Naw Paw, a 13-year-old Karen girl from Hlaing Bwe in Myanmar, works in a restaurant in Mae Sot, on the Myanmar border. She earns 3.000 baht a month. That is three times as much as she can earn in her own country.
'I came to work here because I have to support my family in Myanmar. I left school because my parents could no longer afford it. Now I send them about 2.000 baht every month.”
Naw is lucky. Her boss provides room and board and does not abuse her. The same cannot be said of the vast majority of child laborers in Thailand. They work in tea houses, restaurants, massage parlours, karaoke bars and brothels; both in the big city and in the countryside.
One of the most harrowing cases that received a lot of media attention was Air, a 12-year-old Karen girl. She was kidnapped by a Thai couple, made to do housework, tortured and made to sleep in a dog house when she was punished. In January, after 5 years, she managed to escape from the hands of the sadistic couple. Her back was full of burns, she could no longer use her left arm.
Many children are forced to beg
Pensiput Jaisanut, affiliated with Chiang Rai Rajabhat University, participated in a study on child labor in northern Thailand. Most of the 603 children came from Myanmar. Many children were forced by their parents to beg. “If they don't beg enough money, they'll be punished. Some girls under the age of 15 work in 'entertainment centres' and are sexually harassed at an age when they should be in school.'
According to the study, most children work in housekeeping, karaoke bars and restaurants or they work on the street as beggars. Girls who work in the household make up the majority of child workers at 78 percent. About 95 percent earn less than 4.000 baht a month. The majority reported being abused both verbally and physically.
Children are also abused in other parts of the country. For example, some Myanmar children have been sold to fishing vessels in the southern coastal provinces. They are not allowed to return home, according to Pensiput.
On paper it all looks good: child labor is prohibited in both Myanmar and Thailand. Myanmar signed the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in 2004 and formed an anti-trafficking task force in 2007. But XNUMX children from Myanmar still cross the border every month in search of work, NGOs estimate. One fifth of the total number of foreign workers from Myanmar are children.
The devastating 2013 US Trafficking in Persons report for Thailand recently confirmed Thailand's poor performance in the fight against human and child trafficking. It does not seem very likely that there will be any improvement soon, because as the saying goes 'They drank a glass, took a pee and everything remained as it was'.
(Source: Spectrum, Bangkok Post, June 30, 2013)
Too sad for words, but unfortunately this does not only happen in Thailand. What about Africa, South America, and a few eastern bloc countries closer to home. These children are "destroyed" for the rest of their lives. But it's like Dick says: 'They drank a glass, took a pee and everything remained as it was'. As far as I'm concerned, that can stand 20 years!
Copying language jokes isn't a bad thing, but maybe it's more fun and just fairer to attribute glass-pee-wax to creator Youp van het fence Dick?
@ Theo Hua Hin The expression dates from 1728, Van Dale mentions it since 1914. Youp van 't Hek really wasn't born then, unless you believe in reincarnation.
Dick, The farmer drank a glass, took a pee and everything remained as it was.
Sad child labor. If you're here a little longer you see it regularly and I don't mean begging. If you visit the big market on the border with Cambodia you can see it all happening. The children and women come first to offer all kinds of things. After that, the same children and women are offered by men/owners. Money is paid immediately. Just go to that market and stay with your car or bus, they will come at you like ants.