#Thailand’s prostitution laws out of step with reality

Despite firm denials that prostitution is a ‘thing’ in Thailand and the high-level narrative that prostitution in the Land of Smiles is just an outdated type-cast, the evidence to the contrary remains obvious, in plain sight, any night of the week.

Yesterday a “Review of the prevention and suppression of prostitution laws project” seminar was held at the Thammasat University Tha Prachan campus which aims to formalise and zone sex-related activities in Thailand. The report recommends the country’s sex industry be controlled under the authority of the Department of Local Administration.

Thai PBS reports that Law lecturer Akawat Laowonsiri says Thailand is obliged to protect the rights of sex workers and is a signatory to  international commitments like the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

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The researcher said that updating the laws will tackle the issue of the health and well-being of all stakeholders in the sex industry. For example, a law to protect the rights of a wife whose husband has a sexually-transmitted disease is needed, in accordance with the principle of universal coverage. Sex workers should be free to refuse to provide a service and they should have the right to be fairly treated and paid in the workplace.

In response to those who fear a rise in the number of people entering the sex industry if the laws are amended, Dr. Akawat Laowonsiri confirmed that his study shows a steady decline prostitution in Thailand since the Vietnam War, when the industry was at its peak.

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He added that people in the sex industry face many challenges to which most Thais are not exposed, such as organised crime, drug dealers, human traffickers and more. This situation remains due to the hush-hush nature of the work they do.

“From the conservative point of view, it is necessary to have this kind of law in place to improve society. We have to find a way to adapt to the changing world,” says Dr. Akawat.

Source - The Thaiger and Thai PBS

More minors with fake passports trying to leave #Philippines

Immigration officials at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) are alarmed over the growing number of underage Filipino women who try to leave the country and work abroad using fraudulent travel documents.

Since June, a total of 114 girls below 21 years old have been turned away by airport officials, according to Marc Red Mariñas, acting immigration deputy commissioner and Port Operations Division chief.

He said that in June alone, 67 people who confessed to being minors were barred from leaving the country.

Mariñas said that all of the apprehended passengers presented passports showing that they were adults. They also had valid overseas employment permits, working visas and job contracts.

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 “It is evident that these young women were victimized by syndicates that specialize in the procurement of documents to make it appear that they are old enough to work abroad,” he added.

40 rescued in raid

Last month, the Manila Police District rescued more than 40 women, some of them minors, during a raid in Sta. Cruz, Manila. They were illegally recruited from Mindanao and offered work as household service workers in Saudi Arabia.

A report from the BI-Naia Travel Control and Enforcement Unit showed that the latest apprehensions involved four girls who were intercepted on Aug. 2 while trying to leave on a Saudia Airlines flight for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The passengers allegedly admitted during investigation that they were below 21 years old although their passports indicated that they were in their late 20s.

They were later turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking.

Source - TheNation

 

#Thailand - Eight get lengthy prison terms over Mae Hong Son prostitution racket

The Ratchadaphisek Criminal Court on Wednesday found eight defendants guilty of human trafficking, underage prostitution and other charges linked to the “owl tattoo” prostitution racket in Mae Hong Son and sentenced them to imprisonments ranging from eight to 320 years. 

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 Three procurers received over 100 years behind bars – first defendant Piyawan Sukmak, 27, got a 167-year jail term, second defendant Piyathas Parpthiensuwan, 31, got a 176-year jail term and third defendant former cop Pol Senior Sgt-Major Yutthachai Thongchat, 43, got a 320-year jail term. 

 The three, however, would serve only 50 years behind bars each as the law limits maximum penalty in criminal cases to 50 years in prison.

The fourth defendant Mongkol Kiatpakdipong, 31, was given 19 years, the fifth defendant Pattamaporn In-kaew, 32, got 12 years, the sixth defendant Kanokwan Rattanapakdi, 23, got eight years, the seventh defendant Kwanhathai Reuk-Udom, 40, got 32 years and the eighth defendant Kalaya Wutthikhun, 41, got 36 years.

The eight convicts later sought release on bail pending their appeal to the upper court. During the trial, three of the suspects – Piyawan, Piyathas and Yutthachai – were denied bail and were detained at remand facilities, while the others got bail.

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Yutthachai had worked at the Nam Piang Din Police Station until the scandal broke last year, following which he was sacked along with eight other cops in the province who were put under serious disciplinary investigation after being implicated as customers of underage prostitution services. 

The case came to light because the 43-year-old mother of one of the teenage victims filed a police complaint. She remained persistent even when there was a lack of progress in the investigations for six months. She then exposed the prostitution racket to the media. 

Many state officials were subsequently implicated for buying sex services from the racket’s girls, many of whom reportedly had owl identification tattoos on the chest. 

Provincial Governor Suebsak Iamvijarn, who was transferred to an inactive post in Bangkok pending a probe result into the allegation, was later reinstated after he was cleared of any wrongdoing. According to police, one of five Nonthaburi politicians who allegedly bought sex from the girls had drunkenly claimed to be Suebsak.

Source - TheNation