Pope Francis condemned on Thursday the exploitation of women and children for prostitution in Thailand, which is notorious for its sex tourism, saying the violence, abuse and enslavement they suffer are evils that must be uprooted.
Francis, on the first full day of his visit to mainly Buddhist Thailand, led a Mass in Bangkok’s National Stadium fortens of thousands of exuberant Roman Catholics in a country where they make up less than one percent of the population.
“For us, it is as if God himself is here,” said Nutaporn Kwanmuang, 27, who attended the Mass, the largest gathering of Catholics since Pope John Paul II visited in 1984.
Tens of thousands of others watched on screens in an adjacent stadium.
In his homily, Francis mentioned the exploitation of women and children and the plight of refugees and migrants for the second time in one day.
“Here I think of children and women who are victims of prostitution and human trafficking, humiliated in their essential human dignity,” said the 82-year-old pope, who looked tired at the end of a long day.
Thailand, which attracts some 35 million tourists a year,has sought to shed its reputation for sex tourism. But repeated crackdowns have not rid Bangkok and other tourist hubs of go-gobars and massage parlours that often offer sex.
There are around 123,530 sex workers in Thailand, according to a 2014 UNAIDS report. Earlier, in his first address on Thursday, Francis expressed appreciation for the Thai government’s efforts “to extirpate this scourge, and for all those private individuals and organisations working to uproot this evil and to provide ways to restore their (victims’) dignity”.
At both venues, he defending migrants and refugees and condemned human trafficking.
The number of human trafficking victims rescued in Thailand’s set to hit a record high this year. Demand for cheap labour in neighbouring Malaysia has caused a jump in the illegal trade,according to government data.
