Thai attack on white slavery

Press, 2 September 1977, Page 6

Thai attack on white slavery

i rsz.rn-tseuier nangKOK ] Thailand and West Ger-! I many are determined to coloperate in cracking down oni ■ the white slave trade in Thai' girls taken to Germany as prostitutes, the German Am-] bassador to Thailand (Mr Edgar von Schmidt-Pauli) has said. 1 He said he had made several proposals in a recent i meeting with the directorigeneral of the Thai Public )Welfare Department (Mr | Prapote Raekharuji) who said last May that there were about 1000 Thai prosti- ; tutes in West Germany. Both agreed that the flow of Thai girls to Germany damaged both countries’ reputations, the Ambassador said. I He said he had proposed! that Thailand adopt a (system whereby any foreigner. in this case a German. wanting to marry a IThai girl in Thailand should , produce a clean police record and a certificate that; there was no obstacle to the] marriage, such as a previous •marriage elsewhere. “Those who are genuine would not mind waiting another couple of weeks,” he • added, referring to the practice whereby some Germans ; enter Thailand a> tourists, ! marry Thai girls they have never met before, and then take them home to work as' prostitutes. Mr Schmidt-Pauli said he had also suggested that Thai authorities might screen applicants for Thai passports in an attempt to weed out ; girls likely to become prostitutes if they travelled abroad. He said this suggestion meant closer collaboration between the two Govern-j Intents in getting to the bottom of the trade in Thai} girls with a view to obtain-1 ling evidence for prose-! cutions in "white slavery” cases. "The girls arc Reluctant to

talk, but may be more willing to have contact with Thai officials than with ours," he added. i Mr Schmidt-Pauli noted that there were many problems in cracking down on ! the trade in Thai girls, among them, the concern of both countries to maintain the liberal aspect of their visa regulations which allow a Thai to stay up to three months at a time in Germany.

Both countries wanted to clamp down on “obnoxious advertisements” by German marriage institutions in the German press, he said, but it was difficult for Bonn to act as some of them were serious and served a genuine need. He said there was an un- ] known but “appallingly high” number of marriages between Thai girls and German men aimed at getting the girls back to German brothels. Once their threei month visas had expired, it was easy for them to go to' j another country and return I for another three months, he | added. I The Ambassador said] about 90.000 West Germanl tourists visited Thailand a year and the figure was increasing at a rate of 10 to 15 per cent. Of these, “only a very small minority are jinvolved (in the trade in I girls) but it’s they who] imake the headlines,” he added. . Outlining his talks with i the Ambassador, Mr Prapote said that the Thai Govern-1 ment was planning to open! a rehabilitation centre in ihe! northern province of Lam-] pang in an attempt to prevent the flow of country girls from poor families into i Bangkok brothels. I