Is selling sex criminalised?
Yes selling sex is illegal and associated activities are also criminalised, like soliciting in public place. Sex workers working in establishments also criminalised for "associating with another person in a prostitution establishment for the benefit of prostitution of that person or of another person". It is also illegal to advertise sexual services (yourself or another person).
Is organising/managing criminalised?
Yes - procuring, pimping and managing sex work businesses or establishments are illegal. In reality, "entertainment places" are licensed and although sex work forbidden it is known that it takes place. The 1966 law that regulates entertainment venues uses language like "service partners" or "bath service providers", euphemistically alluding to sexual services.
Is there mandatory HIV/STI testing?
There is no mandatory testing permitted by law in Thailand. But as a result of the policies of bar managers and NGOs there is sometimes de facto mandatory testing but not sanctioned in law.
Is there mandatory registration?
No
Is sex work recognised as work?
No
Is sex work decriminalised with limited regulation?
No
Sources/further reading
UNDP et al (2012) Sex Work and the Law in Asia and the Pacific: Laws, HIV and human rights in the context of sex work, available at http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/hivaids/English/HIV-2012-S…
UNDP (2015) HIV and the Law in South-East Asia, available at http://www.asia-pacific.undp.org/content/dam/rbap/docs/Research%20&%20P…
Sex Crimes in Thailand (http://www.thailawforum.com/sex-crimes-in-thailand-part2-2.html)
Prostitution Prevention and Suppression Act 1996 - http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/WEBTEXT/46403/65063/E96THA01.htm
https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2020/09/25/government…
https://www.reuters.com/article/thailand-law-sexworkers-idUSL5N2GJ2N2
Extra info
The Thai government is currently reviewing the sex work laws in Thailand and an online public consultation was undertaken in 2021. No formal proposals have yet been published on how the law should be reformed.
Contact
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