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Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery
Margaret (Margie) Grainger,
of the Hand To Hand Foundation, began her talk to the Pattaya City Expats
Club at their Sunday meeting on October 13, with the message “Human
trafficking is a modern form of slavery”. Child beggars are one of the more
obvious forms of human trafficking, but they are only the tip of the
iceberg.
Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery. This is
how Margaret (Margie) Grainger, of the Hand To Hand Foundation, began her
talk to the Pattaya City Expats Club at their Sunday meeting on October 13.
More information on the foundation is available at www.handtohandpattaya.
com. Margie began by saying that human trafficking is both an international
and domestic problem; it also exists here in Pattaya.
Margie provided the following as an official definition of human
trafficking, which she acknowledged was a mouthful: “All acts involved in
the recruitment, abduction, transport, harboring, transfer, sale or receipt
of persons, within national or across international borders, through force,
coercion, fraud or deception, to place persons in situations of slavery or
slavery-like conditions, forced labor or services, such as forced
prostitution or sexual services, domestic servitude, bonded sweatshop labor,
or other debt bondage.”
She said sometimes it is easier to define what human trafficking is not
rather than what it is. The movement of migrants between countries; people
seeking refuge; people deciding to be smuggled into another country in
search of a better life - these situations are not human trafficking. To be
human trafficking, Margie said, there has to be both abduction and movement.
Board member Roy Albiston
presents Margie with a Certificate of Appreciation for her thought provoking
presentation. More information about the ‘Hand To Hand’ organisation and its
work can be found at http://www.handtohandpattaya.com.
Margie provided various statistics on human trafficking
worldwide and in Thailand. Further, three-quarters of the victims are women.
In Thailand, victims of trafficking may end up being used in commercial
fishing and related industries, low-end garment production and factories; or
for domestic work, begging and the sex trade. Although beggars represent
only 1.5% of global victims, many of these are children. In Pattaya, many of
the child beggars we see are children trafficked from neighboring countries.
The East Asia region (including South Asia and South-East Asia) is the
largest source of victims for human trafficking. Further, Margie said
two-thirds of them are young girls and noted that children are easy targets.
Margie explained that the agents of traffickers often find their victims
through a process called “grooming.” The agent will befriend a girl’s
family, and provide them with small gifts or other acts of kindness. Once
they gain the trust of the family, the agent will suggest that the agent be
allowed to take the girl to a school, perhaps an international school, so
that she can be educated and then be in a position to look after the family.
If the parents agree, the agent absconds with the girl and forces her into
prostitution or servitude. Children are most at risk of being trafficked
because they are less educated, are easy to overpower, believe they must
help support their families, and often do not have someone to look out for
them.
PCEC Chairman Pat Koester shares
some photos of sites to be visited on the upcoming Loy Krathong trip to
Sukhothai and Ayuthaya, on Nov 14-15.
She explained that children brought into Thailand are in
a vicious cycle because children are “caught,” and then deported; but they
are soon brought back again. Why? Because they make money for their
traffickers as people are always ready to give money to children. These
children often suffer physical abuse from their traffickers. Margie said
that she is aware of one girl whose traffickers threw boiling hot oil over
her because they figured she would get more money from begging by being
disfigured. She said that giving money to children who are selling things on
the street only feeds the industry. She said if you want to give them
something, it is better to give them clothing or food.
Margie also explained that the USA adopted the Trafficking Victims’
Protection Act (TVPA) which provides for the US State Department to rank
countries according to the extent to which they meet the minimum standards
of the TVPA. There are 4 tiers with tier 1 being fully compliant and Tier 3
non-compliant. Thailand is classified as tier 2; not fully compliant but
showing improvement on identifying and convicting abusers. For the past 4
years, Thailand has been on the tier 2 “watch list;” being closely
monitored.
Trafficking into Thailand tends to be done by individuals or small groups,
Margie said; traffickers taking people out of Thailand are usually larger
and are often part of organized crime. People are trafficked into Thailand
from countries such as Laos, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Myanmar and China. Thai
children are often trafficked abroad to destinations such as Japan,
Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Middle East. The majority of the
domestically trafficked victims are hill tribe girls aged 12-16 years.
There are many reasons why victims of trafficking do not seek help, Margie
explained. They include fear of being deported, and fear of retribution to
themselves and their families. Traffickers have many ways of controlling
their victims. Margie told the story of one Uzbekistan woman who was brought
to Thailand to work in a hotel. She was told she had to work two months to
pay off her airfare. The trafficker kept her passport. At the end of two
months, the woman was on “overstay.” The trafficker used this fact to scare
the woman and to force her to move from cleaning to prostitution.
Margie said that some people hope the formal launch of the ASEAN Economic
Community in 2015 will make it easier to stamp out human traffickers. There
will be similar laws in each country and databases will be linked. However,
she said, many ASEAN countries do not have the technology or infrastructure
to implement many of the laws and procedures. Margie believes that having
more open borders will actually lead to more trafficking, not less.
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A-One Royal Cruise marks 25th anniversary
with benefit for Garunyawet Home
Garunyawet Director Jittra
Tameesresook (left) receives a generous donation from A-One Managing Director
Somkiet Ratanaopath (right).
Veechan Souksi
The A-One Royal Cruise Hotel marked its 25th anniversary by providing lunch and
making donations to the Garunyawet Home for the Disabled.
The Oct. 11 event in the home’s cafeteria also served as a birthday celebration
for hotel chairman Somchai Ratanaopath, who helped organize special activities
for that give something back to the community.
