How the Cultural Frameworks of Thailand and Laos

Influence the Control and Management of Sex Trafficking

By

Pat Ratanasirivliai

SOCI E-143

Refugees: Forced Migration in Global Perspective

Spring Term 2024

Harvard Extension School, Harvard University

Submitted on May 10th, 2024

 Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery. It is defined by the United

Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as the recruitment, transportation,

transfer, harboring or receipt of people through force, fraud, or deception (FFC) for the

purpose of exploitation (UNODC). Despite the UN Transnational Organised Crime

Protocol (UNTOC or Palermo Convention) that was enacted in 2000 with more than 147

signatures, it is on the rise all over the world (Fitzgibbon, 2003). Asia and the Pacific is

the area with the highest number of human trafficking in the world with Thailand as one

of the major hubs of human trafficking in the region (Niamvanichkul, 2011). Human

trafficking comes in a form of forced labor and sexual exploitation.

 Under U.S. law, forced labor is the recruitment, harboring, transportation,

provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud,

or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt

bondage, or slavery. (22 U.S.C. § 7102(11)(B). Sex trafficking is the recruitment,

harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for

the purpose of a commercial sex act in which a commercial sex act is induced by force,

fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained

18 years of age. (22 U.S.C. § 7102(11)(A)).

U.S. law defines the term force as— (A) the use of a weapon; (B) the use of such

physical strength or violence as is sufficient to overcome, restrain, or injure a person; or

(C) inflicting physical harm sufficient to coerce or compel submission by the victim (10

USC § 920(g)(4)). Fraud is the intentional use of deceit, a trick or some dishonest

means to deprive another of his or her money, property or a legal right. The term

“coercion” means— (A) threats of serious harm to or physical restraint against any

person; (B) any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that

failure to perform an act would result in serious harm to or physical restraint against any

person; or (C) the abuse or threatened abuse of law or the legal process (18 USC §

1591(e)(2))

However, in the case of sex trafficking in Thailand and Laos, the situation of

force, fraud, and coercion is not as direct as defined by Human Rights First, a U.S.

based NGO working on sex trafficking. Most trafficked women in Thailand and Laos are

indirectly coerced into sex work by underlying expectations within the cultural

framework, social rules and government policy.

 Most trafficked women at some point end up working as sex workers on different

premises including restaurants, nightclubs, karaoke bars, or entertainment complexes

(Niamvanichkul, 2011; Molland, 2011). Despite the general public’s opinion and the

understanding of the term “Sex Trafficking,” it is extremely difficult and confusing to

apply the UN definition of trafficking to these women in Thailand due to cultural reasons

and the nature of exploitation. This leads to difficulty in identifying and solving the

trafficking problems by case workers (Molland, 2). This paper argues that the

complexities of Thai and Lao culture act as a form of indirect coercion of both Thai and

Lao women in sex trafficking and that the definition of force, fraud, and coercion (FFC)

by the UN is highly debatable to this group of Thai and Lao sex workers

Introduction

Thailand and Laos border each

other and share similar language, culture,

and history. There are about 7.5 million

people in Laos, about 50 percent of whom

are ethnic Lao (Worldometer, 2024;

UNFPA Laos, 36). In Thailand, there are

about 22 million people who identify

themselves as ethnic Lao or Isan (Paul, 103).

This means that the ethnic Lao or Isan group of

people constitute the biggest group of people in

Thailand. They represent 33 percent of the Thai population of 66 million people

(Thailand Civil Registration, 2023). With globalization and modernization of Thailand,

more Lao people are looking for a better economic opportunity and many have at least

one time in their life crossed the border between Vietiane and Nong Kai through the

friendship bridge to seek better employment in Thailand (Molland, 77; Nouansyvong,

2017)

. It is quite easy for Thai and Lao people to cross the border to the other country

because of the special visa agreement as both are ASEAN country members. Even

without a passport, Lao and Thai people can also obtain a special permit at the border

to cross by showing their national ID card. The agreement on cross-border travel

between the government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the government of the Lao

