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BURMESE WOMAN TRAFFICKING
TRAFFICKING AND FORCED PROSTITUTION OF
BURMESE WOMEN IN THAILAND.
October, 1994
This report is an update of earlier reports
written during 1992 and 1993. For more detailed
and thorough information the reader is advised to
read the Human Rights Watch report, A Modern Form
of Slavery: Trafficking of Burmese Women and Girls
into Brothels in Thailand. The writer welcomes the
copying and free use of this information for
campaigning and awareness raising purposes.
"IF I BEAT YOU IT MIGHT HURT MY HANDS. IF I KILL
YOU, IT WILL ONLY COST ME 35 BAHT TO HAVE YOU
BURIED."
(Thai pimp threatening a Burmese woman who was
Yforced into prostitution in Ranong, Thailand)
"THE WHOLE WORLD IS UNFAIR. THE POOR HAVE NOTHING.
I HATED MY LIFE AND I WANTED TO GIVE SOMETHING
BACK TO MY PARENTS. SO I TRIED TO FIND SOME
BUSINESS, BUT UNFORTUNATELY I MET WITH A LIAR AND
WAS SOLD ON 28/9/90. I WAS SOLD AGAIN ON 18/12/91
AND SENT TO THIS PLACE. I AM HAVING PROBLEMS HERE
- THE WORK IS NOT SO EASY. I WAS BEATEN JUST
YESTERDAY AND AM STILL SO DEPRESSED AND FULL OF
HATE THAT I KNOW MY FACE IS SHOWING THESE FEELINGS
TO YOU".
("Mi Mi" interviewed in Ranong on 28/12/91)
PAGE CONTENTS
2. CONTENTS
4. 1: FACTORS GIVING RISE TO THE PROBLEM OF
TRAFFICKING
1.1 Attitudes and Behaviour of Men
1.1.1 Burmese men
- migrant workers as clients
- separation from loved ones
5. - cultural attitudes towards men
visiting brothels
1.1.2 Thai men
6. - good women and bad women
- sisters and non-sisters
7. - making merit
1.1.3 Ethic Chinese sex tourists
1.1.4 Other sex tourists
8. 1.2 Lack of Quality of Life in Burma
1.2.1 Militarism and human rights
abuse
10. 1.2.2 Socio - economic
- Lack of services, military induced
poverty
- Military spending
- Social fracture
11. - Corruption and materialism
1.3 Opportunities in Thailand
1.3.1 Migration
1.3.2 Work and Thai authorities
corruption
12. 1.3.3 Registration of illegal Burmese
workers
1.4 Prevailing Belief Systems
1.4.1 Duty of women towards parents
and children
13. 1.4.2 Theravada Buddhism in Thailand
and Burma
1.5 Other Factors Contributing to the
Trafficking of Women
1.5.1 Sex tourism as an industry
1.5.2 HIV / AIDS in Thailand
14. 1.6 Impossible "Choices" Confronting
Burmese Women
15. 2: TRENDS IN TRAFFICKING
2.1 Low Level Trafficking as a Means of
Survival
2.2 The Agents
16. 2.3 Organised Trafficking for the
Domestic Market
2.4 Methods Used by Trafficking Gangs to
Lure Women
2.4.1 Deceit
2.4.2 Kidnap
17. 2.4.3 Frequent changing of brothels
2.5 Case studies
2.5.1 From southern Burma to Ranong
18. 2.5.2 From China to Thailand through
Shan State
PAGE CONTENTS
18. 2.6. International Trafficking
19. 2.7. Profitability
20. 3. FORCED PROSTITUTION AND BRUTALITY
3.1 Slavery
3.2 Beatings and Murder
3.3 Case Study
21. 4. THE WOMEN
4.1. Age of Burmese Women Trafficked into
Thailand
4.2. Demographic Details
22. 5. EXISTING LEGISLATION AGAINST TRAFFICKING
23. 6. RESPONSE OF AUTHORITIES TO TRAFFICKING OF
BURMESE WOMEN
6.1 Thai Policy towards Burmese Asylum
Seekers and
Refugees
6.1.1 Ethnic minority refugees
24. 6.1.2 Burman "student" refugees
6.2 Thai Policy towards Women and Girls
Trafficked into Thailand
6.3 Thai Police Response
25. 6.4 Thai Judicial Response
26. 6.5 Government Response
27. 6.6 Burmese Response
28. 7. NGO RESPONSE
7.1 Centre for the Protection of
Children's Rights (CPCR)
7.2 Association Francois Xavier Bagnoud
(AFXB)
7.3 Other NGOs
8. CONCLUSION
29. 8.1 Recommendations
1. FACTORS GIVING RISE TO THE PROBLEM OF
TRAFFICKING
1.1 Attitudes and Behaviour of Men
The promiscuity of men and in particular the
mentality that leads to this promiscuity, are the
main reasons for the enormous level of trafficking
of Burmese women and girls into Thailand and the
great difficulty in solving this problem. Whether
it be local Thai or Burmese men, or ethnic
Chinese, Japanese or Western men visiting on sex
tours, many men fail to view women as anything
other than sex objects, or else classify them as
either "good" women or "sisters" who should be
looked after or alternately as "bad" women or
"non-sisters" who can be easily exploited. In
addition, Thai patriarchal society often supports
this view both in practice and in theory, ensuring
that this problem will remain serious and perhaps
intensify for some years to come.
1.1.1 Burmese men
Migrant workers as clients
Many Burmese men who have sex with Burmese women
and girls in brothels in Thailand have fled Burma
because of the civil war and the economic problems
that besiege that country (see section 1.2). Most
of these economic refugees try to find employment
and thus earn some money to send home to
impoverished relatives in Burma. Like the majority
of Thai people in rural areas, many find it quite
difficult to make ends meet on a day to day basis.
However, those who are employed in long term
(rather than day) labour such as logging, fishing,
construction or farm labour or in across border
trade in high value items (gems, antiques etc) may
make enough money to afford to visit brothels.
Separation from loved ones
Due to the highly uncertain nature of life as an
illegal immigrant, many Burmese men come to
Thailand alone, leaving their wives and children
behind. Some flee abuses in Burma, forced
porterage, forced labour or arrest and harassment
as suspected rebel sympathisers. Many men are
separated from their wives and families after
arriving in Thailand, due to arrest or escape from
arrest for illegal immigration, or any number of
other crises. Many Burmese men, especially those
who are involved in the opposition movement have
not seen their loved ones for 6 years.
