The Chai Hour II hotel

On December the 7th 2004 the Cambodian government acting together with the NGO Afesip (Agir pour les femmes en situation precaire) raided the Chai Hour II hotel in Phnom Penh which was reputed to be acting as a brothel. In the raid 83 girls were rescued, some of whom were underage. The following day, however, an astonishing event allegedly took place. More than 30 men and women stormed the safe house where these women were being held and abducted them. It has been alleged that at least one of the crowd was wearing a police uniform.
Due to international pressure since then, the Cambodian government set up an enquiry into the events of last December. An inter-ministerial report issued this month, however, stated that there were no under-aged prostitutes and that there had also been no raid on the Afesip safe house; the women had left of their own accord!
The US state department this week released the following statement;
The United States is deeply disappointed by the Cambodian Government’s Inter-ministerial Committee’s report on the events surrounding the December 8, 2004 attack on an Non-Governmental Organization shelter for victims of trafficking in persons. The findings lack credibility. The Cambodian government has not taken any action to ensure that those responsible for the shelter raid are held accountable and brought to justice. Cambodian authorities should do so without further delay. Their failure to act calls into question Cambodia’s willingness to address seriously the crime of human trafficking
In the mean time the Cambodian government is putting pressure on the President of Afesip in Cambodia, Somaly Mam, to resign. They also suggested an audit of Afesip’s accounts. This does not seem to be the action of a government which is keen to tackle the problem of human trafficking and to break the link between hotels and forced prostitution.