Child trafficking in Cambodia still a huge problem

Srey was trafficked at the age of 14 from her village to a large town in Cambodia. When she arrived she was told she would have to pay back the money the traffickers had spent on her and she could only do that by working as a prostitute. When she refused she was beaten and given electric shocks. For a year she was used by Cambodian, Thai and Western men. Eventually she became HIV positive and was afraid that she would never see her family again. She escaped, hiding in a dustbin until the search for her was called off. Her case is not an isolated incident. Some aid agencies estimate that up to 100,000 women and children from Cambodia and Thailand have been sold into sexual exploitation. Although these figures are debatable, there is clearly a major problem in the country. Of the 633 people rescued from forced prostitution in Cambodia’s brothels in the last year 40% were under the age of 15. One was aged 6.
There is some progress in the battle against human trafficking in Cambodia, with arrests of alleged sex offenders increasing from 50 in 1999 to 410 in 2004. There is, however still a deep rooted problem. John Vijghen who is an adviser to a coalition of groups fighting child trafficking said that;
“The number of Chinese, Japanese and Korean businessmen asking for virgins is increasing and nothing is being done about it”
It is time that the business travel community started to be a part of the solution to this problem and not part of the root cause for the exploitation of children. To read a full article on Srey’s story, please click here.