People's Democratic Republic was signed on 20 June 1997 (ความตกลงว่าด ้วยการเดินทาง

ข ้ามแดนระหว่างรัฐบาลแห่งราชอาณาจักรไทยกับรัฐบาลแห่งสาธารณประชาธิปไตยประชาชนลาว,

1997). The border between Vientiane and Nong Kai is where sex trafficking happens. A

lot of young women have been

recruited to cross the border with the

promise of employment opportunities

on the other side of the river in

Thailand. After arriving in Thailand,

they might stay in Nong Kai or move

on to bigger cities such as Bangkok or

Pattaya (Molland, 22-24).

Sex Trafficking Statistics in Thailand and Laos

According to the United States Department of State (2023), "Thailand is a

source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to

forced labor and sex trafficking." In a recent PBS video, "Global Voices Day: My God

Died" (2024), it is estimated that Thailand's sex industry attracts approximately three to

five million frequent customers and is worth more than 6.4 billion dollars. In Thailand,

local women, men, and children are trafficked into other countries, especially wealthier

Asian countries such as Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore.The number of trafficked Thai

females in Japan alone is between 50,000 and 70,000 (Taylor, 2005). According to the

International Organization for Migration (2000), “Thai women were first trafficked to

Singapore and Malaysia, but the trafficking later expanded to Japan, Taiwan, Europe,

North America, South Africa, and Australia.”

Many women and children from other countries are also trafficked into Thailand.

Many migrants from other countries are trafficked into Thailand to work as sex workers.

There have been numerous cases of Chinese, Vietnamese, Burmese, Cambodians,

and Lao trafficked to work in brothels in northern provinces such as Chiang Mai and big

cities such as Bangkok and Pattaya. The estimated number of commercial sex workers

in Bangkok are 200,000( Niamvanichkul, 2011 ). Every year, between 200,000 and

450,000 people are trafficked in the Greater Mekong Subregion. The majority are young

women from Laos. Despite moving to Thailand voluntarily at first to seek better

employment opportunities, they are later coerced into prostitution both directly and

indirectly by traffickers or out of economic necessity or cultural pressure. About 90% of

trafficking victims from Laos are girls between 12 and 18 years old (The Culture Trip,

2023).

Common Sex Trafficking Scenario in the Thai and Lao Regions

With the portrayal of media in the west, many people believe that young women

from poor countries might be tricked or coerced into sex work without their consent and

they are not able to escape from the situation because they are in a position with much

lower power dynamic or that their employers take their passport or means of escape

(Meyer et al, 2019) . Some might be bound to work off their debt as employers pay for

their travel arrangement to come to the host country of trafficking (Niamvanichkul,

2011). If they are sold by their family, it must be the case that their father is addicted to

drugs or they are in abject poverty and have no choice but to sell some of their children

in hope for their better life (Molland, 54). Some of the described situations are mostly

true for certain groups such as the Burmese people who got trafficked to Thailand. 75%

of the Burmese women who worked in the sex industry described the nature of their

trafficking that involves a strong indication of force, fraud, and coercion (Meyer et al,

2019).

However, the situation in Thailand and Laos are a lot different than what the

media portray or the general public believe. Usually, the process of recruitment starts

when someone who left the village to work in a big city in Thailand came back to the

village to visit her parents and relatives. She came back wearing modern, beautiful

clothes with beautiful hair and makeup. She appeared happy and successful and
boasted about how she made “the right decision” to leave a small rural village for a big

city. Now she has a comfortable job that does not involve any form of agrarian hard

labor and makes a lot of money that can be used to afford a better lifestyle for her

parents by building a new house or buying a new motorcycle, electrical appliances, and

smartphones. Her story drew a lot of attention from other younger female villagers who

viewed her as a role model and also aspired to leave a small village for a big,

glamorous city life. The “successful” returner, nonetheless, did not disclose the nature of

her employment in the big city but would be happy to help other girls in the village who

aspired for a better life to come join her in Thailand. Travel arrangements were made

and these Lao women from a small village made their entry into Thailand. Upon arrival

at a restaurant or any designated premise, they found out that the glamorous job that

made a lot of money was to sell sex. They, at first, refused to do it. However, the

manager or “mamasan” did not force or coerce them and suggested that if they did not

want to sell sex, they could sell drinks, do the dishes, or other jobs in the restaurant,

which they obliged. After one or two months of doing menial labor in the restaurant, they

started to realize that the women who sold sex made a lot more than them and could

afford beautiful clothes, makeup, and nice things, so now they wanted to sell sex too.

