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User talk:Seth Ilys/Archive:2004-Summer

Maps
I noticed you've been busy making municipal maps... Well I have been too! I was wondering if there was any sort of coordinated project? --"D ICK " C HENEY 01:00, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

 * Though my project is not quite dots, I would be more than happy to be added to your list. I've already finished four of New Jersey's 21 counties, and I'll try to finish the remaining 17 counties in the next couple of weeks. Just for the record, my primary source is the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's GIS website. Best regards and happy mapping. --"D ICK " C HENEY 01:13, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Dot Project Reservations
Seth, no need to reserve Kansas or Ohio for me. If someone else wants to do them, fine. I only wanted to 'reserve' Arizona because I've started doing some advance work on it, and wanted to lock it in.

I went ahead and put Arizona in the Dot Project section of your page. Do you want folks to do that, or do you want us to communicate through your user page and you'll do it? Some don't mind others updating their user page and some do. I thought in this case, if it were me, I wouldn't mind.

As far as Missouri, I'm working on Stoddard County now. I could conceivably finish tonight; if not, in the next few days. I recon that Missouri was around 1000 maps and 1000 article edits. I think Arizona will be less than 200 + 200 based on my eyeballing so far. Thanks. Brian Rock 01:31, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Seth said...I really do appreciate other people working on the project; it gives me some confidence that I'm not crazy in attempting it. :)

 * I wouldn't use the fact that I'm working on it as much evidence against craziness. At least one Wikipedian and my wife think I'm crazy for taking it on. But then others do jigsaw puzzles... Brian Rock 01:39, 24 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Ballet question
Hi, I saw you nominated (ballerina who invented en pointe) for Article of the week, and figured you might know this. Would it be appropriate for ballerina to redirect to ballet, or are the two concepts separate enough for two articles? Best wishes, [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 22:17, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

 * OK, I'll hold off on creating the redirect then. Such was my suspicion anyway, but I wanted to be sure.  You're right, our coverage in this area is shockingly weak. [[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 22:33, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

 * hello, i see you have a big presence on Wikipedia, ballet is not my strong point (dance technology, dance notation, 20th century concert dance are more my thing) but glad to be of help, the ballet section is weak. perhaps you can add what you think needs to be done as a liston the talk page as point and i will do the same? Ohka- 17:40, 3 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Timeline standards
Please discuss updating the template above before changing all year pages. -- User:Docu

Thanks for your support
I just wanted to thank you for your support in my recent nomination to become an administrator. I really appreciate it. blankfaze | •• | •• 14:47, 6 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Natick, MA
Hi there, not sure of the etiquette of this really but I believe that you edited the Natick, MA with dates of incorporation and settlement (at least that's what it looked like to me... I'm a wikipedia newbie though so apologies if I got that wrong). I grew up in Natick and as far as I know those dates aren't correct but I'm certainly not a historian... what I do know is that 1651 is on all the road signs. I think that I've even got some 300th year celebration thingy from 1951 that my grandfather gave me (couldn't rummage it up though). Also, this page shows the same year. Anyway, figured I'd drop this note here before trying to alter the entry. - Dan Reagan

BCE Redirects
I finished creating the BCE -> BC redirects you had listed on User:Seth_Ilys/Test3--Wclark 19:26, 2004 Jul 11 (UTC)

North Carolina Congress
Specifically, US Congressional Delegations from North Carolina. I'm starting to work on these for other states (I'm actually in Concord, North Carolina, and your work on the list inspired me to spread the love the other forty nine), and I was wondering, where did you get the information on congressional districts over time? Was the "Political Graveyard" link your only source of information? Also, just curious, why are there *s next to some of the congresses; are those the ones you're not entirely sure about? Thanks!! --Golbez 21:09, Jul 19, 2004 (UTC)

Sethbot
What is this: Monroe (city), WI? The redirect doesn't work, I think because of the other text on the page, but I can't tell if it is supposed to be that way or not. older ≠ wiser 02:40, 21 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * OK, thanks. I noticed that somehow %28 and %29 got substituted for the parentheses--don't know if that's something you can control with the bot or not or if it really shouldn't make a difference. older ≠ wiser 02:55, 21 Jul 2004 (UTC)

US coin productions
Seth,

what do you think about keeping production stats in the data tables for US coins? the US mint releases them at their web site, and I have Redbooks detailing them as well.

oh, and I also think a image size for coins should be standardised. my old collection is in photographic format and will shortly be made available free, along with ~6000 other photographs from the person I sold them through.

Combuchan 01:40, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Stage: Larval
I'd like to grow WikiProject U.S. politicians from its current not-even-larval stage to being a beautiful butterfly. :) Thought I'd recruit you because your super-amazing work on N.C. politicians. :) I so don't have time to be running a WikiProject, but I think it's a good idea, if for nothing other than normalizing the navtables for 'murricans. (Cellpadding and cellspacing is our friends!) jengod 23:28, Aug 2, 2004 (UTC)

Aymags of Mongolia
I thank you for your mass contribution on aymags of Mongolia, but your romanization method doesn't seem popular. If there is no objection, I will change the romanization of Mongolian aymags to this method. Also, I will add the suffix "aymag" for each page title because aymags share their names with other entities. --Nanshu 01:23, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Thank you. I will make changes in a couple of weeks. --Nanshu 03:52, 11 Aug 2004 (UTC)

dot map: Pinehurst, Texas
Seth, there appears to be a map error:

Pinehurst, Orange County, Texas has a doton map that apparently belongs on Pinehurst, Montgomery County, Texas. I'd fix the error myself, but I see you are still working on the Texas doton maps, and have not yet created one for Pinehurst, Montgomery County, Texas. I figured it would be better to let you know of the confusion between the two towns in the same state with the same name. Kevyn 10:29, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Sabiha Gokcen Internation Airport
Hello,

I just wanted to say you that there is no any "Sabiha Airport". It should be "Sabiha Gokcen Internation Airport" or just "Sabiha Gokcen Airtport"

Regards..

Edit attribution
Hi Seth. Edits from 152.2.53.67 have now been reattributed to you. Regards  — Kate Turner | Talk 03:04, 2004 Sep 5 (UTC)

Wikipedians for Truth
"N 14:39:06 Texans for Truth (diff; hist) . . Seth Ilys (Talk) (will the insanity never end?)"

