Padaung on show in Mae Rim

The Karen Network for Culture and Environment called yesterday for authorities to investigate a community of 22 Padaung people in Chiang Mai's Mae Rim district because of fears human trafficking laws may have been violated.

The group - mostly women wearing brass neck coils plus children - are in a 10-house community near Ban Thung Hua Chang in Tambon Rim Tai. They are in an area that has a souvenir shop and charges an entrance fee of Bt500 per head.

Landlord Chokchai Srisiriwilai, 40, said the Padaung were registered as immigrant workers and government authorities had been notified about their relocation from Ban Huai Chompoo in Mae Taeng district to Mae Rim.

However, the Karen Network's co-ordinator Waiying Thongbeu urged officials to probe the group's status and find out if the "jobs" were legal.

Some investors registered the "long-necks", as they are also known, as farm workers and had them living in a small village where they grew plants, while visitors were charged to see them, he said. The set-up was actually a show business, which migrant workers were not allowed to do. So this was an aspect of human trafficking, he alleged.

Waiying said the Padaung tribes-people, especially in Mae Hong Son, were much sought after by business people. Investors had fought each other and attempted to smuggle them to other areas to try to make money out of them.

The Padaung themselves were willing to leave in the search for a better life, he said, but he felt the government should consider about the status of the Padaung, so they have rights and vocational opportunities instead of just living in a "human zoo".