2-12-2025 (BANGKOK) The president of the Pavena Foundation for Children and Women, Pavena Hongsakul, has called on Japan to enact laws penalizing customers involved in prostitution, mirroring legislation previously established in Thailand. The push follows a shocking case in Tokyo where a 12-year-old Thai girl was allegedly forced into sexual services, the first confirmed instance of forced prostitution involving a Thai minor outside of Thailand.
In an interview, Hongsakul emphasized that cases of Thai women coerced into the sex trade overseas are not rare, citing foundation data showing 104 such victims across 19 countries in the first eleven months of the year, including four reported cases in Japan. Victims are often lured by social media job postings promising high salaries for massage work, only to be forced into prostitution under threats of contract breach and debt upon arrival.
Thailand established a law in 1996—driven in part by Hongsakul’s work as a lawmaker—that imposes strict penalties on both the customer and the seller in prostitution cases, which the activist credits with gradually improving the situation domestically.
Hongsakul argues that similar legislative revisions in Japan are necessary to combat the international sex trafficking ring targeting vulnerable Thai individuals.
