Thailand's Brothel Busters
A U.S.-based group is spurring high-profile raids to free sex workers. But what happens when the women don't want to be saved?
But that doesn't mean others aren't caught in the raids -- or that all trafficked women necessarily want to be rescued. Burmese migrants, for example, rely on traffickers to flee to Thailand, and into the sex trade, because they have few opportunities to support their families at home, where they'd live in fear of gang rape and forced labor. One 19-year-old Burmese sex worker told me she could have found work in Thailand as a domestic, but she'd heard stories of girls who weren't paid or were beaten by their employers. (In one recent case, a Burmese domestic worker in Thailand died after her employer set her on fire and left her without food, water, or medical care for three days.) "Some women, particularly those with families to support, see brothels as their best option," says Marshall. "And given their other choices, I think this is understandable."
During a recent anti-trafficking conference in Hawaii, experts and human-rights advocates called for a list of "best practices" for raids and rescues -- including more attention to who does and doesn't want to be taken from brothels. IJM officials say they have been working to coordinate their investigative work with other organizations and the Thai government, to make sure women receive "aftercare" following the raids. But clearly, the spectacular busts won't stop anytime soon -- and neither will the flow of women and girls into brothels. "If it were your 12-year-old daughter in the brothel, you'd want the raid," says Marshall. "But you also have to acknowledge that it's someone else's daughter that might end up in the brothel because your daughter got out. Raids don't necessarily address the roots of the problem and can actually make things worse if they are not done right."
Several months ago, Cambodian officials working with IJM -- and with Dateline NBC cameras rolling -- raided a brothel in Svay Pak, a notorious shantytown outside Phnom Penh. Thirty-seven girls and young women were taken from the brothel and placed in a shelter. One was only five years old; several girls were under 10. But after the TV cameras were turned off and IJM had left the country, six women, thought to be about 18 or 19 years old, climbed over the fence at the shelter and ran away. Local aid workers believe that the girls, who were illegal migrants with few places to go, returned to a brothel. And a new group of children is expected to arrive in Svay Pak's brothels before long.
We publish a magazine which is free of charge to organizations and individuals in developing countries. The next issues deals with HIV prevention in brothels and we are looking for photographs to place alongside this article. I would be grateful if you could provide us with digital photographs for this article.
I look forward to hearing from you.
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Wow, IJM are ineffective and horrible people..some of the girls ran away maybe even back to the brothels! What about the few that didn't? Their lives have been redeemed and they have a new chance to live without being sexual abused... Shame on IJJM for not addressing the bigger need...they clearly accomplished nothing.
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It is not about shame on anyone. It is about seeing the problem from all sides and doing the best to acknowledge and address them. And the rescue organizations in the West too often ignore the other side. Why can't the follow-up procedures after the raids include letting the women who choose to stay in the industry go back?
Some such one-sided actions of the US increased rather than decreased the suffering of women in prostitution because the support services that existed for them before were eliminated.
If the girls are forced into bars how come so many live out, in thier own condo, turn up for work on thier own and go home when they want...I havenever met any girl who could not leave on her own free will....and never met any girl qwho really disliked working in a music bar, gets drinks bought for her and had a big sex life and gets paid for it....at the end of the day the girls can choos to go with the man or choose not to go with the man......
In one case I know that 2 undercover Australian cops were trying to find underage girls..they aske in every bar if they has children fo sex.....this actually created a market as they didnt show ID or cop badges...the barowners thought that they really did want underage girls and now they are available....
But,...you always see underage girls pregnant, with children, from thier own village...so whos haxing sex with them..possiboly thier own family or families friend.......
..exactly.....why round up the girls...get the owners.....now the girls dont have a job...
...all the girls i have ever paid for dont seem to upset..especialy once they get paid...and always ask me to come back.....one girl i met had 3 nipples..now thats good value for money i say!!
..I met a girl who insisted that I did her in the back...only later did i find out it was a man..lady boy...now you cant tell me he was forced to do that....
