DPA
Phnom Penh - Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that sex workers in Cambodia face an array of abuses including beatings, extortion and rape at the hands of the authorities.
Elaine Pearson, HRW's acting Asia director, called on the government to investigate alleged violations and close detention centres where abuses have taken place.
She said donors, which fund anti-trafficking measures and police training, should also get involved.
"Those people who should really be protecting sex workers from violence and other abuses are in fact the ones who are harming them," Pearson said at the launch of the report "Off the Streets."
HRW interviewed more than 90 female and transgender sex workers in Phnom Penh and three other provinces, and said all had either paid bribes to the police or been robbed by them.
The group said the situation in Phnom Penh was particular dire.
"For far too long, police and other authorities have unlawfully locked up sex workers, beaten and sexually abused them, and looted their money and other possessions," Pearson said.
Chou Bun Eng, the secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior in charge of anti-trafficking measures, said the government wanted to hear about specific cases of abuse to allow it to investigate allegations of criminal activity by police.
"If it turns out the same as the complaint, then that means we have to take action," she said.
"But the complaint should directly name the person, because not all policemen do the same. We have to address that (complaint) directly to the person who does something wrong," Chou Bun Eng said.
Pearson said research showed that police routinely use the 2008 anti-trafficking law to justify harassment.
"The government needs to recognize that criminalizing soliciting is a recipe for continuing human rights abuse," Pearson said, adding that the authorities should reconsider the current approach and consult with sex workers and other interested parties.
Pearson said the law's provisions were so broad they could be misused even to criminalize HIV education work.
HRW singled out a Phnom Penh-based detention centre run by the Ministry of Social Affairs for particular criticism, saying conditions there were "abysmal."
The facility, which holds sex workers, homeless people, beggars and street children swept up in sporadic police raids, told how staff had beaten and raped detainees. HRW said witnesses had claimed at least three people had been beaten to death by guards at Prey Speu between 2006-08.
Elaine Pearson, HRW's acting Asia director, called on the government to investigate alleged violations and close detention centres where abuses have taken place.
She said donors, which fund anti-trafficking measures and police training, should also get involved.
"Those people who should really be protecting sex workers from violence and other abuses are in fact the ones who are harming them," Pearson said at the launch of the report "Off the Streets."
HRW interviewed more than 90 female and transgender sex workers in Phnom Penh and three other provinces, and said all had either paid bribes to the police or been robbed by them.
The group said the situation in Phnom Penh was particular dire.
"For far too long, police and other authorities have unlawfully locked up sex workers, beaten and sexually abused them, and looted their money and other possessions," Pearson said.
Chou Bun Eng, the secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior in charge of anti-trafficking measures, said the government wanted to hear about specific cases of abuse to allow it to investigate allegations of criminal activity by police.
"If it turns out the same as the complaint, then that means we have to take action," she said.
"But the complaint should directly name the person, because not all policemen do the same. We have to address that (complaint) directly to the person who does something wrong," Chou Bun Eng said.
Pearson said research showed that police routinely use the 2008 anti-trafficking law to justify harassment.
"The government needs to recognize that criminalizing soliciting is a recipe for continuing human rights abuse," Pearson said, adding that the authorities should reconsider the current approach and consult with sex workers and other interested parties.
Pearson said the law's provisions were so broad they could be misused even to criminalize HIV education work.
HRW singled out a Phnom Penh-based detention centre run by the Ministry of Social Affairs for particular criticism, saying conditions there were "abysmal."
The facility, which holds sex workers, homeless people, beggars and street children swept up in sporadic police raids, told how staff had beaten and raped detainees. HRW said witnesses had claimed at least three people had been beaten to death by guards at Prey Speu between 2006-08.
2 comments:
If sex workers face right abuses, why they are called sex workers?
Why doesn't the Human Rights Watch gives them food and shelters? The organization should take back the land confiscated from them and give them back.
Do it and let them starve. What's next?
I think 70% of sex workers are Yuons ?
Don't worry most of wifes of most of Cambodian minister employees are ex-sex worker..
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