Thailand accounts 90 per cent of human trafficking from Laos

Thailand accounts for about 90 per cent of the human trafficking from neighbouring Laos, with girls aged 12 to 18 making up a majority of the victims, state media reported Tuesday.

Leik Boonwaat, representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to Laos, said it was estimated that some 35 per cent of the Lao nationals trafficked to Thailand end up in prostitution, the Vientiane Times reported. 

Another 32 per cent end up in forced labour, 17 per cent work in factories and 4 per cent on fishing boats, the report said.

The UN official said an estimated 200,000 to 450,000 people are trafficked annually in the Greater Mekong sub-region, which includes southern China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, the countries joined by the Mekong River.

The UN office estimates were made at a seminar held Monday in Vientiane with the Justice Ministry to assess the progress of a joint project to combat human trafficking in the impoverished, land-locked country.

“Since October 2006, the ministry has worked alongside UNODC to strengthen the capacity of criminal justice institutions, including the judiciary and government law enforcement bodies, to prevent and combat human trafficking and related forms of organised crime in Laos,” the state-run Vientiane Times reported.

The Nation

Vientiane and The Friendship Bridge

I went to the airport the day before my departure. Spent around 8 to 9 hours at the LCC Terminal. I combined the chair and slept like nobody’s business. There were many travellers did the same as well. And I woke up quite early at around 4:30am. My flight is departing at 8:05am and I had plenty of time to kill. So right after checked in my backpack, I went straight into the departure hall.

Flight AK612 didn’t depart on time. So we departed about 30 minutes after the original departure time. Slept all the way and woke up just minutes before the flight landed. Noon told me she will come to pick me up with Kookkai and her boyfriend Ton together with her sister Nut. Well, I told her to come and wait for me at Watay International Airport at 9am Lao and Thai time.

The time I arrived, it was already 9:50am. I am late for 50 minutes due to the delay. I rushed to the immigration counter to get my passport stamp. Well, Vietnam Airlines arrived earlier than my flight and there were long queue at the immigration. There are only 5 counters and only 4 were used on that day. So I messaged Noon and she told me they will be late. Okay, that’s fair enough!! LOL!!

After immigration clearence, went out of the airport and waited for around 1 hour and 30 minutes before they arrived and picked me up. Wattay International Airport is small enough and there’s nothing to do.

Kookkai drove from Udon and parked her car near the border in Nong Khai. They then charter a van to tour around Vientiane and only costs around 600Baht. We went to Hor Pa Kaew after picking me up.

 We then went for lunch at a restaurant which serves Ba Mee. After lunch, we headed to Patuxay and Pha That Luang straight away. The weather was hot so Noon and I decided not to go into Pha That Luang. We went there before. This is my third time in Laos and Noon’s fifth.

 

Went walked over to buy 2 cups of ice cream. 10 Baht each. The seller is a very nice person. After a cup, I went over to him and ask him to refill my cup (so he doesnt need to waste his cup) and I told him I will pay him. He told me to refill as much as I want and it’s free. Noon and I look at each other. We do not want to take advantage. So we paid him and refill our cups. He is one of the nicest person I’ve ever met.

After That Luang, we went to the border straight away. Just before we enter Thailand, we went over to the duty free area. There are a lot of things to buy. Most of them sellers can speak Thai and maybe they are Thai. You can get DVDs for 20Baht per movie. There are also new DVDs from English to Korean, Japanese to Thai.