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I’ve been in Chiang Mai, Thailand for 5 days and thrown into a culture, walking down streets where sex is for the taking. To be bought and sold for “a little bit of fun” or “a man’s enjoyment” is normal and routine for Thai women. This takes place all over the world, legally in areas called Red Light Districts. For those of you who might know what this is, let me define;
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc. The term originates from the red lights that were used as signs of brothels.
Within a 10 minute walk from where i am living, i find myself down Loi Kroh Road, a very obvious Red Light District filled with Thai women and ladyboys (men who dress up like women or to the extreme receive sex changes) who prostitute and sell their bodies for a main reason of helping their families. A lot of the women my team and i have spoken with tell us they moved to Chiang Mai specifically looking for work to send money home to their parents who live in villages and remote areas. These women try to find work but can’t because the government won’t give them sufficient working visas because of their remote village status and the next best thing in their eyes is work where this isn’t required. Shortly after these women find themselves selling their bodies for sex.
When you go through the bars, talking with those being prostituted, they at first appear to be happy and put on this face as if they enjoy being a slave to sex, but five more minutes into the conversation you start to hear a very different story. These women DO NOT LIKE WHAT THEY ARE DOING. These women are not sex addicts, but caught in a very vicious, deceptive situation where it seems like there is no way out.
They feel insufficient, unworthy of real love, and have come to talk themselves into that this is what they deserve or all they are worth.. They find themselves drinking to no end to try to escape the pain and stop themselves from remembering what may happen if a man says let’s get out of here and having no real choice, but to go with him.
This place is flooded with mostly Western and European men from literally every age (early 20’s to 60-70’s). i have spoken with men who do not think what they are doing is wrong and claim things like, “I’m human and I do bad things, who doesn’t?”
And some of the men are even aware these women do not like what they are doing. One married man i spoke with, Bob, an Australian man from Brisbane has come to Thailand 30+ times and blatantly came out and told us how the system works of buying and selling women. He told us, “I know these women don’t like what there doing, and i even could say they probably hate it, but hey its work, it makes me happy and it makes them money so i’ll pay.”
HOWEVER, through all of this, there is hope. Even though there is such a great need for freedom and you might be saying, what can i do to help?
It begins with prayer.
(PRAYER CHANGES THINGS – i’ve seen it with my own eyes on these specific issues)
Sex slavery and human trafficking is a very spiritual war of deception, sexual immorality, and pure wickedness. The bottom line is it can only be overcome by the light of Jesus Christ & our prayers against it.
We need to pray for:
1. Freedom to those who are being forced in to the sex industry.
2. Those being trafficked & prostituted would have their eyes, ears, and hearts unveiled and opened to the love of Jesus. That they would understand they are worth more, they are valuable, and they don’t deserve this.
3. For those that are trafficking – pimps, John’s, sellers, buyers – that they would be unveiled to how wicked this industry is & that they would want to leave and turn there lives to Jesus.
4. Generational curses – We have witnessed a lot of father, son outings here in the bars. It is also generational with the women starting with mothers, grandmothers, passed down.
Secondly, get involved & bring awareness to this injustice that is taking place around the world!
Start supporting organizations that are doing things to stop prostitution, for example, the organization i am currently working with here in Chiang Mai, Love Acts, they need volunteers to come and work with their ministry here in Thailand as well as money to fund restoration centers and helping girls get out of the bars.
Jesus is the only answer to the solution. He is the only one that can offer them the sufficient healing to restore their broken hearts and keep them from going back, but they need people to bring them Jesus.
Be the one that comes.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING: THE FACTS
- A child is trafficked every 30 seconds. – UNICEF
- The average age of entry into commercial sex slavery in the United States is 13 years old. – United States Department of Justice
- Human Trafficking occurs in 161 out of 192 countries. – The United Nations
- Pornography is a 96 billion dollar per year industry. – The Internet Filter Review
- Up to 96% of women in prostitution want to escape but feel they can’t. – United Labor Organization
- Human Trafficking is a 32 billion dollar per year industry. – The United Nations
- In some countries it is estimated that 70% of men purchase sex. – Victor Malarek; The Johns
- Over 27 million people are enslaved around the world. This is more than double the number of Africans enslaved during the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. – Kevin Bales; Free the Slaves
• An estimated 2.5 million people are in forced labour (including sexual exploitation) at any given time
as a result of trafficking:
o 1.4 million – 56% – are in Asia and the Pacific
o 250,000 – 10% – are in Latin America and the Caribbean
o 230,000 – 9.2% – are in the Middle East and Northern Africa
o 130,000 – 5.2% – are in sub-Saharan countries
o 270,000 – 10.8% – are in industrialized countries
o 200,000 – 8% – are in countries in transition
The Victims
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The majority of trafficking victims are between 18 and 24 years of age
-
An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year
-
95% of victims experienced physical or sexual violence during trafficking (based on data from
selected European countries)
-
43% of victims are used for forced commercial sexual exploitation, of whom 98% are
women and girls
-
32% of victims are used for forced economic exploitation, of whom 56% are women and
girls
- Many trafficking victims have at least middle-level education
The Traffickers
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52% of those recruiting victims are men, 42% are women and 6% are both men and women
-
In 54% of cases the recruiter was a stranger to the victim, 46% of cases the recruiter was known to
victim
- The majority of suspects involved in the trafficking process are nationals of the country where the trafficking process is occurring.
The Profits
• Estimated global annual profits made from the exploitation of all trafficked forced labour are
US$ 31.6 billion
Of this:
o US$ 15.5 billion – 49% – is generated in industrialized economies
o US$ 9.7 billion – 30.6% is generated in Asia and the Pacific
o US$ 1.3 billion – 4.1% is generated in Latin America and the Caribbean
o US$ 1.6 billion – 5% is generated in sub-Saharan Africa
o US$ 1.5 billion – 4.7% is generated in the Middle East and North Africa15
Prosecutions
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In 2006 there were only 5,808 prosecutions and 3,160 convictions throughout the world16
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This means that for every 800 people trafficked, only one person was convicted in 200617