 * No, it's an election year... - Tεx  τ  urε  19:45, 8 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Dot on project
How do you handle this? Do you go through a state and create all the maps then add them? Or check first which ones need maps? If I create some maps for cities I work on, with no intention of completing an entire state, would it be helpful or time-wasting? Rmhermen 04:42, Sep 20, 2004 (UTC)

Edward Fincke
Seth, could you check Edward Fincke when you have a chance please? Someone replaced your text with an exact copy of. —Joseph | Talk 23:44, Sep 21, 2004 (UTC)

thanks for the moderation on the Badnarik page. Before I added the section on Badnarik's political views, the article was biased in favor of Badnarik for a variety of reasons -- these positions should not be omitted. However, your edit helped make my section on Badnarik's political views be more neutral, and I appreciate that.

title: User talk:Seth Ilys/Archive:2004-Summer


text:
User talk:Cl~enwiki

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia! Hope you like it here, and stick around.

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[[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 00:44, Dec 22, 2004 (UTC)

Your contributed article, FOUNDER.org

Hello, I noticed that you recently created a new page, FOUNDER.org. First, thank you for your contribution; Wikipedia relies solely on the efforts of volunteers such as you. Unfortunately, the page you created covers a topic on which we already have a page – Founder.org. Because of the duplication, your article has been tagged for speedy deletion. Please note that this is not a comment on you personally and we hope you will continue helping to improve Wikipedia. If the topic of the article you created is one that interests you, then perhaps you would like to help out at Founder.org – you might like to discuss new information at the article's talk page.

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Orphaned non-free image File:Logo of the Associated Students of the University of California.jpeg
 Thanks for uploading File:Logo of the Associated Students of the University of California.jpeg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Stefan2 (talk) 21:57, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Cl. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Cl~enwiki that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name. If you think you might own all of the accounts with this name and this message is in error, please visit Special:MergeAccount to check and attach all of your accounts to prevent them from being renamed.

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Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:08, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 11:40, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Talkback
Iryna Harpy (talk) 22:49, 3 July 2015 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Operation Completion

The article Operation Completion has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern: "Can’t find any sources for this."

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license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: User talk:Cl~enwiki


text:
User talk:Duffman7575

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia! Hope you like it here, and stick around.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

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 * Remember Neutral point of view
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and, most importantly, have fun!

Good luck!

[[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 00:44, Dec 22, 2004 (UTC)

Image copyright
Hi! Can you tell me where you got Image:Black hawk.jpg from? It looks like an official-type photograph, but Google Images doesn't turn up anything. If it's an official military photograph, let me know so I can tag it as being public-domain. Thanks! grendel|khan 09:41, 2004 Dec 25 (UTC)

title: User talk:Duffman7575


text:
User talk:Seth Ilys/Archive:2004-Fall

Come join the AIW
You are currently listed as an honorary member of the Association of Inclusionist Wikipedians. We encourage you to become a full-fledged member, by listing yourself as such on the AIW page. Posiduck 04:33, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Copyright
Isn't there a specific template for government documents, other than Template:pd? ugen64 01:38, Oct 30, 2004 (UTC)

 * No problem. Nice find on those images, btw. ugen64 01:46, Oct 30, 2004 (UTC)

Osama Bin Laden tape
Congratulations on being the one to start the article on the new Bin Laden tape! That was a sharp move ther, Seth. Wiwaxia 00:18, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Gonzales
Thanks for pouncing on Alberto R. Gonzales! Gwimpey 19:00, Nov 10, 2004 (UTC)

Keeping "In the news" NPOV and credible
Following various attempts to add partisan and fringe stories to Template:In the news, I've proposed a new criterion to keep such stuff out. Could you please take a look at Wikipedia talk:In the news section on the Main Page and let me know what you think? -- ChrisO 19:15, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)

NC election figures
How old are our election figures 4 SPI and Ag Secy? Our figures currently have a margin of 3800 (or so) in the Ag Secy race. According to the SBOE websire the margin is less than 2800 votes. - iHoshie 00:42, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Copyright
Your copyright section on your user page mentions various dual licensing that you allow for your contributions. Could you use the appropriate templates on your user page so we can track the changes? i.e.   and one of   ,   , or   . (See: Licensing Templates). I really should have mentioned that your work on the dot project is amazing. Its one of the single best additions to the U.S. city articles that one could think of! Partially for that reason and since all of the rambot articles are multi-licensed, we also wanted your work to be multi-licenced. Thanks! -- Ram-Man 02:30, Nov 17, 2004 (UTC)

 * Your User:Sethbot page does not list your copyright/licensing info. I am assume that it is the same as your regular user account, but it would be best if it was spelled out explicitly.  -- Ram-Man 21:00, Nov 17, 2004 (UTC)

 * I don't know if I've ever talked to you about this, but the source county images for the dot-project have all been multi-licensed by James F. and Wapcaplet into the CC-by, which is apparently one-way compatible with the CC-by-sa. I've already asked Bumm13 to multi-license his dot-project images under this license as well, and I plan to ask the others.  Would you be agreeable to doing this as well?  I know you already multi-license your contributions.  I will use the rambot to update the copyright tags in the same way that it updated the tags in the source county images. Thanks!    – Ram-Man (comment) (talk)   21:27, Dec 16, 2004 (UTC)

NC Council of State results, part II
Seth,

I just wanted to give a heads up that the SBOE has finalized all of the results minus Ag and SPI. I've updated each the article. I feel we might need divine intervention to solve the Ag and SPI races. :)

Hoshie 00:30, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday, Seth! Best wishes. --Whosyourjudas (talk) 03:07, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

(sarcastic) Thanks for telling me.
You know, it would have been a little kind if you at least would have told me that you turned Merit badge into a redirect page. Hoekenheef 07:32, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Dot Project - Arkansas
Hi, Seth. I've still got a way to go with Kansas, but I'll commit to Arkansas next. After that, I might be burnt out. We'll see.

