Underage Prostitution On Rise In Isan

by **jingjai** » December 12, 2011, 10:33 am

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/crimes/ ... arly-teens

Sex trade lures girls in early teens
Underage prostitution on rise in Isan
Published: 12/12/2011 at 12:00 AM

A recent upsurge in the number of underage girl prostitutes in some northeastern provinces is causing concern, a children's rights advocate group says.

Many girls in their senior years at primary school (Pratom 5-6) and early years in secondary school (Mattayom 1-3) in the Northeast are engaged in the sex trade, not all of them voluntarily, says the Child Protection Foundation.

The numbers were especially high in Maha Sarakham, Udon Thani and Khon Kaen provinces, said Montri Sinthawichai, secretary-general of the foundation.

On Nov 24, the foundation received complaints from residents in tambon Wangdong of Maha Sarakham's Yang Si Surat district that young girls in their villages had been lured into prostitution.

The foundation's staff discovered many girls in primary school and secondary school were selling sex.

It was widely known that some college or university students were involved in the sex industry. However, Mr Montri said he was shocked to find so many girls under the age of 15 had also entered the business.

"Sex for sale does not happen in urban society only _ it has also spread to districts and remote towns," Mr Montri said. "They do not meet their clients in a department store any more. Now they do it in moo krata eateries [all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurants] instead."

One of the main problems in the teen sex trade was that many buyers did not care whether the girl was an adult or a child.

Teen prostitutes who entered the business for an extended period were also likely to persuade their friends to enter the sex trade too.

More importantly, some parents just did not care about their children.

"Our staff have talked to the parents of those young girls and were astonished that some of them did not feel sorry for their kids," Mr Montri said.

"They thought their child had gone down the wrong path and they could not do anything about it. So they just let it be. This attitude is dangerous."

Most girls entered the sex trade because they wanted money for cosmetics, clothes, mobile phones or other fashionable items, Mr Montri said.

The foundation rescued two 12-year-old girls last month from being lured into prostitution in Maha Sarakham.One of the girls was encouraged by a relative to enter the flesh trade, while the other girl began prostituting herself at the recommendation of a friend.

A police officer identified only as Poong was accused of paying both girls for sex.

Mr Montri has filed a complaint on behalf of the girls with the Crime Suppression Division, asking it to prosecute the officer involved. Other students who worked as prostitutes, who were older than the two girls, did not want help from the foundation, Mr Montri said.

He urged local authorities, especially child protection committees under tambon administration organisations, to play a bigger role in combating child prostitution. Police must find out where teen prostitutes meet their clients and hotel operators must be questioned as to whether they have a role, he said.

"Police may face difficulties making arrests because prostitution in many cases is a matter of mutual consent. The girls want to sell themselves, while the buyers agree to pay," Mr Montri said.

by **trubrit** » December 12, 2011, 11:33 am

One of the problems I see is prostitution at any age has become acceptable in Thailand . It no longer carries a stigma for the woman or girl involved. Morals sacrificed for the power of money and the show of what that money can buy. As the article states, the girls were prepared to sell their bodies to purchase the latest mobile phone or designer clothes. Things that people can see and ooh over. Their virginity or moral integrity has no face value .For example . I was recently at, what we would call , a house warming. It was a beautiful house, costing I was told 4 million to build without the land . Everyone was quite envious and the owner took great pride in showing visitors its finer points .Now this was a lady who used to sell lottery tickets and live in her parents village home with her husband and kid up to 3 years ago .Then she got a chance to go to Korea for two years, picking fruit :lol:

