US national Michael Joseph Pepe, 53, is ecorted by Cambodian police officers at the Municipal Phnom Penh Court. Pepe has been arrested in Cambodia for allegedly raping and torturing at least three young girls, police said, adding that there may be many more victims. (AFP/File/Tang Chhin Sothy)PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Keo Thea has a mission -- he wants to reverse Cambodia's reputation as a haven for paedophiles and turn it into a "hell" for foreigners coming here to have sex with children.
The police chief speaks proudly of a recent crackdown in the kingdom, which has seen the number of arrests of foreign child sex offenders double so far this year compared to the whole of 2005, when there were five arrests.
Since the beginning of 2006, Cambodian police have arrested 10 foreigners, who have been involved in some particularly horrific cases -- including an American police officer who was charged this week with sexually abusing two Vietnamese girls.
The mother of one of the girls was also charged with human trafficking, because she allegedly gave her daughter to Donald Rene Ramirez.
Two days after he was charged, he swiped a gun from his guard and shot himself in the head while in his holding cell.
"Before, paedophiles thought that Cambodia was a heaven for them," said Keo Thea, deputy police chief of Phnom Penh's anti human-trafficking and juvenile protection unit.
"Now, if they still think the same, then they will find Cambodia is a hell for those paedophiles. This is my message to those paedophiles: Be careful, you guys will be thrown into Cambodian jails."
Children's rights activists are pleased the kingdom finally appears to be getting serious about cleaning up its image, but warn that although the number of arrests is increasing, child sex offenders do not yet appear deterred.
Beatrice Magnier, a long-time activist who stepped down last week as director of the anti-paedophile group Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), hailed the rise in prosecutions, but also warned that the number of child sex offenders coming to Cambodia had increased.
"We hope that the increased arrests will have a deterrent effect on child sex tourism," she said.
"Unfortunately, we cannot say the number of people coming here is decreasing. Maybe the number of child sex tourists in Cambodia is still increasing."
Although there has been a visible crackdown on foreign child sex tourists, there have been few prosecutions of Cambodian offenders, and Magnier warns that the authorities must try to tackle domestic paedophiles as well.
"They (Cambodians) use different networks. They are never seen directly in the streets with children, although the foreigners can be seen directly with the children," she said.
"This is much more difficult to work on. We have no statistics about them," Magnier added.
The issue of child sex tourism has been top of the agenda in Cambodia in the past week, with the charity World Vision organizing a three-day workshop for diplomats, child advocates and police officers aimed at finding new tactics to combat the crime.
Esther Halim, Cambodia country director for World Vision, warned that Cambodian children were still very much in danger of being sexually exploited despite the government's recent efforts.
"Much remains to be done to ensure the safety of Cambodian children from those who prey on them," Halim said.
And some regions are finding their own solution to the disturbing problem. The southwestern seaside town of Sihanoukville, a hotspot for child prostitution, has launched an innovative project to deter sex tourists.
Thirty motorbike taxi drivers have been trained to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity, recognise dangerous situations and take appropriate action against people they believe to be child sex tourists.
The ChildSafe scheme is run by M'lop Tapang, an organisation which looks after Sihanoukville's growing number of street children.
Eve Sao Sarin, director of M'lop Tapang, says the drivers were ideally placed to protect the city's youngsters because they are constantly on the streets ferrying tourists around.
"They don't have a duty as police or investigators, but like watchdogs," Eve Sao Sarin said, adding that ChildSafe will help attract the right kind of tourists to the town.
"We want Sihanoukville to be a safe place with a good environment," he said. "We don't want Sihanoukville to become a destination for tourists to have sex with children."
Impoverished Cambodia relies heavily on tourist dollars to shore up its flagging economy, which has been left in tatters by decades of civil war that only ended in 1998.
In 2005, 1.4 million tourists visited Cambodia. Tourist arrivals in the first nine months of 2006 jumped 17 percent from the same period last year to 1.18 million.
"We welcome real tourists who wish to come to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat temples and Cambodian culture, but we absolutely won't welcome people who come to commit debauchery with Cambodian children," Keo Thea said.
The police chief speaks proudly of a recent crackdown in the kingdom, which has seen the number of arrests of foreign child sex offenders double so far this year compared to the whole of 2005, when there were five arrests.
Since the beginning of 2006, Cambodian police have arrested 10 foreigners, who have been involved in some particularly horrific cases -- including an American police officer who was charged this week with sexually abusing two Vietnamese girls.
The mother of one of the girls was also charged with human trafficking, because she allegedly gave her daughter to Donald Rene Ramirez.
Two days after he was charged, he swiped a gun from his guard and shot himself in the head while in his holding cell.
"Before, paedophiles thought that Cambodia was a heaven for them," said Keo Thea, deputy police chief of Phnom Penh's anti human-trafficking and juvenile protection unit.
"Now, if they still think the same, then they will find Cambodia is a hell for those paedophiles. This is my message to those paedophiles: Be careful, you guys will be thrown into Cambodian jails."
Children's rights activists are pleased the kingdom finally appears to be getting serious about cleaning up its image, but warn that although the number of arrests is increasing, child sex offenders do not yet appear deterred.
Beatrice Magnier, a long-time activist who stepped down last week as director of the anti-paedophile group Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), hailed the rise in prosecutions, but also warned that the number of child sex offenders coming to Cambodia had increased.
"We hope that the increased arrests will have a deterrent effect on child sex tourism," she said.
"Unfortunately, we cannot say the number of people coming here is decreasing. Maybe the number of child sex tourists in Cambodia is still increasing."
Although there has been a visible crackdown on foreign child sex tourists, there have been few prosecutions of Cambodian offenders, and Magnier warns that the authorities must try to tackle domestic paedophiles as well.
"They (Cambodians) use different networks. They are never seen directly in the streets with children, although the foreigners can be seen directly with the children," she said.
"This is much more difficult to work on. We have no statistics about them," Magnier added.
The issue of child sex tourism has been top of the agenda in Cambodia in the past week, with the charity World Vision organizing a three-day workshop for diplomats, child advocates and police officers aimed at finding new tactics to combat the crime.
Esther Halim, Cambodia country director for World Vision, warned that Cambodian children were still very much in danger of being sexually exploited despite the government's recent efforts.
"Much remains to be done to ensure the safety of Cambodian children from those who prey on them," Halim said.
And some regions are finding their own solution to the disturbing problem. The southwestern seaside town of Sihanoukville, a hotspot for child prostitution, has launched an innovative project to deter sex tourists.
Thirty motorbike taxi drivers have been trained to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity, recognise dangerous situations and take appropriate action against people they believe to be child sex tourists.
The ChildSafe scheme is run by M'lop Tapang, an organisation which looks after Sihanoukville's growing number of street children.
Eve Sao Sarin, director of M'lop Tapang, says the drivers were ideally placed to protect the city's youngsters because they are constantly on the streets ferrying tourists around.
"They don't have a duty as police or investigators, but like watchdogs," Eve Sao Sarin said, adding that ChildSafe will help attract the right kind of tourists to the town.
"We want Sihanoukville to be a safe place with a good environment," he said. "We don't want Sihanoukville to become a destination for tourists to have sex with children."
Impoverished Cambodia relies heavily on tourist dollars to shore up its flagging economy, which has been left in tatters by decades of civil war that only ended in 1998.
In 2005, 1.4 million tourists visited Cambodia. Tourist arrivals in the first nine months of 2006 jumped 17 percent from the same period last year to 1.18 million.
"We welcome real tourists who wish to come to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat temples and Cambodian culture, but we absolutely won't welcome people who come to commit debauchery with Cambodian children," Keo Thea said.
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