Escaping the clutches of sex trafficking in Thailand

[webfact]

Escaping the clutches of sex trafficking in Thailand

by Ashton Kobler

 

An Uzbek woman who was trafficked to Thailand and forced to sell sex shares the story of her escape

 

It's nearly 10pm and Umida* is cooking dinner - a simple meal of rice and meat for the 11 members of her household who have been stuck inside the house all day due to Uzbekistan's intense summer heat.

 

Since emerging as an independent nation in 1991, after nearly 200 years of Russian and then Soviet rule, Uzbekistan has slowly seen some economic progress. But poverty and unemployment remain high and many Uzbeks travel abroad for work. This leaves the men, women and children vulnerable to forced labour and sex trafficking.

 

"My older sister works in a hospital in Moscow, so I look after her children," Umida says. "She's the only one who understands what happened to me in Bangkok, I have told nobody else." 

 

Full story:  http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/07/escaping-clutches-sex-trafficking-thailand-170730071208339.html

 

-- AL JAZEERA 2017-07-31

[Get Real]

35 minutes ago, webfact said:

She's the only one who understands what happened to me in Bangkok, I have told nobody else.

I guess she told the world now! 

[timendres]

Quote

 

She went to the Uzbek consulate in secret and was issued with a certificate to return to Uzbekistan. When she arrived at the airport, however, a woman with a face veil approached her. She revealed herself as the trafficker.

 

Seems the consulate was not interested in keeping her secret...

In every case, the human rights folks should start at the top. But they never do.

[Graemej100]

6 hours ago, Get Real said:

I guess she told the world now! 

What an inciteful and sympathetic comment.

[cyberfarang]

How is human trafficking defined? If some women willingly join agencies to travel abroad knowing that they will be doing some kind of sex work, does that mean they have been trafficked? This is similar to when European women have married Islamics, gone over to Syria to join the ISS and then later decided it`s not for them and want to go home. So are they too victims of human trafficking?

 

Women from the poorer countries are being exploited as sex workers in many countries worldwide not only Thailand. I understand that if women are taken forcibly or deceived by being told they will be given legitimate jobs, then that in my mind is human trafficking, But how can women`s situations be defined when they travel abroad as sex workers but the job does not meet their expectations?

 

That`s my question: what is classified as human trafficking?

[wildewillie89]

9 minutes ago, cyberfarang said:

How is human trafficking defined? If some women willingly join agencies to travel abroad knowing that they will be doing some kind of sex work, does that mean they have been trafficked? This is similar to when European women have married Islamics, gone over to Syria to join the ISS and then later decided it`s not for them and want to go home. So are they too victims of human trafficking?

 

Women from the poorer countries are being exploited as sex workers in many countries worldwide not only Thailand. I understand that if women are taken forcibly or deceived by being told they will be given legitimate jobs, then that in my mind is human trafficking, But how can women`s situations be defined when they travel abroad as sex workers but the job does not meet their expectations?

 

That`s my question: what is classified as human trafficking?

https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/what-is-human-trafficking.html

Maybe if someone promises something that it is clearly not (not meeting their expectations), then it is considered trafficking. 

 

As you have provided some sort of 'benefits' in order to get the persons consent - thus having control over them. 

If the person has gone under no arrangement of anyone else (no other parties involved), I would say that is just illegal work (as surely you cannot traffic yourself). 

[cyberfarang]

True story.
My girlfriend knows of a 30 something Thai woman from her village in Chiang Mai.

There are two sides to this woman. The sweet family girl that on her facebook comes across as respectable, just an average Thai woman and then there is her other lifestyle, so totally different that her 2 worlds could never meet.

She stays in Thailand for 1 month, and then she flies off to Colombo in Sri Lanka and once there commutes between the Maldives, Colombo and Kandy Sri Lanka where she becomes a hardcore prostitute for another month. So has 2 identities, the respectable village girl and doting mother of a 3 year old baby and then a hard-core sex worker Thai prostitute working in Sri Lanka.

How it works: Thai people are visa exempt is they travel as tourists by plane to Sri Lanka for no more than 30 days. The fare money direct form Chiang Mai to Sri Lanka is not expensive, only 8000 baht return and probably only a two and a half hour to 3 hour journey. There is an illegal agency operating on a social networking site that sets these girls up with jobs in massage and spa parlours that are all fronts for brothels in Sri Lanka or in illegal sex bars. The girls are in Sri Lanka on a 30 day visa exempt stay as tourists but are actually there working as prostitutes illegally. The Sri Lanka government turns a blind eye to it because it’s good for the tourist trade.
Then after 30 days the woman returns to Thailand and resumes her life here again for 1 month and then back to Sri Lanka again for another 30 days working illegally as a prostitute, meaning she alternates between Thailand and Sri Lanka 6 times a year. I guess this is just the tip of the iceberg, that many Thai women are working this system around the 30 day visa exempt countries all over Asia. I can also assume that female sex workers are operating in similar ways around the world as these women can earn more money as sex workers abroad then they can in their own countries.

Many of these women know full well what they are getting into, but the stakes are high and so they take the risks in the hope it will work out.

 

[wildewillie89]

1 hour ago, cyberfarang said:

True story.
My girlfriend knows of a 30 something Thai woman from her village in Chiang Mai.

 

There are two sides to this woman. The sweet family girl that on her facebook comes across as respectable, just an average Thai woman and then there is her other lifestyle, so totally different that her 2 worlds could never meet.

