Pile them high, sell them cheap women and sex for sale.

Willmott, Liz

"Trading Women", David Feingold's compelling documentary about the trafficking of women and girls into the Thai sex industry, unravels the complex social and political tapestry forming the backdrop to the global trafficking menace.

"A clear and consistent message of the film is that trafficking is not a localized problem. The international crime of trafficking is susceptible to a complex range of influencing factors, which include the economies of supply countries and their neighbours, government anti-drug initiatives affecting agricultural communities, sexual demand for particular ethnic types, the legal status of communities, restrictive immigration policies, official corruption and cultural stereotypes."

Narrated by American actress Angelina Jolie, produced by Dean Slotar and edited by Sam Lee of Ophidian Films, "Trading Women" profiles the hill peoples of Thailand, noting that lack of citizenship, with its associated landlessness, poverty and vulnerability to police corruption, is an overriding factor in the women becoming easy prey to sex traffickers. The documentary illustrates that it is frequently a local person, such as a neighbour or friend, rather than an anonymous criminal, who kidnaps or manipulates the women into leaving their homes. However, both form part of an intricate international network of buyers and resellers.

In response to the hill peoples' plight, the trafficking project of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Office in Bangkok, which Mr. Feingold heads, has conducted a highland citizenship project to train and support non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to assist these people in meeting the requirements for registration and citizenship. The project is a result of a partnership between UNESCO, the UN Inter-Agency Project on Trafficking of Women and Children (UNIAP) and a wide variety of Thai and hill tribe NGOs, universities and government agencies. "Trading Women" takes several misperceptions about sex trafficking and turns them on their head, starting with the in-depth analysis of the hill people, who have been superficially depicted by the media as loveless parents selling their daughters into trafficking.

David Feingold also overturns perceptions around the international Thai sex attractions, such as Pat Pong in Bangkok, which actually have few if any trafficked workers because they offer better working conditions and pay, and are staffed by Thai...