They also realized that the job was not that bad and even pleasant because some of the

customers were handsome too (Molland, 95).

This is a common scenario of how sex trafficking is done through the Thai Lao

border and a prevalent gateway on how Thai and Lao women enter into the sex industry

in the first place (Molland, 2011). This scenario confuses many people, especially the

anti-trafficking case workers in determining if such a scenario can constitute sex

trafficking or if this is just a case of prostitution. The elements of trafficking force, fraud,

or coercion (FFC) are not clearly met here. It is true that they crossed the border under

the ruse that a job will be provided for them. However, upon arrival, after finding out

about the nature of the job, they were not forced to engage if they did not want to. One

might argue that this is not the case of trafficking because they could leave if they

wanted to. There was no known debt bondage here or if there had been debt incurred, it

could have been paid off by their salary or other jobs that were not sexual in nature.

The argument to determine that this is a sex trafficking case includes one that

takes into consideration the state of mind of the women when they worked on the

premise. They might fear retribution or violence if they refused to engage in sex work.

There are also other subtle or cultural elements in the scenario that could be indirectly

linked to coercion such as the fear of returning home as a failure, economic pressure,

and peer pressure. Can these elements be included as a form of coercion? That it

should be included as indirect coercion is the argument of this paper.

Traffickers or Trafficked. Exploiters or Exploited?

One key element in human trafficking is the trafficker. A lot of scholarship and

media paint the picture of traffickers as gang members from the organized crime

enterprises in the region (Niamvanichkul, 2011; Meyer et al, 2019 ). However, in this

scenario, the trafficker is usually a woman who used to be trafficked in the same

scenario and might still be working as a sex worker in the same bar or restaurant. Once

she gets older or she is economically incentivized by the restaurant’s manager, she will
try to recruit newcomers from the same village when she goes back to visit her

hometown (Molland, 121). The girls she recruits usually are those she might know

personally or have family ties with her. Therefore, in a way, she is both being trafficked

and trafficking other women. She is being exploited and exploiting others at the same

time. This makes the legal process extremely difficult when it comes to prosecution

because she is also a victim of sex trafficking which is deeply rooted in Thai Lao culture.

“Bunkhun” is a concept in Thai Lao culture that means indebted goodness.

Bunkhun is a psychological bond between someone who, out of sheer kindness and

sincerity, renders another person the needed helps and favors, and the latter's

remembering of the goodness done and his ever-readiness to reciprocate the kindness

(Jittichanon, 2018; Komin, 242). In the scenario where the women get trafficked from

Laos to engage in sex work in Thailand, they might not comprehend the fact that they

get trafficked because in their view, someone who is from the same village as them help

secure employment in a bigger city for them, pay for their transportation, and give them

a gift such as a new dress or makeup. They feel indebted to this person and do not view

the traffickers as “bad people’ but rather saviors that rescue them out of poverty. When

there is a matter involving investigation or persecution, they are reluctant to implicate

the traffickers because the traffickers have “bunkhun” on them.

Commodification of Sex, Relationship, and Marriage

The concept of sex, virginity, relationship, and marriage in Thai and Lao cultural

context also accommodates, tolerates, or even encourages commodification of anything

related to sexual relations between men and women. This leads to more complications

when the cultural practice has to be taken into account when determining if the said

victims or survivors got sex trafficked.

