Pact on human trafficking with IOM signed, August, Thailand

More literature:

A Modern Form of Slavery: Trafficking in Burmese Women & Girls in Thailand

by Human Rights Watch Staff (Editor), Asia Watch and the Women's Rights Project, Asia Watch, Sidney Jones

Sex and Borders: Gender, National Identity, and Prostitution Policy in Thailand

by Leslie Ann Jeffrey

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=120710

Pact on human trafficking with IOM signed

(IOM/TNA) -- The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Thailand's Ministry of Social Development on Monday signed a counter-human trafficking pact extending a decade of cooperation.

The Thai Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS) endorsed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperation in the Implementation of Projects Addressing Trafficking in
Persons and Assistance to at- Risk Groups.

Monday's MOU will facilitate and strengthen the establishment of a cooperation framework focusing on five areas:

-- cooperation in establishing care and assistance programmes for victims of trafficking, including: victim screening and identification procedures; building referral mechanisms and institutionalizing 'good practice' shelter management arrangements; and establishing operational standards and arrangements for the return of victims.

-- training and other capacity building support to Thai MSDHS staff, other relevant government officials, and others responsible for implementing national policies and programmes on human trafficking.

-- extending bilateral and multilateral cooperation between Thailand and other concerned countries on the issue of return and reintegration of victims.

-- help to develop bilateral and multilateral agreements, MOUs and standard operational procedures supporting bilateral cooperation on trafficking between Thailand and other countries in the best interest of the victims.

-- developing national awareness-raising and prevention strategies to reduce vulnerability to trafficking though cooperation with the ministry's provincial offices.

Asian pop stars back fight against human trafficking, August 7

Ricky Martin Fondation: http://www.rickymartinfoundation.org/english/default.aspx

Asian pop stars back fight against human trafficking

Tue Aug 7, 2007 9:48PM IST

By James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters Life!) - Two of Asia's hottest pop acts, Thailand's Tata Young and South Korea's Rain, are to help highlight the fight against rampant human trafficking in Asia in an MTV-backed initiative on Wednesday.

"How could people do this to each other?" Thai pop sensation Tata Young told Reuters by phone from Bangkok.

"To hear all these stories of children and women and men going through human trafficking and exploitation, it hurts me so bad," added the confident, brassy 26-year-old, whose skimpy outfits and best-selling albums have led to her being dubbed Asia's Britney Spears.

Young will help host shows and documentaries on youth music channel MTV which is aiming to raise awareness of what has been described as a "tragic form of modern day slavery" in collaboration with the U.S.-based Agency for International Development (USAID).

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says economic disparities in Asian countries such as Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia fuel the trafficking of children and women towards Thailand.

Australia, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan are also considered major destinations by the ILO for the trafficking of prostitutes from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Human trafficking is a major global problem, particularly in Asia and Africa. The United Nations estimates 2.5 million people are currently coerced into forced labour or prostitution in a trade worth $7-10 billion annually.

Another Asian star, South Korea's King of Pop, Jung Ji-Hoon -- better known as Rain, will also help MTV publicise the cause.

Read rest of article, visit: http://in.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idINIndia-28869620070807

Swedish embassy e-mail link to combat Asian child sex tourism

Posted on : 2007-07-17 | Author : DPA
News Category : Internet

Stockholm - The Swedish embassy to Thailand has set up a special e-mail link on its web site as part of efforts to combat child sex tourism in South East Asia, reports said Wednesday. The e-mail links to the Nordic police liason office located at the embassy where two police officers from Denmark and Sweden liaise with authorities in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The Swedish branch of the ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography & Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) network welcomed the move that if successful could be introduced at other embassies.

"This is not a day too early," ECPAT Secretary General Helena Karlen told daily Svenska Dagbladet, saying the group had suggested something similar for several years.

ECPAT Sweden, founded 10 years ago, set up its own web-based hotline in 2005 and also cooperates with travel companies in an effort to counter child sex tourism.

The group has estimated that nine in 10 Swedish tourists that have seen indications of child sex tourism outside Europe never file any reports.

The Swedish embassy website urges tourists who believed they have witnessed child sex tourism to write down their observations, mentioning the place (town, location, hotel), when the sighting was made, as well as a description of the suspect and child.

Tips could also be filed anonymously.

To date, two Swedish nationals have been sentenced in Sweden for child sex tourism, including one case in Thailand.

