Bangkok - Demand for sex with children is
an emerging cause of human trafficking in the Mekong region, the
United Nations said on Thursday, as it pointed to a shift in
child sex webcam centres from the Philippines to Thailand.
The problem had grown so much that demand for child webcam
sex tourism is "outstripping the supply", Deanna Davy, senior
research consultant at the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC), said at the launch of a new trafficking report in
Bangkok.
Thailand is a regional hub for the smuggling and trafficking
of men, women, and children from poorer neighbouring countries
such as Cambodia and Myanmar.
Many are forced to work in Thailand's sex industry and in
labour intensive sectors such as fishing, construction, and
agriculture, where they are sometimes subject to abuse,
according to investigations by rights groups and the media.
Around 4 million migrants live in Thailand, according to
2015 government data. The UNODC estimates that between 4 and 23
percent of migrants in Thailand are trafficking victims.
Jeremy Douglas, regional representative of the UNODC, said
recent intelligence showed a shift in child sex abuse webcam
centres to Thailand from the Philippines, where authorities have
tried to crack down on the illegal trade.
"It used to be the Philippines but through some of our
interviews we've found that it's moving here and we're seeing
some intelligence indicate that a move of people setting up
operations in Thailand is happening," Douglas told Reuters.
He said the victims were children from Thailand and
neighbouring countries.
"When things operate in the shadows like that it's really
hidden ... but this should be an issue of concern," he said.
A spokesperson for the Thai government was not able to comment
immediately on the UNODC findings.
The UN children's agency said in a 2016 report poor
families in the Philippines were pushing their children into
performing live sex online for paedophiles around the globe,
calling it a form of "child slavery".
The UNODC pointed on Thursday to child sex abuse, along with
trafficked migrant labour for illegal logging purposes, as
emerging trafficking issues of concern in the region.
A Bangkok court convicted dozens of people, including police
and politicians, last month for trafficking migrants in
Thailand's biggest human trafficking trial.
In June, the US State Department left Thailand on a Tier 2
Watchlist, just above the lowest ranking of Tier 3, in its
annual Trafficking in Persons Report, because it said Thailand
did not do enough to tackle human smuggling and trafficking.