In Thai, there is no word for sex in the same sentiment as in English. The term is

“dai-sia” when a man and a woman have sexual intercourse. The literal translation of

the term “dai-sia” is gain-lose which means a man gains and a woman loses (Royal

Thai Dictionary, 2011). The implication is that it does not matter if sex is consensual, a

man always gains something from a woman like her virginity or her worth while a

woman loses her virginity or her worth to a man. Another synonym for dai-sia is “sia-tuo”

which is literally translated to “lose body,” meaning a woman loses her body as in her

virginity, worth or sense of self to a man (Royal Thai Dictionary, 2011). Thus, in this

cultural context, any form of sexual relations such as kissing, touching, or even holding

hands in public are construed as sexual transgression which has a deep moral

sanctioning on women. Therefore, Thai and Lao women expect to be compensated

either in a financial form (financial compensation) or social recognition form (marriage) if

any kind of sexual transgression happens to them.

At any form or stage of a sexual relationship between men and women in

Thailand, financial compensation is expected as part of the tradition. For example, if a

man is caught having premarital sex with a woman in a rural village of Thailand or Laos,

he is expected to either marry her to regain her social status or paying a fine to the

woman’s family. This kind of case happens a lot in Thailand where a man is caught

having premarital sex with an underage woman. The woman’s family threatens to press

charges against the man but is open to negotiating “financial compensation” or

“khatumkwan” in Thai (Royal Thai Dictionary, 2011). Police are sometimes part of the

negotiation process as well because the rape charge also does affect the woman’s

reputation in a negative way. So in a way, a man could “pay” his way off the sexual

transgression he committed against her. The reason for this is because a woman’s

sexual reputation affects her ability to be married and the amount of the bride price her

family will receive on her wedding day (Mitchell, Chartisathian, and Sachdev, Web).

Contrary to the western culture where the bride/s family is expected to pay for the

wedding and dowry, Thai and Lao women are expected to be paid a “bride price” or “sin

sod,” which will be displayed in the form of gold bars, cash, and a diamond ring. The

amount varies and goes from $3,000 to $300,000 depending on various factors

including the woman’s purity, look, education, and social status. A beauty queen or

female celebrity is expected to be paid a very high bride price in Thai society (Mitchell,

Chartisathian, and Sachdev, Web). Traditionally, a bride price is to be kept by a bride’s

family as a form of

repayment for

raising the bride

(Molland, 86). In

the modern day,

however, the bride

price is given back

to the bride and

groom as a wedding gift

from the bride’s family

but there is no obligation for the bride’s family to do so. The bride price is referred to as

“kha nam nom,” which means the price of the mother’s milk in Thai (Royal Thai

Dictionary, 2011). Therefore, if a groom finds out about her premarital relationship with

any other man, her purity will be seen as tarnished and the amount of the bride price will

drop subsequently. This is especially true in the rural areas of Thailand and Laos where

most women do not have high education and have a poor family background. Since any

sexual transgression toward an unmarried woman reduces the value of her future bride

price, a woman’s family believes that they are eligible to get financially compensated for

any sexual incident that happens to their unmarried daughter.

Virginity for sale to the highest bidder

 The commodification of sexual transgression in Thai and Lao culture has led

many young Lao women to sell their virginity (Molland 2011). This practice has since

become popular and increased the rate of trafficking of minors for sexual exploitation.

According to the UN Parlemo protocol, any person under 18 is not able to consent to

sex (Protocol). Therefore, all the virginity sales are a form of sex trafficking as the age

when women start their debut in the sex industry could be as young as 15 years old

(Molland 2011). This is due to the popular belief that young women are more likely to be

virgins. The price of the virginity sales goes from $300 (10,000 baht) to $1,400 (50,000

baht) based on the woman’s look and complexion color (Yongcharoenchai, 2016). The

reasoning behind this practice is that they view losing their virginity to their boyfriends

as a losing strategy because there is no guarantee that they will be married to them in

the future (Molland, 2011). Thus, many young girls believe it is better to sell their

virginity for immediate financial gain.

