Struggling Children in Thailand

Thailand is known for its breathtaking ocean view, attractive beach, tasty street food and historic
temple, but for the specific kind of tourists, it is also known for child exploitation (Kyle, 2017).
According to the World Travel and Tourism Annual report (2019), more than 90% visitors come
Thailand for leisure purpose rather than the business purpose, and it creates 5990.6 jobs next to
financial service and retail. However, Thailand, as a developing country, two million children
live in a family with income below the poverty line. Some poor families tend to send their child
for money instead of sending their children to the school that is why child exploitation is a
serious problem in Thailand, especially in the tourism industry (UNICEF, 2016; Stephanie,
2017). To explain child exploration in Thailand's tourism industry comprehensively two main
forms will be used these are child sexual exploration and child economic exploration (Save the
Children, n.d.).

Child Sexual Exploration (CSE)

Child abuse is one of the top five preventable causes of early death among children in Thailand,
such as sexual abuse, and a large number of consumers are from foreigner visitors (Vallipakorn,
Vallipakorn, & Plitponkarnpim, 2016). Why child sexual exploration from tourists is so
stubborn even government published a lot of laws to prohibit child sex tourism. The main reason
is obtaining cheaply, easily, and such engagement is perceived as a low-risk crime (Lau, 2008).
Additionally, providing
anonymity in Thailand frees
paedophiles, and sex tourists
from moral standard and the
availability of child promotes
the belief that is culturally
acceptable (Lim, 1998). Form
demand aspect have a sexual
relationship with someone
young, vulnerable and
powerless is easier to meet a

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strong and erotic feeling, and for some sex tourist through child sex tourism they can reach a
sense of inclusion or power (O'Connell Davidson, 1998). From the supply aspect, to aim for
more profit Thailand has countless tourist agencies and websites that provide sex service, and
some hotels have the contract arrangement with escort services (Singh & Hart, 2007).

According to the United Nations, some children are kidnapped from the neighbouring countries,
like Vietnam or Laos, and trafficked to Thailand in order to meet the higher demand (UN-ACT,
2012). Can you image more than tens of thousands of children suffer sex abuse every day? What
a horrible phenomenon in Thailand! If the local government is still unable to control sex tourism,
it will have a massive and negative impact on human rights and moral. At first, Prostituted
children under a high risk of physical health problem, prostitution children have high rates of
infections such as AIDS, and they also die from pregnancy and illegal abortions caused by the
lack of contraception (Willis & Levy, 2002). Secondly, Prostituted children in Thailand are
easier to have serious long-term mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Lastly, the
child sexual leads to a negative social orientation, even the sex industry has been recognized as
illegal in the 1960s, but the child sexual tourism still alive. It will lead local and tourists to think
this behaviour is a low-risk crime, even support CSE.

Child Economic Exploration (CEE)

CEE is defined as using a child in work or other

activities for economic purposes. (Save the Children,
n.d.). Child labour is a common way of exploiting
children in the tourism industry, as well as a chronic
problem in Thailand. The research in 2020 indicates
the child labour age around 5-12 account for 13% in
the total working population (ILAB, 2020). Why the
child labour account for such a large proportion. From
demand aspect, Thailand as a developing country there
a lot of poor family with many children and parents

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unable to afford them, so child labour is a crucial way to increase household income (Richter &
Ard-am, 1990). From supply aspect, according to UNICEF (2016), two million children are
living in a poor family in Thailand, the family cannot afford them to get education and child have
to work for increasing household money.

Moreover, migrant child labour also plays a vital role in child labour. As the preferential
education police for migrant family and the boosting tourism industry Thailand, which attract
many families move to Thailand, but one of the purposes of the poor migrant family is earning
more money, so that leads to a larger number of migrant child labour (Nawarat, 2018). Another
reason is the tourism industry developing in Thailand, to meet the demand of increasing visitors
more infrastructures have to be built, and some related industry needs more labour.