Happy birthday, by the way! Catbar (Brian Rock) 02:49, 27 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Some new Chemistry pages
Hello Seth, I picked on you as you seem to have some interest in Chemistry.

There are some new chemistry pages that seem to me to be totally useless - e.g. Diatomic molecules and List of Polyatomic Ions both by the same person.

Do you think they should be VfD? Jeff Knaggs 16:36, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

The Humungous Image Tagging Project
Hi. You've helped with the WikiProject Wiki Syntax, so I thought it worth alerting you to the latest and greatest of Wikipedia fixing project, User:Yann/Untagged Images, which is seeking to put copyright tags on all of the untagged images. There are probably, oh, thirty thousand or so to do (he said, reaching into the air for a large figure). But hey: they're images ... you'll get to see lots of random pretty pictures. That must be better than looking for at at and the the, non? You know you'll love it. best wishes --Tagishsimon (talk)

Picasso image
Hi, I started reviewing some of the image tags lately, because it seems some public domain tags are attached inappropriately. I just made a change in Image:BoyWithAPipe.JPG, tagged as PD-art but now as PD-art-US. Picasso's paintings are still under copyright protection in some jurisdictions because he died less than 70 years ago, and there have been copyright infringement lawsuits. But I am aware that some works could independetly be released into public domain by the artist. So if I was wrong and that particular image was really in public domain worldwide, I have to apologize for my hasty change. But if you are not sure, I think it is better to use PD-art-US tag. Just letting you know. Thanks, Tomos 11:16, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Seth Ilys/Archive:2004-Fall


text:
Category:Mie Prefecture

Mie Prefecture (三重県; Mie-ken) is a prefecture located in the Kansai (also called Kinki) region, Chūkyō region on Honshū island, Japan. The capital is the city of Tsu.

title: Category:Mie Prefecture


text:
Roy Williamson

Roy Murdoch Buchanan Williamson (25June 1936 – 12August 1990) was a Scottish songwriter and folk musician, most notably with The Corries. Williamson is best known for writing "Flower of Scotland", which has become the de facto national anthem of Scotland used at international sporting events.

Early life
Roy Williamson's father, Archibald Moir Macrae Williamson, was an advocate (a lawyer); his mother, Agnes Ethel Cumming Buchanan Williamson, was a talented pianist who frequently took her two sons, Robert and Roy, to musical events. As a schoolboy, Williamson learned to play the recorder by ear, pretending to read music. A teacher found out and banned him from music lessons. He went to Wester Elchies School, then Aberlour House and Gordonstoun in Moray. He taught seamanship and navigation at Burghead before going to Edinburgh College of Art. It was there in 1955 that he met Ronnie Browne, with whom he would team up in The Corries. The partnership lasted almost thirty years. Williamson and Browne also shared a passion for rugby, having played wing against each other for Edinburgh Wanderers and Boroughmuir, respectively.

Williamson's father committed suicide when his son was eight years old. Williamson had a brother, Robert Buchanan Williamson, two daughters, Karen and Sheena, and was married twice—first to Violet Thomson and then to Nicolette van Hurck, from Holland.

The Corries
Williamson joined Bill Smith and Ron Cruikshank to form the "Corrie Folk Trio" in 1962. The Trio's first performance was in the Waverley Bar on St Mary's Street, Edinburgh. After a few weeks Ron Cruikshank left because he had contracted glandular fever. The Trio had already accepted an engagement at the Edinburgh Festival, so Williamson suggested that Ronnie Browne should be asked to join the group in order that it would have three members again. At a later date, the group added female Northern Irish singer Paddie Bell to become the "Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell". The audience was only eight people for the debut of the Trio, but by the end of the festival it was a full house at every performance.

By 1966, Paddie Bell and Bill Smith had left, with Bell saying that she wanted to perform songs that were different from the ones the Trio sang and Smith having fallen out with Browne (Smith cites that he himself was a perfectionist). These developments left Williamson and Browne to continue the group. Williamson was a singer who was also a gifted multi-instrumentalist; Browne, by contrast, was a gifted singer who had learned to play various musical instruments. The two men cancelled all engagements for a few months to practice intensively. Under a new name, "The Corries", they performed at the Jubilee Arms Hotel in Cortachy, Angus. The enthusiastic response encouraged them to continue as a duo, and they became highly successful in Scotland and eventually throughout much of the world.

"Flower of Scotland"
Williamson wrote Flower of Scotland during the 1960s; it is currently the most popular candidate for a Scottish national anthem. The song now represents Scotland at international rugby and international football matches, and at the Commonwealth Games. It was sung in the 2007 Commonwealth Games by Ronnie Browne, though he swore never to sing it again, saying that it was a struggle not to be overcome with emotion.

Combolin
Williamson, whose many talents ranged from art to woodworking, co-designed a boat named The Sheena Margaret, which was named for his younger daughter with his first wife, Violet. In the summer of 1969 he invented the 'combolins', two complementary instruments that combined several instruments into a single one. Browne's instrument contained a mandolin with a guitar (along with four bass strings operated with slides); Williamson's had a guitar as well as the 12-string Spanish bandurria, the latter being an instrument he had played since the early days of the Corrie Folk Trio.

Originally conceived as a way to combine several of the many instruments they carried around on tour – the Corries' long row of chairs behind them on stage bearing instruments is legendary – the combolins in fact became an additional two instruments for the tour van. Most often, Browne played the guitar/mandolin instrument with bass strings, and Williamson the other, which also had 13 sympathetic strings designed to resonate like the Indian sitar.

The wood for the combolins was obtained from antique hardwood furniture as well as premium grade Tyrolean spruce, and displayed Williamson's artistic embellishments in silver and mother of pearl. The Corries' album, Strings and Things (1970), was specifically designed to display the new instruments: It featured detailed descriptions of them on the rear sleeve.

Williamson had advertised the combolins a year prior to completing them and had first tested them only a short while before a concert but found that they sounded terrible. He had to quickly rebuild them and learn to play them with Browne before the concert day.

When the combolins were played, Browne and Williamson often switched places from left to right respectively to right and left.

Health problems
As a young man, Roy Williamson had played rugby for Edinburgh Wanderers, the rivals of Boroughmuir, the team for which Browne had played. Williamson suffered throughout his life from asthma; he usually discontinued his asthma treatments before a show or a concert. He continued performing until late in 1989, when his final illness became apparent.

