ST Dec 24, 2004

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT: THAILAND
Let's hear it for the children
By Nirmal Ghosh
THAILAND CORRESPONDENT

POI PET (CAMBODIA) - WHEN it rains, Krousar Thmey's shelter for children in Poi Pet, across the Thai border in Cambodia, starts flooding. Below the walls of a giant casino where millions are gambled every day, the children of Krousar Thmey pick up toddlers and wade through shin-deep water to do their chores. A pedestal fan churns hot, humid air inside a hut on stilts which serves as the office of the Phnom Penh based non-government organisation (NGO).

Krousar Thmey means 'new family'. Here the children are free of the circumstances they have been rescued from - the bondage of illegal traffickers and exploiters. Some have been repatriated from Thailand, where they were sent to beg on the streets of Bangkok or work in airless sweatshops or sordid brothels. Some were taken off the streets of Poi Pet itself, where they would sniff glue and split methamphetamine pills to help pass the night.

Poi Pet is a funnel for traders in everything from clothes to people. Around 60 per cent of the town comprises a floating transient population out to make a quick buck - or just to survive.

When I walked into Poi Pet, from Aranyaprathet on the Thai side, several hustlers approached me to offer visa services, transport to Siem Reap, and women - in that order.

Krousar Thmey attempts to find the children's homes and families, assess their circumstances and reunite the children with them. It has a 70 per cent success rate, mainly because of follow-up and insistence that the children should go to school - for which Krousar Thmey provides support. In some cases, children come back to the shelter, and some stay on or are successfully re-housed with other families.

Like the water that swirls through the low-lying Krousar Thmey village, many NGOs in Poi Pet fill the holes left by a government that has inherited a country gutted by war, and struggles to implement a semblance of policy through a machinery that is often distorted by corruption.

Illegal migration - often abetted by people smugglers, which is another term for human traffickers - is an everyday phenomenon on Thailand's borders. In recent months, it has been the focus of new attention as governments in the region realise the phenomenon is almost out of control; the Thai government estimates that there are at least one million foreigners - mostly from Myanmar, followed by Cambodia - working inside Thailand. And that does not count the family members who are with them.

An unprecedented agreement was signed last month in Yangon between six countries of the greater Mekong sub-region, one of the world's hot spots for human trafficking: Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Preventive measures
MINISTERS pledged to 'address trafficking from a comprehensive perspective, encompassing areas of policy and cooperation at the national and international levels; legal frameworks, law enforcement and criminal justice; protection, recovery and reintegration of victims; as well as preventive measures'.

After the legalese it will be implementation that counts. This was stressed repeatedly at another forum in Bangkok recently, to which youth representatives from Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines were invited to give their views. Organised jointly by Ecpat (End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) and two United Nations organisations, the workshop was part of a review of commitments and action plans against the sexual exploitation of children.

The MOU signed in Yangon did not refer to the need to consult the most vulnerable group under discussion - children themselves.

Such non-consultation, say NGOs which have worked closely with children, means agreements and action plans are usually weighted towards law rather than in-country and cross-border security and protection of human rights - which is what the children need.

An interesting comment was made on the issue of children being heard, after the Ecpat-UN review in Bangkok. A youth delegate from the Philippines sat together with representatives from Thailand and Cambodia. The rest of the panel comprised adults working for UN agencies and Ecpat. Together, they faced a modest gathering of local and international press.

After several questions were directed to the adults and answered by them, the youth delegates were given a chance to speak. The Filipina mentioned that she had been disappointed that 'hardly anyone' had turned up for their own workshop. The Thai delegate said: 'Many actions that are well intentioned, do not however address the needs of children.'

She singled out the media as failing in its responsibility to deliver content both truthfully and sensitively, with a clear distinction between good and bad. And she gave some insight into issues that bother children.

'From our perspective, often the exploiters are not strangers but family members or other people we are close to and respect and trust. From the children's perspective, it is a beautiful world without deceit; when bad things happen, who do we turn to?'

And to underscore the importance of the issue, the Filipina delegate declared abruptly: 'I'm sorry, this conference is not child friendly at all,' before pushing her chair back and walking out.


i hope tt e conference tt children's society is hosting next yr wld create greater awareness not juz in s'pore but also ard e region.....hopefully everything will turn out gd! cross my fingers