The Empower Foundation wants to end the ban on prostitution in Thailand

The Empower Foundation in Chiang Mai hopes to collect 10.000 signatures to hand over a petition to the government to legalize prostitution.

The advocacy group, which supports sex workers, is urging authorities to remove all sanctions against prostitution from the law. This law dates back to 1960. Making prostitution illegal increases the risk of corruption and exploitation.

Although we work in legal entertainment venues, we are considered violators of the law by the Anti-Prostitution Act,” said Coordinator Thanta Laowilawanyakul. “The law was created to help people in this industry develop their lives, but the police only go after the employees (not the employers) and do not help them at all.”

Thanta claimed that 80 percent of women working in the sex industry are mothers or breadwinners for the entire family. It is also a temporary business, in which most women work for a short period of time, often as a result of a financial crisis. However, if they are arrested, they are branded with a criminal record for life. If they have a “criminal” background, it is difficult for them to apply for a job or start a new life,” said Thanta. More than 24.000 people were arrested, prosecuted and fined for sex work-related offenses in Thailand last year, according to the Royal Thai Police Office.

Empower collected 19 signatures at the massive anti-government protests on September 1.000, an event that also called for more rights and better protection for Thailand's LGBT population. But even if the group manages to collect the targeted 10.000 signatures to change the 1960 law, which was also amended in 1996 to give the police more powers to prosecute, it will be almost impossible to change it. It has been tried repeatedly.

Researcher Mataluk Orungrot at Thammasat University wrote in 2018 that the law is not working because of chronic corruption in the Thai police. Brothels in the form of massage parlors, karaoke bars and gentlemen's clubs can bribe the police and stay open.

Rangsit University criminology expert Jomdet Trimek has repeatedly said that bribes start at 200.000 baht a month and can reach as high as 400.000 for sites trafficking illegal migrants from neighboring countries.

The government has long known how much it is losing in tax revenue. In 2003, the Justice Department held a public hearing on a government proposal to legalize prostitution and register sex workers. Representatives from the government, sex industry, non-governmental organizations and academics all expressed their views on how legalization could benefit human rights, legal, economic, cultural, social and moral issues.

In June of this year, Mongkolkit Suksintharanon made another failed attempt to convince a commission to legalize both prostitution and sex toys, all to combat rape. That is not to say that the government has not taken note of Empower's petition. A spokesperson for the women's affairs ministry said this could be useful for public debate next year.

A major obstacle to changing the law is the massive corruption that perpetuates illegal prostitution. The police get paid by taking bribes from go-go bars, massage parlors and brothels, even accepting cash to allow underage prostitution. At the same time, they collect fines from the sex workers employed by those who pay the bribes.

A 2014 report from a United Nations anti-AIDS agency estimates Thailand has 123.530 sex workers, but Empower and other social welfare groups put it closer to 300.000. Many of them are migrants from neighboring countries or even minors.

“Sex workers are legally registered in Germany, the Netherlands and Singapore. Why not in Thailand?” Thanta asked. “The answer is no, because the government thinks it will ruin the country's reputation. Meanwhile, Germany has more than 700.000 prostitutes, but the profession is nevertheless not stigmatized.”