Very little research has been undertaken as to how
many Burmese men visit brothels in Thailand where
Burmese women are forced into prostitution. Nor is
it known what proportion of Burmese men who have
sex with Burmese women and girls trafficked into
brothels in Thailand are separated from their
families and what proportion are still with their
families. According to the Human Rights Watch
report, "A Modern Form of Slavery"1, Ranong in
southern Thailand was the only Thai "town in which
Burmese women
--------------------------------------------------
---------------
1. A Modern Form of Slavery, Trafficking of
Burmese Women and Girls into Brothels in
Thailand, by Asia Watch and The Women's Rights
Project, Human Rights Watch, 1993.
and girls in brothels reported the majority of
their clients as Burmese....due primarily to the
large Burmese male migrant population working in
the fishing industry". The chief police inspector
in Ranong explained the high concentration of
Burmese women in brothels there in the following
manner:
"In my opinion, it is disgraceful to let Burmese
men frequent Thai prostitutes. Therefore I have
been flexible in allowing Burmese prostitutes to
work here. Most of their clients are Burmese
men."2
In Mae Sod, another Thai town where across-border
trade and Burmese labour are creating an economic
boom and where the majority of the population is
Burmese, it is also reported that more Burmese
than Thai men have sex with the Burmese women and
girls in the brothels there3. Burmese men are also
frequent clients at many of the low-class brothels
in other boom towns along the Thai-Burmese border
where Burmese women form the great majority of the
women forced into prostitution.4
According to a Shan ABSDF5 student leader who made
a trip to southern Thailand in March 1993, most of
the women working as prostitutes in Hatyai are
Shan Burmese women. During that trip, a Burmese
Muslim trader whom he met on the bus invited him
to join him, adding: "I will stay in Hatyai
tonight. There are many beautiful Shan girls
there." The ABSDF leader added that as it is
difficult to sleep with Shan women in Burma, as
they are considered to be very beautiful, many
Burmese men try to do so when they visit or stay
in Thailand.
Cultural attitudes towards men visiting brothels
It is still quite a stigma amongst Burmese men to
be known to visit brothels for sex and the writer
of this report has often been told by Burmese men
of the low morality of Burmese and (more often
Thai) men who do so. Although the writer has had
little contact with Burmese men who admit to
openly visit brothels, it seems that those who do
visit brothels do so in a more secretive fashion
indicating that it is yet to be seen as acceptable
behaviour (at least amongst those who are in
Thailand for political reasons)6.
1.1.2 Thai men
A recent study showed that 75% of Thai men have
had sex with a
--------------------------------------------------
---------------2. Ibid, See also AIDS and
Prostitution in Thailand - Case Study of Burmese
Prostitutes in Ranong, by Hnin Hnin Pyne,
unpublished thesis, May, 1992; and "Ranong's
Constructive Engagement Poses Big Dilemma,"
Bangkok Post, 139/92.
3. Information received from local Karen Burmese
men in 1993 and 1994.
4. Despite the general poverty inside Burma
several border towns are experiencing an
economic booming because of across border trade
between Thailand and Burma.
5. All Burma Students Democratic Front, the
"student" army based on the Thai Burma border.
6. The writer of this report has discussed the
issue of prostitution with very few economic
refugees as his main contact is with Burmese
opposition dissidents.
sex worker7. Many Thai men justify their
promiscuity with the belief that men have an
formidable sexual appetite that must be met8.
According to the Thai men's group, "Men for Gender
Awareness", the majority of Thai men who visit
brothels in Thailand are married men9, with the
result that one of the highest HIV/AIDS risk
groups in Thailand is married women, who find it
almost impossible to demand that their husbands
wear condoms during marital sex.
"Good" women and "bad" women
Another false belief amongst Thai men - that
prostitutes who are widely seen as "bad" women
should be used to fulfil men's sexual appetite to
prevent "good" women from being raped10,
contributes greatly to the phenomena of
prostitution. This belief is reflected in comments
made by Dr Suporn Kerdsawang from the Siriraj
hospitals' Family Planning Centre:
"Prostitutes have played an important role
in protecting good women in Thai society. About
60-70% of young Thai men have extra-marital sex,
compared with only 7-10% of young women. So where
can young men get sex if not by going to
prostitutes? So imagine what would happen to most
girls if the sex trade was eliminated from our
society? Boys would turn to their girlfriends for
sexual gratification. As long as Thais continue to
uphold the social value that women should stay
virgins until they are married, prostitution
cannot be eliminated from our society11."
This good/bad dichotomy leads to the widespread
belief that women who have sex outside of
marriage, even if raped, are somehow "spoiled"
and/or "bad" and so many men, especially from more
moralistic belief systems refuse to marry them. In
Thailand and Burma, the idea of "good" and "bad"
women is quite entrenched, even among women. Many
senior policemen and politicians, including the
former Thai Prime Minister, Anand Panyarachun,
have expressed the idea that "Prostitution is a
necessary evil" and that "if prostitution was
abolished, sex crime would increase12", despite
the fact that by Thai law prostitution itself is a
crime.
Sisters and non-sisters
Despite the statement by the chief police
inspector of Ranong that "it is disgraceful to let
Burmese men frequent Thai
--------------------------------------------------
---------------7. "AIDS and Prostitution in
Thailand - Case Study of Burmese Prostitutes in
Ranong." Hnin Hnin Pyne, May, 1992.
8. E.g. "Reflections of a die-hard wencher",
Nation, 16/12/92.
9. "Men as Husbands, Fathers, Brothers and
Sons", Men for Gender Awareness (MEGA),
International Family Day 14/4/93.
10. E.g. "Police chief links brothel ban with
sex crime", Bangkok Post, 11/11/92.
11. The Nation, 27 July, 1990; as appeared in
the thesis "AIDS and prostitution in Thailand:
Case study of Burmese prostitutes in Ranong" by
Hnin Hnin Pyne, May 1992.
12. Friends of Women Foundation.
prostitutes", (1.1.1 above) the author of the
Human Rights Watch report "A Modern Form of
Slavery" found that most of the research and
interviews with Burmese women and girls in
brothels in Thailand had indicated that Ranong was
the only town where most of the clients were
Burmese. The writer of this report has been told
that Mae Sot is another town where most of the
clients of Burmese women and girls in brothels are
Burmese men. However in many parts of Thailand,
especially in the south, the majority of the women
and girls in brothels are of non-Thai or at least
non-southern Thai origin, but the majority of
clients are Thai men.
The southern Thai culture is heavily influenced by
its Muslim roots. There are very few southern Thai
women or girls working as sex workers anywhere in
Thailand. Despite this, in the south of Thailand,
in places like Ranong, Songkhla, Sungei Kulok,
Phuket and Hatyai, forced prostitution and
frequent serious abuses of women and girls of non-
southern Thai origin have resulted in the deaths
of several such women and girls. As explained to
the writer of this report by several southern-Thai
friends, a major reason for the vast difference in
treatment of southern Thai and non-southern Thai
women and girls is that the first group are seen
as sisters and should thus be cared for while the
second group are not.
Making merit
Some men, Thai and non - Thai have even used an
argument based on the Buddha's teachings of
"merit-making" that visiting brothels could be
regarded as "making merit" as by paying for sex
with sex workers they are helping them and their
families. This argument would seem to be in
conflict with the third Buddhist precept
"refraining from taking part in inappropriate
sexual activity" which specifically mentions the
use of prostitutes for sex as inappropriate sexual
activity13.
1.1.3 Ethnic Chinese sex tourists
Another contributing factor to increasing the
demand for prostitution, and thus the amount of
trafficking especially of young girls from China
and then through Burma to Thailand is the Chinese
belief that everything has either yin (hot) or yan
(cold) properties. Many Chinese men believe that
it is necessary for a man to "deflower a virgin on
a regular basis in order to slow down the ageing
(yin) process by drawing on the girls virgin youth
(yan). For this reason, many Asian sex - tourists
from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and
China visit brothels in Thailand seeking sex with
young virgin girls. Many Burmese girls who have
been trafficked to brothels in Thailand have their
first experience of being raped by Chinese men who
must pay a much higher price for "deflowering a
virgin".
1.1.4 Other sex tourists
Clients at (usually "lower class" or closed)
brothels in which
--------------------------------------------------
---------------
13. For a Future to be Possible, by Thich Nhat
Hanh.
