PIP: The conditions of Burmese prostitutes in Thailand's border communities are described to show how they are mistreated and denied health information on AIDS prevention. The police had been returning prostitutes to Myanmar, until it was brought to their attention that 25 female prostitutes had been fatally injected with cyanide by Burmese authorities to stop the spread of HIV.
Myanmar's military rulers have concentrated AIDS education on the military. They do not want the soldiers, who keep the military regime in power to become infected with AIDS.
The reports of Burmese murders of prostitutes have come from all quarters. In the group of 25 prostitutes were two cousins of a Burmese citizen who reported the disappearance of his relatives after they left for a shopping trip in the southern Thai city of Ranong, opposite Kawthaung in Myanmar. Thai police found that the two cousins had been kidnapped and sold into prostitution in a brothel in Ranong, which had been raided by police.
In the northern city of Chiang Mai, it is estimated that 10, of the prostitutes are Burmese girls and women. Anti-Slavery International estimated that more than of the prostitutes in Ranong are Burmese girls and women who have been forced into this work. Their condition is very similar to slavery. Girls are forced to work long hours and may be fed only a bowl of rice with watery soup. Prostitution flourished because 20, Burmese fisherman, who are at sea for prolonged periods, frequent the brothels on their return.
There is a growing prevalence of HIV infection in Ranong in part due to the fishermen's widespread heroin use aboard ship.
