Thailand Challenges PARADE On
Sex Abuse of Children

From Parade Magazine, March 3, 1996, page 6

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The Thai government was riled by an item in this column last Oct. 22 on Batman: The Ultimate Evil, a new novel—also adapted as a comic book—by Andrew Vachss. In it the Caped Crusader baffles bad guys who kidnap children and sell them into sex slavery in the fictional kingdom of Udon Khai. "Batman is a myth," Vachss told me, "but the kiddie sex trade is no myth. Thailand earns $1 billion a year." He then called for a boycott of Thai goods to combat its kiddie sex trade.

In response, Akrasid Amatayakul, charge d'affaires at the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, asserted that the root cause of prostitution in Thailand was poverty. "No, the true cause is greed," declared Vachss, who has battled child abuse for 30 years as a social worker, lawyer and writer. "How does 'poverty' explain the women and children who are kidnapped into prostitution?"

Amatayakul said the boycott would "deprive the poor in Thailand of income, impoverishing them further and unjustly punishing them for a crime they never participated in." He added that his government was looking into "severe criminal punishments of those who patronize child prostitutes."

Vachss' response: "Foreign jurisdictions have had to pass special 'extraterritorial laws' because of Thailand acting as a safe harbor for those who wanted prostituted children ... Thailand isn't going to prosecute such offenders itself."

Far from condoning child prostitution, insisted Amatayakul, Thai prisons are full of "Westerners who have come to commit immoral acts and heinous crimes on Thai soil." He then said Thais demand an explanation "why Thailand has been unjustly singled out by Mr. Vachss" for a boycott.

"There is no question Thailand has promoted itself as the world capital of commercial sex," replied Vachss, who cited a current brochure touting Thai sex tours. "Does it sound as though those who want to buy 'guaranteed virgin girls' are afraid of Thailand's 'severe criminal punishments'?"

"We demand fairness," concluded Amatayakul, adding that he hoped Thais would again read Batman "once all of [Vachss'] misconceptions about Thailand have been dispelled."

"Unless I recant, they're going to urge Thais to boycott Batman novels?" asked an incredulous Vachss. "Geez!"

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