Burmese women are forced into prostitution are
usually Asian men as non-Asian men are often not
allowed to enter these brothels unless their faces
are well known to local pimps.
Western and Japanese and also many ethnic Chinese
sex tourists to Thailand often go to "higher
class" brothels in red light tourist districts,
where some of the women and girls speak English or
Japanese and where the tourists cultural tastes
are catered for. These brothels are more open and
unlike many of the "lower class" or closed
brothels, clients are allowed to take women and
girls back to their hotels. A British sex tourist
who has lived in Thailand for over 10 years, can
speak Thai language well and has had sex with
hundreds of women at Pattaya and places all over
Thailand told the writer of this report that to
his knowledge he had never met a Burmese woman in
any of the brothels or places he had visited.14
Few foreign sex tourists have sex with Burmese
women and girls in Thai brothels. However, their
use of thousands of Thai and other women and girls
for sex increases the sex industry's demand for
new faces. They are, in this writers opinion, as
responsible as are any other men who use women for
sex in Thailand, for the rapid increase in the
trafficking of women into Thailand.
1.2. Lack of Quality of Life in Burma
The vast majority of Burmese women and men (i.e.
citizens of Burma) who arrive in Thailand, do so
through lack of choice. The central cause for this
is a terrible lack of quality of life due to the
repressive and disastrous political and economic
policies of successive military juntas under
Burma's ageing dictator, General Ne Win15 who came
to power in 1962, in particular the latest
manifestation of his "behind the scenes" rule, the
State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC)16,
which came to power in a staged coup in 1988.
1.2.1 Militarism and human rights abuse
The civil war in some areas of Burma is now in its
47th year. Despite heigtened international
awareness of the situation in Burma, and UN
resolutions calling on the SLORC to implement the
democratisation it continues to promise, the junta
has strengthened its position, both nationally and
internationally, through cease-fire agreements
with several ethnic groups and a series of token
reforms. The war continues to have a disastrous
effect on all Burmese people.
--------------------------------------------------
---------------14. Interview with a British sex tourist, train from
Penang to Bangkok, 12/10/94.
15. General Ne Win was army chief and Burma was
considered the rice bowl of Asia when he staged
the coup. He immediately declared that his
government would follow the "Burmese Way to
Socialism" a closed door policy which led to
Burma being named a Least Developed Nation in
1987.
16. It is widely accepted that although the
SLORC opened to economic investment in late
1988, thus departing from Ne Win's closed door
policy, the move was made for reasons of
survival and under Ne Win's instructions.
As in virtually all countries where oppression and
human rights abuses are widespread, the women of
Burma suffer most. When SLORC troops enter a
village, especially in front-line areas, they
often find only women and children as the men have
fled through fear of being killed or conscripted
for forced abour. Women have often borne the full
weight of SLORC abuses, including rape, murder,
conscription to carry weapons and supplies to the
front-lines and/or to serve as human mine
detectors and human shields in front of the SLORC
troops17. An example of this terrible practice
occurred during the battle for the strategic Ti Pa
Hwi Kyoe hill in the liberated area in March,
1992, when many Karen women were force-marched in
front of the advancing SLORC troops and were
killed not by the SLORC but by tearful Karen
countrymen, who were defending the hill18. The
Karen lost the battle.
In addition, when the SLORC sets up an army camp
in or near a village in an ethnic minority area,
the commanding officer often demands that a
certain number of women be sent as servants. Women
who have been used for forced porterage19 and as
servants at SLORC army camps20 by day, have at
times been used as comfort women at night.
In SLORC controlled areas, many young boys are
forcibly conscripted into the widely hated and
feared SLORC army. As well as forced conscription,
young men join the SLORC because of desperate
poverty, desire for economic security over social
acceptance or because their families are already
members of the SLORC military elite. In some areas
controlled by ethnic minority forces, military
service takes place and it is standard practise
for young men to join the army, although due to an
increasing shortage of arms and ammunition, young
men are now more reluctant to join the rebel
armies21.
The civil war has been characterised in recent
years by the Burmese army being generally on the
offensive and trying to take control of as much
territory as possible, while the opposition
forces, with inferior weaponry but far greater
commitment have generally been on the defensive
and trying to hold on to the territory they
control. In the past year, the SLORC has signed
several cease-fire agreements with ethnic minority
groups in which no political concessions were
made, but in which combatants were permitted to
continue to bear arms within agreed zones. Those
groups that are still involved in armed struggle
view the cease-fires as nothing more than
negotiated surrender.
In September, 1994, fighting in the Shan State
continued, while SLORC troop movements in the Mon,
Karen and Karenni States were intensifying in what
was feared to be preparation for dry season ------
--------------------------------------------------
------
17. E.g. "Testimony of Porters Escaped from
SLORC Forces" 25/1/92.
18. Interview with Karen officer, August, 1992.
19. E.g. "Testimony of Porters Escaped from
SLORC Forces" 25/1/92.
20. E.g. "Statement by Naw Htoo Paw", 21/4/92.
21. Interview with Karen officer, August, 1992.
offensives. Many Burmese men (i.e. citizens of
Burma) end up fighting and dying on either side of
the civil war. In such an environment of violence
and machismo, emotional nurturing and caring are
of extreme day to day importance but are often
only one-way (by women towards men) and taken for
granted.
1.2.2. Socio - economic
Lack of services, military induced poverty
In some areas, especially civil war areas,
education, health care, transport and other social
services have been neglected for over 30 years. In
many border areas, infant mortality is as high as
50%22. Many children have no opportunity of even
seeing a school, let alone attending one. Forced
labour on government infrastructure projects and
for the army, and forced relocation of thousands
of people have meant that rice farmers, the
majority of Burma's population in what was once a
rice exporting country are now barely able to feed
themselves. Supply of a mandatory rice quota at
below market prices, the theft of livestock and
collection of unofficial "taxes" and "fees" by
SLORC soldiers have left more and more people in
absolute poverty. Single mothers, whose husbands
are fighting with the ethnic opposition armies or
have died or left them, find it especially
difficult to survive in Burma and fulfil their
traditional sex-role responsibilities of
supporting parents and raising children.
Military spending
At the same time, according to SLORC officials,
military spending by the SLORC increased from 12.5
% in 1988 to a projected figure of 31.8% in
1990/91. According to neutral analysts, military
spending in 1991 ran at 50 % of the national
budget23.
Social fracture
Due to the tragic cycle of repression, poverty and
increasing hardship, there has been a
deterioration of social values under the
successive military junta's that have ruled since
196224, reflected in all sectors and at all
levels of society. People are often suspicious of
one another and afraid to speak out for social and
political justice. For the past 32 years the black
market has been easily the strongest economic
structure in Burma. requires corruption and a
willingness to turn a blind eye to the suffering
of others. Such corruption is yet another factor
that enables some people to participate in the
trafficking of women.
--------------------------------------------------
---------------
22. Interview with Dr Cynthia, Mae Tao clinic,
Mae Sot, Tak, January 1990.
23. In 1988, the official defene budget was
12.5% of the national budget. SLORC officials
gave a projected defence budget of 31.8% for
1990/91, while independent analysts gave a
figure of 50% - BUrma Rights Movement for Action
journal, Nov. '91. The SLORC has since further
increased the size of its army.
