Movement in Thailand aims to help sex workers earn basic rights and protections

Judy Woodruff:

In one of the world's most well-known sex tourism destinations, sex workers, nonprofit organizations and politicians are part of a growing movement to decriminalize the industry.

From Thailand, "NewsHour" special correspondent Neha Wadekar has this report.

Neha Wadekar:

Every year, thousands of tourists flock to Pattaya City in Thailand to enjoy its white sands, gentle waves, and water sports.

But, at night, the city transforms from a family-friendly beach paradise into a red light haven, tourists looking for an X-rated good time, massage parlors, go-go bars, brothels, the infamous Red Light District.

Although sex is everywhere, sex work is still illegal, and sex workers lack the basic rights and protections enjoyed by employees in other industries.

A local support group called Service Workers IN Group, or SWING, seeks to fill that gap, offering services to male, female, and transgender sex workers.

SWING's Pattaya City manager, Bobby, explains why his organization has been so vital for sex workers, especially during COVID.

Supachai Sukthongsa, Service Workers IN Group (through translator):

When COVID started, there were no tourists, which meant no customers. The sex workers could not earn any income because bars were closed. It was hard for them, no money, no place to work. Some of them had to go back home to the countryside and wait until Pattaya got some tourists back.

It's not just about money, but also the effects on health. Some of sex workers had stress symptoms and anxiety attacks around how to survive here. It was a hard time.

Neha Wadekar:

Before COVID, Bobby estimates that SWING Pattaya supported around 15,000 sex workers. Since the pandemic, that number has dropped to just 4,000.

During the pandemic, Thailand closed its borders. Bars, clubs, and massage parlors took a two-year hit, shuttered until July of this year. To make it worse, sex workers did not qualify for government health care benefits or financial support because the industry is illegal.

Thirty-eight-year-old Nuchada Tasee is volunteering at SWING. She usually offers her clients special massages, a normal massage, plus sexual benefits. Tasee used to work in a factory, until a friend told her how much more money she could make as a special masseuse.

With two young sons and an aging mother depending on her, Tasee needed the money.

Nuchada Tasee, Special Masseuse (through translator):

I don't like this work that much, but I earn so much more money than working in the factory. This work comes with high risks, especially diseases. Condoms break or get lost.

Sometimes, a customer takes it off. I don't like it, but I can still handle it. With these kinds of incidents, I need to take HIV prevention medicine, which is quite expensive.

Neha Wadekar:

Sex workers like Tasee face higher-than-average risks of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies.

SWING provides them with critical health care services. The outreach program sets up a mobile testing truck. It parks in different parts of the city and offers consultations and hospital referrals, as well as free testing for HIV and syphilis.

A few hours later, another SWING truck sets up in the middle of the Red Light District. Anna, a 37-year-old transgender sex worker, helps SWING hand out the pre-prepared food bags. The line behind the truck grows quickly. And in just 15 minutes, the volunteers hand out hundreds of bags of food and rice.

It's a lifeline for sex workers, who are often not able to afford even basic goods. Later, it's time for Anna to go to work. She invites us back to her apartment to chat as she gets ready.

As a 15-year-old boy, Anna worked a low-paying factory job. After she transitioned, she wanted to pursue her dream of becoming a cabaret dancer. She traveled to the Red Light District, saw sex work everywhere, and began doing it herself to earn a living.

Auchanaporn Pilasata, Transgender Sex Worker:

Because around the world call Thailand, Thailand is factory of sex worker. You know, when you go to Thailand and you not see sex worker, same as you go to KFC and you never see fried chicken.

Neha Wadekar:

After years working in the Red Light District, Anna knows all about the risks and challenges of sex work.

Auchanaporn Pilasata:

Sometimes, customers steal my money. Sometimes, I get some violence. When I go to police station, they mustn't help me. And they not help me because my job, because what I work, because I work illegal work here in Thailand.

Neha Wadekar:

Anna is one of the people fighting to legalize sex work. To her, a sex worker is much the same as a gig worker or a construction worker, and deserves the same rights and protections.

Auchanaporn Pilasata:

If have a good economy, nobody want to come in the sex worker life. I want sex work become to, like, legal work. I want work equality, human equality, gender equality. Everyone is, like, a human. Human rights.

Neha Wadekar:

Pattaya isn't the only city known for sex work. It's also rampant in Thailand's capital, Bangkok.

Sex work became illegal in Bangkok only in 1960, and advocates believe legalizing it again would give sex workers access to government benefits, legitimacy, and protection against social stigma.

We're here in Patpong, the heart of Bangkok's Red Light District. Sex is everywhere here, but its still illegal, which is why politicians, activists, and sex workers are fighting so hard to decriminalize the practice.

Here at the Thai Parliament, politicians are drafting legislation for a vision of legalized sex work based on similar laws passed in countries like Germany and the Netherlands.

Tunyawaj Kamolwongwat of the Move Forward Party is one of the politicians fighting for this in the halls of power. His bill regulates the registration, health care and welfare of sex workers. It also outlines how the industry will be taxed and where it can be advertised.

Tunyawaj Kamolwongwat, Thai Parliament Member:

It has to away from the children, the place for advertise.

Neha Wadekar:

Kamolwongwat's next step is to get the bill through committee. It's no small feat in a country with conservative politicians, religious leaders, and citizens opposed to the idea.

One of Thailand's most vocal opponents is Sanphasit Koompraphant. he's the chairperson of the Thailand Anti-Trafficking Alliance. While Koompraphant believes sex work should be decriminalized, he doesn't support legalization, because he thinks it will encourage prostitution and embolden sex traffickers.

Sanphasit Koompraphant, Thailand Anti-Trafficking Alliance (through translator):

The sex worker business does not create wealth. It's consumption with nothing in return.

The expenses paid out in health care and welfare for people in this industry are high. The ones who benefit most from legalization are the customers. It's sexual exploitation.

Auchanaporn Pilasata:

Everyone can work what they want to work, because my body, my choice. I can do what I want. And I not disturb anyone, and I not make anyone get hurt from my work.

Neha Wadekar:

Anna meets up with her friends in the Red Light District. Many of them are sex workers who migrated illegally from neighboring countries like Cambodia or Laos. They have even fewer protections than Thai sex workers.

If abused by a client, or harassed by the police, they have nowhere to turn. The battle to decriminalize or even legalize sex work continues. For Anna and so many other sex workers, legalization will make their work in the streets safer and easier, helping them earn they money they so desperately need to improve their lives.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Neha Wadekar in Bangkok, Thailand.