The Thai government is calling on people to stop giving street beggars cash, after a survey shows the number of beggars in the kingdom has risen, including some foreigners who fall on hard times.
According to a Bangkok Post report, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security is launching a campaign urging people not to give cash to beggars. The launch will take place this Friday, August 16, at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, in the Pathumwan district.
The launch is expected to be attended by representatives from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the Metropolitan Police Bureau, and the Immigration Bureau. Also expected to attend are representatives of the Mirror Foundation NGO and other groups working to end the begging issue.
Minister Varawut Silpa-archa says pamphlets will also be distributed along Rama I and Phaya Thai roads and at the Pathumwan Intersection. It’s understood the leaflets have been printed in Thai, English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Cambodian.
The aim of the campaign is to raise more awareness of the issue of begging, to call for measures to be implemented to curb the number of beggars, and to persuade people not to give to them.
Many religious people see giving money as a way to make merit, but this only makes the problem worse, according to Varawut. He says many beggars are people who have been trafficked and forced to beg or take part in criminal activities.
Varawut adds that the campaign has revealed at least 506 street beggars across the country in the fiscal year ending next month. This is a 20% increase on the same period last year.
Of that number, 65% are Thai nationals and 24% are repeat beggars. Most were found in Bangkok and other tourist provinces, including Phuket, Chiang Mai, Chon Buri, and Lop Buri.
A total of 7,635 beggars have been recorded between October 2014 and July of this year and again, 65% of them were Thai. (The government has been less clear on what it might do to improve living standards for Thai people so they don’t have to resort to begging in the first place.)
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