The Concept of Dutiful Daughters

In a Thai and Lao culture, the role of parents and children are intertwined with the

belief in Theravada Buddhism. Parents give life to their children and in return, children

repay their payments when they grow up. However, how men and women pay back to

their parents are different. Men can be ordained as Buddhist monks and assign all the

merits they get to their parents (Molland, 2011). However, women cannot become

monks and fulfill the same duty. This is because in Buddhism, Buddha placed women

as inferior to men. The goal of Buddhism is to be enlightened or to reach nirvana.

Women, however, are not the right entity to reach enlightenment. Only men can reach

enlightenment in Buddhism. Therefore, women need to be reincarnated as men before

they can become enlightened (Paudel & Dong, 2017). This is the reason why there are

no female Buddhist monks in Theravada Buddhism. Hence, the only way women give

back to their parents is through care during parent’s old age and financial means

(Molland, 2011). Women are expected to financially support their family. The financial

pressure is high especially in the rural areas in the era of globalization where jobs can

only be found in big cities. With little to no education, a lot of women resort to sex work

to earn money to support their family (Nouansyvong, 2017).

Premarital sex is a taboo in Thai and Lao culture. Having a boyfriend is seen as

having no social or financial value. Therefore, prostitution is seen as a better option

since financial compensation is guaranteed despite bearing the stigma. Incomes

generated from sex work can be sent back to the sex worker’s family to support their

better lifestyle and education for their younger male siblings (Molland, 2011; Molland,

87). The merits generated from taking care of the family wipe away the stigma

associated with prostitution as they perform their duties of taking care of parents

(Molland, 84).This is also a reason why many Thai and Lao women enter into the sex

industry after breaking up with their boyfriend (Molland, 88). Since they are no longer

virgins and lose social status in society as women, they are still valuable in the

economic sense from commodification of their bodies and still can be “dutiful daughters

(Statham, 2019).”

Relationships and marriage are transactional in nature. Thai and Lao women

understand and are taught that as wives, their duties are to take care of the husband,
children, and household. This means they are to give love, affection, physical touch and

sex to their husbands as their duties. In return, their husbands are obligated to support

them and their families through financial means (Statham, 2019). A good example of

this transactional relationship can be seen in an example where a Thai woman is

married to an older western

caucasian man who already

came to Thailand after

retirement or divorce in a

western country. The

arrangement is that she

takes care of him in his old

age. She serves multiple

roles as a wife, caretaker,

and nurse. He does not have to be alone

in a nursing home there. In return, he

has to take care of her and her extended

family which might include her parents,

siblings, children from previous marriage

or extended family members such as

aunts, uncles, cousins, or grandparents (Streckfuss, Web). The trend of a Thai woman

being married to an older western caucasian man has become popular and is the

ultimate goal of many Thai and Lao women as they can enjoy stability from the

western’s man retirement or pension funds until he is deceased. Many businesses such
as online dating agencies have been established in Thailand to cater the needs of these

women to match with older western caucasian men. This also includes a language

translation service and travel arrangement (Statham, 2019).

Thai Law Inadvertently Promotes Sexually Exploitative Relationships

The property law in Thailand also favors Thai nationals economically. Ironically,

this inadvertently encourages Thai girls to enter into sexually exploitative relationships

in exchange for financial security. According to Thai property regulations, foreigners are

generally restricted from directly owning land, and may require a Thai partner for certain

property co-ownership arrangements. Therefore, foreign men usually buy property

under the Thai wife's name (Statham, 2019). This law also helps facilitate the financial

arrangement between western men and Thai women.

Since the goal of many Thai and Lao women is to land a financial arrangement

deal that comes in the form of marriage or romantic relationship, working in a

restaurant, bar, night club, or entertainment complexes where western male tourists

frequent is the best way to get a chance to meet them and possibly form a relationship

(Statham, 2019). Many older western caucasian men met their spouses from a bar

scene where their wives used to work as bar girls. One particular Thai woman named

Lon from the rural northern part of Thailand was a good example for this case. In the

book “My name Lon. You like me? (Sharron, 2005) ,” she entered into the sex industry

or in other words got trafficked when she was 14 and worked as a bar girl due to the

financial pressure put on her by her mother and brother. She later met her Swedish
husband in a bar where she worked and relocated to Sweden. “My impoverished culture

and my mother were the impetus for the sale of my dignity, but my actions saved my

sister from the same fate."

