National—
On May 1st, 2024, Thai national media reported Sex Worker Statistics by country and gender made by the International Union of Sex Workers on the occasion of Labor Day.
Sex workers in Thailand were fighting for the legalization of prostitution for their basic and occupational protection rights. It was reported that earlier this year (2024), Empower Foundation and sex worker representatives submitted a letter to various Thai political parties to demand basic rights and welfare from the Thai government saying that sex workers should be equal to other occupations.
A draft bill to legalize prostitution was made and opened for opinions for more than five years from every business sector. However, the progress on moving forward with the bill went unheard of from November 2023 for no apparent reason. The sex worker representatives were worried that their efforts might be futile, said Ms. Chatchalawan Muangchan, an activist from Empower Foundation.
Thai national media recently highlighted Sex Worker Statistics by the International Union of Sex Workers ranking the first 20 countries in 2024. The original statistics were compiled on October 11th, 2023.
The top 10 countries rank according to the statistics were rounded up as follows:
China 5,000,000 people, India 3,000,000 people, United States 1,000,000 people, Philippines 800,000 people, Mexico 500,000 people, Germany 400,000 people, Brazil 250,000 people, Thailand 250,000 people, Bangladesh 200,000 people, and South Korea 147,000 people.
Thailand was ranked in the top 10 countries with overall sex workers. The number was seen as increasing steadily considering that in the digital age, prostitutes could provide services on online platforms globally.
However, the statistics were not comprehensive as a massive number of sex workers were not surveyed and did not get the basic rights and welfare that they deserved, said the survey organizers.
A draft bill for legalizing prostitution is still technically under consideration but may face more significant opposition in Parliament than marriage equality. Officially speaking, Thailand has often denied having prostitution and large red-light districts in places like Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket.
Activists are saying that pretending there is no prostitution makes the matter much worse and also leaves those involved in the industry subject to corrupt law enforcement and government officials in order to operate.
Even as recently as March, Thai police claimed a massive brawl near a red light area in Bangkok between over a hundred transgender individuals from Thailand and the Philippines was not related to prostitution and that there was no prostitution in that area, a claim that drew almost universal criticism and even outright disbelief on social media.
Prostitution remains, officially, illegal in Thailand….for now.
