Many women enter into prostitution because they have no other real choice. They face limited job options in poor conditions that do not provide enough money to take care of the needs of their families and themselves. While some struggle to eke out such an existence, others decide to work in bars where they can earn better wages. They do not want to sell their bodies, but they feel they have no other choice.

Human-trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by the means of threat, force, deception, or abuse of power for the purpose of exploitation including prostitution, sexual exploitation, labor, slavery, removal of organs, adoption, or marriage.

In the Mekong sub-region, estimates indicate that anywhere from a few thousand to 200,000 individuals are trafficked each year.

Trafficking victims are typically females who come from minority, rural, economically disadvantaged backgrounds and have low levels of educational attainment. Many come from source countries bordering Thailand. These women are often trafficked into prostitution.

In Thailand, the expectation that female children are to provide income for their parents is one of the contributors to the high number of women who are trafficked.