Cambodian sex workers sit on the side walk along a street in Phnom Penh on Dec. 18, 2008. (Photo: AFP)2009-01-27
RFA
Economic hardship is pushing young Cambodian girls into the sex trade while legislation drives the trade underground.
PHNOM PENH—The girl from Prey Veng province has worked as a prostitute in the Cambodian capital for five months. Hard times, she said, have brought her here to earn money for her widowed mother and three younger siblings.
“I am unhappy with myself, but I pity my mother. No girl wants to do this horrible work,” the 15-year-old, who asked not to be named, said in an interview as she looked for business near the Suriya Supermarket.
“Sometimes, I get only one client in two or three days. Some clients ask me to have sex without using a condom, but I refuse. I say that if you sleep with me without using condom, I’d rather not take your money.”
Rising living costs are forcing more Cambodian girls under 18 into prostitution in urban areas such as Phnom Penh to support their families in the countryside.
The girls, spotted easily from around 8 p.m. as they scout urban streets and parks for customers, say they lack the education to find other work.
A dangerous trade
Several Cambodian girls who agreed to be interviewed said they engage in sex work despite its dangers because they cannot afford to quit.
“Clients take me to guesthouses. I get U.S. $10 per night. They gang-rape me and beat me,” another girl, 17, from Svay Rieng province, said.
In February 2008, the Cambodian government began enforcing the new “Law on the Suppression of Human-Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation” after years of U.S. pressure to crack down on sex trafficking.
Human rights groups, however, say the law and its enforcement have made life harder for the women they aim to help.
Prostitutes caught in police raids are made to pay fines of up to U.S. $200 for their release, the 17-year-old girl said.
“They take us to district police headquarters and take our money. If we don’t have the money, we will be kept in custody for two or three days. So we have to run for our lives when we see police approaching us.”
“Police arrest us in the hope that the brothel owners will pay, but if we don’t have anyone to pay for our release we will be sent to one of the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). It’s o.k. to live at the NGOs, but then our families have nothing to eat,” she said.
“If [the NGOs] want to help me, they should also help my family. Otherwise I can’t quit.”
Increasing poverty
Lim Mony, program manager for women’s issues at the nonprofit group ADHOC, the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, said the number of girls and women involved in sex work is increasing because of higher living costs and the lure of modern luxuries.
“Voluntary sex work by girls on the streets is difficult to define. Many of these girls first were lured and tricked into being sex workers by traffickers. Then, because of that, they began voluntarily selling their bodies. Other women have been voluntarily engaged in prostitution from the start,” she said.
According to Article 35 of Cambodia’s law on “Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation,” the prostitution of children is punishable with a jail sentence of two to five years and a fine of four to 10 million riel (U.S. $1,000 to $2,500).
But Ean Pheara, an assistant at the Phnom Penh-based People Improvement Organization, said impoverished and uneducated children remain among the most vulnerable workers in the sex industry.
This year, he said, the People Improvement Organization—which provides education and vocational training—taught 240 children the skills they will need to avoid being trafficked.
Heng Sithon, deputy director-general of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs General Directorate for Social Development, agreed that anti-trafficking efforts must focus on Cambodia’s youth.
Sithon, whose work with the ministry provides education to rural children and their parents on how to protect themselves from trafficking, said more children and women are subject to trafficking “partly due to the migration of rural women looking for work who then are tricked into working in the sex trade.”
More awareness needed
ADHOC, along with the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), says that despite public awareness campaigns, law enforcement against prostitution and human trafficking remains ineffective.
“Really what [they] should be looking at is, if someone gets into a situation where they are forced [into prostitution] or where they are being severely exploited, how can they remove themselves from that situation and how can they best get the help that they need,” Elaine Pearson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch, said.
“The basic effect of [enforcing the law] has been to drive the industry further underground. It certainly doesn’t mean that people have stopped selling sex altogether in Cambodia,” Pearson said.
“It’s become more difficult to monitor the conditions inside brothels, and it has made it more difficult for outreach workers ... to provide health services, to provide condoms to sex workers, and to provide education services which would actually improve the health and safety in that industry.”
In its most recent report on human rights around the world for the preceding year, the U.S. State Department noted that while the Cambodian Constitution prohibits prostitution, “there is no specific legislation against working as a prostitute.”
“Trafficking in women for the purpose of prostitution was a serious problem, despite laws against procuring and kidnapping for purposes of sexual exploitation. There were reports that police abused prostitutes,” the report said.
“Despite sporadic crackdowns on brothel operators in Phnom Penh, prostitution and related trafficking persisted. Estimates of the number of working prostitutes ranged from 14,725 to 18,250. Sex tourism was a problem, fueled by pervasive poverty and the perception of impunity.”
