According to a recent United Nations report, Thailand's sex industry employs 300,000 young women, many of whom are plucked from hill-tribe villages and brought into service in brothels and massage parlors.
Men travel to Thailand from all over the world to purchase sexual services.
The Thai teenagers are either tricked into working in the business or, in some cases, their parents will accept cash payments for the privilege. AIDS cases run high. A group of female basketball players from Minnesota recently sought to help put a stop to this. Last month, a caravan carrying 13 young American women drove through the countryside of Northern Thailand, accompanied by coaches and family members. The girls, members of the women's basketball team at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., spent two weeks conducting basketball clinics in small villages, teaching young Thai girls the finer points of passing, dribbling and shooting.