24. A common theme discussed by Burmese
dissidents is the destruction of the Burmese
culture by the successive Burmese juntas. Karen
sources at the border also note an uncontrolled
increase in the involvement of Karen people in
the trafficking of Karen and other Burmese women
to Thailand.
Corruption and materialism
In addition, with the gradual opening of the
Burmese economy to western consumer goods and
advertising since 1988, there has been an
increasing level of materialism among many Burmese
people. Involvement in business is one of the few
areas that the SLORC allows and at times
encourages ordinary people to involve in, as long
as the right "taxes" and "fees" (both
official and unofficial) are paid. Success as a
businessman in Burma often requires corruption and
a willingness to turn a blind eye to the suffering
of others. Such corruption is yet another factor
that enables some people to participate in the
trafficking of women.
1.3 Opportunities in Thailand
1.3.1 Migration
Faced with this dire human rights and economic
situation, many rural people flee their villages
to try to survive in nearby
jungle, while others migrate towards trading towns
near Burma's borders, where increased border trade
has led to more employment opportunities. Many
people living in these Burmese border towns can
commute legally to the Thai towns just across the
border each morning, returning to Burma in the
evening25. The greatest migration however, despite
crackdowns by both Burmese and Thai immigration
authorities, is of Burmese people illegally
crossing into Thailand in hope of a better life.
In addition to the 77,00026 civil war refugees who
live in camps along the Thai-Burma border at least
300,00027 (some estimates are as high as
1,000,000) Burmese economic refugees are working
in Thailand.
These refugees, many of them women, fled the
SLORC's repressive rule and the resulting terrible
economic conditions in Burma, with the hope of
finding employment or asylum in Thailand. Many
Burmese women migrate to Thailand in order to find
employment and then to send money back to Burma
for their parents and their own children, many of
whom they left with their own parents to look
after. The migration of Burmese women to Thailand
provides sex traffickers with the easiest means of
tricking Burmese women into forced prostitution.
1.3.2 Work and Thai authorities corruption
Tens of thousands of Burmese women work as
merchants, farm or construction workers,
housemaids, waitresses, shop assistants or
prostitutes in Thailand. Working conditions for
illegal
--------------------------------------------------
---------------25. Interviews with refugee
organisation representatives from the Thai/Burma
border areas and personal observation in Mae
Sot, Mae Sai, Ranong, and Three Pagoda's Pass.
26. Burma Border Consortium meeting, October
6th, 1994.
27. Estimate of National Coalition Government of
the Union of Burma, 19/11/93.
Burmese migrant workers in Thailand are generally
appalling, with illegal workers afraid to pursue
what little rights they have under Thai law for
fear of being arrested as illegal immigrants. As
prostitution in Thailand is illegal and thus under
the control of Thai crime syndicates with the
patronage and participation of Thai police and
immigration officers, the condition of work for
women forced into prostitution is often tantamount
to slavery. The lack of rights for Burmese illegal
workers and the collusion between Thai trafficking
syndicates, police and immigration officers is a
major contributing factor to the increase in
trafficking in recent years.
1.3.3 Registration of illegal Burmese workers
In 1994, the Thai Ministry of Labour and Social
Welfare announced that registration of Burmese
migrant workers would be commenced in 10 provinces
along the Thai Burmese border. Already in 1992 and
again in 1993, authorities in Mae Sot, Tak
Province (opposite Myawaddy in Burma's Karen
State), had issued work permits to approximately
10,000 Burmese illegal immigrants for whom their
Thai employers had provided guarantees.
The conditions announced in 1994 by the Ministry
of Labour and Social Welfare under which Burmese
migrant workers are permitted to work in
Thailand's border provinces were as follows:
- that migrant workers are employed
only when Thai workers are not available,
- that employers act as guarantor for
the migrant workers and pay them at least the
basic minimum wage,
- that a registration fee be paid (in
June, 1994 in Thawng Pha Phum, Kanchanaburi
Province, workers were asked to pay 8000 baht each
as well as showing a letter from their employer)
in order to receive a work permit.28
Unfortunately, Thai labour law is rarely upheld in
favour of workers rights, especially in an area of
unorganised ununionised labour such as is the case
for Burmese migrant workers. The minimum wage is
rarely paid to unskilled Thai workers in rural
areas, let alone to migrant Burmese workers. Still
the Thai government should be commended for giving
thousands of Burmese migrant workers (14,000
people in Tak province alone in 1994)29 the legal
right to stay in Thailand.
The registration of illegal workers in Thai border
provinces is another incentive for impoverished
Burmese people to migrate to Thailand.
1.4 Prevailing Belief Systems
1.4.1 Duty of women towards parents and children
As in many traditional Asian cultures, women, who
are viewed as
--------------------------------------------------
--------------- 28. Information received from a
local official, June, 1994.
29. Burma Border Consortium meeting, 1994.
daughters, wives and mothers are expected to help
to support and follow their husbands and parents
wishes and to nurture and raise their children, in
whatever difficulties are imposed by the
prevailing situation.
Many women who migrate to Thailand, feel that hey
should not go home "empty handed" due to their
traditional responsibility to look after their
parents. They often send money to their families
from Thailand, e.g. in a 1982 study, 46 out of 50
masseuses interviewed said that they sent home
approximately one-third to one-half of their
earnings in monthly remittances30.
1.4.2 Theravada Buddhism in Thailand and Burma
At a subtle level, the Buddhist tradition found in
both Burma and Thailand - Theravada or "small
vehicle" Buddhism - encourages young women to feel
responsible for helping their families
financially. Theravada Buddhism strongly rejects
the notion that women can reach enlightenment.
Thus, contrary to the Buddha's teachgs, only men
are widely encouraged to pursue the spiritual
life. Instead, women can gain merit by working to
raise money for their poverty stricken families,
which will help them to return as men in the next
life. This is another reason why many women feel
that they must make sacrifices for the benefit of
their families, villages and their own karma.
1.5. Other Factors Contributing to the Trafficking
of Women
1.5.1 Sex tourism as an industry
After US troops based in Thailand left in the late
1970's, many of the women and girls who had
serviced US troops since the Vietnam war were
suddenly out of work. However, Thailand's booming
tourist industry and accompanying sex tourism have
continued the demand for hundreds of thousands of
sex workers. In addition US naval vessels still
dock at Pattaya for "rest and recreation" on a
regular basis, making Pattaya with its 1400 girlie
bars one of the most popular destinations for sex
tourists in the world.
Sex tourism is big business in Thailand and in
past years the image of sensuous and submissive
Thai women has often been promoted by travel
agents and tourist authorities to encourage sex
tourists to visit Thailand. Tourists can use women
or girls for sex in most hotels in Thailand.
Tourists usually don't have to seek out women and
girls for sex as pimps often approach single male
tourists (who make up about two thirds of the
tourists coming to Thailand) wherever tourists
gather.
1.5.2 HIV / AIDS in Thailand
It is estimated that the number of HIV+ cases in
Thailand reached ---------------------------------
--------------------------------
30. Phongpaichit, Pasuk (1982), "From Peasant
girls to Bangkok Masseuses", Geneva
International Labour Organisation (ILO); as
appeared in the thesis "AIDS and prostitution in
Thailand: Case study of Burmese prostitutes in
Ranong" by Hnin Hnin Pyne, May 1992.
