Child prostitution is a worldwide problem, with victims estimated in the millions. The reasons for this problem are many – social, cultural and economic. As we have learned this semester in our 7 Revolutions class, economic factors and the great divide between the “haves” and the “have-nots” are keeping the poorest member of our global population at the bottom of the pile so to speak. These people have limited access to education, technology and barely eke out a subsistence living in farming or making handicrafts for the tourist trade. Due to desperation, the adults may engage is drug trafficking, wind up in prison and then their children are left in the care of families who may not be willing or able to take them in. Children may run away, thinking they can get a job in the city and wind up being easy prey for a pimp. Sometimes they are told that they can get an education or learn a trade. Sometimes their families sell one child as a sacrifice so the whole family doesn’t starve. While girls are more commonly child prostitution victims, boys are not exempt.
Unfortunately, sex is big business (20 billion annually) and sexual tourism is a large part of the economy of many developing countries. One estimate of the number of children exploited through prostitution in Thailand is 200,000. Sexual tourism got a foothold in the economy of Thailand during the Viet Nam war era when servicemen were sent to Thailand for R&R. Somehow, it seems that the buyers of sex, especially child sex, think that their behavior is acceptable in a foreign country.
Apart from the obvious problems such as HIV-AIDS, STI (sexually transmitted infections), pregnancy or more correctly – children giving birth to children, illegal abortions (estimated at between 1 and 4 million annually worldwide), drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness and malnutrition, these children represent the future of not only Thailand, because this is a worldwide problem, but the objectification of this population ensures that they will remain at the bottom of the economic pile. So, you end up with a growing segment of the population with no hope, no prospects for improvement who are disenfranchised, which as we learned in the conflict segment of class, is ripe for violence and political instability.
The foundation I work with in Thailand, Child and Family Prison Ministries, is attempting to make a difference, but we are not the only foundation operating in Chiang Rai province. There are many NGO’s who work with children, some estimates have been as high as 300 NGO’s but this is an unconfirmed number. CFPM invited 18 of these organizations to a child development conference in February of 2009 in order to provide the attendees information and tools to help the children as much as possible. We hope to repeat the success of that conference in 2011.
The following is an excerpt of a lesson plan on childhood neglect and abuse.
Signs of Neglect
Failure to thrive
Self-stimulating behaviors, like thumb-sucking or rocking
Stealing food
Bed-wetting
Anti-social behavior
Neglect is the failure of a parent or caregiver to provide for the child’s basic needs. Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs.
A child depends on the adults around him to take care of his needs.
We have learned that the child is not able to think like an adult. Finding food, water and shelter are adult chores and a child can’t figure these problems out on his own.
Failure to thrive – looks ill, very thin, no energy dull personality
Self stimulation is a way children try to soothe themselves. Thumb-sucking should stop sometime after age 3 or 4, especially in front of other children. If the child has learned that the adults around him do not provide any security – the child tries to soothe himself by sucking his thumb or rocking back and forth.
Food is one of the primary needs of a human – if a child is hungry he will try to steal food. If he has been hungry a long time, he may steal food from the kitchen and hide it. His experience has been that adults do not feed him, so when food is around, he takes it.
Bed-wetting in an older child may be a way for him to get some attention – even if that attention is getting scolded or punished.
Anti-social behavior is behavior that is not acceptable – example – yelling at the teacher, breaking things, hitting other, smaller children. The child tries to hurt someone before he can be hurt.
Signs of Physical Abuse
Unexplained bruises, broken bones in different stages of healing
Burns, especially without a “splash” mark
Fear of going home
Inappropriate reactions to getting hurt
Withdrawal, too friendly or aggressive
It is not unusual for children to have some bruises but there should not be very many bruises all over the body
Broken bones, especially spiral shaped breaks, are unusual. Children’s bones are still somewhat soft – they bend more than an adult’s bones. It takes more force to break a child’s bones than an adult’s bones.