CEE includes but not only child labour. Have you ever been to Thailand? Have you ever saw
child beggar in Thailand? Have you ever given money for child beggars? Child beggar is another
kind of CEE. Parents force their child to the street and utilize the sympathy of tourists for money
(Ballet et al., 2010). What the result of
child labour? That would deprive the
human rights of these children. They
have no chance to go to school. They
have no chance to get high education.
And this can lead to a vicious cycle in
society. For example, their children are at
high risk of becoming child labour as
their parent lack of knowledge and
income.

What Can We Do?

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Even Thailand government takes some action to protect children from exploration like the
government found a group called Foreign Anti-Narcotics and Crime Child Exploitation working
group (FANC CE) to investigate and apprehend offenders effectively (De Vries, 2020). What
should we do as a visitor? There are some implications. Firstly, we can support or donate some
charity to prevent children trafficking. Secondly, stop the behaviours that will encourage children
exploitation. For instance, do not go to the souvenir shop or local restaurant where hiring child
labour and consider before giving money to the child beggar. Because you are not helping them,
you are encouraging this vicious cycle. Lastly, through the legal organization to visit Thailand as
a volunteer to teach those children who are unable to get an education.

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References

Ballet, Jérôme, Bhukuth, Augendra, Rakotonirinjanahary, Felana, Rakotonirinjanahary, Miantra,

Divinagracia, Emily, Tr, & Dutreuilh, Catriona, Tr. (2010). Family Rationales behind
Child Begging in Antananarivo. Population, English Edition, 65(4), 695-712.

De Vries, S. (2020). An analysis of law enforcement cooperation in child sex tourism cases
involving Thailand and Canada. Police Practice and Research, Ahead-of-print (Ahead-
of-print), 1-13.

ILAB. (2018). Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports. Retrieved from

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/resources/reports/child-labor/thailand

Kyle, H. (2017). The History of Prostitution in Thailand. Retrieved from

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/thailand/articles/the-history-of-prostitution-in-thailand/

Lau, C. (2008). Child prostitution in Thailand. Journal of Child Health Care, 12(2), 144-155.

Lim. (1998). The sex sector: The economic and social bases of prostitution in Southeast Asia.
Geneva: International Labour Office.

Nawarat, N. (2018). Education obstacles and family separation for children of migrant workers
in Thailand: A case from Chiang Mai. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 38(4), 488-500.

O'Connell Davidson, J. (1998). Prostitution, Power and Freedom. (1st ed.).

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Richter, K., & Ard-am, O. (1990). Determinants of Supply and Demand for Child Labour in
Thailand's Fishing Industry. Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science, 18(2), 29.

Save the Children. (n.d.). Child exploitation Retrieved from

https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/keyword/child-exploitation

Singh, J., & Hart, S. (2007). Sex Workers and Cultural Policy: Mapping the Issues and Actors in
Thailand. Review of Policy Research, 24(2), 155-173.

Stephanie Griggs. (2017). The DARKER SIDE of tourism (and how we can help). Retrieved
from https://www.feetdotravel.com/the-blog/the-darker-side-of-tourism

UN-ACT. (2012). Thailand Quick Facts. Retrieved from

http://un-act.org/thailand/

UNICEF. (2016). Social Police. Retrieved from

https://www.unicef.org/thailand/what-we-do/social-policy

Vallipakorn, O, Vallipakorn, Sao, & Plitponkarnpim, A. (2016). THE NATIONWIDE SURVEY

OF CHILD AND SEXUALLY ABUSE IN THAILAND. Injury Prevention, 22(S2),
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Willis, B., & Levy, B. (2002). Child prostitution: Global health burden, research needs, and
interventions. The Lancet, 359(9315), 1417-1422.

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WTTC. (2019). Economic Impact Report. Retrieved from

https://wttc.org/en-gb/Research/Economic-Impact