Notes on the Child Sexual Exploitation in (June 23, 2003)
Thailand Talk Given by Debra Smith

Compiled by Candace Corroll

The tour was advertised as "one week pleasure tour". The tour offered hotel and liquor at no extra cost. Tour guide was a euphemism for pimp. The cost of the trip was a $300 base price.
The plane landed in an "air field" outside of Bangkok. It was not an official airport. It was very make-shift. It looked like locals has just swept off /cleared the airway that morning.
The tour participants included 60 to 70 Caucasian/white middle class men. The mens' nationalities included German heritage, British heritage, and Australian heritage (etc.). Hotel extras were offered.
Debra thought that the hotel extras were such things as phone calls or paid showers. What the extras really were, were child prostitutes. Hotel guests stayed on the top two floors. On the main floor lobby of the hotel there was an area that was blocked off. This barricaded area blocked off two rooms in the back off the main floor.
The name of the tour guide was "Jack", although it is unlikely that this was his real name.
Debra did not suspect that this was a tour that was organized to provide the services of child prostitutes to tour participants. Her first "clue" that the tour was a just a subterfuge cover up/distraction from its real true purpose was the presence of young girls wearing lots of makeup and not many clothes. The girls wore skimpy, revealing clothing.
The hotel was actually a brothel. There was a fish bowl viewing room where girls were viewed from outside a Plexiglas enclosure. The girls would wave to the viewers and the girls were totally caged inside of the Plexiglas enclosure.
The tour guide would ask the tour participants if they "wanted the services of a such and such a girl". Debra asked the tour guide if prostitution was legal in Thailand and the tour guide Jack told her that yes, prostitution was legal in Thailand.
Actually the guide was not telling the truth. Prostitution was not legal in Thailand. The guide Jack said that the girls wanted to be there. Jack banged on the glass and the girls smiled and waved.
This was supposed to be Jack's proof that the girls wanted to be there. However, the girls were not smiling until Jack banged on the glass and prompted them to do so. No smiles were present until Jack rudely banged on the glass.
A tour participant was required to pay $25.00 American in order to be allowed to speak to a girl.
Debra paid to speak to a girl.
She chose the youngest looking girl that she could see. Debra should have asked to speak to a girl that spoke English. The young girl whom Debra chose only spoke Thailand's language. The tour guide claimed that the girl was eighteen years old, but from her appearance it was clear that the girl was close to 12 years old. The tour guide "translated" for the girl, but it is highly probable that the tour guide was just making up things, and claiming that this was what the girl was actually saying.
The tour guide said that the girl was saying that the girl wanted to be there, doing what she was doing at the hotel. But then, the girl began to cry. Debra said something about leaving the place. The girl said "Yes, I leave place now".
Debra took the girl's hand in hers and began to walk out of the hotel, but suddenly the tour guide put his arm around Debra. Debra felt violated by this man grabbing her, so she reacted to defend her own personal space. The tour guide said, "No, you can't do this". A small fight ensued.
In Thailand there are two tiers of police. There are the tourist police and there are the "regular" police. It was the regular police that were called. The police put the girl back into the "fish tank" viewing area where she was held captive.
Debra was taken to the police station. To begin with, Debra was kept in custody at the police station for approximately forty hours, or about a day and a half. Debra was not told what she was being charged with.
Much later, through her own searching, she found out that according to the Canadian consulate, she had committed that crime of "forcible detainment of a minor". In the Thai jail, Debra was placed into a white room containing a table and a chair. Debra did not know the Thai language at all. However, Thai was the only language that the police spoke. She had no way of understanding anything that was being said to her.
Debra was handcuffed to a chair for about forty hours. She slept for about five or six hours on the bare floor of the room.
Two types of policemen would take turns coming into the room. One was the stereotypical "nice cop" and one was the stereotypical "mean cop". The "nice cop" would come into the room and be snacking on a sandwich and he would chat with her pleasantly, even though she had no clue what his words meant. The "mean cop" would come into the room speaking abrasively, and would exhibit a negative threatening demeanor.
Debra then had her legs shackled. Her restraints were become more torturous. However, at least the handcuffs that were used on her were "normal" handcuffs. They were not the handcuffs that have a plastic cuff that can cause nerve damage. Debra had gone on the trip with friends. The fourth friend was not in the hotel at the time when the police took Debra and her other friends into custody. This fourth friend paid money to the police officials. The money that Debra's friend paid to the police was not called bail. The normal way that Thai police are paid in most types of situations where they are holding someone captive, is as a bribe. The friend was given a receipt for $100.00 for paying the "bribe money".
Debra and her friends were let out of their jail rooms, but they were not yet free. They had to obey certain rules if they were to be allowed to leave the jail area.
They were not to go near the hotel area. Also, disruptive or criminal behavior was not to be exhibited. If these rules were followed, the police said they would proclaim that Debra and her friends were exhibiting "good behavior". As a prize for displaying "good behavior", the police promised the reward of giving the travelers their passports back. Presently, the travelers' passports were being held in the Thai police station.
Debra and her friends had left all of their belongings at the hotel. No one brought the travelers' belongings to them.
It was a stressful time and it was hard to understand all of the rules that the police said, because the police who did speak English were not fluent in the English language.
Debra had not properly understood the rule of not going back to the hotel. What other way would she be able to recover her possessions than to go back to the hotel and get them herself. She was not traveling with a chauffeur and personal butler! The reason they had chosen this travel package was because of the low cost! Unfortunately, going back to the hotel to gather personal belongings was in violation with the agreement with the police. The action of returning to the hotel broke the polices' rules.
More ordeals had to be endured Two hours were spent talking to immigration officials. Then, it was back to the Thai police. Eight more hours were spent bouncing back and force again between the "good cop" and the "bad cop".
Then, a well dressed government representative was sent in. The dapper government official insisted that a document must be signed. It was imperative that the document be signed. Albeit, the document that was to be endorsed with the signature of each individual traveler was written only in the Thai language. None of the travelers were the least bit literate in the Thai language. They could not speak it, let alone read it ! The travelers were separated from each other. They were each in a kind of solitary confinement where they could not communicate at all with one another. None of the travelers had any idea of what each other were doing. Debra demanded that her document be brought to her written in the English language.
It took four hours for Debra's English version of the document to arrive. The police were using forced confinement and intimidation as ways to manipulate the travelers into signing the documents. The longer the travelers suffered, the more likely they would be to break down and sign the documents, in order to assail themselves of their torturous plight.
Debra's English document said that she was not to ever go back to the hotel. Also, Debra was to never ever have any contact with a list of about fifty people. Debra did not know any of these people. She did not recognize any of the peoples' names, and would not be able to know that she was talking to any of them if she ever met them, because she had no idea what any of them looked like.
In addition the document said that Debra was not to make any statements to foreign agencies or consulates, that would embarrass the Thai government. The government official told Debra that if she would not sign the document, she would never be allowed to leave the room that she was presently being held captive in. Then, two more hours elapsed during which time Debra was still kept prisoner in the empty room, populated only with the occasional entry of the overbearing government official or harassing police persons.
Debra demanded that she be granted legal council. This request was vehemently denied.
Then, another manipulative tactic was implemented. Debra was told that all of her friends had already signed the same document, therefore, it would be wise of her to follow her friends' lead and do as they had already done. Debra should trust the judgment of her friends. She should sign the document. The government official was trying to convince Debra that her friends had made a smart decision and that thus, she should follow suit and do the same thing as they had. The government official was lying. Her friends had not already signed the document. The lie was being used as a tactic to manipulate Debra's actions.
Yet another 24 hours elapsed in the solitary jail confinement. Debra was exhausted and could think of no way to be able to escape the prison.
The decision to sign the document was forced upon her by the unfair and brutal circumstances of the situation. Debra's "last stand" action to assert her rights and stand up for her beliefs, was to cross out passages in the document that were especially erroneous and inappropriate. Debra crossed out many such passages.