Original reporting by Seang Sophon for RFA’s Khmer service. Service director: Sos Kem. Translated by Sothea Thai. Written in English for the Web by Joshua Lipes.
PHNOM PENH—The girl from Prey Veng province has worked as a prostitute in the Cambodian capital for five months. Hard times, she said, have brought her here to earn money for her widowed mother and three younger siblings.
“I am unhappy with myself, but I pity my mother. No girl wants to do this horrible work,” the 15-year-old, who asked not to be named, said in an interview as she looked for business near the Suriya Supermarket.
“Sometimes, I get only one client in two or three days. Some clients ask me to have sex without using a condom, but I refuse. I say that if you sleep with me without using condom, I’d rather not take your money.”
Rising living costs are forcing more Cambodian girls under 18 into prostitution in urban areas such as Phnom Penh to support their families in the countryside.
The girls, spotted easily from around 8 p.m. as they scout urban streets and parks for customers, say they lack the education to find other work.
A dangerous trade
Several Cambodian girls who agreed to be interviewed said they engage in sex work despite its dangers because they cannot afford to quit.
“Clients take me to guesthouses. I get U.S. $10 per night. They gang-rape me and beat me,” another girl, 17, from Svay Rieng province, said.
In February 2008, the Cambodian government began enforcing the new “Law on the Suppression of Human-Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation” after years of U.S. pressure to crack down on sex trafficking.
Human rights groups, however, say the law and its enforcement have made life harder for the women they aim to help.
Prostitutes caught in police raids are made to pay fines of up to U.S. $200 for their release, the 17-year-old girl said.
“They take us to district police headquarters and take our money. If we don’t have the money, we will be kept in custody for two or three days. So we have to run for our lives when we see police approaching us.”
“Police arrest us in the hope that the brothel owners will pay, but if we don’t have anyone to pay for our release we will be sent to one of the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). It’s o.k. to live at the NGOs, but then our families have nothing to eat,” she said.
“If [the NGOs] want to help me, they should also help my family. Otherwise I can’t quit.”
Increasing poverty
Lim Mony, program manager for women’s issues at the nonprofit group ADHOC, the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, said the number of girls and women involved in sex work is increasing because of higher living costs and the lure of modern luxuries.
“Voluntary sex work by girls on the streets is difficult to define. Many of these girls first were lured and tricked into being sex workers by traffickers. Then, because of that, they began voluntarily selling their bodies. Other women have been voluntarily engaged in prostitution from the start,” she said.
According to Article 35 of Cambodia’s law on “Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation,” the prostitution of children is punishable with a jail sentence of two to five years and a fine of four to 10 million riel (U.S. $1,000 to $2,500).
But Ean Pheara, an assistant at the Phnom Penh-based People Improvement Organization, said impoverished and uneducated children remain among the most vulnerable workers in the sex industry.
This year, he said, the People Improvement Organization—which provides education and vocational training—taught 240 children the skills they will need to avoid being trafficked.
Heng Sithon, deputy director-general of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs General Directorate for Social Development, agreed that anti-trafficking efforts must focus on Cambodia’s youth.
Sithon, whose work with the ministry provides education to rural children and their parents on how to protect themselves from trafficking, said more children and women are subject to trafficking “partly due to the migration of rural women looking for work who then are tricked into working in the sex trade.”
More awareness needed
ADHOC, along with the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO), says that despite public awareness campaigns, law enforcement against prostitution and human trafficking remains ineffective.
“Really what [they] should be looking at is, if someone gets into a situation where they are forced [into prostitution] or where they are being severely exploited, how can they remove themselves from that situation and how can they best get the help that they need,” Elaine Pearson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch, said.
“The basic effect of [enforcing the law] has been to drive the industry further underground. It certainly doesn’t mean that people have stopped selling sex altogether in Cambodia,” Pearson said.
“It’s become more difficult to monitor the conditions inside brothels, and it has made it more difficult for outreach workers ... to provide health services, to provide condoms to sex workers, and to provide education services which would actually improve the health and safety in that industry.”
In its most recent report on human rights around the world for the preceding year, the U.S. State Department noted that while the Cambodian Constitution prohibits prostitution, “there is no specific legislation against working as a prostitute.”
“Trafficking in women for the purpose of prostitution was a serious problem, despite laws against procuring and kidnapping for purposes of sexual exploitation. There were reports that police abused prostitutes,” the report said.
“Despite sporadic crackdowns on brothel operators in Phnom Penh, prostitution and related trafficking persisted. Estimates of the number of working prostitutes ranged from 14,725 to 18,250. Sex tourism was a problem, fueled by pervasive poverty and the perception of impunity.”
Original reporting by Seang Sophon for RFA’s Khmer service. Service director: Sos Kem. Translated by Sothea Thai. Written in English for the Web by Joshua Lipes.