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I think in-depth attention should ALWAYS be paid to those pointing the finger of blame, no matter what the accusation, but especially in matters of sexual morality. Employment by organisations such as IJM attracts sexual predators for their own under the pretence of having a legitimate reason for being there in the first place. After all, they are given the details and the go-ahead to officially go to these places. They then point at others to cover their own guilt. Of how many cases do we all know of paedophiles with positions of authority in children's homes, schools and churches, all over the world? Many Catholic orphanages, it has been revealed on many occasions, were/are staffed entirely by child abusers. The guilt of US American Evangelists in Northern Thailand, volunteering to 'educate' the ignorant masses to the word of their god, eventually causing them to point the finger at the brothels that cater for paedophiles, only then having the victim's identify them as previous clients. Now that the problem is largely eradicated in Thailand we see that they are transferring their evangelistic attention to other SE Asian countries like Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, where paedophilia is still widely practiced. We hear of police and politicians who work and campaign to stamp out the atrocities and remove the evil ones from society, only later to hear that many of them have been caught red-handed committing the crimes they have 'publicly' been working to expose.
I could never trust a finger-pointer, any more than a politician, without great reassurance of their true motivation. These organisations should largely be run and staffed by women, and where it is necessary for men to be employed they should be subjected to strong supervision and psychological investigation. Men should never have the opportunity to even get close to those vulnerable, naive & poorly educated victims of their own ignorance. And, yes, by imposing hypocritical western standards on developing cultures they are removing what the sex-workers themselves see as a legitimate and justifiable means of employment that will feed and clothe their entire family. Hell, tourism in Thailand has grown from the sex industry and I'm sure that if the accusers were given polygraph tests regarding their personal involvement, very few, if any, would pass as innocent.
Correction: The second sentence should read:
Employment by organisations such as IJM attracts sexual predators for their own deviant puposes under the pretence of having a legitimate reason for being there in the first place.
these girls are usually beaten for days, raped, and brainwashed into submission and told that their only life is in prostitution. the orphanage model is being outmoded currently in favor of more suitable living and transitioning care facilities. the reason they run back is because they have no other hope, that is why many organizations like Transitions Cambodia are training the girls in vocational work that has a future like I T tech opposed to sewing. this article is horribly short sighted and pure muck raking journalism. get a life Mother Jones and research a little better before you post articles with no credible references, Wikipedia would even be better than this one sided crap.
IM SO SAD HOW WOMEN'S UNFORTUANTE LIVES ARE...I WISH I COULD BUILD A LARGE FACILITIY FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN...WHERE THEY CAN WORK, EARN INCOME, LEARN WHILE THEY WORK... HAVE EQUAL OPPURTUNITY USING THEIR MINDS AND NOT THEIR BODIES...I WISH THESE WOMEN CAN HAVE THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS...LIKE WOMEN DO IN THE U.S...
Be fair, JoJoRaz. It's not as though IJM has *only* helped women. They've helped men as well, so the idea that it should be staffed by women because it deals with women only is a fallacious argument.
That said, the not-so-subtle implication in your post painting the male sex as predatory in nature doesn't do anyone any favors.
Sorry if this comes across as sarcastic. I am a little flustered after reading this article (I realized in re-reading this post), but I hope it captures my passion about this subject:
Overall, this is a weak article that quite fully misses the point on why these organizations exist.
I'm pretty sure IJM is standing up for these girls because they don't have a voice of their own. Most girls in the brothel wouldn't be in that profession by their own volition. The profession as a whole is degrading, and sure, they may be there because they nobly value their family's well-being more than their bodies.
But honestly? Let's talk about girls that "want" to prostitute themselves for the sake of their families. Should we also allow drug dealers to deal heroine and cocaine because they want to feed their families? What if these drug dealers just "enjoy" drug-dealing?
Lastly, how's this for a question? Next time there's a Katrina disaster or tsunami, why don't we let people die instead of rescuing? Who knows? They might not wanna be rescued. They might have wanted to commit suicide or die.
Please think about your logic here...
Regardless of personal opinions, a law is a law. In countries where IJM operates and helps local officials perform raids on brothels, the law is being broken. Having sex with minors in these countries is illegal, and that law should be enforced.
When considering whether these girls or women want to be in the brothels in the first place, one must first consider whether it is even legal and if the woman is of age. One must also consider the psychological state these women and young girls are in. Many do not realize that there are other options out there for them. Many also have been abused verbally, as well as physically and sexually, and can begin to believe that they truly are worthless or ruined and have no options or future outside of the sex trade.
One cannot rely on the judgment of a twelve-year-old girl who has been sexually, physically, and probably verbally abused on whether or not she wants to leave a brothel.