Death
Williamson died of a brain tumour on 12 August 1990.

title: Roy Williamson


text:
Ronnie Browne

Ronald Grant Browne ("The Voice") (20 August 1937 in Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland) is a Scottish folk musician and songwriter, who is a founding member of The Corries.

Biography
Browne was born in Edinburgh to John Albert 'Bertie' Browne, a truck driver, and Anne 'Nancy' Browne. He was raised in Scotland. Aside from singing, Browne's other abilities are painting, sketching and rugby, having once played as a winger for his secondary school Boroughmuir. He met Roy Williamson on the rugby field, as Williamson had played as a winger also for Boroughmuir's rivals Edinburgh Wanderers.

This led to meeting multi-instrumentalist Bill Smith at Edinburgh College of Art in 1955 and the formation of the Corrie Folk Trio in 1962. The group was expanded the following year with the addition of female singer Paddie Bell. Shortly after releasing three albums in 1965, Bell left to begin a solo career. With the departure of Smith, the following year, Browne and Williamson continued to perform as a duo now known as The Corries.

In 1970, Williamson conceived and built the band's signature instrument: the combolins, a pair of instruments that were rarely played separately. Williamson's instrument featured a basic guitar fingerboard with a bandurria attached and sympathetic resonating strings. Browne's model was a basic guitar with a mandolin attached and four bass strings.

Browne and Williamson were regular performers on Scottish television shows and movies and in 1983 received an International Film and Television Festival gold award for their Scottish Television series, "The Corries & Other Folk". The 1996 film The Bruce features Browne's rendition of the Williamson-penned Flower of Scotland at the end. Browne appeared in the film playing the role of Maxwell The Minstrel.

Since Williamson's death in 1990, Browne continued to perform and record in the spirit of the Corries. He regularly led the singing of Flower of Scotland, de facto national anthem of Scotland, for the Scotland national rugby and football teams. During his performances, he was known to yell "COME ON!" to the audience during the opening line of the song he was singing and this has often been parodied by the BBC Hogmanay sketch show Only an Excuse?. As of 27 April 2015, Browne announced that due to emotional breakdowns during performances, he has put an end to singing in public.

Browne is now an accomplished portrait artist.

Personal life
Browne met and fell in love with Patricia Elliott during secondary school, and the two married on 30 June 1959. Together they had three children.

Gavin Browne is the eldest, and has run The Corries Official Website since 1997.

Ronnie and Pat were married for 53 years until Pat died from cancer in 2012.

Filmography

 * The Bruce (1996)

title: Ronnie Browne


text:
Prostitution in Thailand

Prostitution in Thailand is not itself illegal, but public solicitation for prostitution is prohibited if it is carried out "openly and shamelessly" or "causes nuisance to the public". Due to police corruption and an economic reliance on prostitution dating back to the Vietnam War, it remains a significant presence in the country. It results from poverty, low levels of education and a lack of employment in rural areas. Prostitutes mostly come from the northeastern (Isan) region of Thailand, from ethnic minorities or from neighbouring countries, especially Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos.
 * In 2019, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.
 * In 2019, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.
 * In 2019, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.
 * In 2019, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.
 * In 2019, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.
 * In 2019, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.
 * In 2019, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.
 * In 2019, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.
 * In 2019, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.
 * In 2019, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 43,000.

Legal underpinnings
The legal framework governing prostitution in Thailand is based upon three acts:

Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act
The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act, B.E. 2539 (1996) is the statute most directly dealing with prostitution. Under the act, the definition of "prostitution" is "Sexual intercourse, or any other act, or the commission of any other act in order to gratify the sexual desire of another person in a promiscuous manner in return for money or any other benefit, irrespective of whether the person who accepts the act and the person who commits the act are of the same sex or not." A clear definition of the phrase "in a promiscuous manner" is not provided.

Under the act, persons who solicit sex "... in an open and shameless manner..." (a phrase that is not clearly defined), or who are "... causing nuisance to the public..." are subject to a fine. Persons associating in a "prostitution establishment" with another person for the purpose of prostitution faces a jail term or a fine or both. The term "prostitution establishment" is clearly defined in Section 4 of the relevant Act, and it may be broadly interpreted to include any place where prostitution takes place, especially in regard to cases involving sexual abuse of children that carry heavier penalties (up to six years if the child is younger than 15 years of age)—otherwise, the law is not usually enforced against prostitution in private places. The act also imposes heavier penalties against owners of prostitution businesses and establishments. The criminal code also stipulates penalties for procuring or using money earned from prostitution.

The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act was written with a particular focus upon sexual abuse and trafficking of children. Section 8 penalizes those who sexually abuse children under the age of 15 years with a prison term of two to six years and a fine of up to 120,000 baht. For child victims between the ages of 15 and 18 years, the prison term is one to three years, and the fine is up to 60,000 baht.

In regard to trafficking, Section 9 of the act states that, "Any person who procures, seduces or takes away any person for the prostitution of such person, even with her or his consent and irrespective of whether the various acts which constitute an offence are committed within or outside the Kingdom, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of one to ten years and to a fine of twenty thousand to two hundred thousand Baht."

Additionally, any offense under Section 9 that is committed "by means of fraud, deceit, threat, violence, [or] the exercise of undue influence or coercion," results in a penalty that is "one-third heavier".

Obtaining sexual services for oneself without any of the aggravating circumstances (underage victim, trafficking, by fraud, deceit, threat, violence, or the exercise of undue influence or coercion) remains legal and is not subject to punishment under Thai law.

Penal Code Amendment Act
The Penal Code Amendment Act (No. 14), B.E. 2540 (1997) does not state that prostitution in Thailand is illegal.

However, Title IX, Section 286 of the Penal Code states: “Any person, being over sixteen years of age, [sic] subsists on the earning of a prostitute, even if it is some part of her incomes [sic], shall be punished with imprisonment of seven to twenty years and fined of fourteen thousand to forty thousand Baht, or imprisonment for life.” While penalties are not specified, the same section of the act penalizes any person who (i) is found residing or habitually associating with a prostitute, (ii) receives boarding, money or other benefits arranged for by a prostitute or (iii) assists any prostitute in a quarrel with a customer.