15 comments:
15 y.o. girl tries to help her family the hard way. If this story does not break your heart and makes you feel sad and outraged, then I don't know what will.
I am deeply touched by this story. And the Khmer government is paralized. It can't do much to help its poor citizens in such a great need to just have some thing to prolong her survival day by day. Who can help this child out there? She is just a child born 15 years ago.
Prostitution is the oldest profession in man history. It exists in every country. Even in the US. They just have different names for it. Escort service, is it? Majority of Khmer girls have to do it out of hardship. I've been to Karaoke and I've seen them. Out of my self-righteousness, I did not sleep with any of them as I feel bad for them. I just give them tips for their company inside the karaoke. As I see the only way to solve problems like that is to create alternatives for the girls as a mean for making an appropriate living with dignity and respect. Economic growth is the key for the alternatives. I hope in the near future, Khmer girls will have more options to way of life as our country develops.
That being said, there are a few bunch of girls who like doing this kinda profession as they see it as an easy way to make a living and you don't have to do hard labor. So, no matter who developed Cambodia will be, there will still be prostitution, karaoke girls, etc... because some people like doing it and the oldest profession in history persists.
p.s. I can get into a little debate about how the traditional sense of prostitution is no different from what is considered a legitimate work. Say, you work for an accounting company, you're basically selling your body for money too. You have to be at a certain place for certain hours against your will. You'd like to go to the beach than stay in a cubicle but you do it against your will because you get paid. This assumes that all parts of your body is no more sacred than the other. In that sense, if "prostitution" is done voluntarily by individual, it is no different from any other "legitimate" work because they all involve you selling your body for money.
This is the result of Pouk Ah Scam Rainxy sabotaging with Khmer economy and causing many to suffer. In China, Vietnam, ..., or Laos, they will certainly be facing the firing squad long ago.
7:22AM is out of his mind. What kind of advice is he giving to? Working is working, nothing to do with sex and prostitute. Are you talking about everyone in your family is working as a Sex Worker there?
People concern about unprotected sex and loitering in the street at night as prostitutes. It’s dangerous to society and spread out HIV/AID. There is a safe way and better way of doing it in the Western World. How many cases of death due to disease in the West that you’d known off? May be it’s less than in Cambodia. Don’t you see it, moron?
Look at the pictures. The two guys sitting at the left are the pimps. Most of the pimps are the boy friends of the prostitutes. These girls have no choice but to seek money to survive. That's what you get for voting for a mafia government. Anyway, it is democracy: we deserve to live in the conditions for what we have voted for...
I agree prostitution is an old profession. It born with every culture globally.
We are talking about underage children here. Also these girls are not become prostitute by her choice it is driven by circumstance.
No one give shit if a daughter of a rich man become selling her body because it is her choice.
Khmer people should put hun sen and the CPP on trial.
7:40 AM
I'm talking about intellectual debate on the ideological and cultural definition of "prostitution." I'm talking from the leftist stand point. Learn to comprehend what people say clearly because bad mouthing, will you? If you disagree at least know what I'm talking about.
8:07 AM
I know Khmer girls are forced to so into prostitution but do you think the government is responsible? Really? If government should be held responsible for forced prostitution, you should consider putting all of the world' leaders on trials. Just look at the US, the richest strongest nation, there are forced prostitution too, buddy, especially in the ghetto with the African American population and all those pimps?
The bottom line is no country is better than the other on the problem of prostitution. It's just that because our country is poor, that's why we have more of it here. Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Europe all do have rings of illegal forced prostitutes who are kept by the pimps on drugs to work for them. If you lived in New York in the 70's, you would see almost the exactly the same thing in Cambodia now and the US was not poor like Cambodia but they still have it. Just watch the movie Taxi Drive. It touches on that subject of underage forced child prostitution in New York.
Where's the interior of women affair? Didn't they say that rehau art was reuining khmer culutre? I guess prostitute is now becoming tradtition.
Where is Chumteam Chumtenh Phavy?
J'imagine ce que pensent TOUS CES CHUM TEAV Si elles étaient à la place de ses filles , au moins elles font le commerce de leur corp publiquement par contre tous ces CHUM TEAV elles ont TOUS DES HIV dans leur cerveau
Prostitution is Cambodia is contributed by Westerners and overseas Khmer men who come here to sleep with young women.
Look at yourselves. You and your white masters are the ones who come here and enjoy the cheap sex. Then you bitch about human rights abuses and corruption and evictions.
If the foreigners can stop fucking Khmer girls then there would not be so many girls working on the streets.
Yep!
honey! wat is your phone number? :D
It is terrifying to see my people (Khmer) have so much obstacles and hardship.
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