This Week in Human Rights News

In Thailand, sex workers petition for decriminalisation to combat violence, corruption

Sources: Reuters, Empower Foundation, Manushya Foundation, HRW, NCBI  

A petition started by a non-profit group from Chiang Mai has been launched to call for the decriminalisation of sex work in Thailand.

The non-profit, Empower Foundation, provides educational classes to sex workers on topics such as health, law, and pre-college education. 

There are an estimated 300,000 people working in the sex work industry in Thailand. In 2018, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights acknowledged that criminalisation was at the root of human rights abuses faced by sex workers. 

Criminalisation prevents workers from seeking legal protection, but according to the human rights non-profit Manushya Foundation, it also subjects them to “violent [police] raids, random drug tests, arbitrary arrests, extortion and demands for bribes or protection”.

“The [country’s prostitution] law punishes sex workers - 80% of whom are mothers and the main breadwinner for the whole family,” Mai Junta, a representative from Empower Foundation, told Reuters. 

While criminalisation is seen by many governments and anti-trafficking groups as a way to combat sex trafficking, it actually pushes traffickers and victims further underground and leaves sex workers more vulnerable to abuse. 

“The sex industry generates massive income [for Thailand], but there is no mechanism to protect sex workers,” Surang Janyam, director of the Service Workers in Group, told Reuters.

Decriminalisation of sex work is a fiercely debated topic, but the most unheard group in the debate are sex workers themselves. Listening to sex workers and advocating on behalf of their firsthand experiences is crucial in the pursuit of lasting solutions for safety, protection, and combatting exploitation.