Print Source :
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/83639.html

Russia, Lawmaker targets human trafficking, July 7, 2007

BY DEBRA FRIEDMAN
TIMES OF TRENTON

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith has gone to Moscow to address his concerns over human trafficking in Russia.

Smith (R-4th Dist.) is the author of America's first anti-trafficking law, the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protect Act.

"Russia has made progress toward stopping the flow of trafficked persons -- mostly women and children -- in and out of their country by criminalizing human trafficking," Smith said in a statement is sued by his office. "But more work remains to be done and the greatest gap in their approach remains their ability to protect traffic victims."

Smith is in Moscow to encourage the Russian legislature to bolster their existing laws. Smith has visited the Angel Coalition Trafficking Victim Assistance Center in addition to offering guidance to Russian lawmakers on how to more effectively enhance their anti-trafficking legislation.

The assistance center coordinates Russian and international rescue and repatriation efforts for trafficking victims, according to Smith's office.

"Victims assistance programs and shelters provide essential support, rehabilitation and recovery services for victims of trafficking," Smith said in the release. "They are a vital part of any comprehensive plan to end human trafficking and it is imperative that the U.S. and other nations continue to support their efforts."

According to Smith, Russia is a source, conduit and destination for men, women and children trafficked for various purposes. In the case of women and children, they are almost always used for sexual exploitation in nations in the Middle East, Western Europe, Canada, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, he said.

Uzbek Mamasans Accused of Running Sex Trafficking Ring In Pattaya, July 11, 2007

Uzbek
Updated: [July 11, 2007 ] :: 16:34:59 [view 121]

Pattaya Daily News
http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.php?IDNEWS=0000003384


The worldwide sex trafficking trade has inevitably come to Thailand and is being practiced by some of the foreign sex workers who ply their trade on the streets of Pattaya. The Thai Authorities are keen to suppress this abhorrent trade and when the Child, Youth and Female Crime Suppression Authority learnt of a Uzbeki sex trafficking ring operating in Pattaya, they obtained the necessary arrest warrants and swooped on the offenders on July 10th.

The ringleaders, identified as Miss Lola Mamadova (26) and Mrs. Mayram Yakubova, were operating as mamasans from Niran Condominium and were caught red-handed at 11.30 am by a police team led by Pol.Lt.Col. Kittiphob Anuwongworawet of the Child, Youth and Female Crime Suppression Authority, supported by Pol.Capt. Rojsak Naiphongsri. Both women were charged with providing illegal sexual services and abusing fellow female compatriots by forcing them to sell sex, mostly against their wills.

When the police conducted a more extensive search of two adjacent rooms in the condominium, they also discovered four other Uzbek women, the Misses Nigora Hasanova (19), Zuhra Yusupova (28), Mukadam Olimova (36) and Zarina Melieva (30), who they suspected of being sexual co-workers. The police also found incriminating books full of records and lists of sex customers. The police impounded them as evidence and arrested the whole gang, who will undergo further investigation.



The police first learnt of the presence of the Uzbek sex trafficking ring from two informants, a Samaritan and a Uzbek girl, Miss Mohichehra Shodiyarova (20), on July 5th. These two reported to Pol.Maj.Gen. Wimol Pao-In, a superintendent of the Child, Youth and Female Crime Suppression Authority, that two Uzbek mamasans, Miss Lola and Mrs. Mayram, were running the sex-ring from Niran Grand Condo, and that they abused the women in their control and forced them to sell sex to foreigners in Pattaya. Miss Mohichehra also asked the police to help the other Uzbek girls who are in the same boat as herself.



Miss Mohichehra declared that she had been persuaded by the procurers, Miss Lola and Mrs. Mayram, to come to Pattaya to sell sexual services and that she, and others in similar circumstances, had been advanced the travelling fare of 200,000 Baht. When she arrived, Miss Mohichehra was taken to stay at Niran Grand Condo, Central Pattaya, and her passport was kept by the mamasans to prevent her from escaping. She was forced to sell sexual services in the vicinity of the V.C. Hotel, South Pattaya, charging 1,500 Baht per customer, of which she only received 500 Baht, the remaining 1,000 Baht being kept by the mamasans as part repayment of the airfare advance. In the event that she was unable to get any customers, she would be severely beaten and abused. It all became more than she could bear, so she endeavored to escape the mamasans’ clutches and did so, also enlisting the aid of a Samaritan to report the matter to the police.

Pol.Lt.Col. Kittiphob said that there were many Uzbek women who were caught in the trap of poverty; many of whom were being exploited by the likes of the two mamasans or agencies.

