'Arrests frighten sex workers'
Sex workers ask less for medical help and information for fear of arrest. After the raid on massage parlor Nataree in Bangkok, many prostitutes have become afraid, says aid organization Service Workers in Group (Swing).
Due to the raid on the massage parlor annex brothel, the women are deprived of income. The police found a number of minors and foreign workers from Myanmar. The foreigners are detained in government centers while their case is before the court, said Swing director Surang Janyam.
After the raid, Swing set up an aid station in Sanam Luang where sex workers can go for medical consultation. “While the women waited for help, the police arrested them. As a result, our work has become virtually impossible. The Thai sex workers can go to our center in Soi Patpong, but the foreign sex workers stay away because they are too afraid of being arrested.”
“The foreign sex workers also need access to health care. Many of them have HIV. If they are not given medication, their symptoms will get worse and they are more likely to infect others.”
Surang sees the same problems elsewhere in the country. Local health services have also reported a decrease in the number of women in Isaan.
Surang urges the government to look seriously at the problem to prevent the problems from getting worse and wants to organize a public forum on prostitution in Thailand: “It is time to discuss the laws on prostitution, because they are old and outdated. Sex workers also have their rights and deserve to be protected by the law.”
Source: Bangkok Post
It is not just any prostitutes who have become frightened, it is the illegally staying foreign prostitutes who carry out prohibited activities for them.
The laws may be old and outdated, but they apply to everyone. No foreigner has access to health care here. Let alone an illegal one.
Surang can want so much, the government in Thailand probably doesn't feel called to suddenly pamper a certain group of lawbreakers.
The call for a public discussion forum about prostitution in Thailand, which the government is looking at seriously, already indicates that aid organization Swing has an unrealistic view of reality.
Any foreigner can just walk into a state hospital, clinic or doctor's office in Thailand and be helped. Only payment must be made.
The Thai sex workers are just as illegal if they carry out the same activities as the non-Thai, after all it is forbidden in Thailand. Surang wants to question this, because everyone knows what the reality is.