FIGHTING HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN NORTHERN THAILAND
Advocacy trips provide opportunities to learn about the sexual exploitation of children in a country notorious for sex tourism
We sat around a long wooden table that took up most of a thatched-roof bungalow nestled in the hills of Chiang Rai province. Barefoot, a dog curled at my feet, I stared at a large computer screen, engrossed in P’moo’s video presentation. She spoke passionately, gesticulating with her hands, then waited as our guide translated her words into English. While she talked, I recognised one she used repeatedly: trafficking.
“The situation has changed,” she said. “Now, many go knowingly.”
Parisutha Suthimongkol, who goes by P’moo, was talking about human trafficking, a lucrative business that takes advantage of illiterate people in desperate circumstances; solicits girls with promises of a better life; and persuades parents to sell their children. Suthimongkol is a founder of the Mirror Foundation, a grass-roots group in Chiang Rai.
This was not a work-related meeting. I was on holiday, visiting Thailand on what was billed as an advocacy journey, one that, along with sightseeing, provided opportunities to learn about the sexual exploitation of children in a country known for sex tourism.
“The intention is that everybody will walk away with a deeper understanding of the issues and the work done on the ground as well as what’s special and unique about Thailand,” said Malia Everette, the founder of Altruvistas, a tour operator that had organised the trip in partnership with ECPAT-USA, an advocacy group whose name stands for End Child Prostitution and Trafficking.
Sarah Porter, a former director of development and partnerships at ECPAT-USA and a leader of our trip, said that the group wanted to show people “that how they travel and where they choose to stay really does make a difference”.
Our other leader was a local tour guide from Altruvistas, Adisak Kaewrakmuk. He took us sightseeing in Bangkok — the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha — and to night markets in the northern provinces, but also doubled as a translator during our meetings with government representatives and aid groups.
We were a diverse group of nine women: I was joined by a nurse from Nevada who had not travelled outside of the United States (“not counting Cabo” in Mexico, she said), a retired prosecutor from Long Island and her daughter, two members of the travel industry from St Louis and three advocates working on the issue, including the chairwoman of ECPAT-USA, Jackie Shapiro.
I had booked my trip on the Altruvistas website. Of the US$3,500 fee, $500 was a tax-deductible donation to ECPAT-USA. An additional 10% of the tour fee was distributed to the groups we visited.
This was ECPAT-USA’s inaugural advocacy trip. (The organisation offers another one to Thailand in October and to Cartagena, Colombia, in July.) Other trips that are educational in nature and support local communities can be booked through Altruvistas or companies with similar missions, like Crooked Trails, Meaningful Trip and Responsible Travel.
An advocacy trip meant that instead of spending our days lounging by the pool between visits to tourist sights and attractions — although we did find time for some of that — we attended meetings with government representatives and local organisations involved in the fight against trafficking.
In Bangkok, we visited the offices of ECPAT