280,000 people by the end of 199231 and reports
in 1994 were in
the range of 400,000 - 500,000 people currently
carrying the HIV
virus with the possibility that this number could
grow to 2,000,000 by the year 2000. This has
created an increased demand among both wealthy sex
tourists and wealthy Thai men for sex with virgins
or young children who look healthy as a way to
avoid exposure to HIV. Younger and younger girls
and boys are thus being sold into prostitution.
"Many massage parlours in Thailand now have a
separate room in the back where some selected
customers can be taken to view young girls some as
young as ten and eleven years whose health is
guaranteed and whose price is accordingly
higher32."
1.6 Examples of Impossible "Choices" Confronting
Burmese Women
A. In early 1993, a report was received from Shan
State that as part of the Burmese Army's drive to
increase the size of the army from 180,000 in 1988
to an eventual total of 500,000 soldiers, men from
every village in the state were being conscripted.
For every 100 families in a village, around 2 - 3
men must be provided to the army or else 30,000
kyat/man (US $5000 at official rate or US $250 at
the black-market rate) must be paid in order to
avoid conscription. A transcript of part of a
spoken interview in Shan State in February,
(spoken and not written due to fear that the
interviewer would be searched) shows the severity
of the problem:
"For example, some friends of mine came to
me this morning to tell me that they would
be leaving their village because they could
not afford to pay the money required to
avoid the conscription. Their village had
decided to pay the fees and it came out
that each family had to pay 3000 kyat to
the military. I told them that they must
not leave their village as it is the same
everywhere in Shan State. The only choice
the parents have is to send their sons into
the army to oppress the people or to send
their daughters to Thailand to make enough
money to pay the army33."
B. Another example of the complete lack of choice
facing Burmese women is the situation that
confronts them following arrest as illegal
immigrants and their subsequent "deportation" from
Thailand under the immigration law. In a
deportation in January, this year, the "deportees"
were dumped two hours walk from a refugee camp,
where they arrived after dark. Some of the women
were from Nepal, Laos, Shan State and many other
places that were
impossible for them to reach. Many had absolutely
no funds. They were met by many agents offering to
take them to Bangkok for work. Even some of the
men deported along with the women tried to sell
them to the agents in order to get enough money to
make their own way to Bangkok34.
--------------------------------------------------
--------------31. Department of Public Health
and WHO projections, 1991.
32. The Child and the Tourist, Ron O'Grady, The
Campaign to End Child Prostitution in Asian
Tourism (ECPAT), 1992.
33. Shan source from SLORC controlled area,
February, 1993.
C. A final example, indicating the lack of choice
available to women was explained by a Shan woman
who revealed her reason for becoming a sex worker:
"When I was in my village, the Burmese soldiers
came and forced me to have sex with them. It was
as if I was a prostitute, except I received no
payment. At least now, I receive some payment and
it is not so dangerous for me35.
2. TRENDS IN TRAFFICKING
2.1 Low Level Trafficking as a Means of Survival
As more people face destitution, especially in
rural areas, some
Burmese people have turned in desperation to the
illicit sale and trafficking of women in order to
survive. Many women from small villages who are
forced into prostitution are tricked by the
promise of employment from local agents who
represent procurers.
2.2. The Agents
Disturbingly, some of the agents who recruit young
village women for the brothel gangs in urban
centres such as Kawthaung and Ranong are people
who are known and trusted by the women. Fellow
villagers, townspeople and even friends and
relatives have been known to lure unsuspecting
women to leave their homes with offers such as
"friends in Thailand are opening a restaurant and
need a waitress to join them - the wages will be
much higher than anything a young woman could
receive in Burma."
Only two of 43 Burmese women released from forced
prostitution in Ranong in June, 199136, had
approached the brothel owner/ manager themselves.
30% of the women were sold into prostitution by
people they trusted - 7% by their husband or
boyfriend and 23.3% by a friend. 65.1% were sold
by a stranger who in most cases lured the women
with promises of high wages as waitresses, maids
and food vendors. Many of the procurers, due to
the nature of their deceit and betrayal, fear
reprisal and so move from place to place in search
of women to lure into prostitution.
Of a group of 10 Burmese girls and women who were
recently freed from Thai brothels where they had
been forced into prostitution37, 4 were enticed
into crossing the border from Burma to Thailand by
people who were known and trusted by them. One
woman, a flower seller, agreed to cross the border
in order to set up a business with a woman who had
always bought flowers ----------------------------
-------------------------------------
34. Interview with Relief Organisation official
who visited the area during the time that the
above mentioned deportation took place, January,
1993.
35. Interview with Shan sex worker in Chiang
Mai, Shan researcher, Nov, 1990.
36. As appeared in the thesis "AIDS and
prostitution in Thailand: Case study of Burmese
prostitutes in Ranong" by Hnin Hnin Pyne, May
1992.
37. Interviews conducted with girls who had been
forced into prostitution, after their release in
June, 1992.
from her and who told her that "in Thailand you
can buy anything." She must have trusted the
woman, because she decided to cross the border
despite her husband's warnings. Another woman was
told by neighbours that they would open a
restaurant in Rangoon and that she was needed as a
waitress.
Another woman was enticed by a "friend" to cross
the border to work as a waitress at a restaurant
her friend was opening, and the fourth woman was
taken across the border by the wife of a soldier
who is a friend of her brother, also a SLORC
soldier.
2.3. Organised Trafficking for the Domestic Market
On an organised level, many of the brothel gangs
are comprised of agents who work on several levels
- luring women as do the
local agents described above, acting as middlemen
to receive women from the local agents and then
sell them to the procurers,
and acting as pimps at the brothels to enforce
control over the women and to attract customers to
come and pay for sex.
2.4 Methods Used by Trafficking Gangs to Lure
Women
2.4.1 Deceit
There are many ways in which these gangs lure
women into prostitution. Often they work in a more
systematic and brutal manner than do the local
agents who are also part of their network.
Sometimes they pose as friends who do a lot of
trading in Thailand and invite their girlfriends
or acquaintances to go sightseeing with them. At
other times they pose as representatives of
employment recruiting agencies in order to lure
women with the promise of work.
They often hang around dock areas and bus and
train stations in both Thailand and Burma38
looking for women who appear lost or who have
arrived in town in search of work. In such a case
agents will approach the woman and offer her a job
as a maid, waitress or factory worker and if she
agrees take her to a local "employment agency"
where arrangements are made without the woman's
knowledge, to sell her to a procurer usually in
Thailand but occasionally in Burma39. Five of the
ten women who had been lured into prostitution in
the above mentioned case were offered prospects of
work - in four cases as waitresses and in one case
as a worker at a newly opening minimart.
2.4.2 Kidnap
Sometimes agents simply kidnap the women and send
them to brothels against their will. Burmese women
who come across the
border to visit relatives in Thailand, especially
in Ranong, run
--------------------------------------------------
---------------38. Some of this report is copied
from the section on Slavery of Women in the
Institute for Asian Democracy's June, 1992,
report titled "Towards Democracy in Burma",
parts of which the author helped to prepare.
39. Ibid
the risk of being kidnapped and forced into
prostitution. This was the case for one of the
women who was captured after she had found out
that her younger sister had been forced into
prostitution and travelled more than 1000
kilometres from Tachilek in Northern Burma to
Ranong in Southern Thailand in order to free
her40.
2.4.3 Frequent changing of brothels
Women who have been lured into prostitution may be
moved around throughout Thailand in order to
prevent family, friends, Crime Suppression
Division police and NGO's from becoming aware of
their current position, but also in response to
the constant demand for new faces for the sex
industry.
