Reflections from the Chao Phraya: At the ECPAT International Secretariat in Bangkok

I am working at the International Secretariat office located in Bangkok.  I am a part of the legal research team, which supports advocacy efforts for the cause by producing Agenda for Action (A4A) reports, which are assessments of countries and their legal mechanisms related to CSEC. I have been responsible for reviewing and revising A4As, and also writing executive summaries.

I am working at the International Secretariat office located in Bangkok.  I am a part of the legal research team, which supports advocacy efforts for the cause by producing Agenda for Action (A4A) reports, which are assessments of countries and their legal mechanisms related to CSEC. I have been responsible for reviewing and revising A4As, and also writing executive summaries.

This is my home for the next few months while I complete an internship with ECPAT, an organisation dedicated to combating the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). The ECPAT acronym now stands for "End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes", but this movement against child sexual exploitation originated in Asia, and the campaign to End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism was created 24 years ago.

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Sunset at the democracy monument and remnants of the garden, trampled by protests

Here in Bangkok, the shade offered by various infrastructure is not enough to bring relief from the oppressive heat, which immerses the busy, bustling city.  The nearest escape is into one of the ubiquitous 7-11's, only returning to the street with a two litre bottle of water in hand.  The traffic is in constant gridlock, the streets are lined with motos and food carts, and the sidewalk is so uneven you might lose a shoe. The chaos just "works" here, and Bangkok truly is the city of life.  I feel like Bangkok has swallowed me in a never-ending cocoon of countless sois (Thai for street), hidden canals, and elevated highways.  I don't feel suffocated by this, on the contrary, I feel safe and rejuvenated, knowing that there is so much to discover in this mega-city.

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Evening traffic, view from the skywalk

I'm also involved in a particularly interesting new project called the "Access to Justice for CSEC Victims Research Project".  The aim of this project is to evaluate different legal mechanisms in various countries available to CSEC victims, focusing on the right to an effective remedy after being subjected to exploitation.  There is much emphasis on prosecution of perpetrators and prevention of CSEC, but not much information about how CSEC victims can access the legal entitlements owed to them based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. This project aims to support victims in this capacity, providing them with information on how to navigate the criminal procedure, what supports they have in the rehabilitation process, and mechanisms of compensation available. So far the research has been preliminary but I'm very excited to discover more about access to justice for victims of CSEC, as this is a sector of society that has been very much ignored.

Working at ECPAT has helped me critically analyze how CSEC and other human rights issues are presented to the public.  There are many sensationalist tactics employed to bring awareness to this issue, and though shock value and poetic license have indeed made some humanitarian topics “fashionable”, any exposure is not necessarily good exposure. A topic of discussion in the past few weeks is the story of Somaly Mam.  Her story of being sold into prostitution as a child has been unraveled by slipped inconsistencies and testimony from former collaborators. These events have brought up the age-old question of: do the ends justify the means?  Her tearjerker tactics, designed carefully to evoke horror and sympathy for her cause, have played a large part in bringing sex trafficking to the forefront of global discourse, but on the way they have run the risk of making pitiful caricatures of victims, created gross generalizations about certain regions of the world (in this case, Cambodia), and in the worst cases, spread misinformation that could be detrimental to the serious efforts that are in place to combat trafficking in persons.

Street food, prepped for takeaway diners

CSEC and other forms of sexual exploitation are grave and complicated issues, and uninformed, melodramatic journalism that puts forth simplistic solutions undermine specialised NGOs, grassroots organisations and the victims themselves. Though Somaly Mam may have played an integral role in putting human sex trafficking on the international agenda, this is only one step towards combating this multifaceted issue. Awareness raising must be done in a thoughtful manner, respectful of those who are involved and wary of the perceptions that will be created. These perceptions will form the basis of policy decisions, funding allocations, and further education about this issue, and thus it is imperative that the information relayed about CSEC is accurate rather than exaggerated for effect, and comprehensive, rather than superficial and oversimplified.

I have learned so much about CSEC, and also about Bangkok and Thailand as well, even though I have only spent about a month with ECPAT. Though there is a lot of work to do to eliminate CSEC, being able to see how much Thailand and the rest of SE Asia has progressed since ECPAT began, and reading about the kinds of legal measures and policies the governments have instated to fight this problem, it gives me hope that one day commercial sexual exploitation of children will be an issue of the past.