During those two years she regularly sent money home for her husband to start the building process. Those two years expired and she has moved her family into, what I can only describe as a mansion.The point I am making was that no one said how much fruit did she pick to earn that.? They all just saw the house, the car and of course the gold. They treated her and her husband as celebrities and no doubt a few asked her for the Korean contact details .I was the only one who suggested the house should be called "Pussy Galore" for which I got told off by my wife.Even the husband appeared happy . :-"

by **jai yen yen** » December 12, 2011, 11:54 am

trubrit wrote:One of the problems I see is prostitution at any age has become acceptable in Thailand . It no longer carries a stigma for the woman or girl involved. Morals sacrificed for the power of money and the show of what that money can buy. As the article states, the girls were prepared to sell their bodies to purchase the latest mobile phone or designer clothes. Things that people can see and ooh over. Their virginity or moral integrity has no face value .For example . I was recently at, what we would call , a house warming. It was a beautiful house, costing I was told 4 million to build without the land . Everyone was quite envious and the owner took great pride in showing visitors its finer points .Now this was a lady who used to sell lottery tickets and live in her parents village home with her husband and kid up to 3 years ago .Then she got a chance to go to Korea for two years, picking fruit During those two years she regularly sent money home for her husband to start the building process. Those two years expired and she has moved her family into, what I can only describe as a mansion.The point I am making was that no one said how much fruit did she pick to earn that.? They all just saw the house, the car and of course the gold. They treated her and her husband as celebrities and no doubt a few asked her for the Korean contact details .I was the only one who suggested the house should be called "Pussy Galore" for which I got told off by my wife.Even the husband appeared happy .

Unfortunately it doesn't matter where the money comes from in Thailand as long as you have it.

by **BobHelm** » December 12, 2011, 12:15 pm

I don't want to belittle the problem of child prostitution, nor the need for the authorities to take firm action to stamp it out & prosecute those involved to the fullest extent of the law....
However.....
If my memory is not playing tricks this type of article (rifeness of child prostitution in North East Thailand) does seem to be a bi-annual event by the Child Protection Foundation in The Post. Again, from memory, the last one concerned an official of theirs touring the seedier side of Udon in search of under age prostitutes.
As with that article, this one is high on drama, headline & cliche and pretty short on any facts backing them up.
Claims like..

Many girls in their senior years at primary school (Pratom 5-6) and early years in secondary school (Mattayom 1-3) in the Northeast are engaged in the sex trade, not all of them voluntarily, says the Child Protection Foundation.

are simply not supported by reference to the single criminal case quoted.

I suspect that the article is more about the need for the Child Protection Foundation than anything else.....

by **Khun Paul** » December 12, 2011, 4:08 pm

hgeres the quandary, while I totally agree with previous comments about a bi-annual banging the drum scenario and thefact that in reality underage sex is now the norm rather than the exception. We here in the north of Thailand have aneven greater problem, that of the Lao girls. in Lao sexual intercourse is acceptable 15 +, but here is the rub if a Lao girlk comes over here and engages in peddling her wares as it were in Thailand it is illegal for her to do so , actually it is illegal for a male to copulate with a Lao female under 18 yrs.
In the villages of course here 14+ is acceptable in somecases

So what do we have a mish mash of rules and laws that unless a complaint is made no-one really enforces and in soke cases the enforcers are also the bosses of the syndicate that runs the establishments. So i do not lend too much credence to reported increase in Child prostitution, unless it was coupled with arrests of the people who allow it to happen and actually profit by it. Which is unlikely to happen as most cannot or will not arrest themselves.

by **Prenders88** » December 12, 2011, 5:01 pm

The piece in the Bangkok Post will bring the Nonce Brigade up to Udon, whilst taking all the spare tables in Korean BBQ's.

It will only be a matter of time that we see headlines in the British press of a nonce caught with his trousers down in Udon Thani.

by **parrot** » December 12, 2011, 5:12 pm

You don't think all those resorts around Udon are for tourists? When we first moved to the countryside (18km outside Udon), there was a resort nearby that catered to the Mercedes clan. Little A-frame huts, AC, DVD, mirrors on the ceiling, and hidden from the main highway. It was not uncommon to see a Merc or other fancy car pull in with a uniformed-girl hunkered down in the front seat. I used to think they'd all be Rahjapat students out for some extra-curricular cash-raising activities.......but a LtCol in the Thai AF confided to me one day that many were younger than that.
As I didn't have a webcam in the room, I can't say what went on behind closed doors.....maybe it was just a display of girl scout cookies.

by **greatsnake** » December 12, 2011, 5:41 pm

BobHelm wrote: and pretty short on any facts backing them up.

I suspect that the article is more about the need for the Child Protection Foundation than anything else.....