The Act was also written to address child prostitution, but lacks complete clarity, as it does not define what an "indecent act" is. Title IX, Section 279 of the Penal Code states: "Whoever, commits an indecent act on a child not yet over fifteen years of age, whether such child shall consent or not, shall be punished with imprisonment not exceeding ten years or fined not exceeding twenty thousand Baht, or both."

Entertainment Places Act
The Entertainment Places Act of 1966 places the onus upon the owner of certain types of entertainment establishments if prostitution occurs on the premises, thereby making them criminally liable. According to the act, sex workers must also undergo rehabilitation for one year at a reform house upon the completion of punishment for practicing prostitution there.

Related activities such as brothel keeping, solicitation and profiting from the prostitution of others are illegal. Public nuisance laws are also used against prostitution. Prostitution operates clandestinely in many parts of the country.

Extent

Since the Vietnam War, Thailand has gained an international reputation among travellers from many countries as a sex tourism destination. The precise number of prostitutes in Thailand is difficult to assess. Estimates vary widely and are subject to national and international controversy. No Thai government has ever conducted a formal survey. A 2004 estimate by Dr. Nitet Tinnakul of Chulalongkorn University gave a total of 2.8 million sex workers, including two million women, 20,000 adult males, and 800,000 minors under the age of 18, but the figures for women and minors were considered to be grossly inflated by most observers, and to have resulted from poor research methods. According to a 2001 report by the World Health Organization: "The most reliable suggestion is that there are between 150,000 and 200,000 sex workers." In its annual human rights report for 2008, the US State Department noted that, "A government survey during the year found that there were 76,000 to 77,000 adult prostitutes in registered entertainment establishments. However, NGOs believed there were between 200,000 and 300,000 prostitutes." The state department's 2013 Human Rights Report for Thailand made no estimates of the extent of prostitution, but in 2015 Havocscope, a database providing information about the global black market, gave an approximate figure of about 250,000 for the number of prostitutes working in Thailand. UNAIDS in 2015 estimated the total population of sex workers in Thailand to be 147,000.

It has been suggested for example that there may be as many as 10,000 prostitutes on Ko Samui alone, an island resort destination not usually noted for prostitution, and that at least 10 percent of tourist dollars may be spent on the sex trade. An estimate published in 2003 placed the trade at US$4.3 billion per year, or about three percent of the Thai economy. In 2015 Havocscope said that about US$6.4 billion in annual revenue was being generated by the trade, a figure which accounted for 10 percent of Thailand's GDP. Havocscope says that sex workers in Thailand send an annual average of US$300 million to family members who reside in more rural areas of Thailand.

In 1996, the police in Bangkok estimated that there were at least 5,000 Russian prostitutes working in Thailand, many of whom had arrived through networks controlled by Russian gangs.

In July 2016, it was reported that the Thai government intended to abolish the sex industry. Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, the tourism minister, said "Tourists don't come to Thailand for [sex]. They come here for our beautiful culture" and that "We want Thailand to be about quality tourism. We want the sex industry gone". Kobkarn was replaced as tourism minister in November 2017. The Royal Thai Police says that more than 24,000 people were arrested, prosecuted and fined for offences related to prostitution in 2019.

The closure of the country's borders in 2020 as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic in Thailand resulted in there being few foreign clients for the country's sex workers. 35 percent of them had no access to public cash relief; some were refused government financial aid after they identified themselves as sex workers, while others had to lie about their profession in order to receive payments. Many switched to jobs outside the sex industry. The Department of Women’s Affairs and Family Development said that it was providing sex workers with relief supplies and job training. It also said that it was planning to amend the country's prostitution law to allow them to access social welfare benefits, as only 5 percent were part of Thailand's social security system.

Location
The primary tourist "prostitution zones" of Thailand are often identified as the red-light districts of Bangkok, and Pattaya as well as Patong Beach Resort on Phuket Island. In addition, Hat Yai and other Malaysian border cities cater to Malaysians. In Bangkok, the areas most commonly associated with prostitution include the entertainment district of Patpong, as well as locations in the western Sukhumvit Road area, such as the street called Soi Cowboy and the Nana Plaza building. The area known as the Ratchadaphisek entertainment district, running along Ratchadaphisek Road near the Huai Khwang intersection, is the location of several large entertainment venues, which include sexual massage. Lumphini Park in central Bangkok is well-known as a prostitution spot after dark. In Pattaya the primary areas associated with prostitution are Boyztown, Sunee Plaza and Walking Street.

Rather than face of the risks of working independently, many sex workers choose the relative safety that comes with fixed employment in businesses such as "karaoke" bars, "massage" parlours, or brothels. Prostitution may take place in a number of different types of venues, including brothels, hotels, massage parlours, restaurants, saunas, hostess bars, go-go bars and "beer bars". Many other service sector workers offer sexual services as a sideline. Thai prostitution is divided into different sectors that serve different markets (the main criteria being the socioeconomic status of customers and the nationality of both customers and prostitutes). Straightforward brothels, which offer no services aside from sex, represent the lower end of the market. These are most common outside Bangkok, serving low-income Thai men.

Profiting from prostitution is prohibited under Thai law, but karaoke bars and massage parlours can be registered as normal, legal businesses. When arrests of sex workers occur at such premises, police usually treat the act of prostitution as an exchange between the sex worker and the client—an exchange to which the owner of the business was not a party. Although uncommon, cases of foreign clients being charged have happened, with Pattaya being the location in which most foreigners have been caught up in a police raid. Owners of such establishments are only accused of crimes when breaking other laws, such as the employment of underage workers or illegal migrants.

Soapy massage
Soapy massage establishments (สถานอาบอบนวด;, "bathing and massage places"), akin to Japanese soaplands, typically provide either an oil massage, nude body massage, or a bath treatment which includes sexual services. In this type of establishment, male clients can engage in sexual activity with female prostitutes. Prostitution establishments targeted at locals are usually "bathing-sauna-massage" parlours of this type. There are so many soapy massage businesses in some sections of Bangkok, using massive quantities of water pumped illegally from groundwater, that they have been accused by authorities of contributing to Bangkok's subsidence of one centimeter per year.

