here to do that cannot be done better in other countries in the region 

 

In my view, Thais have every right to get rid of the red light areas if that is what they wish to do with their country. Comparisons with NYC and Boston are specious, chalk and cheese.

 

It seems to me that the real issues are with the scepticism as to whether or not it will ever happen at all. These appear to be two-fold:

 

1. How much criticism (valid or bogus) is likely to be passed from the guys for whom that service is one of the major reasons for them being in Thailand at all.

 

2. Whether the Thai people, having made a decision on the matter are likely to be able to successfully carried out. Experience suggests that they are not, for reasons of honesty in the first instance and competence in the second.

 

Good luck to them though, they're going to have to upset a lot of really rich folk riding that particular gravy train.

 

Winnie

Edited August 6, 2016 by Winniedapu

[SattaheapSea]

additionally

yesterday, i read a news officers raided a male brothel in Rayong.

the target customers are lonely and budgeted Thai ladies.

it is too late don't you guys dream of getting hired there. it got wiped off.

 

by the way, the lady's face in the pic should not be displayed.

Dangerous!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mrfaroukh]

I don't understand why they think people in Europe spend 4 times the ticket price and come to Thailand to go to beach where most of them are dirty now instead of going to Spain, Greece , etc. I am sure they can enjoy more their if the problem is only food and beach.

[dbrenn]

On 04/08/2016 at 8:58 PM, VN4now said:

It's their country. If they want to not have red-light districts in their cities and resort areas who are any non-thais to have a problem with that. Do you see red light districts in Times Square anymore, Combat Zone in Boston - no. They have in fact been replaced by theaters and restaurants and nothing terrible happened to those economies. Maybe they want to move beyond the reputation of a sex tourist location. If all these venues are gone that would happen and the karaoke clubs etc. will still cater to locals. 

Ditto Ermita in Manila and Soho in London. In-your-face red light districts in city centres are an embarrassment to the locals. It only takes one disapproving city council to sweep them away forever.