In such cases, the unfortunate victims were usually fed stories to the effect that they could escape the poverty trap at home by working in such venues as Pattaya, Dubai and Bahrain, where the pickings are high. Many of them enter these venues on tourist visas, being passed off as holidaymakers. However, when they arrive, these poor unfortunates learn to their cost that they have often been brought to such places under false pretences and they are effectively imprisoned until they have repaid their airfare loans, usually by enforced prostitution, despite often having been told they would be employed in the hospitality trade.

Thailand's child trafficking industry, July 7, 2007

By Thembi Mutch
BBC News, Thailand


A report from the US state department has criticised Thailand for not doing enough to combat the illegal trafficking of women and children from Burma, Cambodia, Laos and China. Thembi Mutch meets women and children who have been caught up in Thailand's trafficking business.


Many bar girls are sending money to their families back home

"I came with my aunt from the countryside to work in the seaside resort of Pattaya," Keng says. She pauses.

"I worked as a waiter in a bar near here. At first I didn't realise it was even possible for men to have sex with men, or boys, and at that time I still looked like a boy. I was only 16 and my family had various problems, so I was just working everything out."

Keng is 22, very slim, and now an incredibly beautiful woman.

The operation to change from a man to a woman took place last year. It cost her several thousand dollars, which she earned as a prostitute on the streets.

There is nothing about her that suggests she was ever male - her voice is soft and she is dainty and feminine. I find myself really liking her quiet dignity and gentle manner.


"I do other work," she says. "I go to Bangkok, to the Grand Plaza or to the station, and collect boys between the ages of 11 and 13. I bring them back here to the bar. I usually try and get 10 boys or so, but if there have been police raids in Bangkok it can be harder to find boys.

"When I approach them I have to be very careful. For the first few days they obey me - some of them haven't eaten properly for weeks - but we still lock them in the attic at the bar, partly so they won't escape, partly so that the police or rescue agencies can't find them."

Child trafficking

Keng is a trafficker - a trafficker of children, into prostitution, mostly for Western men.

She tells me how she hires a van and goes to the countryside if she cannot find children in the city.

Keng herself was trafficked, says my researcher, and she is just as much of a victim, he argues, as the children she traffics. She has no other job options open to her, and she is shunned publicly in shops, restaurants and bars outside the red light district where she works.

Keng points to a child sitting on the road across from us: "That one," she says, "is from Cambodia. He was living on the street in Bangkok."

Later we interview this boy, Suni, who is jittery and incredibly nervous, and constantly smokes. He says he is 10.

He describes having sex with various men in a detached and disturbing way. He is more animated talking about the money he earns to play computer games or buy speed to get him through the night.

"You know," Keng says, "he has got a much better life with me than he ever had at home or on the street."

Groomed for sex

Prey Vang Province is one of the poorest regions in Cambodia. It is easy to cross from there into Thailand so each year thousands of children are trafficked across the border, often by parents.

In Buddhist cultures the debt owed to parents by children is deeply imbued into families, especially in the countryside where the idea of destiny is wholeheartedly embraced

One mother there told me how, two years ago, she had travelled to Pnomh Penh with three of her children to beg on the streets. She is illiterate, owns no land and this was a last, desperate bid to survive.

On the second day in the city, her nine-year-old girl disappeared. She is convinced her daughter was kidnapped for sex work.

Three other mothers she knows in the village tell a similar story.

In another village, a group of girls aged between seven and 13 tell me their experiences. They are articulate and open.

Four of them had been kidnapped and groomed for sex work for a month. They had travelled to the city with their families to beg, but once there, had been coaxed by the offer of a meal into a house in a suburb. Then they were locked away and made to watch pornography. Two girls escaped, and the other two were rescued.

Buddhist culture

In Buddhist cultures the debt owed to parents by children is deeply imbued into families, especially in the countryside where the idea of destiny is wholeheartedly embraced.

But poverty and a desire not to confront difficult issues - especially those around sexuality, rape and prostitution - means that many issues just get swept under the carpet.

Sometimes it is just greed that makes parents turn a blind eye to what they are letting their own children in for. But mostly, say the experts, it is ignorance and a lack of opportunities.

Those who have already been trafficked know the dangers. I asked the girls in the village what their advice to other children might be to avoid being preyed on by traffickers.

The youngest replies: "It's really difficult if your mum asks you to get money to feed the family, you want to help. But it's best to go to school, and not to beg."

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday 7 July 2007 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.