The role of police officers in sex trafficking in Thailand and Laos

In Thailand, prostitution is illegal despite being seen everywhere (Prevention and

Suppression of Prostitution Act, 1996). Police rarely enforce the law and only choose to

do so in the case where the premises where sex workers work refuse to pay bribes

(Villar, 2019). According to the Royal Thai Government’s Country Report on Anti-Human

Trafficking Efforts (2021), many times, when sex trafficking cases are investigated in

Thailand, there is always more than one police officer involved in the trafficking process.

In one case, five police officers were found to be complicit. Thai police use the

anti-human trafficking law as a reason to raid the entertainment complexes for their own

benefit and choose to prosecute the premises that do not pay bribes to them (Villar,

2019). Sex workers, especially migrant sex workers, are extremely vulnerable because

there is no law to protect them (Meyer et al, 2019). They are usually exploited by

employers and paid less Than Thai sex workers because the employers know of this

fact. In the case where sex workers report abuse to police, they are likely going to get

arrested on several charges including prostitution, illegal employment, or illegal stay in

the country, so law does not protect or give any rights to foreign sex workers in

Thailand. Even a form of STI protection such as a condom if found can be used against

sex workers as evidence of prostitution (Villar, 2019).

 Prostitution is ubiquitous and all over the Thai media. For example, in the early

1990s a senior Thai general justified having Burmese prostitutes in Ranong by uttering:

“In my opinion it is disgraceful to let Burmese men frequent Thai prostitutes. Therefore, I

have been flexible in allowing Burmese prostitutes to work here” (Nation 1993).

In Laos, prostitution is illegal as well. Police also rarely enforce the law. However,

the difference is that sex work is more discreet in that restaurants, bars, or nightclubs do

not allow sex workers and customers to engage sex acts on the premises. Customers

pay the places to take the women out to a nearby motel where the sex acts happen

(Molland, 91). However, in Thailand, a lot of venues also provide rooms for customers

and sex workers (Somjittranukit, Web).

Conclusion

Sex trafficking in Thailand and Laos has remained a problem due to cultural

beliefs, economic pressures, and government policy, which together create an

environment of indirect coercion for girls and minors to be sex trafficked and exploited.

The cultural beliefs that require women to take care of and provide for their parents and

extended family financially puts tremendous pressure on women in generating high

incomes despite their lack of formal education. This, in turn, causes many of them to

look for employment in big cities that expose them to being trafficked (Molland, 2011).

Even though many women find out later that the high paying jobs are all sex jobs, they

still choose to participate in sex work because of the economic benefits reaped from this

kind of work in comparison to other menial labor they can do (Molland, 95). Admitting

their failure to secure a good job after moving to a big city might also be another factor
that prevents them from returning home after finding out about the nature of the sex

work. Also, providing sex work in restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and entertainment

complexes gives them opportunities to meet with potential western partners who can

accept their sexual history and provide them with financial means to take care of

themselves and their family members including their children from previous relationship

with Thai and Lao men (Statham, 2019).

Despite their willingness to participate in sex work later, the onset of the

trafficking usually involves recruiting them under some form of pretense indicating non

sex work jobs in a big city. Once girls or minors arrive there, they learn about the

difference in pay between sex jobs and non sex jobs. They might refuse to do sex work

at first but finally give in after acclimating themselves in the bar scene while watching

other sex workers entertain or spend time with customers (Molland, 2). This can also be

peer pressure that indirectly coerces these young women to start doing sex work. At this

point they are alone in a big city and not with their family or friends from the old village.

They might fear the consequences of refusing to do sex work because they have a

personal relationship with a trafficker or hold the concept of “bunkhun.” This leads to

more complications for case workers to determine if the cases they work on are sex

trafficking or prostitution since the coercion is indirect and caused by cultural, economic,

and social factors and not because of force, fraud, or (direct) coercion.
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