Maew, aged 14, worked as a cook near the Thai-Burma border. One day, a woman came to ask her if she wanted to work in a Chiang Mai restaurant instead. Maew was earning Bt400 a month - in Chiang Mai, she was told, she could make up to Bt4,000 a month.

At first, Maew didn't believe her, but the woman returned many times to persuade her that she could help her parents more with the extra money. Finally, Maew agreed. But instead of Chiang Mai, she was taken to Mae Sai, where she was locked in a room by men who told her she had a "debt" of Bt30,000 for transportation costs and police payments to bring her there.

She had to repay this false debt - by selling her body. She refused but had no choice. Imprisoned in the building, she was forced to prostitute herself. Maew was a victim of human trafficking.

Trafficking is modern-day slavery. Humans are tricked or forced to go with the trafficker, then sold for profit. In Thailand alone, hundreds of thousands of women and children are trafficked to work as prostitutes. They are often deceived with promises of jobs as domestic helpers, waitresses or factory workers. Then, through intimidation, violence or confinement, they are forced to work as prostitutes.

According to the recent 2006 United Nations report on human trafficking, Thailand is the only country that ranks "very high" in the incidence of reporting in all three categories: as an origin, transit and destination country. These dire statistics paint a bleak picture to the rest of the world about how Thailand treats women.

But Thailand's top judicial personnel have been working with academics and non-governmental agencies to turn this picture around. Over three days of seminars in Ubon Ratchathani, judges, prosecutors and leading academics tackled the problem of trafficking and discussed in depth the human rights of trafficked women, as well as the gender-based causes of the crime.

Justice Vicha Mahakhun, president of the juvenile and family division of the Supreme Court, said: "The root of violence against women is power and gender relations. Society sees women and children as weak and therefore subordinate to men.

"Women and children have the same dignity as men and adults. Sexual violence is unacceptable because it contradicts the concept of equality of human beings. Women are equal to men by nature."

Khunying Chantanee Santabutr, a human-rights commissioner, explained the history of biased gender relations that led to current attitudes. "From the Ayutthaya period to King Rama IV [reigned 1851-1868], women were regarded as men's and their in-laws' property, so they could be sold, and polygamy was common. "While Thailand has certainly progressed since that period, an overwhelming number of women today are still sold or beaten as prostitutes and Thai husbands still engage mistresses and prostitutes.

"There are still flaws in Thai laws, especially in family law, that treat women as inferior."

In fact, the idea that men own their women is still written into law to this day: Article 276 states that a man who rapes a woman who is not his wife has committed a crime - wording which implies that it is acceptable to rape one's wife.

Sharlardchai Ramitanondh, of the Women's Studies Centre at Chiang Mai University, told the seminar that human trafficking was an outcome of globalisation.

"Globalisation causes poverty and a division between rich and poor countries. As a result, poor people have to migrate for better economic opportunities. Women are more severely affected by poverty. When they move to cities because they can no longer work in their villages, they are vulnerable to exploitation as prostituted women. Also, daughters are expected to sell their bodies to generate income for the family."

Justice Jaran Pukdithanakul, secretary-general to the president of the Supreme Court, added: "Because of poverty, there are more than one million people willing to sell their bodies for very little money. Compared to neighbouring countries, we consider ourselves more developed. But, on the other hand, we are less developed in terms of morality and allow trafficking and exploitation among human beings."

Thailand has yet to pass a comprehensive law to deal with trafficking and so must rely on related criminal laws to adjudicate cases. Ending the trafficking cycle will require enforcing the law and punishing traffickers. But prosecutions have failed because there was not adequate support and protection of victims, who are needed as witnesses. Also, victims are often treated as criminals for offences they were forced to commit and charged with crimes such as prostitution or illegal immigration. Assoc Prof Virada Somswasdi, president of the Foundation for Women, Law and Rural Development (FORWARD), feels there needs to be greater awareness of the gender-based causes of trafficking by the judicial system and a focus on punishing the traffickers, not the victims.

She said: "The protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking is the first tool created by the United Nations to counter the trade of women and children. Victims have received poor treatment because they are women, they are powerless, they are minorities and they come from underdeveloped countries. The fact that women are treated as sexual objects and as victims leads to trafficking."

The solution, she believes, is to raise public understanding of the gender-based issues underlying trafficking, starting with educating the area most essential to a democracy: law. It is important that judicial personnel fully understand the human rights of women so that they can implement the law equitably.

As part of this goal, Somswasdi announced that FORWARD is creating the Gender Justice Network, a core group of judicial personnel that will respond to emerging issues of violations of women's human rights. Members will focus urgent attention on the rapidly expanding scope of traffickers into Thailand's neighbouring countries, along with the former Soviet bloc, as these countries have opened to globalisation. At the same time, attention must also be paid to the declining age of the victims.

FORWARD and the Women's Studies Centre at Chiang Mai University hold regular seminars for judicial personnel on the gender issues underlying trafficking and domestic violence. They gather for two and a half days to discuss case studies and listen to prominent speakers. Often they go back with a greater understanding of the background of the cases they preside over, helping them to make decisions or to order further investigations.

Marisa Lianggamphai is an education officer at the Women's Studies Centre at Chiang Mai University.

Marisa Lianggamphai

Special to The Nation

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The UN declares

Violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full advancement of women, and . . . violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men.