Lao Teens Banned From Entering Thailand

[Flashermac]

LAO authorities have acknowledged Thailand's decision to ban Lao youth below the age of 18 from entering the Kingdom alone. The move is aimed at combating transnational human trafficking.

 

The tougher immigration stance by Thailand came after frequent reports in the Thai media of Lao girls, some under 18, caught in the sex industry.

 

Since 2001, at least 2,217 Lao victims of human trafficking have been rescued from Thai facilities and repatriated. Between 75 and 80 per cent were under 18 years old and 95 per cent were female, according to recent information from the Lao Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare.

 

Bounkham Phoutthichak, head of the border checkpoint for Laos at the second Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge - from Savannakhet to Mukdahan - said Lao authorities had received an official letter from Thai immigration authorities in charge of checkpoints at the bridge.

 

"We have already received a letter informing us about the move to the Administrative Office of Savannakhet province," he said.

 

Somboun Souvannachoum-kham, head of the border checkpoint for Laos at the first Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge - from Vientiane to Nong Khai, said Thai authorities at the checkpoint had already acted to carry out stricter migration procedures prohibiting at-risk groups from entering the Kingdom.

 

He said Thai immigration authorities had not informed the Lao side officially that they would impose a tougher rule, but he had received reports that it was already being implemented.

 

However, Lao authorities at the third and fourth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridges said the stricter rule had not been imposed at their border gates yet.

 

The third bridge links Laos' Khammuan province with Nakhon Phanom province in Thailand and the fourth bridge links Laos' Bokeo province with Chiang Khong district in Thailand.

 

Laos and Thailand have a number of shared border checkpoints, but it remains unknown if they will impose the stricter rule.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Lao-teens-banned-from-entering-Thailand-30254803.html

[Coss]

So now, someone's older friend will come on a 'shopping trip' with them.

 

And here's the cunning bit, no-one will ask the older one where the younger ones are on his/her return trip to Laos.

 

The efforts the Thai's and Lao put into border policing are rudimentary at best.

 

I have, on my my numerous trips to and fro, seen gaping holes in their systems, wherein I could drive from Laos to LOS and not be checked or noticed, by either side.

 

Getting back into Laos however is checked.

[Flashermac]

I have a friend who built a house on the border near Xainyabuli (sp) - Laotian, but on the Thai side of the Mekong. He said everyone just walked back and forth across the border, and neither side's soldiers or police bothered them. They'd go shopping or visit their relatives on the opposite side.

[Coss]

And that's of course, just wandering across at the official points. The rest of the Mekong is almost walkable these days, now that China has the water.

[Flashermac]

I've seen the pics. It was a good size stream when I took the boat across to Tha Dua the first time in 1974.

[panadolsandwich]

At least they are making a move in the right direction. It all seems so depressing - you feel like screaming this a new century, but even basic human rights don't seem to be able to be put in order. What's more contemptable then trafficing children? But the whole system is corrupt from top to tail. And it's an endemic problem, part of a culture. You almost need a Charles Napier to come back - "The best way to quiet a country is a good thrashing, followed by great kindness afterwards. Even the wildest chaps are thus tamed", and better yet, "he human mind is never better disposed to gratitude and attachment than when softened by fear".

 

Or perhaps his most famous saying,

 

"Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs."

 

Well make no mistake that did work. Even in this day and age - his words echo. When are we going to make it plain that it will never, ever be acceptable to traffic children? Christ do we have to get the carpenters to erect gibbets?