2.5 Case studies
2.5.1 From southern Burma to Ranong
P.P., aged 16, and W.W. aged 21 were both
trafficked from Tavoy in southern Burma in early
1992. Both of P.P's parents had died some years
before and W.W's family took her in and cared for
her. Around the beginning of February, 1992, a
Burmese man named Aung Thein told them that he
would be opening a restaurant in Kawthaung and
that they would be paid 500 kyats (US $6 at 1992
black-market rates)/month for working there. They
agreed to go to Kawthaung but were tak directly
from Tavoy to Ranong, bypassing Kawthaung. Aung
Thein sold them for 4000 baht (US $160) each to Ko
Htun, a notorious procurer who sent them to Law Ka
Alin Yaung ("Light of the World") brothel. Ko Htun
was at the time a procurer at many other brothels
in Ranong. P.P. and W.W. were forced to work as
prostitutes for 4 months at Law Ka Alin Yaung
before they were released to the care of a Thai
NGO.
W.W.A. aged 18 from Rangoon, came to Tavoy at the
start of February, 1992 to trade in motor car
batteries. She was waiting to buy an air ticket at
Tavoy Airport (at that time you often had to wait
for 2-3 weeks for a normal ticket, even with good
connetions with the township LORC). While she was
waiting at the air port to buy a ticket, Aung
Thein and another man came and told her that money
was easy to make in Thailand and that she could
get 1500B/month working at a mini-mart at Kaw
Thaung. He gave her 18,000 kyats (2 packets each
containing 100 ninety kyat notes) at a tea shop
near the airport and told her to return the next
day in order to travel to Kaw Thaung by boat. The
next day they and one other woman were arrested at
Tavoy Harbour for not having travel papers. They
were detained for 4 days and were released after
Aung Thein gave the police a bribe of 10,000
kyats. They were taken directly to Ranong and sold
for 5000B to Law Ka Alin Yaung. They worked there
for 3 months before they were released. W.W.A. was
pregnant when she was released and subsequently
had an abortion.
She was later returned to urma via Ranong, but
was arrested and
--------------------------------------------------
---------------
40. Interview with Burmese woman at Pakkred
Women's Detention Centre, Bangkok. tortured at
the infamous Insein prison for alleged contact
with dissident students in Thailand. She was able
to escape again to Thailand after her family paid
bribes to the prison officers and one of the women
officers at the prison who believed in her
innocence intervened on her behalf. She is now
working in a factory in Bangkok.
2.5.2 From China to Thailand through Shan State
Yaw Meu (not her real name), aged 20 is an Akha
woman who was trafficked from her village, called
Nan Kha, (most probably in the Xishuang Ban Ha
autonomous zone in Yunnan province, China. She
described her village as being 20 days walk from
Keng Tung in Shan State or about 2 to 3 days by
motorbike had the terrain not been too difficult
to traverse by motorbike. Her village is
surrounded by Lahu, Luat, Doi and other Akha
villages with a few Chinese people also living in
the area. There are no towns or large villages
near her village and so people usually identify
the villages by their hill tribe group and not by
specific names. She said that she occasionally saw
Chinese soldiers come to her village but never saw
any Burmese soldiers. She added that, although
unable to speak, she can understand a little
Chinese (probably Jing Haw) language.
After her parents died (probably in early 1992),
she found that she had not enough food \ money to
survive. An elderly Thai Leu man (aged around 40),
whom she had never met before, said that he was
going to Keng Tung and invited her to go with him.
When they reached Keng Tung, he told her that
there were not many jobs there and invited her to
continue on with him. He took her as far as Mae
Sai and sold her for 10,000 baht. She never saw
him after she was handed over to the agents in
Thailand in March, 1992.
She was sent to Maha Chai and forced to work as a
barmaid and prostitute (she said that men using
her for sex would pay 200 to 300 baht, indicating
a low class brothel). She said she really disliked
the work, especially because the men were always
drinking and smoking and she didn't like to do
either. She was later sent to a brothel in the Don
Muang area, where some time later she was arrested
and detained at the police statiPenalties imposed on procurers and sex
workers do
not exceed a maximum fine of 4000 baht and/or a
maximum jail term of one year. This act does not
even cover pimps.
The Entertainment Places Act of 1966 was designed
to pave the way for brothels to be legalised in
the guise of massage parlours, bars, night-clubs,
tea houses etc. The Act sets a minimum age of 18
for women working at these establishments. The
penalty against the owner of an establishment that
employs women under the age of 18 is absurdly
light - just 2,000 baht (US $80). It would appear
that this act was especially designed to allow for
the expansion of prostitution to meet the demands
of US servicemen during the Vietnam war.
The three articles are far more specific and
provide harsh punishment for abuses against (a).
girls and (b). women forced into prostitution:
Article 277 makes sexual intercourse with a
girl under age 15 statutory rape. If it involves a
girl under age 13, the penalties include life
imprisonment.
--------------------------------------------------
---------------
55. Appeared in the thesis "AIDS and
prostitution in Thailand: Case study of Burmese
prostitutes in Ranong" by Hnin Hnin Pyne, May
1992.
56. For a much more thorough description of Thai
law relating to prostitution, see the Human
Rights Watch report, A Modern Form of Slavery.
57. Bangkok Post, 31/12/92.
Article 282 make child sexual abuse a
criminal offence. Procurers can face 7 to 20 year
prison terms or fines of between 4000 to 40000
baht (US $160 to $1600), if the case involves
girls under the age of 18. If found guilty of
deceiving or coercing women over 18 for the sexual
gratification of others, procurers face penalties
under article 282 of 3 to 15 year prison terms and
fines of 6000 to 30000 baht (US $240 to $1200).
Article 286, also part of the criminal
code, suggests punishments of 7 to 30 years in
jail or life imprisonment and fines of between
4000 to 40000 baht (US $160 to $1600) for pimps
who under this article are classified together
with procurers58.
In late December, 1992, Palang Dharma, one of the
government coalition parties, submitted a new
prostitution bill, which aims to target the
customers, premises and brothel owners and
procurers of children or women forced into
prostitution. The proposed legislation includes
sanctions to punish men (with fines ranging from
20,000 to 100,000 baht) who patronise brothels
where child or forced prostitution occurs. Those
who rent their premises to be used as a brothel
where child or forced prostitution occurs are
liable to be fined 150,000 to 400,000
baht and a prison term of between 5-10 years. The
same punishment would apply to procurers and
owners of brothels. Those who mistreat sex workers
will have to pay a fine of between 200,000 to
500,000 baht. If sex workers are seriously injured
or die from beatings inflicted by the owners,
pimps or clients, the penalty will be death.
At the time of writing, a comprehensive
prostitution act is being drafted by the coalition
government in Thailand.
6. RESPONSE OF AUTHORITIES TO THE TRAFFICKING OF
BURMESE WOMEN
6.1 Thai Policy towards Burmese Asylum Seekers and
Refugees
Thai policy towards Burmese asylum seekers shapes
Thailand's response to Burmese women released from
forced prostitution. The Thai government is not a
signatory to either the Convention relating to the
Status of Refugees (1951) or the supplementary UN
Refugee Protocol (1967). As a result it has only
recognised 728 of the 5,000+ ethnic Burman asylum
seekers in Thailand (as long as they enter the
Thai government's holding camp), and none of the
77,000 Burmese of non-Burman nationalities who
currently live in unofficial border camps all
along the Thai - Burmese border.
