STATELESS CHILDREN LEGACY OF SEX TRADE

[jasmine]

Hi,

Got this article from Bangkokpost last week. I know it is a bit long, however, there are several issues here. What I would like to know is why these kids are not Thais when the law states that "All children born from a Thai citizen is Thai". Called the embassy and they did not give me a clear answer, mumbling about the issue of filing.

 

Mod, I am not sure what category to post this article, so do what you feel appropriate.

 

[color:"red"] STATELESS CHILDREN LEGACY OF SEX TRADE

 

 

Jenjira, right, sits by her 15-year-old son who was born in Japan and is now a stateless child.

Youngsters born overseas to mothers who work in brothels

Story by SUBIN KHUENKAEW

Human trafficking is leaving a sad legacy in the North _ stateless children.

 

Jenjira went into the sex trade in Japan and returned home about two years later with a son.

 

The boy was born after she married a Japanese man who met her at a brothel and asked for her hand.

 

``I worked there for about four months and then I met him.

 

``He paid a large sum of money to the operator to get me out. We got married and I had a baby,'' she said.

 

``We divorced when the baby was 15 months old. I didn't fit into his society so I came home with my son.''

 

The boy is now 15, and stateless.

 

Ampan Panthachart, a teacher at Ban Rong Jawa in Dok Kham Tai district, said the school accepts stateless children because they have nowhere else to go.

 

``I believe there are many children out there in provinces like Chiang Rai who suffer much the same fate,'' Ms Ampan said. ``These kids all have Japanese names.''

 

The issue was raised at a seminar yesterday organised by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Human Security on human trafficking, when former sex workers shared tales of their bitter past in a faraway land. Many women are tricked into prostitution, but Ms Jenjira wanted to get into the trade.

 

``I saw those girls come back with lots of money,'' she said. ``They built new houses. So I figured it was better than staying here and working day by day,'' she said. Manee, 40, was rescued from a brothel and returned home with the help of the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

 

In Japan, most girls drawn into the trade were sent to a venue for ``assessment'' and then to sex outlets, she said.

 

Those who refused to do as they were told would be tortured.

 

``Sometimes they are sent to run-down places where they are forced to work all day without pay,'' she said.

 

Ms Manee said she was drugged as punishment when she refused to entertain customers.

 

According to her relatives, Ms Manee was admitted to hospital when she first returned home.

 

``She hallucinated and went berserk. She's better now but chain-smokes,'' said one of her relatives.

 

Ms Manee scraped together 200,000 baht and managed to buy her new house in Dok Kham Tai district.

 

Phayao governor Borvorn Rattanaprasit said the province included ways to tackle human trafficking in its strategic plan. Next it would survey the number of women sold into prostitution.

 

A social worker, citing information from the Foreign Ministry, said there are more than 100,000 Thais in Japan.

 

About 10,000 were believed to come from Phayao and many, mostly those who left the country illegally, had been sold into prostitution.

 

The state should find out how many were working in the flesh trade and then find the ``brokers'', the social worker said.

 

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[nkped]

Wonder in what status Thai immigration let the boy into Thailand--on some manner of tourist visa on a Japanese passport or as Thai citizen on his own or his mother's Thai passport.

[think_too_mut]

nkped said:

Wonder in what status Thai immigration let the boy into Thailand--on some manner of tourist visa on a Japanese passport or as Thai citizen on his own or his mother's Thai passport.

 

Indeed, what travel document had the boy had when entering Thailand?

 

Either Japanese or Thai child passport. If he were in his mother's passport, only Thai Embassy in Japan could have included him in there.

 

Can't imagine an airline letting him aboard without any papers as "stateless children" title suggests.

 

In any case, somebody had recognized him as their citizen.

 

Or maybe Japanese revoke their grant once the person is gone back home?

[jasmine]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the responses gentlemen. I don't know the answer to any of the questions though. I cannot find out anything from the Embassy here.

 

Asking my lawyer brother, he said that the kids can have Thai citizens but does not know and have no time for reasearch of the details.

Jasmine

[think_too_mut]

jasmine said:

Hi,

 

Thanks for the responses gentlemen. I don't know the answer to any of the questions though. I cannot find out anything from the Embassy here.

 

Asking my lawyer brother, he said that the kids can have Thai citizens but does not know and have no time for reasearch of the details.

Jasmine

 

Jasmine,

I am not married to my gf. Our baby got her own Thai passport.

 

They wanted to see the baby's original birth certificate, house papers and mums passport and ID.

 

My passport had to be shown. I had to be there and sign the document.

 

With all that, 40 mins and the we (and the baby ) got the document. It was brought to our place by the couriers, 3 days later.

[Nervous_Dog]

Not quite on topic, but i always get a tad sad seeing all the luk krung kids at the orphanages we help out at. Pakkred especially has a lot, particularly negro/thai, but also japanese/chinese and anglo luk krung.

 

Sad to see, but even sadder is the kid my friend is "helping" (Each person is assgned one kid to form bonds with).

 

This kid can't be addopted as the mother is still around, but unable to support the child in a good enviroment. She showed up same time as my mate, and guess what, the mother s pregnant again, Staff joked they had better go out and buy a new bed.

 

Very sad.