The number of children lured into the sex industry and working under slave-like conditions has increased since 1991. The report indicates that the Government is very disturbed about the developments in certain parts of the country during the last 4-5 years. This is considered to be the result of Laos increasingly becoming a market economy and the opening of the country's borders to the surrounding world. Both boys and girls from the countryside come to the cities in order to seek work. They often end up in factories where they work in very bad conditions.
Many girls regularly send money home to their families.
By reason of their very low wages, they are forced to increase their income by working in restaurants and nightclubs. Many of them become prostitutes. More and more also cross the border illegally in order to find work and the number of girls under 18 years doing so is increasing. Thailand TV, which has a much more extensive network than the Laotian TV network, tempts many young people to seek work in the city of opportunity-Bangkok. The children really do believe that they will find a good job and that it is easy to earn money there.