6.1.1 Ethnic minority refugees
People at the refugee camps for Mon, Karen and
Karenni ethnic groups are under a growing threat
of being forced back across the border as the
SLORC requires the Thai government to either
suppress Burmese groups that are opposed to its
rule and / or coerce these groups into seeking
cease-fires on the SLORC's
--------------------------------------------------
---------------
58. Archaic Prostitution Act must go, Nation
9/11/92.
terms. In return Thailand will be allowed to
continue its extremely profitable business
relationship with the SLORC which enables it to
exploit Burma's natural resources.
In 1994, the Thai National Security Council which
effectively runs Thai policy on Burma and Burmese
illegal immigrants began what many believe is a
three year process to repatriate all of
these refugees to Burma. The first camp to be
repatriated to Burma was the Mon camp at Law Loe
in Sangkhlaburi district in Kanchanaburi, western
Thailand. Seven months after this repatriation,
the refugees were attacked by SLORC troops at
their new camp on Burmese soil and fled again to
Thailand. After 6 weeks they were forced to
return to Burma when Thai soldiers
blockaded the Mon's rice store and starved them
into returning again to Burma.
6.1.2 Burman "student" refugees
In December 1992, and with the support of the
United Nations High Commission on Refugees, the
Thai government opened a so-called "Safe Area"
camp, which according to the Thai Ministry of the
Interior was designed to provide shelter and
education for Burmese students at risk if forced
to return to Burma. Initially, only the 516
Burmese dissidents designated as "students" during
a screening process from February to May, 1992
were ordered to enter the camp. Later, another 222
dissidents designated as "political refugees" by
the Thai Ministry of Interior were also ordered to
enter the camp. UNHCR allowances to these
dissidents was greatly reduced and massive
crackdowns led to the arrest of hundreds of
students on charges of illegal immigration. Other
political arrests have also taken place. However,
due to the continued reluctance of the vast
majority of the 728 dissidents to enter the camp,
the Ministry of Interior has admitted many non-
"students" to the camp (a total of 400 asylum
seekers have entered the camp for various periods
of time since the camp opened, many of them with
great reluctance). About 160 asylum seekers are
presently staying at the camp.
6.2 Thai Policy towards Women and Girls Trafficked
into Thailand
Neither the ethnic minority camps or the "student"
camp are open to women who have been released from
forced prostitution even though they are clearly
at risk of being detained if they return to Burma.
Although the Prostitution Act of 1928 expressly
forbids the imprisonment or fine of women or girls
who are trafficked into Thailand, Thai policy
towards these women and girls has been to treat
them even more inflexibly then illegal immigrants,
with the result that they are usually imprisoned
before being deported to Burma, where they face
further imprisonment.
6.3 Thai Police Response
The Crime Suppression Division Police in Thailand
have conducted many raids on brothels throughout
Thailand in which Burmese women have been simply
transferred from detention in a brothel to
detention in a police station, army barracks or
detention centre such as the Women's Detention
Centre in Pakkred, Bangkok.
Unfortunately, due to high levels of corruption,
women who have been "released" from forced
prostitution have at times been released from
detention and sent back to the brothels after the
owner arrived at the police station to pay their
"fines". In a recent case, a group of 26 women
from a closed brothel were arrested by the police
and released when the brothel owner paid a fine of
1800 baht for each woman. On another occasion,
brothel owners paid the boatman to turn around a
boat full of women being deported to Burma after
it got half way back to Burma from Ranong59.
In addition, it is easy for those responsible for
the trafficking and abuse of women forced into
prostitution to avoid imprisonment or to gain
early release if in fact they are imprisoned by
paying bribes to police and prison officials60.
6.4 Thai Judicial Response
The three articles of Thai law relating to
prostitution are rarely enforced. For example,
article 277, which is the only current legislation
relating to clients of sex workers has never been
enforced. An indication of the lack of interest of
law
enforcement authorities in reducing prostitution
is that it has become customary for most officers
to apply the most lenient of the legislation - the
Prostitution Prohibition Act of 196061.
A classic example of victims of abuse being
further punished is that Burmese women who have
been released from forced prostitution are usually
charged with illegal immigration and with
prostitution. The prostitution charges are dropped
once it is found that the women had been forced to
work as prostitutes but the women are still found
guilty of illegal immigration by Thai courts even
though in some cases women have been physically
carried across the border against their will or
without the knowledge that they had left their
country.
Women "released" from prostitution are detained in
many different types of centres according to the
importance attached to their case and the often
changing policy of the Thai government. Thus some
women "released' from forced prostitution have
found themselves under the care of Thai or even
foreign NGOs while others have been detained at
police stations, army barracks or at the Pakkred
detention centres attached to the Thai Ministry of
Interior. Detention of women who have been
traumatised at police stations, army barracks or
other detention centres is quite inappropriate.
Many of the 33 women detained at Pakkred in July,
1992 appeared afraid to speak openly to NGO
workers who were interviewing them while under the
watchful eyes of the
--------------------------------------------------
---------------
59. Bangkok Post, Feb '1992.
60. Interview with Friends of Women
representative, March, 1993.
61. Archaic Prostitution Act must go, Nation
9/11/92.
detention centre authorities. When no one else was
listening one of the women complained of the harsh
treatment they had received.
Until April, 1992 most women found guilty entering
Thailand illegally were deported back to Burma and
their fate left to the hands of the Burmese
authorities. Since that time, some women have been
returned to Burma by NGOs and religious
organisations which could ensure that they were
not arrested or otherwise abused on their return.
6.5 Government Response
As with, Burmese asylum seekers and refugees, the
Thai government has yet to adopt a consistent or
humanitarian response towards Burmese women who
have survived forced prostitution. The position of
the Thai government vis-a-vis Burmese women who
have been
trafficked to Thailand and forced into
prostitution is that they are illegal immigrants,
and that they must not be permitted to stay in
Thailand. At times the Thai government has
intervened to stop immediate deportation of
Burmese women released from brothels and
transferred them to the government's Women's
Detention Centre in Pakkred, Nonthaburi or the
Centre for the Protection of Children's Rights, a
Thai NGO's Bangkok emergency shelter for temporary
detention or care. At oter times the women have
been kept in local jails or army barracks before
deportation back to Burma.
On November 9th, 1992, Prime Minister Chuan
Leekpai vowed to end forced and child
prostitution. The following day, a sex worker in
the southern town of Songkhla came to the town
hall seeking
protection as she was convinced that pimps and /
or police were going to kill her. She was denied
protection and a short time later was killed in
the town hall itself. The government response to
the public outcry was a major crackdown on
brothels, with many brothels going underground for
several months. However these closures were only
temporary, and the sex industry is now once again
in full swing and the actions of the Chuan Leekpai
administration have proved ineffective at reducing
either forced or child prostitution.
Furthermore, despite opposition from NGO groups,
Burmese women who were released from forced
prostitution have been repatriated to the Burmese
border, even though some government officials have
expressed concern about the dangers for women
returning to Burma62.
