Debate over sex industry in Thailand
Straits Times: Great Thai sex debate.
Thailand launched an unprecedented national debate yesterday on what to do about its billion-dollar sex industry, which stimulates rampant corruption and draws swarms of foreign tourists.
There were immediate calls for the industry, outlawed in 1960 but still expanding, to be legalised as the Justice Ministry summoned 300 people to a public forum and invited the media to watch the debate. [...]
Academics and some Thai prostitutes who were at the forum said they strongly opposed legalising the sex industry, arguing it would increase child exploitation and lure more women to the trade.
Bangkok Post: Legalise sex trade, govt told.
Feminists, academics and sex workers have called on the government to revoke the law against prostitution and decriminalise the world's oldest profession. [...]
About 500 people turned up at the hearing organised by the Justice Ministry's Rights and Liberty Protection Department.
National Post: Thailand touts sex tax as huge revenue stream.
Government advisors have suggested that legalizing prostitution will give an estimated 220,000 Thai sex workers access to social services, health care and protection from abuse. They hope legalization will also help eliminate the web of corruption that surrounds the politicians, police and business owners associated with the sex industry. [...]
Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's Prime Minister, has touted the possible legalization of prostitution, along with legalized gambling, as a strategy for boosting Thailand's economy.
Since prostitution is now illegal, brothel owners and most prostitutes don't pay taxes. But they pay millions of dollars in bribes and hush money to corrupt policemen and politicians.
A recent study by the National Economic and Social Advisory Council says that massage parlour owners alone pay a staggering US$114-million a year in police bribes.
More.
