NZ help sought on Thais

By Audrey Young

WELLINGTON - Thailand and New Zealand have to work together to address the trade in flesh, says a visiting Thai minister.

Thailand will begin a publicity campaign warning its women about the dangers of job offers in New Zealand and other countries, says Supatra Masdit, a minister to the Prime Minister and responsible for women's affairs and mass communication.

But she says the New Zealand Government has to try to stop demand.

Mrs Supatra is attending the Apec women leaders conference in Wellington.

Police have estimated that 500 Thai women are working in Auckland's sex industry.

Of the 1476 people removed from the country as overstayers or illegal workers in the past 11 months, 226 were Thais.

"What the Thai Government has to do, and urgently, is inform the women to be careful when someone convinces you to go and work for them," Mrs Supatra told the New Zealand Herald.

"Those women didn't know what New Zealand looked like. They thought it was a job opportunity."

The New Zealand Government had to tell New Zealanders that the Thai women were human beings.

"If you don't have demand, supply wouldn't work."

Thailand was aiming to increase the quality of life of women in the provincial regions so they would not be attracted to the big cities, she said.

Mrs Supatra did not believe the visa-free relationship between New Zealand and Thailand was in jeopardy.