by Prangtip Daorueng

Bangkok (Depthnews) - The problem came to light early last year when five women who did not speak any Thai got lost in Bangkok. They wandered around for three days before ending up at the emergency shelter of  the Centre for the Protection of Children's Rights. It was only later that police found they had come a long way - from Xichuanpanna in southern China

 Speaking through interpreters from the Institute of Asian Studies (AS) of Chulalongkorn University, the women told attending psychiatrists that they escaped from a small motel in central Bangkok after being forced into prostitution. They only vaguely remembered how they were taken from their homes.

Since 1991, the Centre has helped 33 Chinese women coming from several brothels throughout Thailand. That AS is now studying the problem to find out how the trafficking of women from China can be stopped.

As researcher Vorasakdi Mahatdhanoboi says the women, aged around 16 to 18 years old, were brought over from southern Yunan, China's mountainous area close to the Burmese and Laotian borders.

"There are two ways to get out of China through Burma to northern Thailand. One is through a small road in southern Xichuanpanna passable only by motorcycles and tractors. Women who travelled this way took two to three days to reach Thai territory," says Mr. Mahatdhanobol, who has twice accompanied some of the women back home.

Another way is to cross on foot the mountain forests of northern Xichuanpanna. According to Mr. Mahatdhanobol, five women who did so "spent nearly 20 days walking."

All the women said they were enticed to go to Thailand by Chinese middlemen who told them they could have a good time and could stay there if they found a good job. Some of the women knew the middlemen personally.

The women were then taken to another group of people, mostly Burmese, with whom they made the trip to the Thai border. A Thai group took over at this point to bring them to Bangkok and various places notably the southern city of Haddyai where they were made to entertain Malaysian tourists.

In Thailand, the meeting point for the smuggled women was Mae Sal, the northernmost district flanking Burma from which it is separated by a small river. The women were taken by truck or pickup car across the bridge past checkpoints on both sides. "One woman told me she saw the truck driver give some money to the Burmese official at the checkpoint," which may explain how they got through without trouble, says Mr. Mahatdhanobol.
Prostitution in Thailand takes place not only in motels but also in massage parlors, discotheques or hairdresser shops. The women from China were apparently sorted out according to their physical attributes and sent to clients in these places according to the latter's paying capacity.

"Actually they came to us by chance while escaping, or brought by the police after being arrested with Thai prostitutes," Mr. Mahatdhanobol says. The Centre has cooperated with the Chinese Embassy for the women's repatriation by furnishing the embassy their names and awaiting confirmation of the women's identity.

All of the women, it seems, came from the villages. Like Thai women, Mr. Mahatdhanobol notes, they wanted a better life which made them believe the recruiters' lies.

The trafficking in women for the flesh trade has very strong networks, and has victimised women not only from China but from Burma and from Thailand's hill tribes and villages. It is expected to persist with the economic booms in Southeast Asia and the opening up of Indochinese countries unless something is done - and soon.

Depthnews Asia, Depthnews Women's Feature, October 1992