Karaoke bars
Karaoke bars are also used as a venue in the country's sex industry, one that is more popular with locals than tourists. Women working there act as bargirls – singing, conversing with and entertaining clients. They earn money from commission on drinks and may be bought money garlands. On some occasions their clients pay a bar fine to take them out of the bar for a girlfriend experience. They may then also negotiate for the sale of sexual services.

One observer says that, "So-called 'karaoke bars' commonly feature karaoke machines as décor, even though few or no customers visit such venues to sing, but rather to buy sex service." In a 2015 study by the Ubon Ratchathani Provincial Health Service, there were 2,410 women working in restaurants and karaoke bars in Ubon Ratchathani Province. Of these, 1,230 were confirmed sex workers. Just over half of them—692 women—were from Laos working illegally in Thailand.

Massage parlours
Although Thailand is known for Thai massage, its non-sexual, traditional style of massage, known as nuat phaen boran, some massage parlours provide customers erotic massage at additional cost including handjobs, oral sex, and sexual intercourse. The Federation of Thai Spa Associations (FTSPA) in 2016 urged authorities to clamp down on sexual services being offered at some massage parlours. The FTSPA maintains that influential figures have used legal loopholes to open "pretty spas" or massage parlours where tourists can buy sexual services. The difference between this type of massage and ab ob nuat is that not all massage parlours offer sexual services.

Bars catering to foreigners
Women ("bargirls"), or men, in the case of gay bars, or transsexual ("kathoeys") are employed by the bars either as dancers (in the case of go-go bars) or simply as hostesses who will encourage customers to buy them drinks. Apart from these sorts of bars, there are a number of other sex trade venues. In most of these establishments the prostitutes are directly employed, but in hotels, some bars and discos freelance prostitutes are allowed to solicit clients. Prostitutes will usually receive a commission when a customer buys drinks and sexual services can be arranged to take place on premises or elsewhere (with the latter requiring the customer to pay a "bar fine" to release the prostitute from the bar). The relationships established in such contexts superficially mimic the "dating" culture of the west, with a mix of friendship, intimacy, sexual entertainment, and money.

History
The documented history of prostitution in Thailand goes back at least six centuries, with overt and explicit references by the Chinese voyager Ma Huan (1433) and subsequently by European visitors (Van Neck, 1604; Gisbert Heeck, 1655 and others). Thailand has an ancient, continuous tradition of legal texts, generally described under the heading of Dhammasattha literature (Thai pron., tam-ma-sat), wherein prostitution is variously defined and universally banned. The era of traditional legal texts came to an end in the early 20th century, but these earlier texts were significant in regard to both the writ and spirit of modern legislation.

The abolition of slavery in 1905 left many women who had been bought as concubines in a state of homelessness and unemployment. Many of these became prostitutes, primarily serving migrant Chinese labourers in the country. In 1908 prostitution was legalised and medical care was provided to prostitutes under the Contagious Diseases Prevention Act, one of a variety of laws relating to the sex industry passed during the twentieth century. During World War II, large numbers of brothels were opened to serve occupying Japanese soldiers, and subsequently the British and Indian military stationed in the country after the war had ended. In the 1950s the Thai prime minister Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat initiated a morality campaign which included the aim of criminalising prostitution through the imposition of fines and imprisonment. A system of medical examinations and "moral rehabilitation" was introduced and the focus of public blame was moved from traffickers and procurers to the prostitutes themselves.

During the Vietnam War, Thailand's decision to offer "Rest and Recreation" facilities to US forces deployed in the region brought in considerable income to the country, raising the number of prostitutes there from around 20,000 in 1957 to around 400,000 in 1964. Prostitution itself was made illegal in Thailand in 1960, when a law was passed under pressure from the United Nations. The government instituted a system of monitoring sex workers in order to prevent their mistreatment and to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The Entertainment Places Act was introduced in 1966 to place further restrictions on the sex industry.

During the Cold War, Japanese businessmen went on sex tourism with Filipino women, Thai women and South Korean women.

Since the end of the Vietnam War, there has been an enormous expansion in prostitution in Thailand, resulting in it reaching its present prominence. The 1960 law was repealed by the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act, B.E. 2539 (1996). Under this law prostitution as such is technically illegal.

Legalization attempt
In 2003, the Ministry of Justice considered legalising prostitution as an official occupation with health benefits and taxable income and held a public discussion on the topic. Legalisation and regulation was proposed as a means to increase tax revenue, reduce corruption, and improve the situation of the workers. However, nothing further was done. In 2020, Thai sex workers took part in a campaign for legalization. The Empower Foundation, which supports sex workers, is trying to collect 10,000 signatures so that they can send a petition to parliament. In March 2023, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security drafted a bill to legalize sex work, proposing to repeal the Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act 1996 and allow individuals aged 20 or older to voluntarily enter the sex industry.

HIV/AIDS
In 2008, 532,522 Thais were suffering from HIV/AIDS. The UNAIDS estimated in 2013 that from 380,000 to 520,000 Thais were living with HIV. In 2017, the number of Thais living with HIV was 440,000. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS among Thai adults aged 15–49 is estimated to be 1.1 percent (2016). Among freelance female sex workers, the prevalence of HIV was 2.8 percent in 2017. Among female sex workers in brothels, it was 0.6 percent (2017).

Mechai Viravaidya, known as "Mr. Condom", has campaigned tirelessly to increase the awareness of safe sex practices and use of condoms in Thailand. He served as minister for tourism and AIDS prevention from 1991 to 1992, and also founded the restaurant chain Cabbages and Condoms, which gives free condoms to customers.

After the enactment of the Thai government's first five-year plan to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country, including Mechai's "100% condom programme", as of 1994 the use of condoms during commercial sex probably increased markedly. No current data on the use of condoms is available. The programme instructed sex workers to refuse intercourse without a condom, and monitored health clinic statistics in order to locate brothels that allow sex without condoms.