Thai NGO and Burmese opposition representatives
working on the issue had scheduled a meeting with
Dr Saisuree, Minister of the Prime Minister's
Office and advisor on women's affairs on July
31st, 1992, in order to discuss the issue of
forced prostitution. It was hoped that the meeting
would be the first step towards creating an
effective and humane policy on the issue of women
from other countries who had been trafficked to
Thailand for prostitution. It was reported that Dr
Saisuree was herself
--------------------------------------------------
--------------
62. "Saisuree defends plan to repatriate Burmese
women", Nation, 20/11/92.
interested in seeing that Burmese women released
from forced prostitution in Thailand would at
least be given vocational training before being
sent back to Burma. However the day before the
meeting, the Burmese ambassador U Nyunt Shwe made
an agreement with Dr Saisuree Chitikul to
repatriate women who had been earlier freed from
brothels in Thailand by official channels only and
the scheduled meeting with NGOs was cancelled.
In July, 1993, police from the Crime Suppression
Division's Anti- Prostitution Unit (based in
Bangkok) raided three brothels in Ranong and
arrested 144 Burmese women who ha been forced
into prostitution. Despite an understanding
between the Centre for the Protection of
Children's Rights (CPCR) and the Crime Suppression
Division that the women under the age of 18 would
be taken into the care of the CPCR, all of the
women including 42 identified as children by the
CPCR were sent to police stations in Ranong. A
Burmese student working on the issue of forced
prostitution of Burmese women later informed the
CPCR that of the 144 women arrested, 86 were
released from the police stations (most likely
back into the hands of the brothel owners) while
the remaining 58 women were first transferred to
the Ranong army barracks and finally returned to
Burma, where they were later sentenced to 3 years
imprisonment for illegally leaving the country
(Burma) and for being involved in prostitution63.
6.6 Burmese Response
When women return to Burma, they face arrest for
"unlawfully leaving Myanmar" (as the junta calls
the country), and with working as a prostitute.
Current practise is to sentence women
who have been repatriated by the Thai government
to 3 years imprisonment for committing these two
offences. Even those who are sent back to Burma by
non - official methods are not safe. In mid 1992,
a group of 8 women were helped to return to Burma
by a Thai NGO after having been released from
forced prostitution in Ranong. Three of these
women were subsequently arrested and one of them
was tortured at the notorious Insein prison
because she was suspected of having contact with
the armed opposition forces on the border64.
In 1994, Burmese authorities began to distribute
leaflets informing the Burmese public that young
women who left Burma illegally would face three
years imprisonment and those that assisted them to
leave Burma would receive 6 years imprisonment. At
the same time, at Myawaddy (opposite Mae Sot),
Burmese authorities reduced the number of days on
which Burmese people could officially cross over
to Thailand to one day a week.
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63. Interviews with CPCR staff, August 1993 and
March, 1994.
64. Interview with the woman after she returned
again to Thailand.
7. NGO RESPONSE
7.1 Centre for the Protection of Children's Rights
(CPCR)
CPCR has been the most active Thai NGO. It has
been responsible
for the investigation of forced prostitution of
Burmese women and girls leading to the "release"
of hundreds of Burmese women and girls from
brothels in Thailand. It has provided
accommodation, vocational training, education,
health care, emotional support, and transport (in
some cases to their homes) for many Burmese girls
as well as prosecuting wherever possible, those
responsible for forcing Burmese and other children
into prostitution.
7.2 Association Francois Xavier Bagnoud (AFXB)
AFXB, a Swiss organisation involved in the
September 1992 repatriation of 95 Burmese women to
Burma (see section 6.1.3 above) are undertaking
reintegration and retraining with 34 of these 95
women who live in the Rangoon area and is hoping
to eventually receive permission to visit the 61
remaining women in their home areas. AFXB has also
applied to the relevant Burmese ministry for
permission to open 3 reception centres on the Thai
Burmese border in order to receive women who are
being repatriated from Thailand and thus enable
them to avoid "administrative detention" for
"illegally exiting" Burma. They have opened an
office in Rangoon and are at present waiting for
permission for their program to be extended.
7.3 Other NGOs
Other NGO's which are involved in assisting
Burmese women and girls who are trafficked into
brothels in Thailand are listed below, with brief
details of their areas of involvement:
Empower - Education / empowerment of women sex
workers.
Friends of Women Workers in Asia - legal
assistance for rape survivors and Thai women
workers throughout Asia.
Jesuit Refugee Service, International Rescue
Committee - humanitarian assistance.
Social Support for International Women's Project -
- humanitarian assistance for Burmese and other
foreign women facing human rights abuses in
Thailand.
8. CONCLUSION
At present, trafficking of Burmese women to and
through Thailand is rampant. Unless there is co-
ordinated and firm action taken in the near
future, the scourge of trafficking and the untold
suffering endured by tens of thousands of Burmese
women will continue to grow, as will the spread of
the HIV virus which leads to AIDS. There is a
desperate need for more than just talk.
The present strategy of the Thai government in
combating this scourge is insufficient. Detention
at the Pakkred Women's Immigration Detention
Centre, police stations or army barracks
followed by deportation is a completely
unsatisfactory response to women who have been in
such traumatic situations as forced prostitution.
The prison like atmosphere of such detention
centres only adds to the women's suffering.
8.1 Recommendations
For more thorough recommendations, please refer to
the Human Rights Watch report, A Modern Form of
Slavery. However any future response by the Thai
authorities to the problem of trafficking of
Burmese women should:
1) address the fact that the problem of forced
prostitution and trafficking is inextricably
linked to the direct and indirect involvement of
police, immigration and other authorities on both
sides of the border and an unsatisfactory level of
apathy by many government bodies.
2) give the Crime Suppression Division real power
to address the problem and prosecute all those
involved in the trafficking of women and forced
prostitution with the full weight of the law. It
is encouraging to note that the US government is
considering a move to deny visas to Thai
authorities who are suspected of involvement in
the trafficking of women.
3) clarify the status under Thai law of foreign
women who are "released" from forced prostitution.
The case of women from foreign countries who have
been tricked and forced into prostitution is in
many ways different to that of other illegal
immigrants and as such requires a different
approach.
4) seek to create a policy that genuinely frees
women from the situation that led to their
trafficking and forced prostitution, by e.g.
a) providing vocational and educational (including
AIDS awareness training) / sanctuary / refugee
status for those women who cannot return to Burma,
because of the very reasonable fear of arrest by
the Burmse authorities or of kidnapping by the
procurers and agents who originally sold them.
b) providing psychological counselling by trained
Burmese staff and medical assistance to women who
have been through the trauma of forced
prostitution.
c) ensuring that all reports and information of
forced prostitution of Burmese women are followed
up by non - local Thai police authorities and
courts.
d) ensuring that charges are brought against the
procurers, the pimps and the owners, not against
the women.
e) allowing them to return, if they choose, to
Burma via the border checkpoint of their choice
(with e.g. advice and assistance to be given by
some of the groups on the border). If necessary
to deport women, all women charged with "illegal
immigration" should be deported in the same manner
as other Burmese "illegal immigrants" - to a safe
part of the Thai - Burmese border, i.e. an area
under the control of opposition groups. The
opposition groups have always been of great
assistance to the Royal Thai government in
returning Burmese people to inner Burma with a
much reduced risk of them being detained by the
Burmese authorities.
5) clarify what financing, staffing and other
resources can be provided by the Thai government
in order to facilitate any new change in policy
and what financing, staffing and resourcing is
required from non - Thai governmental bodies.
P.S Need more information, Please contact Mr. Chris
C/O ABSDF (Dawn Gwin)