COUNTRY / PROBLEM
Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia with a population of 68 million. The Mekong River valley where Thailand borders Myanmar and Laos is inhabited by ethnic minorities. Many of the people who live in this part of Thailand do not have Thai citizenship. They often live in extreme poverty and have no access to medical care or education.
There are families sending their children to work in big cities unaware of the accompanied risks. Then, there are some families that decide to sell their children into slavery. Tens of thousands of children from northern Thailand are forced into prostitution. Girls as young as five years old are already sold off to work in brothels in Bangkok and other cities.
Many people derive considerable financial benefits from forced labour of children. In return for selling a child the family receives the equivalent of several hundred dollars, the middleman earns up to a hundred dollars per child, and the village leader gets a profit, too.
ORGANISATION
The Development and Education Programme for Daughters and Communities Centre in the Greater Mekong Subregion organisation (DEPDC/GMS) has been operating since 1989 in northern Thailand, where it helps children at risk of human trafficking, including sex trafficking. DEPDC/GMS tries to prevent this practice by providing its beneficiaries with access to education, trainings in life skills and vocational skills, as well as shelter and accommodation. The organisation also supports the families of its beneficiaries and communities in need, making them aware of the dangers that arise from sending children to work in big cities and of the importance of education in their lives.
The founder of DEPDC/GMS is Sompop Jantraka, who devoted his life to the fight against human trafficking and forced child and youth labour. Among other activities, DEPDC/GMS runs the Half Day School, whose curriculum includes both pre-kindergarten groups and five classes of primary school. The vast majority of pupils come from ethnic minorities and immigrant families. At the facility, children learn Thai and English, as well as mathematics, history, geography, nature studies, and fine arts. They also acquire practical skills in, among others, plant cultivation, cooking, sewing, and repairing various objects, thanks to which they have a chance to find a job after graduation.
PROJECTS
Kulczyk Foundation supported DEPDC/GMS by donating funds for:
- construction of field irrigation systems,
- purchase of new agricultural tools and seeds,
- renovation and equipment of selected DEPDC/GMS buildings.
