LABOUR-THAILAND: Children Roped into Drug Trade as Couriers

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, May 9 2002 (IPS) - The children in the narrow passages that criss-cross Klong Toey, the largest slum in the Thai capital, may appear at first glance to be indulging in innocent pursuits — walking to meet a friend or dashing from a barking dog.

Yet, community leaders in this densely packed neighbourhood are disturbed by a more sinister reality about these children on the move. Often, they say, they are delivering banned drugs such as methamphetamines in their roles as couriers for the local drug trade.

Of late, some of the more outspoken community leaders are becoming desperate at the increasing number of children being recruited by drug traders to do their leg work in this sprawling informal community of more than 100,000 people.

“We know of young children, some who are six or seven years, others 10 years, who are being used by the men working for the drug lords,” says a 54-year-old community leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal. “More and more, the drug dealers are looking for children to work for them.”

“It happens at all hours of the day. And now some of the children know they can turn to the men pushing the drugs for money if they don’t get it from their parents,” adds this father of three children, who was attacked last year by local thugs for speaking out against this form of child abuse.

Given the size of the metamphetamine tablets, it is easy for the children to have 10 pills in their possession and deliver them without arousing much attention, he explains. “At times, in the beginning, the children are not even aware about what the packet they have been asked to deliver contains. It is evil.”

However, a study commissioned by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) shows that there have been cases where even parents have driven their children into this form of labour.

Over 40 percent of the children surveyed in that study said that their parents were the ones who “made the decision to become involved in drug trafficking,” Somphong Chitradub says in an earlier paper for the ILO, titled ‘Children in Drug Trafficking: Case Studies in Thailand’.

The children can earn between 1,000 to 7,000 baht (23 to 162 U.S. dollars) a month selling drugs, he adds. The children receive payment “in money or drugs or both”.

By contrast, the average monthly salary for a family in Klong Toey ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 baht (116 to 232 dollars) – and that is if the adults are fully employed.

While some of the males work in the nearby port, other men and women try to earn a living in the informal economy of this metropolis of 7 million people. That ranges from selling food, flowers to working as casual labour.

Thailand, in fact, is one of a number of South-east Asian countries where this form of child labour prevails, says Wahidur Rahman, regional adviser at the ILO’s Asia-Pacific branch to eliminate child labour. “It is a growing problem, largely in urban areas and at border crossings.”

The other countries on the U.N. labour agency’s watch list are Cambodia, Indonesia, Burma and the Philippines.

The ILO considers children used as drug couriers as being among the worst forms of child labour, like other forms of child slavery, the use of children in armed conflicts and the commercial exploitation of youngsters.

Children forced to work in the drug trade fall under the ILO’s classification of “illicit activities.”

“The unconditional worst forms of child labour are those which, under any circumstance, are in contravention of international law,” the ILO says in its global report on child labour released this week.

“Children involved in drug trafficking is a serious issue. The report mentions this, how children have been forced into this illegal activity,” Surin Pitsuwan, Thailand’s former foreign secretary, said Wednesday at the local launch of the global report ‘A Future Without Child Labour’.

At the same time, the report acknowledged that getting an accurate picture of this scourge is far from easy. “There is very little information available about children’s involvement in illicit activities, such as producing and trafficking drugs.”

Thailand is no exception to this picture. “Getting information is very difficult; it is very risky,” admits ILO’s Rahman. “Researchers have to do it in a subtle way, since there is a danger of getting shot.”

That risk has increased manifold in the wake of a dramatic increase in drug use in Thailand, where it is one of the most serious social problems today.

Latest newspaper estimates put the figure of methamphetamine pills in circulation in the millions, and the number of users at 600,000 students from primary schools to universities.

Stronger community participation is needed to save the children, says Vithavas Khongkhakul, a sociologist at the Duang Prateep Foundation, a charity working in the Klong Toey slum.

“At the same time, the community’s faith in law enforcement has to be restored,” he adds. “We have no faith in the local police to stop the problem. The drug cartels in Klong Toey get support and protection from people in power.”

Consequently, many community leaders feel “discouraged to fight,” he affirms.

The drug trade is also capitalising on a legal loophole in Thailand, because the criminal code states that children below 14 cannot be punished by law.

Somphong says that when children making deliveries are caught, “they are warned, appear in court, are bailed out and are required to report to the court periodically. They remain on probation for a short-time and then go back to selling the drugs again.”

The choice of “kindergarten children” to carry drugs arises from similar thinking, too, notes Somphong. “It is believed that small children will avoid police surveillance, and even if they are arrested, they will not be subject to penalties.”

“The drug pushers know they can profit from the children,” argues the Klong Toey community leader. “They are seeking more children to be part of their trade.”