Many A-One employees attended, helping each other set up tables and serve
drinks, sweets and ice cream to the disabled. They were entertained by karaoke
performances by hotel staffers, who sang and danced. Many of the residents were
up dancing as well and enjoyed themselves since they do not have many such
opportunities.
A lunch buffet of Thai food was set up, but many A-One staffers personally
served residents unable to walk.
Garunyawet Director Jittra Tameesresook thanked the hotel, saying the 408
physically and mentally disabled women ranging from 18 to 97 years of age
enjoyed the day.
A-One Managing Director Somkiet Ratanaopath closed out the day with a
presentation of donated items needed by the home.
The disabled people at Garunyawet
Home enjoy dancing during the celebration.
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Mantra meets the Cavern
Abbey Road tel box.
Dr. Iain Corness
Little did the Beatles know when they performed in Liverpool’s Cavern
Club that they would once again star, but this time in Pattaya at the Amari’s
Mantra restaurant.
In a very well thought through promotion, the Mantra was host to a Beatles
tribute band called Beatlemania who thrilled the crowd with 45 numbers during
the evening. The entrance to the Mantra was suitably painted in red, white and
blue, with a representation of the pedestrian crossing on Abbey Road leading to
the entrance. The Amari/Mantra staff all got into the promotion with Beatles
T-shirts in Mantra as well as singing along with the music.
Aussie chef Leonard Faust also rose to the occasion with some dishes with an
English flavor, such as a roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and an English
matured cheddar cheese. The first course (of five) was a sensational crispy
prawn salad with avocado and Parmesan cheese, salmon caviar and winter truffle.
I was tempted to ask for four more courses of this one, but didn’t want to upset
our chef!
But it was the Beatles, through Beatlemania, a quartet headed by local ex-pat
Barry Upton (John Lennon) that was the main attraction as they smoothly
performed the Beatles numbers, changing outfits from the suits (ordered by Brian
Epstein) through to the psychedelic uniforms of Sergeant Pepper.
It certainly was tribute to the music of the Beatles, in that every table sang
along with the numbers, and a table full of Thai women screamed at the correct
points in the songs!
Last weekend it certainly was a great venue, great food and great music. Talking
with assistant general manager Richard Margo, there will be more promotions in
2014, so keep an eye on the Mantra happenings!
Bar girl.
Beatlemania.
Beatles doorway.
Janet Smith.
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The Russians are coming
The Russian reindeer dancers.
Derek Franklin
Many long term residents complain bitterly on popular internet forums of
how the Russians are taking over and ruining the image of Pattaya, and yet it
would be fair to ask if any of these complaining ex-pats have ever met anyone
from Russia. Have they ever taken the time to start up a conversation with a
Russian, eaten Russian food, listened to Russian music or know anything about
Russian culture? Well, now is your chance.
The Our World Cultural & Educational Center, based in the eastern Russian city
of Vladivostok, is hosting the second Russian Cultural Festival which will take
place at 6 o’clock on the evening of Sunday 3rd November at the Father Ray
Foundation on Sukhumvit Road.
Participants for all over Russia will be participating, including several groups
from northern Siberia, and the organizers would like to invite anyone who wishes
to attend to watch and learn, and you also do not have to be from Russia to be
involved. Performances will include ethnic traditional, contemporary and
ballroom dancing, as well as folk, pop, jazz and choral vocalists.
Local singers, dancers and artists, individuals and groups, are all invited to
participate, learn about a new culture and teach the visitors about local Thai
culture.
For more details, email Alexander at
[email protected]
The traditional dancers of Siberia.
There will be performances from many of Russia’s ethnic
groups.
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dusitD2 baraquda pattaya rolls out
“Cooking in the Sun” program
Learning how to cook Thai food has never been this
much fun.
dusitD2 baraquda pattaya has recently rolled out its unique and super fun
cooking class called “Cooking in the Sun”. This is for guests who truly enjoy
Thai dishes and desire to learn more about the tastes, methods and ingredients
that make Thai food amazingly popular worldwide.
Worldly travelers say, “Take only pictures, leave only memories,” ... but what
if you want to take all the flavor of the voyage with you? Now guests staying
the dusitD2 baraquda pattaya are able, even encouraged, to “make it real.”
Guests will not only learn the culinary skills and tips on how to cook Thai
food, they also will enjoy the atmosphere in a stylish outdoor kitchen, set by
the pool. Claimed as Thailand’s sexiest swimming pool, the barracuda-shaped pool
environment will make the learning a little more fun as participants enjoy the
natural breeze and can dress casually.
The class will be led by the hotel’s executive chef, “Chef Pie” and his talented
team of sous chefs who will skillfully demonstrate the methods and steps of Thai
cookery from ingredient preparation to the actual cooking. Guests are encouraged
to undertake all tasks including chopping up meat and vegetables, stir-frying,
stewing and presentation, not to mention finally proudly tasting! It always
tastes better when you cook it yourself ... and afterwards you’ll be eager for
the praise that all chefs desire and can never get enough of.
The Cooking in the Sun class is priced at just THB 2,222 net per person
inclusive of 4 Thai specialties (papaya salad, the famous tom yum goong, green
curry and/or phad thai plus steamed bananas in coconut milk), the dusitD2’s
chef’s apron and a frame-able certificate. The class takes about 3 hours of “up
close and personal” time as it can accommodate only up to 5 participants at a
time. Therefore, advance reservation is highly recommended.
For more information or reservations please contact tel. 038 769 999 or email:
[email protected]
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