Finally, Debra gave in after an honorable effort to resist the extreme and extensive coercive battery forced upon her. Debra signed the document. In another hour or so, Debra's friends gave in and signed their individual copies of the document as well. The travelers were then promptly sent back to Northern Australia on an economy class flight. Debra requested first class, but of course this request was denied. Thailand officials did not give Debra's passport back to her.
In economically depressed areas, the sex trade of selling children for money is common. Prior to 1996 it was legal to have sex with a 15 year old person. These sorts of situations attract pedophiles. It was not until 1996 that the law was changed. In 1996 the age at which sex was allowed in Thailand was changed to 18 years of age. Punishment for having sex with someone under 15 years of age in Thailand, is jail time of two to six years.
Having sex with someone under 18 years of age in Thailand entails a punishment of zero to two years jail time. Punishments for having sex with a minor in Thailand are not strict.
Parents in Thailand receive a punishment of four years, for selling their child to the sex trade industry. Few parents in Thailand are actually sent to jail when they sell their children to the sex trade industry.
After the trip, the tour guide "Jack" later told Debra and her friends that "they knew what they were getting into". It is commonly thought that prostitution is legal in Thailand, but this is not true. However, it is true that prostitution is culturally acceptable in Thailand. In Thailand prostitution is a cultural norm. Sex with child prostitutes is common in Thailand. Travelers think that having sex with children is safer health wise than is having sex with an adult, but this is false. It can often be a far more dangerous risk to health, possibly leading to death.
Countries presently depressed by poverty do not need the added tragedy of the rape of their next generation. Not visiting the country will just increase poverty, so the solution is to continue to enjoy the beauty and rich cultural cornucopia, without involving oneself in the prostitution industry.

Debra also presented some references regarding issues in Women's rights and Child Trafficking to supplement her talk and these can be found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/21/1045638485501.html http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/Hughes/catw