Challenges

Challenges

There are many challenges that Baan Yuu Suk faces in an effort to prevent child sexual exploitation and help provide a better future for children, families and the community.

To gain an understanding of the issues faced by Baan Yuu Suk and the girls residing within the shelter, it is important to have some brief knowledge on the location of Baan Yuu Suk and the region’s history.
Baan Yuu Suk is situated in Chiang Mai Province in northern Thailand, where the Thai border converges with shared borders with Myanmar. The region is well suited, given its climate and the isolation of its mountainous terrain.

This region is home to a number of minority hill tribe populations whose standard of living has traditionally been very poor compared to the rest of the population, often lacking basic facilities such as electricity, clean water and sanitation systems. Furthermore, there

have been several nationalist independence movements within the area, most notably in Myanmar, which have resulted in warfare between government soldiers and nationalists.
    This warfare has created an influx of refugees, particularly among the hill tribe populations of Myanmar. Many of these people, particularly women and children have been forced to take refuge, arriving with little or nothing in Thailand.
   The synthesis of isolation, poverty, and the potential for fast money, combined with the tremendous growth in the demand for opium, heroin, and the crops that produce them.
   This region is hence rife with people involved in illegal drug production and trafficking. While government-sponsored crop-substitution programs have reduced the cultivation of poppies, particularly in Thailand, the drug trade has evolved to include the smuggling and selling of amphetamines.

With the prevalence of illegal drugs, people in the region have inevitably succumbed to the addictive and destructive effects of the drugs themselves. Furthermore, the lack of central authority and its corruption in the district has

Children who are threatened with or subjected to physical violence and/or sexual abuse.

Children who become habituated to abuse and its intrinsic submission. These children are often in greater danger of entering the

Children who are sold or forced into prostitution by their families in order to help the family financially, especially from families that can’t afford to send them to school.

Children who are forced into the sex or drug trades in order to survive because one or both of the parents have abandoned the family, been sentenced to jail or have died (often from drug- or sex-trade induced AIDS).

Children who have been kept out of school by their families in order to work, consequently lacking education and many social skills. These children may have no alternative, as they mature, but to work in the sex or drug trades.

Children who are forced into illegal activities, due to parents and/or siblings who are already involved.

Children who are tempted to enter the sex or drug trades when they see the material gains made by friends or relatives who are already involved.

In addition to the above challenges which directly involve children and their families, Baan Yuu Suk is also confronting challenges affecting both the hill tribe communities and Thai society as a whole:

   Among minority hill tribe communities, there's often no concept of or awareness of children's and women's rights.
   Throughout Thailand in general, there is a lack of societal education regarding children's and women's rights. This has resulted in an absence of governmental programs and a shortage of grass-roots movements to help mitigate the noted threats against children and their families.
    The challenges Baan Yuu Suk faces are significant and demanding. On a day-to-day basis, there are many issues to be tackled in order to assist the girls within the shelter to live safer, healthier lives--lives with a future. On a strategic level, there are many policy issues which must be addressed within the wider community. In order to create an environment for a comprehensive reduction of the dangers faced by children, their families and their communities, Baan Yuu Suk must focus its prevention strategies on all levels.

Baan Yuu Suk is committed to meeting these challenges head-on, and continues to review and implement solutions to improve the lives of women and children both within the shelter and in the community. While Baan Yuu Suk is leading the way, we can’t do it alone and we welcome the assistance