[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

REPOST : Study probes Thai child pr



Subject: REPOST : Study probes Thai child prostitution

Study probes Thai child prostitution (UPI; 07/28/98)

BANGKOK, Thailand, July 28 (UPI) According to a new study, between
12,000 and 18,000 children including 5,510 foreigners were involved in
the sex industry in
Thailand.

The study released today by Mahidol ("MAH-hee-don") University's
Institute for Population and Social Research said a total of about 90,
000 women, girls and boys
were working as prostitutes in Thailand, with large numbers of street
children from Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Pattaya being lured into the
trade.

The figure exceeds the 63,940 prostitutes cited in a recent study by the
Public Health Ministry but was considered too conservative by some
non-government
organizations, which claim as many as a million or more Thais were
involved in the sex trade.

According to the Mahidol University study, the estimated 5,510 foreign
prostitutes working in Thailand come mainly from the neighboring
countries of Burma, Laos,
Cambodia, Vietnam and China's Yunnan province.

Public Welfare Department Director-General Irawat Chantharaprasert
("EE-rah-wat Chan-tara-pra-sert") said Western tourists applying for
visas to Thailand should be
warned that it was illegal to have sex with anyone under the age of 18.
- 

Copyright 1998 by United Press International. {UPI:Features-0727.851}
07/28/98