Regardless, International Justice Mission is not conducting the raids on their own where they think women and girls "want" to be freed. They work with local, in-country authorities to enforce laws that are already in existence in that country.
A law is a law. Would you suggest that these laws against the rape of minors and prostitution go un-enforced?
You can,t say the law is law, follow it right or wrong, that means we are sheep with no voice to stand up for what is right and just by our own judgement. If history has taught us anything its that the will of the people will eventually make change. Prostition is the worlds oldest trade, whether for or influence, its rife and in your face when poverty drives the necessatity. Solve the economics, difficult as most of the world needs support. Say prosecute westeners with all vigour and you won,t hardly impact the abuse, most is internal. That doesn,t mean we shouldn,t try. But perhaps focus limited resources where they best fit. The comments on bar girls pat pong or soy cowboy bankok doesn,t apply, things are brutal in the sticks, and there is local trade culture ingrained. Its not western custom and prices, right or wrong as that might be.Its education and funding that solves the issue, and half the world needs that, but you wont eradicate prostitution just lessen the more shocking abuse that abject poverty creates. You know as race we aren,t by nature kind and fair, we need that shown to us. When a free and relatively well treated to this artical which is up north, bar girl, befriends and convinces a lonely guy that he has found love and takes him to the cleaners, thats life. I guess we can,t solve world, but if we put resources into something where we haven,t enough to tackle the core it should be pragmatic to pay off in returns rather than make a philosophical statement that all should be saved even the ones that don,t want to be saved, they really do given re/education and time. As a say 19 year old, just about supporting a family after i am robbed by the pimps why would i stop working if you can,t really deliver income on the same level. As for HIV you have to educate to the dangers but also remove the poverty gap, if i offer double or triple the price, and the need and even the knowledge is there people gamble by necessatity. Forgive the spelling I am dyslexic.
I mean prostitution is actually illegal in Thailand since 1960 whatever age, so there no considerring of age to be done from the law, if the law is the law, we should stop that. But may be personal judgement would say, with what we have as funding lets tackle what feels the most in need of help. Don,t follow the law, but our judgement, save the children first. Its also easy to talk other options, do you know they exist for all, i have seen rural thailand, burma and laos, its tough, but a couple weeks doesn,t give me the right or the knowledge to comment. And i haven,t seen Dafur which probably has more shocking abuses.
This article makes some interesting points, and it could have been improved with some reporting on IJM's Social Work efforts-- which would presumably involve counseling for victims? Are these effective? How do they compare to efforts in this country to aid victims of domestic violence or child abuse? There are very few organizations that present self-criticism publicly, but a journalistic piece that purports to be more than a one-sided attack might do a better job at presenting the "other side to the other side."
I live in Thailand. My wife manages a pub/hotel with 12 rooms. Though the staff are not prostitutes; the bars all around do offer ladies. My wife's monthly salery is 10,000 BHT (approx 350USD. She does all the bookkeeping, ordering, inventory, payroll, and manages the bar at night. Her brother is a school teacher who makes 6,500 BHT per month. Most of the "bar girls" bring in around 20,000 to 60,000 BHT per month with no responsabilities or education. The majority of these women come from farm communities where 500 BHT per month is all they are ever likely earn. Why don't these girls want to be rescued? Do the math. You might also find it interesting that the Thai people are primarilly Buhdist's, and they do not have the same feelings of guilt or damnnation that the Christians have. Most of these women would just prefere that all of you mind your own buisiness and let them mind thier's.
Good artical, i think NGOs should work on a grass root leval and focus on prevention too. I have been in brothel in India and now helped many young girls by rescuing them But what happens then?
if any one wants to work o this then thay should hit the right place.
This article brings up a good point that is often overlooked: economics.
It is not sufficient to crack down on prostitution. It is necessary to crack down on prostitution and have an economic system in place that gives the women opportunities to make just as much (or more) than they were as a prostitute.
My wife is from that part of the world, and had a few friends that worked as bar girls. It was entirely consensual on their part, simply because it was, by far, the best money they could find.
This is not to say that involuntary participation does not happen, or that there are no problems with the existence of a sex trade. I am merely stating that the fundamental problem here is one of economics: for many women, there are not any better economic opportunities.
The economic systems of many southeast Asian countries needs to be fixed first, before we attempt to eliminate the sex trade.
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