 

She stays in Thailand for 1 month, and then she flies off to Colombo in Sri Lanka and once there commutes between the Maldives, Colombo and Kandy Sri Lanka where she becomes a hardcore prostitute for another month. So has 2 identities, the respectable village girl and doting mother of a 3 year old baby and then a hard-core sex worker Thai prostitute working in Sri Lanka.

How it works: Thai people are visa exempt is they travel as tourists by plane to Sri Lanka for no more than 30 days. The fare money direct form Chiang Mai to Sri Lanka is not expensive, only 8000 baht return and probably only a two and a half hour to 3 hour journey. There is an illegal agency operating on a social networking site that sets these girls up with jobs in massage and spa parlours that are all fronts for brothels in Sri Lanka or in illegal sex bars. The girls are in Sri Lanka on a 30 day visa exempt stay as tourists but are actually there working as prostitutes illegally. The Sri Lanka government turns a blind eye to it because it’s good for the tourist trade.
Then after 30 days the woman returns to Thailand and resumes her life here again for 1 month and then back to Sri Lanka again for another 30 days working illegally as a prostitute, meaning she alternates between Thailand and Sri Lanka 6 times a year. I guess this is just the tip of the iceberg, that many Thai women are working this system around the 30 day visa exempt countries all over Asia. I can also assume that female sex workers are operating in similar ways around the world as these women can earn more money as sex workers abroad then they can in their own countries.

 

 

 

Many of these women know full well what they are getting into, but the stakes are high and so they take the risks in the hope it will work out.

 

I don't know if that is necessarily trafficking if she knows what is going on (the fact she keeps returning of her own accord). Wouldn't it be just plain illegal work. 

If she actually thought she was going to work in a spa or massage shop (as the agency didn't declare otherwise) and then it turns out to be a brothel...that would be more trafficking. 

Edited July 31, 2017 by wildewillie89

[Get Real]

4 hours ago, Graemej100 said:

What an inciteful and sympathetic comment.

Yep, wasn´t it! I might add that yours had a lot of juice too!

Edited July 31, 2017 by Get Real

[cyberfarang]

1 hour ago, wildewillie89 said:

I don't know if that is necessarily trafficking if she knows what is going on (the fact she keeps returning of her own accord). Wouldn't it be just plain illegal work. 

If she actually thought she was going to work in a spa or massage shop (as the agency didn't declare otherwise) and then it turns out to be a brothel...that would be more trafficking. 

So in fact although some women are knowingly going abroad to be sex workers, they are only considered as being trafficked if the job doesn`t work out? If that`s the case then I doubt there will be much sympathy for them. My girlfriend has told this woman that each time she goes to Sri Lanka for sex work, she is putting herself at huge risk, but as usual with these women, doesn`t believe it.

[wildewillie89]

31 minutes ago, cyberfarang said:

So in fact although some women are knowingly going abroad to be sex workers, they are only considered as being trafficked if the job doesn`t work out? If that`s the case then I doubt there will be much sympathy for them. My girlfriend has told this woman that each time she goes to Sri Lanka for sex work, she is putting herself at huge risk, but as usual with these women, doesn`t believe it.

I don't think it is that simple. If they go there to specifically be sex workers and are told all details before hand, but just don't like the actual job then they are not trafficked. Like in your case, if the girl knows all the details but doesn't like sleeping with 10 men a day, then she can just leave. 

If they go there under false pretenses or are forced in any sort of way (eg. her passport is taken off her for the duration of 30 days), then that would be trafficking. It is all about the 'means', or how it is done. 

[Enoon]

8 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

So in fact although some women are knowingly going abroad to be sex workers, they are only considered as being trafficked if the job doesn`t work out? If that`s the case then I doubt there will be much sympathy for them. My girlfriend has told this woman that each time she goes to Sri Lanka for sex work, she is putting herself at huge risk, but as usual with these women, doesn`t believe it.

 

A person may enter the sex industry (as any other industry) of their own free will and then leave, without being trafficked. 

 

When they lose the ability to leave of their own free will, because their "sponsor" starts to control them (and restrict their freedom) by threat, rather than employing them by offering an attractive/equitable financial reward, they become a possession, a commodity.  In some cases drug addiction may be induced as a way of controlling them.

 

That commodity can be, and is, purchased from their "owner" by others (who use the same methods to control them) and "trafficked" like any other commodity.

 

The extent to which they lose their ability to self-determine is what defines a trafficked person.

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2017 by Enoon

[hawker9000]

On ‎7‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 0:37 AM, cyberfarang said:

How is human trafficking defined? If some women willingly join agencies to travel abroad knowing that they will be doing some kind of sex work, does that mean they have been trafficked? This is similar to when European women have married Islamics, gone over to Syria to join the ISS and then later decided it`s not for them and want to go home. So are they too victims of human trafficking?

 

Women from the poorer countries are being exploited as sex workers in many countries worldwide not only Thailand. I understand that if women are taken forcibly or deceived by being told they will be given legitimate jobs, then that in my mind is human trafficking, But how can women`s situations be defined when they travel abroad as sex workers but the job does not meet their expectations?

 

That`s my question: what is classified as human trafficking?

To an NGO as well as some politicians, it pays to define the term as broadly and inclusively as possible, often to include all prostitution and all exploitation, because discernment doesn't really butter the bread.  Others without economic or political agendas will define it more accurately and usefully.   So it all depends on who you ask.