Home should not be a scary place – you should be concerned if a child acts out, cries or runs away to avoid going home.
You should be suspicious of abuse if a child doesn’t cry when an injury happens – meaning an injury that would cause most children to cry.
Not joining in fun or enjoyable activities. Being too familiar with strangers, too friendly. Most children are somewhat shy and will gradually get friendlier. Lashing out, being mean or hurting other children is also unusual behavior.
Physical and Behavioral Signs of Sexual Abuse
Bruises, swelling or bleeding of the genitals or mouth
Blood stained underwear
Pain with urination, discharge, itchy genitals
Difficulty sitting or squatting
Seductive behavior – kissing, touching other children or adults
Behavior changes – anxious, clinging
Excessive anger at adults
Seductive behavior in children is a big concern. Most young children do not know about sexual behavior. Children do have a curiosity about what other children’s bodies look like, but they should not know what the body parts are used for in a sexual sense.
Sudden behavior changes in children need to be investigated. Something happened to change that behavior. Remember that the child may not want to talk about it. You need to be patient and make sure the child know he is safe and accepted.
Most children do not stay angry for very long. If a child is very angry at adults – it may be because he has been abused in some way. The anger comes from a feeling of betrayal. Children depend on the adults to take care of them…
What to do?
If a child confides in you, tries to tell you about abuse that has happened or is happening now, it’s very important that you believe the child. You always need to extend benefit of doubt to the child.
Children need to feel safe and secure in their new environment. They need consistent rules and predictability. Just because the children who come to your organizations have been rescued, that doesn’t mean that they will not ever act out because of their undying gratitude. They are still children who need discipline.
Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary Definition of DISCIPLINE
1: punishment
2: obsolete : instruction
3: a field of study
5 : control gained by enforcing obedience or order b : orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior c : self-control
The popular definition of discipline is punishment: but let’s concentrate on the second and fourth definitions. You are the protectors of the children, you are the model for correct behavior. You cannot lose self-control and expect them to follow rules that they see you do not follow yourself. Incidentally, the fear of a punishment may work with children who have not been neglected or abused, but in this population of children, what manners of punishment can you devise that would be worse than what they’ve already experienced? That’s why punishment doesn’t work. You want to correct the behavior, but it is even more important to praise their good behavior. You want to make your praise something they will willingly work for.
You should also consider counseling services for any children who have been abused. Children think that the bad things that happened to them are somehow their own fault. Their brains have not developed to the point of being able to think abstractly and their inner voice is telling them that they are bad. Frequently they act out because in their mind, they think that you will reject them once you know how “bad” they are, and so they just try to hasten the rejection they know is coming.
Some pictures from the 2009 Conference.
Some websites and videos of interest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7eIfBFLDtc Sex Tourism in Thailand
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QcFyOjiW2w Somaly Mam
Works Cited
(2011). Retrieved April 22, 2011, from Merriam Webster Online Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discipline
Adolescence A Time that Matters. (2002). Retrieved April 22, 20011, from Unicef: http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/pub_adolescence_en.pdf
Brian M. Willis, B. S. (2002). Child Prostitution: global health burden, research needs and interventions. The Lancet , Volume 359.
Fugioka, R. (2002, May). Case study on EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR HILL TRIBES IN NORTHERN THAILAND - ... . Retrieved April 4, 2011, from FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/004/ak216e/ak216e00.pdf
Poulan, R. (2003). Globalization and the Trafficking and The Commodification. Canadian Women's Studies.
Umaporn Trangkasombat, M. (2000). Sexually Abused and Sexually Exploited Children and Youth in Thailand. Retrieved April 22, 2011, from United Nations ESCAP: http://www.unescap.org/esid/hds/projects/csec/pubs/thailand.pdf
WHO Thailand. (2011). Retrieved April 4, 2011, from World Health Organization Countries: http://www.who.int/countries/tha/en/
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