Kathoey
A study done by AIDS Care investigated substance use of HIV risk behaviors among kathoey sex workers in Bangkok, Thailand. Only half of participants stated that they were tested for HIV and one had seen a health care provider in the past 12 months. It found that katheoys who experienced physical and/or sexual abuse from a father or brother were less likely to use condoms during anal sex with customers. Katheoy sex work tends to be in large cities and tourist areas including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket City, and Pattaya. Many kathoeys work part-time as freelance prostitutes and keep a day-time job. Female prostitution is often preferred to Kathoey as they are viewed as less likely to carry sexually transmitted diseases. Pressure from often specialized "ladyboy" bars puts kathoeys at risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases given that many customers are unwilling to use condoms.

Social views
Thai society has its own unique set of often contradictory sexual mores. Visiting a prostitute or a paid mistress is not an uncommon, though not necessarily acceptable, behaviour for men. Many Thai women, for example, believe the existence of prostitution actively reduces the incidence of rape. Among many Thai people, there is a general attitude that prostitution has always been, and will always be, a part of the social fabric of Thailand. On the other hand, "...the idea of legalizing sex work is unacceptable to many Thais who judge the profession to be a foundation of vices. It doesn't matter how many sex workers are left out of the formal economic sector and become more prone to extortion, exploitation and abuse – many Thais simply will not tolerate sex work as legal."

According to a 1996 study, the sexual urge of men is perceived by both Thai men and women as being very much stronger than the sexual urge of women. Where women are thought to be able to exercise control over their desires, the sexual urge of men is seen to be "a basic physiological need or instinct". It is also thought by both Thai men and women that men need "an occasional variation in partners". As female infidelity is strongly frowned upon in Thai society, and, according to a 1993 survey, sexual relationships for single women also meets disapproval by a majority of the Thai population, premarital sex, casual sex and extramarital sex with prostitutes is accepted, expected and sometimes even encouraged for Thai men, the latter being perceived as less threatening to a marriage over lasting relationships with a so-called "minor wife".

Another factor contributing to this issue is that ordinary Thais deem themselves tolerant of other people, especially those whom they perceive as downtrodden. This acceptance has allowed prostitution to flourish without much of the extreme social stigma found in other countries. According to a 1996 study, people in Thailand generally disapprove of prostitution, but the stigma for prostitutes is not lasting or severe, especially since many prostitutes support their parents through their work. Some men do not mind marrying former prostitutes. A 2009 study of subjective well-being of prostitutes found that among the sex workers surveyed, sex work had become normalized.

Politicians
Chuwit Kamolvisit was the owner of several massage parlours in Bangkok and considered by many a "godfather of prostitution" in Thailand. In 2005 he was elected for a four-year term to the Thai House of Representatives, but in 2006 the Constitutional Court removed him from office. In October 2008 he again ran for governor of Bangkok but was not elected. He revealed in 2003 that some of his best clients were senior politicians and police officers, whom he also claimed to have paid, over a decade, more than £1.5 million in bribes so that his business, selling sex, could thrive.

Although Thailand's sex trade aimed at foreigners can be considered overt, the industry that caters exclusively to Thai men had never before been publicly scrutinised, let alone the sexual exploits of Thailand's unchallengeable officials.

Support of prostitution is pervasive in political circles, as BBC News reported in 2003. "MPs from Thailand's ruling Thai Rak Thai Party are getting hot under the collar over plans by the party leadership to ban them from having mistresses or visiting brothels...." One MP told The Nation newspaper that if the rules were enforced, the party would only be able to field around 30 candidates, compared to its more than 200 sitting MPs."

Attitudes towards women were exemplified by MP Thirachai Sirikhan, quoted in The Nation, "To have a mia noi [mistress] is an individual's right. There should be no problem as long as the politician causes no trouble to his family or society".

After a police raid on some Bangkok parlours where policemen had sex with prostitutes, "Acting Suthisan Police chief Colonel Varanvas Karunyathat defended the police action, saying that the (police) officers involved needed to have sex with the masseuses to gain evidence for the arrest." Apparently, this is standard practice as a separate police force did the same in Pattaya in May 2007.

Organized crime
According to a Library of Congress study published in 2003, "The red-light districts of Thai cities are home to...brothels, casinos, and entertainment facilities that function both as sources of income and as operations centers for trafficking in humans...." It has been estimated that organised crime groups have brought over a million women into Thailand from Yunnan in China, Laos, and Vietnam. Most of the women trafficked from China to Thailand and Malaysia are from ethnic minorities like the Dai ethnicity from areas like the from Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan province and they are trafficked by men of their own ethnicity. The Dai people are related to Thai people.

In November 2015, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha launched a "clean up Thailand" campaign to eliminate organised crime in all areas, including vice.

Religion
Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school, which is followed by 95 percent of the population. "While Buddhism regards the celibate monastic life as the higher ideal, it also recognizes the importance of marriage as a social institution." Thai Buddhism encourages adherence to the fundamental code of Buddhist ethics for the laity. The Five Precepts contains an admonishment against sexual misconduct, although what constitutes misconduct from the perspective of a particular school of Buddhism varies widely depending on the local culture. In the traditional Pāli Canon, the Sigālovāda Sutta contains a large section which advises men on honoring their wives by remaining faithful.

In the book Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, Kevin Bales argues that in Thai Buddhism, women are viewed as naturally inferior to men, and that Buddha told his disciples that women were "impure, carnal, and corrupting." This is also supported by the belief that women cannot attain enlightenment, although this view is disputed by other Buddhist scriptures such as the Vinaya Pitaka in the Pali Canon. The current Dalai Lama has asserted that women can attain enlightenment and function as equals to men in spiritual matters, but his branch of Buddhism is not the one practised in Thailand, which has its own particular canon of beliefs. Bales also points to the fact that ten kinds of wives are outlined in the Vinaya, or rules for monks. In the rules, the first three categories are women who can be paid for their services. In present-day Thailand, this is expressed as tolerance of prostitution by married women. Sex with prostitutes is viewed by wives as "empty sex", and thus women may allow their husbands to have meaningless sex with prostitutes rather than find a new spouse. Buddhism also prescribes "acceptance and resignation in the face of life's pain and suffering", in accordance with belief in karma and the expiation of sins from previous lives. Women may choose to believe that serving as prostitutes is the ineluctable result of karma.

