East European pros flocking in Thailand

by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
November 20, 2009

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/333/east-european-pros-flocking-in-thailand

Even few years back, situation was not like this. On a Friday evening at Bangkok's Sukhumvit road, a large number of East European ladies were seen with black men on street side cafes looking for customers. Most of them are from Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Georgia and other republics in former Soviet Union.

Most of the evenings, Bangkok's Rajah Hotel premises turns into a massive crowd of East European hookers and agents of Russian-Thai mafia, looking for potential customers. There are many more places in Bangkok too, such as Patpong, Sukhumvit Soi 13-17 and Silom as well as Pataya, where East European sex workers are very frequently seen walking on the streets, or waiting in a café or pub in search of customers. Dormitory at Rajah Hotel in Bangkok is the main place, where Russian and former CIS sex workers are housed in by the mafia rackets.

Thai authorities are although very actively trying to stop such massive arrival of East European sex workers, by putting tougher rules in issuing visa from its Tashkent and other consulates in the East European countries, organized mafia have succeeded in finding a loop hole in finally arranging visa for the racket ladies thus enabling them in visiting Thailand with 3 month's tourist visa.

It is learnt that, Russian mafias collect these women from respective countries under a contract of paying US$ 10,000 to the mafia racket for visa, ticket and other expenses within the 3 month's stay of these sex workers in Thailand. If the sex workers are unwilling to enter into such contracts, they also can manage a Thai visa through the mafia network from the Istanbul consulate of the Thai embassy against a payment of US$ 1500 for each of the 3 month's tourist visa.

It is learnt that, Thai consulate in Istanbul and other capitals of East European countries are very strict in issuing any visa to the suspected females. Due to such 'obstacles', both the sex workers and their mafia ring prefer Istanbul as an alternative place for getting the visa.

In Thailand, even few years back, while East European sex workers were charging US$ 200 for every hour, due to increased number of arrivals of such sex workers in Thailand, now a days, they even agree to accompany a customer just for US$ 50 per hour. In some cases, the amount even goes below US$ 50. The reason behind such tendency is that, each of the sex workers are determined in cashing more than US$ 10,000 in a month, in order to pay back their debts with the Russian mafia as well make some handsome amount for their return to homeland, and prepare for the next trip back to Thailand. In most cases, each of the sex workers are making 2-3 trips to Thailand in a year.

It was already warned by World Health Organization that, percentage of HIV positive within sex workers in East Europe is above alarming level. It is quite understood that, increased number of East European ladies in Thailand is not only expanding the activities of Russian-Thai mafias, but also leaving a serious threat of HIV infection amongst the locals and overseas tourists. It may be mentioned here that, Thailand witnesses tourist high season from end October to mid March. During this time, a few hundred thousand foreigners arrive in Thailand, from European and American destinations for holidaying.

In May 2008, 12 Uzbekistani sex workers were arrested in Pattaya by local police for approaching tourists and other denizens of Walking Street in the red light district of the Thai province.

They were duly arrested by police and taken to Pattaya Police Station, where they confessed to practicing prostitution. Their charges for their services were variously estimated as between Baht 2,500 and 3,000 [US$ 1 = 31 Baht]. They were charged and were subsequently produced before the court.

If they are denied re-entry visa to Thailand, these East European Muslim sex workers are likely to journey to Dubai, the most lucrative of the work-spots, to continue plying the oldest profession, either as free-lancers or part of a Mafia-organized sex-trafficking network.

Thousands of citizens of the CIS, the eleven former Soviet Republics, have taken advantage of the relatively high returns for sexual favors available in such places as Dubai, Bahrain, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. So poor are the wages in these former Soviet Republics, that even professional such as doctors, business women and scientists have been known to enter the sex trade, especially in the aforementioned countries.

Dubai affords amongst the richest pickings in the world for prostitution, where the sex-workers, called 'night butterflies' in Russian, can earn 10 times what an equivalent sex worker could earn in Thailand. Current estimates are that there are several thousand prostitutes in Dubai. Apart from a few African women, they mainly come from Russia, the Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Kyrgyzstan and other republics of the CIS. Some are apparently currently enjoying a high life style, whose authorities are turning a blind eye to the often blatant sex-trade. What causes the most affronts, on the other hand, is that many of these female sex-workers are Muslim. These find special favor from citizens of other Gulf Arab countries, especially Saudis and Kuwaitis, who flock down to the UAE every Friday, the Muslim holy day to indulge; this especially in Bahrain, which is a mere drive across the sea-spanning bridge linking the island with the Saudi Arabian mainland.

Many of the young Muslim women - some former students - who came looking for work have ended up in a trap of sin, poverty, exploitation, hopelessness and fear. Often, those who try to escape their ordeal get killed by pimps and others, especially members of the Russian Mafia, who are the main traffickers, and who have an inherent interest in seeing the women trapped long-term.

The number of sex workers in Eastern European and Central Asian countries has risen dramatically in recent history. This is due to social, economic and political changes that led many to turn to sex work as a means of income. HIV prevalence rates generally seem to be low amongst sex workers in the region. Levels of sexually transmitted infections, however, are high, suggesting that few sex workers are practicing safer sex, and that there is scope for HIV to become more common among sex workers in coming years. Commercial sex is playing an increasingly prominent role in the AIDS epidemics of many countries in the region.

In Russia, sex workers commonly become infected with HIV through injecting drug use rather than sex. In the city of St Petersburg, 61% of sex workers were found to be living with HIV in 2008, and this high prevalence is attributed to the fact that most sex workers in the city also inject drugs. By contrast, in the capital city of Moscow, where the sex industry is more organized and actively discourages drug use, only 19% of sex workers were thought to be infected with HIV in 2008. The situation is no better in rest of the former Soviet republics.

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