Activists push for moves to end begging

In Khon Kaen province, 80 per cent of beggars are from Cambodia and Laos, said Vitanapat Ratanavaleepong, head of the Mirror Foundation’s campaign against the child beggar business. 

There were also cases of elderly and sick people – including leprosy sufferers – resorting to begging for money on street, he said. Despite mutual benefits and consent of the beggars, the act of begging and being delivered to various locations to beg is defined as human trafficking, he said. 

Vitanapat said Mirror staff couldn’t get information out of the beggars they talked to about how much they had to pay for their transport because they were willing to pay the fee. Some parents took their kids to beg on the street, claiming the kids were willing, he said.

He cited complaints to the foundation that some kids didn’t go to school because their parents took them to beg, saying Khon Kaen Children’s Home officials had placed some these kids under the care of the state. 

“Efforts to solve this problem went nowhere because they didn’t tackle the root of problem,” he said. “Related agencies crack down on beggars once a month but the problem persists because human trafficking stems from various factors including poverty, unemployment, broken families.” 

As a short-term solution, he said, the government should prohibit child beggars, register migrant workers, work with neighbouring countries for solutions, and intercept gangs as they move in and out of the country.

If all the relevant parties seriously join in the efforts, they could change the situation, he added.

A Khon Kaen Social Development and Human Security official, who asked not to be named, said there was no report of beggar gangs in the province. But the agency found that elderly people in a community and neighbouring provinces had hired trucks to beg on the streets. And since they did so willingly, officials were unsure whether it was human trafficking. 

“They said they didn’t have a financial problem and they got the monthly allowance for the elderly but they begged for money because of the good income – up to Bt1,000 a day,” the official said, adding that elderly people who were arrested would be sent to a shelter where relatives would pick them up, but they returned to begging.

Nong Khai Immigration Police deputy superintendent Lt-Colonel Wichien Leepairojkul said human trafficking involved three groups: Laotian agents who lured poor girls with the prospect of job; Thai agents who “bought” girls from neighbouring countries for prostitution; and karaoke bars in Nong Khai and nearby provinces. 

“What’s worrying is the girls are willing to join the sex trade,” he said. “This issue stems from materialism as the families want to have a car and house like their neighbours who were in the sex trade.”

Deputy head of the Children, Juveniles and Women Division Pol Colonel Noppawat Arayangura said police started a seven-day operation to talk with beggars last Tuesday. He said the information would be analysed and the division would proceed accordingly. If there were human trafficking cases, police would arrest and deport the people. 

Noppawat said migrant beggars mostly brought young children to beg with them to induce sympathy. These kids were rented or kidnapped and the adult beggars  knew their way around illegal activities. 

He urged the public to alert police via the 1191 hotline when they see beggars, children forced to sell flowers in restaurants, or prostitutes. He said that tourist sites like Pattaya were places where foreign women and lady boys worked in prostitution – forced or otherwise.