Who needs facts? It's the seriousness of the charges and the "good intentions" of those involved which count.

This NGO crowd has been playing this racket for years and years. A wonderful place to visit in Phnom Penh is the World Vision complex in a part of Phnom Penh called "NGO land". This place could easily pass for a 5-star hotel. Look in the parking lot and count the number of $100,000+ LandRovers.

A pity the USAid funded Policy Project isn't still there. If it were, you could watch Policy Project workers "screen" potential aid receivers with the question, "You HIV??, Yes and you get free health care and food. No HIV, go away---nothing for you". When asked why they didn't screen with blood tests, they said,"oh, we save money, we only ask". :razz:

by **Laan Yaa Mo** » December 12, 2011, 8:06 pm

trubrit, there are Thais and Lao picking fruit in the Okanagan valley of British Columbia, and southern Ontario. They can save $40-60,000 in two years, sometimes more. They usually work 12-16 hours/day and have very low expenses. Housing might be $200/month, for example. During the off-season (winter) when they cannot pick fruit, they process it, package it and ship it.

by **trubrit** » December 12, 2011, 8:25 pm

Laan Yaa Mo wrote:trubrit, there are Thais and Lao picking fruit in the Okanagan valley of British Columbia, and southern Ontario. They can save $40-60,000 in two years, sometimes more. They usually work 12-16 hours/day and have very low expenses. Housing might be $200/month, for example. During the off-season (winter) when they cannot pick fruit, they process it, package it and ship it.

Thank you for confirming my belief, unless my mathematical skills are failing me that's about half the cost of the house and I very much doubt the going rate would be anywhere near that in Korea . :-"

by **Tracechain** » December 13, 2011, 2:42 am

trubrit wrote:.Then she got a chance to go to Korea for two years, picking fruit During those two years she regularly sent money home for her husband to start the building process. Those two years expired and she has moved her family into, what I can only describe as a mansion.

Yea right, fruit indeed. I just arrived here after living for 17 years in Korea. Must have been some green houses I never saw where that particular fruit was being picked. Even so, to earn that much and being non-Korean in Korea is suspect.

by **thrilled** » December 13, 2011, 3:01 am

I was in Day and night a couple years ago,and there were A couple college girls in there wanting to make some extra money.They know whats going on.They are going where the money's at.I haven't come accross real young ones.

by **Khun Paul** » December 13, 2011, 6:36 am

This post although interesting to some is really going nowhere, we can all I am sure relate incidents in which we think or even possibly know first hand what is going on. In the main most of us abhor the situation but realise that we can in fact do nothing about it, except to make sure we do not fall into the child sex trap.
Unfortunately in this part of the world it is not necessarily the norm but it is accepted as a part of life and if we consider that life is so bloody cheap here, then it is hardly suprising

by **trubrit** » December 13, 2011, 6:42 am

thrilled wrote:I was in Day and night a couple years ago,and there were A couple college girls in there wanting to make some extra money.They know whats going on.They are going where the money's at.I haven't come accross real young ones.

In Day &Night? Money? :lol:

by **Laan Yaa Mo** » December 14, 2011, 8:26 pm

trubrit wrote:
Laan Yaa Mo wrote:trubrit, there are Thais and Lao picking fruit in the Okanagan valley of British Columbia, and southern Ontario. They can save $40-60,000 in two years, sometimes more. They usually work 12-16 hours/day and have very low expenses. Housing might be $200/month, for example. During the off-season (winter) when they cannot pick fruit, they process it, package it and ship it.

Thank you for confirming my belief, unless my mathematical skills are failing me that's about half the cost of the house and I very much doubt the going rate would be anywhere near that in Korea .

Thanks for that. I realise the cost of the house in Thailand you mentioned was 4 million baht, and based my comment on the amount (1.5-2 million baht) this lady I know in Bradford, Ontario thought it would take to purchase a very nice house in Phitsanuloke. She also got money from her husband who is working in Korea for that house.

It may be that you are correct about the working rate for fruit pickers in Korea; however, it also could be that the lady you are talking about does not have any ill-gotten gains, and came by her earnings in an honest manner. Who knows for sure?

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