Kritaya Archavanitkul

Kritaya Archavanitkul, Ph.D., is a demographer with the Institute for Population and Social Research at Mahidol University in Thailand. The Institute, with more than 20 years of reseach experience, has completed 75 research projects. Since its first project, the "Attitude Behavioral Survey of thte Family Planning Program in an Urban Community" conducted in Bangkhen in 1968, the Institute has continuously conducted research and project evaluation at both local and national levels. Dr. Kritaya received her doctoral degree from the National Centre for Development Studies Graduate Program in Demography at the Australian National University in Canberra. She is widely regarded within the international health and human rights community for her passion and diligence in conducting an array of socially conscious research projects. Dr. Kritaya's work focuses primarily on Thai populations, with studies ranging from the country's unique internal migration patterns to determinants impacting a child's continuation on to secondary school. Currently, Dr. Kritaya is conducting research on the trafficking of girls and women and the expansion of Thailand's sex trade. She is also studying the migration patterns of the commercial sex sector. Dr. Kritaya is anything but a dispassionate scientist, particularly when discussing her country's problems with child prostitution. Commenting on this issue, she states that "there are many politicians and their networks involved in this business -- indirectly or directly -- making it a difficult problem to tackle. What Thailand needs is more politicians and policemen who are committed to protecting children from the sex trade."

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Kritaya/