Foundation reveals lives of Bangkok’s street sex workers

About 60 per cent of these people, earning approximately Bt300 to Bt1,000 a day by selling sex, are elderly persons, according to the Issarachon Foundation, which provides assistance to the homeless, especially those with HIV and Aids.
According to foundation social welfare worker Achara Sornwaree, there are about 70,000 destitute people in Thailand. Addressing a press conference in Bangkok on Wednesday, Achara cast a light on the lives of people who do what they have to do to get by and are often forgotten by the rest of society.
Thanks to the Protection Centres for the Destitute in 77 provinces, many people have had opportunities to engage in other work in local communities and no longer forced to wander the streets. However, the centres have been hit by a recent corruption scandal.
Achara cited the statistics gathered from the street people encountered by staff of the centres in 2017.

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The number of homeless in Bangkok’s public spaces in 2017 stood at 3,630 persons (2,203 men and 1,427 women), said Achara. They comprised 994 homeless itinerant people, 856 people temporarily sleeping in public spaces, 840 alcoholics, 740 suffering from illness or injury, 529 “independent service workers”, 52 migrant workers and 20 foreign vagabonds. 
Achara said the seven Bangkok districts with the largest number of destitute people were Phra Nakhon (624 people), Bang Sue (304), Chatuchak (252), Pathum Wan (220), Samphanthawong (205), Khlong Toei (153) and Ratchathewee (164). Most Bangkok homeless itinerants were from the Northeast and the North. About 10 were infants born to homeless itinerant parents at Sanam Luang, she said. 
The youngest individual homeless itinerant was 18 years old and the oldest was 93 years old. The oldest died last year and that person’s relatives could not be found.
“Many homeless itinerants and alcoholics, or those who are mental patients, end up dead on the streets,” Achara said.
Many became homeless itinerants because they lost their homes due to various circumstances or had run away due to family problems or other reasons, she said. 
A rising proportion was youths who were in welfare homes and had to move out after turning 18.
Foundation staff hand out free condoms daily to sex workers in Bangkok’s Koh Rattanakosin area. Among female street sex workers, the oldest was 83 years old while the youngest was 12. Among the male street sex workers, the oldest was 46 years old and the youngest eight. 
Many catered to the unique sexual and emotional tastes of customers, including a five-month-pregnant woman whose customers were attracted to her because of her condition. Some with mental health challenges served customers who specifically wanted to have sex with them.
People cited a variety of reasons for taking on prostitution work, including raising money to repay a debt, the insufficiently small allowance given to Thailand’s elderly, loneliness, and a need to feel accepted or to feel alive, Achara said.
Many related specific financial needs, such as the high-ranking female state official who travels from another province to moonlight on the streets of Bangkok, raising funds to repay Bt2 million in credit card debts. Achara also cited lovers who wished to earn extra income or students addicted to games or materialism. 
Some were not selling themselves for money. Instead, they chose prostitution in search of warmth or from a psychological need, such as a military housewife who already had her husband's Bt30,000 monthly pension.
The issue of sex trade is often brushed under the carpet in Thai society, said Achara.
While the country might not choose to legalise prostitution, the majority of which was a consensual exchange between the two parties, she said Thailand needed to provide a zone for sex workers so as to reduce inequality and to reduce cases of sexual violations.