The Nation July 20, 2012 1:00 am
Thai immigrantion police arrested about 40 Uzbek women in a raid on Bangkok's Grace Hotel in 2005. And the trafflicking of women is continuing. Nation Photo: Nuttapone Tipvateeamorn
A TV documentary on trafficking in Thailand delves into the Bangkok underworld
A National Geographic Channel documentary tonight sheds light on the trafficking of Central Asian women to Thailand for sex work. The programme, "Inside: 21st Century Sex Slaves", looks at the case of Uzbek women caught in a web of deceit in Bangkok and Pattaya.
It focuses on the efforts by Freeland - a non-governmental organisation that fights trafficking of people and wildlife - and Thai law-enforcement officers to extricate two young women and take action against the criminal network that brought them to Thailand.
The spotlight is on individuals caught in the Bangkok and Pattaya underworld. The size of the network involved is hard to gauge from this report, but the "Uzbek connection" is a slice of the local sex industry that has grown over the years, allegedly because rogue Army and police officers protect it.
The operation includes criminals from the Middle East faking passports and peddling drugs. Further arrests were made after the documentary was completed.
Part of the footage was shot with cameras concealed on Freeland agents as they searched bars in downtown Bangkok for a mamasan responsible for encouraging Uzbek women to come and work here, as well as the higher-level traffickers.
The mamasan was also accused of forcing the Uzbek ladies to undertake sex work on a casual basis by approaching men - generally Middle Eastern men - in notorious pick-up joints along lower Sukhumvit Road.
There are many twists and turns in the story, and the film does a good job of showing why human trafficking is difficult to combat and prosecutions hard to achieve.
Thousands of people come to Thailand in search of work every year, mostly from adjacent countries. Their situations vary greatly, but women and young men commonly lose control of their circumstances when the broker or a go-between seizes their passport, effectively trapping them here. Often there are threats of violence and sometimes they are simply locked up.
Individuals like the Uzbek women at the centre of this report say they suddenly found themselves in a web of extortion and threats were made to harm them or their family back home.
The film is at times overly dramatic, but at one point the prospect of violence is clear and police must enlist support for a rendezvous arranged to try and arrest key figures in the network in which the Uzbeks are caught.
This report is timely. There has been serious criticism recently of Thailand's efforts to counter human trafficking, characterised as lethargic and half-hearted. Freeland seem to have done a remarkable job just getting the Thai police to participate and be filmed during an undercover operation that had the potential to turn nasty.
The Uzbeks might only be "slaves" to a certain degree and lower on the scale in terms of their personal trauma, compared to the many horror cases found in Thailand, but the fact remains that this is organised crime in downtown Bangkok - with tentacles that spread across the continent.
Rights activists and people working in the anti-trafficking sector say Burmese and Cambodian men forced to work on Thai fishing boats probably face the worst instances of modern-day slavery.
There have been many credible reports in the past couple of years about young migrants killed at sea or forced to work for months on Thai trawlers for no wages, yet the government follow-up on this has been scandalously deficient.
Only now, with the US reportedly on the verge of downgrading Thailand to Tier-3 status, warranting economic sanctions, because of the lack of concerted action against trafficking, does it appear that the government might do something.
The Labour Ministry conceded on Tuesday that cases of trafficking are poorly handled because its five departments are not integrated. Officials are due to meet next week to discuss a master plan to combat trafficking in key sectors such as crews on fishing trawlers and migrant workers in Thailand in general.
Sadly, however, there is considerable scepticism about the approach, given the widespread corruption in the government hierarchy. Trafficking is deeply entrenched because it pays its sponsors and enablers high dividends.
The TV documentary shows some of the complexity and the sleazy side of the Thai sex industry. It also shows how people caught in difficult circumstances can get drawn in - and that it can be tough for them to escape.
GRIM VIEWING
"Inside: 21st Century Sex Slaves" airs at 9 tonight National Geographic Channel with rebroadcasts at midnight and 11pm tomorrow.
Watch the trailer at Video -- Undercover in Pattaya -- National Geographic
The trade in sex and bodies - The Nation
This is really sad, Stamp. Eye opening for the people who like to think it doesn't exist or is not on a large scale.
I can't imagine being a woman forced into something like this.
Originally Posted by Stamp
Sad too.
Sad it is indeed, PB. I missed the documentary last night. I hope to find it on one of the torrent sites.
Let me know if you find it. Ta. I'd be interested to watch it.
That's the title of another NG documentary from 2011:
National Geographic 21st Century Sex Slaves PDTV XviD AC3 (download torrent) - TPB
Haven't found the other one yet.
Undercover investigators hunt down a ruthless multi-million-dollar trafficking ring that forces thousands of Asian women to be sex slaves. This lucrative business is run by ruthless gangs who target vulnerable women and force them to work on the streets In Bangkok, where sex is one of the city's biggest commodities, a crack team headed by investigator Steve Galster, attempts to bring down the leaders of a brutal trafficking ring who will stop at nothing to avoid capture.
Moon Lander Champion!Don't worry. I'm fairly certain you will never be faced with such a concern.
What I see is a bunch of women with cellphones hiding their face. Sorry if I sound like an ass in case I am wrong, but no one seems forced in that pic.
The idea that a significant number of prostitutes are sex slaves, in Thailand or most other locations, is an urban myth.
Most working girls do their work willingly as it is an “easy” way to make money. Most prostitutes are lazy and/or addicts and find a way to make the maximum amount of money with the minimum effort. Others find it preferable to working 14 hours a day in the fields for a couple of bucks.
Of course when arrested by the police claiming being forced into the work helps lighten any criminal penalties and is a good story to tell the family back home to justify one’s actions.
I am no authority on the sex industry in Thailand at all. Although, I have visited Nana, Cowboy, and Pattaya. From what I have seen and gathered from talking to some of the girls, they all seem willing to do their "jobs" and most of them seem to be having fun. It sure beats planting and harvesting rice! From what I know about the business, which really isn't a lot, they choose to work at the bars. When they are there, they have to follow the bar rules. They get paid by the bar and customers and can terminate employment whenever they want.
But I've never talked with any Uzbek or Russian bar girls, so I don't know their situation. Seems like they are called "sex slaves" because they are part of an underground organization that "traffics" or brings them to Thailand for employment, and thus profits from them. They look old enough to be able to walk away, unless there is some other threat that I don't know about keeping them employed against their will. Like someone said, in the picture, they are all on their cell phones. Do slaves tend to have cell phones?
One thing that I have heard about is very underage girls and boys that are forced to do sexual favors for adults. Their handlers will get clients and bring them to little rooms where the children are kept. That is sex slavery. But the Uzbeks or Russians that stand on corners and proposition passing men or dance on poles at bars is not nearly the same thing. They try to paint both groups with the same brush.
"Thailand is way past the days of tuna, pineapples, and bargirls." - Sharky
I've heard mixed reports on this issue--while I've heard a lot of stories about underage prostitution in Thailand, I've also heard that the penalties are harsh and the police actually enforce this law constantly.
When I was in Bangkok last May I saw a man in his 60s around Nana plaza talking to the prepubescent son of a middle-aged beggar; I couldn't tell what he was doing, but it seemed like he was propositioning them. I didn't really know how to respond or whether I was imagining it, but there are a lot of child beggars in Thailand and I do worry how protected they are from predators.
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