Study of the Practice of Trafficking Women

Study of the Practice of Trafficking Women

"Trafficking is the recruitment and or the transportation of persons by others using violence or the threat of violence, abuse of authority or dominant position...for the purpose of exploiting them sexually or economically for the profit or advantage of others, such as recruiters, traffickers, brothel owners and customers." (unknown author, "What is Trafficking?") Trafficking in women and girls has become one of the fastest growing criminal enterprises in the world. An estimate of one to two million women and girls are trafficked around the world, annually, 10,000 to 100,000 of which are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. (International Women's Issues, "Trafficking in Women and Girls-An International Human Rights Violation") Women migrate to cities or across international borders to support families, and they usually migrate alone. Traffickers in women lure victims with advertisements and false promises of jobs as waitresses, sales clerks, nannies and models. In Thailand and South Africa, women and girls, especially those who are poor, are vulnerable to exploitation and trafficking, and often times it is the only option open for them.

The following is an experience of a Burmese girl caught in the trafficking of women and girls into Thailand. When "Lin Lin" was thirteen years old, shortly after her mother's death and her father's remarriage, she was taken by her father from their village of Chom Dtong to Mae Sai. At the job placement agency in Mae Sai, her father was given 12,000 baht ($480) from an agent who assured him he could find a job for Lin Lin in Thailand.

Lin Lin was sent on a bus to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. The agent from Mae Sai met her at a hotel in Bangkok and took Lin Lin to Kanchanaburi, a city west of Bangkok. She was brought to the Ran Dee Prom brothel and on the third day was told to work. Lin Lin was completely unaware of what kind of work was in store for her. She did not know what was going on until the man started touching her body. He took her to a room, told her to take off her clothes, and then forced her to have sex. Lin Lin was kept in Kanchanaburi to work for one month, and then sent to Korat, a city northeast of Bangkok, to a brothel owned by the sister of the Ran Dee Prom brothel owner. She stayed in Korat for nine months, and then was sent to another brothel in Kanchanaburi, owned by another relative, for three months.

In Kanchanaburi, there were over one hundred girls, of whom over half were from Burma and about twenty were less than sixteen years old. In Korat, there were approximately sixty girls, ten of whom were from Burma and twenty were under sixteen years of age. In each brothel Lin Lin was sent to, the arrangement was the same. The owner provided room and food, but everything else was added to her "debt". She was allowed only to keep her tips, and forty percent of the amount each client paid was taken away from her "debt".

In all three brothels, Lin Lin sat in a room with a number and the clients paid the owner 100 baht ($4) per hour for the number they wanted. The clients could also take a girl out all night for 800 baht ($30) by leaving an identity card or their passport at the brothel. During the weekdays, she had six or seven clients a day, but the number rose to fourteen to fifteen a day on weekends.

After thirteen months in Kanchanaburi and Korat, Lin Lin agreed to a loan of 5,000 baht ($200) to return to Mae Sai for a visit. The loan was for the bus ticket and escort; she never received any cash. When she arrived in Mae Sai, she did not have enough money to get all the way home. A couple came up to her, asked her name and told her they would help her get home. She was driven back into Thailand with four other girls. Later, two more girls were added, and they were all driven to Klong Yai.

In Klong Yai, Lin Lin worked in a restaurant and the men picked out which girl they wanted. She saw the owner and pimps slap the girls often, and she herself was slapped in the face and was warned to do whatever the clients wanted. She had to work everyday with the exception of two days a month when she had her period.

Lin Lin was never allowed to refuse a client. If she tried, the owner and pimps would tell her, "If you don't pay back your debt, you can stay here forever." She would be beaten if she came out of the room before her client. She never tried to run away for fear of the owner following her and her family because she had not finished paying her debt.

On January 18, 1993, the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) raided the brothel. The Crime Suppression Division (CSD) arrested about twenty-seven girls, but no owners or pimps. Since November 1992, the brothels had been closed by order of the government authorities. The police came to the houses where the women and girls were staying and arrested them. They were not allowed to get any of their belongings. Lin Lin was first brought to the Klong Yai police station then transferred the same day to a police station in Bangkok. She was released the next day to the Non-governmental Organization (NGO) shelter with eleven others under the age of sixteen. (Asia Watch and The Women's Rights Project, p. 38-41)

The story of Lin Lin is an example of girls who are sold by their parents to bring in more money for the family. Many women and girls who are trafficked are unaware of what is going on and do not know that they have been sold as prostitutes until they arrive at the brothels; by that time, they have no way of getting out of the situation; they are tied to the owner and are indebted and the only way for them to pay off their "debt" is to work as a prostitute. In Japan, the brothel owners and pimps prevent women from escaping by putting them under surveillance. They are confined to an apartment or a bar and are forced to take many "customers" every day. If they try to escape, they are imposed with violence or rape as punishment. "Some kill themselves in desperation and others are being murdered in process". (Yayori, pg.1)

Recent surveys show that the majority of Asian women who now work as prostitutes first entered the sex trade unwillingly. One survey found that:

o3% were sold by a boyfriend

o4% were raped and sold

o5% were raped by a stepfather and sold

o32% were tricked and sold by non-family

o8% were sold by parents to pay off debts

o4%