Should Prostitution Be Legalized in Thailand

The Thai government wants to legalize prostitution among consenting adults to give sex workers access to social services and health care and protect them from abusive brothel owners and traffickers. The government recently legalized the national lottery for these reasons and has launched a national debate over whether casino gambling should also be legalized. Forget the debate about whether sex work should be decriminalized in the meantime. A reminder of the state of denial in Thailand became clear on Monday when Salinee Chumsuwan, director of the Cultural Oversight Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, gave an interview to local media in which she said sex toys should not be legalized until there is solid research to support them. She said that research from other countries cannot be used because the context is different. The director recommended that people with impulses resort to meditation or exercise instead. BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Sex workers in Thailand have launched a petition calling for the decriminalization of prostitution and calling on authorities to lift all penalties for selling and buying sex. Countries that support the registration of prostitution as a legal profession share a similar view: the freedom to choose a profession and the right to work. State authorities may not support a person`s decision to engage in prostitution, but they will not punish them unless they commit the crime of human trafficking. Thailand should also promote the decriminalization of prostitution.

Chuwit has made it clear to the government that such sums could and perhaps should go into their coffers instead, said Pasuk Phongpaichit, a professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and co-author of a book on Thailand`s illicit economy. We should learn how other countries regulate the sex trade. Given the country`s huge sex industry, the police should be very busy arresting sex workers. However, from January to June 2021, only four sex workers were arrested. This is proof that the law criminalizing sex work does not work and is therefore useless. Like Thailand, France wants to eradicate prostitution, but the law does not consider sex workers criminals. Instead, it treats sex workers as victims of human trafficking who need social and financial support. In Thailand, prostitution is illegal and yet the sex industry is famous – or notorious – depending on how you look at it. There are an estimated 300,000 sex workers, according to an estimate by the Empower Foundation, a leading rights advocate. Many, especially women`s rights groups, do not want prostitution to be legalized because it says it institutionalizes the exploitation of women. You say that education and better job opportunities are a fairer solution. The Empower Foundation, a Chiang Mai-based group that supports sex workers, said it hopes to collect 10,000 signatures and submit the petition to parliament to convince lawmakers to consider changing the country`s prostitution law.

Instead of penalizing the smallest fish in the sex industry food chain, state authorities should protect the rights and safety of sex workers, prevent exploitation, improve their health, and create new, sustainable employment opportunities for them. With the same reasoning, he has already proceeded to the massive expansion of legalized gambling. Many Thais are against legalizing prostitution. Some, especially religious leaders, oppose it on moral grounds. Others say legalization would encourage greater commercialization and encourage more people to become sex workers. In India, Gangubai`s homeland, the government wants to eradicate prostitution. However, private sex work is not illegal. Soliciting sex publicly or owning a brothel is. The government also has policies to support vocational training for sex workers so they can stop and start a new life.

Women`s and LGBT+ activists say the current law that made prostitution illegal in 1960 does little to protect sex workers, while repeated arrests and fines for sex work have pushed them further into poverty. She said that if prostitution became legal, «we wouldn`t have to hide from the police» and we would crack down on clients who beat her or refuse to pay. Chantawipa Apisuk, who runs Empower, an educational organization that promotes sex workers` rights, says that as long as prostitution is illegal, «the mafia will be the employer and the mafia. Sex slaves will be employees. «We are approaching this issue one way or another,» Justice Minister Pongthep Thepkanchana said in a recent interview. «Maybe we will approach the problem of prostitution differently than we are doing now.» Clearly, the government is saying it is time to open a debate on legalizing prostitution, a multi-billion dollar industry that employs 200,000 women and provides livelihoods for millions. The Thai government is debating whether to legalize prostitution, which is illegal but tolerated in the kingdom. Public opinion is deeply divided on this issue.

Under this law, sex workers are punished for loitering in public places. If they advertise their services or gather in a prostitution establishment to sell sex, they risk fines and/or jail time. Because prostitution is illegal in Thailand, the main workers in this economic activity – sex workers – are treated as criminals and sentenced to fines and imprisonment. In other countries, such as Australia, where prostitution has been legalized, «a lot of clandestine activity is still going on,» she said. «It`s proven that it doesn`t work.» Surang Janyam, director of Service Workers in Group, a Thailand-based sex worker support organization, said the prostitution law should be repealed so that sex workers can be protected by labor laws. Thai society has evolved. Laws should no longer be tied to traditional moral frameworks to justify the moral superiority of conservatives at the expense of compassion and human rights. On Thursday, the Justice Department will hold an unprecedented public debate on a Justice Department proposal to legalize prostitution and register sex workers.

Gangubai Kathiawadi, based on a true story, tells the story of a young girl full of life who lived a hellish life when her boyfriend sold her into prostitution in Mumbai, India. Despite her painful experiences and social stigma, Gangubai has become known as an influential brothel owner and social activist who has fought for the rights and human dignity of sex workers. A pluralistic society needs more than just a morality imposed on others. There should be room for competing values, and that includes values that see sex work not as something immoral and mean, but as another legitimate profession. Her views led to a storm of debate on social media, with some saying she was out of touch with reality or completely denied contemporary Thai society. Denying the reality that the sex industry in Thailand is a thriving business means not only that we pretend that the reality is different, but also that we mourn sex workers for their professional rights, protections and benefits. Sex workers are kept out of the formal economic sector, are not protected by labour laws, and do not benefit from social security or social assistance like workers in the legitimate enterprise. The scale of police exploitation of the sex industry was revealed earlier this year when Chuwit Kamolvisit, a business tycoon who owns a chain of massage parlors in Bangkok, claimed he had paid millions of dollars in protective money to police. This is partly because the idea of legalizing sex work is unacceptable to many short-sighted Thais who see the profession as the basis for vices. No matter how many sex workers are excluded from the formal economic sector and become more vulnerable to extortion, exploitation and abuse – many Thais simply will not tolerate sex work being legal. Thailand is known around the world for its huge sex industry. However, there are no official statistics on sex workers to develop appropriate policies.