Lao women in the Southeast Asian sex trade

This report was aired on RFA’s Lao service on Jan. 8, 2007. It’s interesting to note the change in angle when the same story is reported for listeners in Laos, as opposed to readers on the English Web. RFA is supposed to be filling gaps in domestic news coverage in its target areas, not bringing international news to its listeners. So the first thing the Lao journalist picks up on is prostitution as a side-effect of ending the country’s isolation; an inside-out view. The other interesting connection is with the Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric dam, which we’ve reported on many times in Lao and a couple of times in English.

 

RFA: Since the change in regime from a kingdom to a republic 31 years ago, Lao society has changed in many ways. Many changes have been positive, such as expanding roads, homes, routes of transportation, both internally and to interact with neighboring countries. There is increased convenience, to the point that it must be recognized that Laos is not a country without a way to get things out of the city, or a “landlocked country” [preceding two words in English] any longer, but is a country linked to the countries in its region.

 

At the same time, however, Lao society has had negative changes. Economic development for society has been slow, leading to steep inflation, crippling corruption, and inefficient use of aid and loan moneys. Specifically speaking of Lao women, in conjunction with maintaining the glorious customs of Laos that have been passed down from the ancient days of E-Pu and E-Pou [Translator note: refers to the Lao creation story], has created danger for society. There are some luxuries, leading evil people to steal, rob, and kill to take away from the owners. There are many prostitutes around the large cities in different Lao provinces, which is very worrisome.

 

Referring particularly to Khammouane Province, a provincial health official, Dr. Soudalai Onavong, spoke about Lao women coming to Khammouane Province to sell sexual services in pubs, or opening pubs near large state-run construction projects such as the Nam Theun II hydroelectric project, the cement project in Nakai, to service the laborers at those places. In the shops, these sexual services are often covertly sold. Dr. Soudalai said the following about this issue.

 

DR. SOUDALAI: …services, most often are found near the large construction projects; they are nearby, the pubs move in closer. There are only Lao [women], there are no Thais, no Vietnamese.

 

RFA: Health officials are concerned that the increase in female sex workers will unavoidably risk the efforts against the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus. Savannakhet Province has the most people infected with HIV/AIDS in Laos. At this time, the head of the provincial health department, Dr. Kinta Layavong expressed his concern about women covertly selling sexual services in the province, which includes Lao women from various provinces, foreign women from Vietnam and Thailand coming to sell sexual services, especially in Muang Phin and Muang Sepone along Route 9, which is part of the East-West economic road, the “East-West Corridor” [preceding three words in English]. Dr. Kinta said the following about this problem:

 

DR. KINTA: This is very disheartening. These covert prostitutes, be they Vietnamese or locals – we can’t reject them, right? But we health officials must protect and advise the at-risk groups.

 

RFA: Now speaking of the capital city Vientiane, the problem of covert prostitutes is no less worrisome than in Savannakhet or Khammouane or perhaps any other province in Laos. The writings of Mr. Thatsaphone Sombandith – a Lao researcher who studied at Mahidol University in Thailand – this past year points out that most of the women who sell sexual services, particularly at the beer shops that are called “little shops” – places where men go to have sex with those women – come from various provinces in Laos. He said the following about this.

 

THATSAPHONE: They are from different provinces, and come to work in Viangchan. They come from Luang Namtha, come from Luang Phrabang, come from Sayabouly, not Houa Phan I haven’t seen anyone from Houa Phan, come from Khammouane. There are many, but I only interviewed about 16 people. Depending on the place, on the area of the shop, they get infected; almost the entire shop is infected.

 

RFA: That is one example of the conditions for prostitutes in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic at the present time. In addition, there is the problem of sneaking across or crossing the border legally to offer covert sexual services on the Thai side in restaurants, pubs, and karaoke parlors in the provinces along the Lao-Thai border as well as in Bangkok and other cities further abroad in Thailand, an estimated 10,000 people every year. Every time Thai authorities apprehend someone, they are taken to court and tried before being sent back to Laos.

