ABOVE: Street performers would be exempted from the ban under draft legislation approved Monday. Photo: Nist6dh
With a pen stroke, begging will be made a criminal act under draft legislation approved by the junta cabinet yesterday.
The Control of Begging Act, according to junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Sanswern Kaewkamnerd, will help rehabilitate the indigent and lead them toward employment, while those unable to work will be sent to government shelters.
Neither buskers performing for money nor family members asking for money will not run afoul of the new law, which bans “asking for assets of others with words, texts, or any other gesture, without compensating the giver with any form of work or assets,” according to Khaosod English.
Any foreign nationals found begging will be deported.
While begging is a common sight throughout the kingdom, the most vulnerable population – child beggars – is fed by transnational human trafficking.
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