Exploitation by police and officialdom
Prostitution's tenuous position in Thai society makes it ripe for exploitation by police and governmental officials. Sex businesses pay considerable sums to authorities in order to be permitted to continue in business. Sex work has become in effect a cash cow for those in a position to extract bribes. Those in a position to benefit have a financial interest in seeing the status quo continue. Business owners and individual sex workers complain that since the junta came to power in 2014, harassment has increased, as have the sums demanded. This has the effect of driving businesses out of business and sex workers to the street or internet as freelancers.

Child prostitution
The exact number of child-prostitutes in Thailand is not known. According to the US-based research institute “Protection Project”, estimates of the number of children involved in prostitution living in Thailand ranges from 12,000 to the hundreds of thousands (ECPAT International). The government, university researchers, and NGOs estimated that there are as many as 30,000 to 40,000 prostitutes under 18 years of age, not including foreign migrants (US Department of State, 2005b). Thailand’s Health System Research Institute estimates that children in prostitution make up 40% of prostitutes in Thailand.

The reasons why and how children are commercially sexually exploited by include:
 * Poverty: a high proportion of the population lives in poverty.
 * Ethnic hill tribe children: these children live in the border region of northern Thailand. They suffer from disproportionate levels of poverty in relation to the general population and most of them lack citizenship cards. This means that they do not have access to health care or primary school, which limits their further education or employment opportunities.
 * Trafficked children: Many children are trafficked into or within the country through criminal networks, acquaintances, former trafficking victims and border police and immigration officials who transport them to brothels across Thailand.
 * Sense of duty: According to traditional customs, the first duty of a girl is to support her family in any way she can. Due to this sense of duty and to pay off family debts, many girls have been forced into prostitution.

Children are exploited in sex establishments and are also approached directly in the street by paedophiles seeking sexual contact. Child sex tourism is a serious problem in the country. Thailand, along with Cambodia, India, Brazil and Mexico, has been identified as a leading hotspot of child sexual exploitation. Paedophiles, in particular, exploit the lax laws of the country and attempt to find cover to avoid prosecution.

To discourage child sex tourism, the government reported it denied entry to 74 known foreign sex offenders in 2017. The government has developed and launched a video to be shown on flights entering Thailand discouraging sex tourism. The Ministry of Tourism distributed more than 315,000 brochures discouraging sex tourism to businesses and tourism professionals and organized trainings for 800 local government officials, tourism sector workers, students, youth, and civil society organizations on prevention of child sexual exploitation in the tourism industry.

Sex trafficking
Thailand is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking. Thailand’s commercial sex industry remains vast, increasing vulnerabilities for sex trafficking. Women, men, boys, and girls from Thailand, other Southeast Asian countries, Sri Lanka, Russia, Uzbekistan, and some African countries are subjected to sex trafficking in Thailand. Thailand is also a transit country for victims from Mainland China, North Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, and Burma subjected to sex trafficking in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Russia, South Korea, the United States, and countries in Western Europe. Thai nationals are subjected to sex trafficking in Thailand and in countries in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Women of Thai and other nationalities have been lured to Japan and sold to yakuza-controlled brothels, where they are forced to work off financial debt. It is easy to lure these women from neighboring countries because Thailand has 56 unofficial crossover points and 300 checkpoints, where people can cross the border without paperwork. In a landmark case in 2006, one such woman, Urairat Soimee, filed a civil suit in Thailand against the Thai perpetrators, who had previously been convicted in a criminal court. The woman had managed to escape from the yakuza-controlled prostitution ring by killing the female Thai mama-san and spent five years in a Japanese prison.

The United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons in its 2018 U.S. Trafficking in Persons report considered Thailand to be a Tier 2 country, meaning the report states that although the Government of Thailand does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, it is making significant efforts to do so.

Thailand has enacted several laws against human trafficking. These include the 2008 Anti Trafficking in Persons Act, the 1997 Anti Trafficking Act,. Thailand has also entered into regional agreements against human trafficking, including The Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking. Thai sex worker organization EMPOWER has expressed several concerns about the 2008 law. These concerns include that the law authorizes police to enter alleged sex establishments without a warrant, the lack of social assistance provided to victims, involutary repatriations, and the resulting division between NGOs which claim to oppose sex trafficking and those which support sex workers themselves. Sex worker organizations in Thailand have strongly opposed "rescue" operations which result in adults who freely entered the sex industry being arrested, denied a livelihood, or subject to deportation.

A sex trafficking gang was intercepted in the southern city of Pattaya in October 2014.

In 2017, Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Justice inspected 11,268 “high-risk” adult entertainment venues and ordered 268 to cease business activities for five years; these inspections led to the prosecution of eight trafficking cases. Corruption continues to undermine anti-trafficking efforts. Some government officials are directly complicit in trafficking crimes, including through accepting bribes or loans from business owners and brothels where victims are exploited. Credible reports indicate some corrupt officials protect brothels and other commercial sex venues from raids and inspections and collude with traffickers.

Support organisations for sex workers
Several support organisations for sex workers exist in Thailand:

 * EMPOWER is a Thai NGO that offers health, educational and counseling services to female sex workers. The organisation seeks to empower sex workers and has been operating since 1985, with offices in Patpong (Bangkok), Chiang Mai, Mae Sai and Patong Beach (Phuket). The organization also operates a museum of sex work in Bangkok and a cooperatively owned bar in Chiang Mai.
 * SWING (Service Workers in Group) is an offshoot of EMPOWER, offering support to male and female sex workers in Patpong and Pattaya. It offers English classes, teaches safe sex education, distributes condoms, and promotes health and safety with an in-house gym and discounted medical examinations. The newly formed organisation SISTERS works with transgender sex workers in Bangkok and Pattaya.
 * M Plus is an organization for male sex workers in Chiang Mai, including men who identify as gay, straight or transgender. It operates a health clinic for sex workers and conducts HIV prevention and prophylaxis education.
 * The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW) is a regional organization, headquartered in Thailand, of sex worker-led organizations. It exists to promote and protect the health and human rights of sex workers in Asia. It supports the full decriminalization of sex work and the recognition of sex work as work.

title: Prostitution in Thailand