 

On January 4, 2007, there was a report of a group of Lao who crossed [the border] to open a restaurant and shop as a front to operate secretly in the Nong Khai region. In total, there were eight people, one of whom was a man named Chanthachak Bounsai, who claimed to be the owner of the shop. Of the seven Lao women, there were two girls who were only 15 or 16 years old. They both said they came from Luang Phrabang Province, they said their intermediary, a relative named Ms. Phappha Phonxai, lied and said they would work at a beauty spa in Nong Khai and get a good salary, but they ended up as sex slaves. Fortunately, they were helped by the police with the arrest of these eight Lao people. Police officials in Nong Khai said this happened after they got a tip from the Nong Khai provincial governor.

 

THAI OFFICIAL [speaking Thai Isan]: …received a report that there was a deception, Lao women were selling sexual services in, behind the hotel, they were doing…

 

RFA: [Thai official continues speaking in background] There was a deception, with Lao women selling sexual services at a shop behind the Grand Hotel in Nong Khai, Phosai district. The police investigated by negotiating a price for sexual services with two Lao women, 2,000 baht apiece. After that the police revealed themselves to the group. Of the remaining five Lao women, the police official said they were voluntary sex workers and had come to Thailand legally.

 

THAI OFFICIAL [speaking Thai Isan]: …because they weren’t traveling temporarily.

 

RFA: News of groups being arrested or Lao women being taken out of brothels in small and large cities in Thailand have been nearly constant over the past four or five years. This past October, police in the Thai city of Udon investigated three brothels in the center of the city and arrested seven Lao women, all from the Viangchan area.

 

The problem of prostitution or women selling sexual services in Laos, or crossing to pursue the trade in Thailand appears to be increasing, with both those who go voluntarily and those who are deceived. According to a survey last year of one group of Lao prostitutes in Viangchan, conducted by Mr. Thatsaphone, most sex workers do not want to do this kind of work, but they must so they can earn money to support their families and themselves. The women consider it bad work and feel they will go to hell for selling sexual favors, that they are bad people from the point of view of societal value. The women really hate themselves when others call them whores.

 

THATSAPHONE: They all said, every one of them said they don’t want to do it. Nobody wants to go to hell, they said. So, why do they come? They say it’s necessary, because of poverty, because they have nothing to eat, they say. They can’t do any other work because they lack the knowledge.

 

RFA: This Lao researcher also offered the opinion that if Lao adult women have assistance in learning trades, such as beauticians or weavers while they are school age and move on to higher education, this would play a part in helping reduce the problem of Lao women going to the bigger cities or crossing the border to engage in sex work.

 

The problem of prostitution or female sex workers in the Lao PDR began many years ago, and now we see this problem has expanded because of a lack of education, because of poverty, because of the rapid expansion of resources, which is very enticing, particularly for young women. Officials are not able to assist in fixing the real cause of the problem. Fixing it simply by passing decrees or laws as they have done in the past has been recognized everywhere as the wrong way to solve the problem.

RFA staffer Rick Finney also did quite a bit of research on this story. He got an e-mail from Frank Reimann, country director for CARE International in Laos. Here is an extract:

(2) CARE’s assessment of the scope of the problem in Laos (how many women and girls are affected, whether the problem is getting better or worse, etc.).

It is extremely difficult to gauge the scope of the sex industry in Lao. However since the RHIYA and CORE projects we can see that the Lao government has clamped down more on bar and entertainment owners and this has pushed the sex workers into other modes of operation such as through the mobile phone system, meeting at guest houses rather than clubs. Also the past few years has seen an increase in young women from college being recruited in to the sex industry. The scope of the problem appears to have both increased and diversified.

(2) What CARE feels needs most to be done at this point (not only by NGOs, but also by the Laotian government) in order to combat the problem.

It all depends on how we want to approach the problems – from moral, health, economic or legal perspectives. I think that before we can say how we will ‘combat’ we need to be clear about how we understand the problems. The current situation is such that there is a need in all aspects whether from rights, health, economic or legal point of view to become interested and involved in doing something to address the issue of sex work in Laos. A crucial element is the difficulty to generate funding for this important work. Despite our efforts we were not able to secure funding towards these activities and had to stop activities in this area on December 31, 2006.

You can read more RFA coverage of Lao stories in English here.

Photo credit: Sam Bloomfield/sxc.hu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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