Report: Police Abuse of Sex Workers in Cambodia Made Worse by US Policies

July 22, 2010
By Melissa Ditmore, Independent consultant
RH Reality Check

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a report documenting abuses of sex workers by law enforcement in Cambodia, including rape and beatings, unlawful detention and deprivation of medical care. The report also indicates that opportunistic abuse of power is endemic: “Every sex worker that we spoke to, including children involved in such work, had paid bribes to the police at some point.”

The US government is implicated in these abuses. The US government’s Trafficking In Persons report grades nations on their responses to human trafficking. Nations that receive low marks for a few consecutive years are threatened with economic sanctions. Cambodia’s government relies on foreign aid, and the US is one of its largest donors. When sanctions loomed, Cambodia passed an anti-trafficking law that additionally criminalized sex work and police declared open season on sex workers.

This is not uncommon; it’s a pattern seen in many places. In Cambodia, where the rule of law is weak, abuses included extreme torture and even deaths in custody. In addition to detention and abuse by law enforcement, sex workers were also unlawfully detained by anti-trafficking NGOs. One bright spot is that these organizations say that they have changed their policies and HRW says that no reports of detention by NGOs have been received in 2010.

Unfortunately, abuse by law enforcement continues.

In response to these abuses, the report recommends suspending the provision against soliciting in the anti-trafficking law because the provision “gives police more leverage to extort money and commit violent acts against sex workers and has facilitated abuses.” Instead of arresting and abusing sex workers, the report recommends consulting sex workers to “jointly develop programs and services that can empower sex workers and accurately reflect their needs.”

This is the strongest language from HRW yet that criminalization of sex work contributes to violence and abuse of some of the most vulnerable people. This same sentiment was expressed yesterday by Mandeep Dhaliwhal of UNDP during the International AIDS Conference (IAC) happening now in Vienna. These recommendations are only a first step to better policy to promote and ensure the human rights of sex workers. Sex workers at the IAC have been protesting US foreign policy that prevents sex workers from being the kind of partners HRW recommends. US funding restrictions include an anti-prostitution pledge that promotes discrimination against sex workers by prohibiting empowerment programs for sex workers. But in order to combat human rights abuses of sex workers and HIV among sex workers, sex workers must be part of the solution, rather than as target populations for programs designed and implemented without input from the people they seek to affect.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Sex Workers

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Abuse, Rape Await Sex Workers in Detention: Human Rights Watch

The 76-page report, “Off the Streets: Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses Against Sex Workers in Cambodia,” is based on interviews with women and transgendered prostitutes in Phnom Penh and the provinces of Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Siem Reap.

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 20 July 2010

“In several instances, police officers raped sex workers while they were in police detention."

Sex workers are facing unlawful arrests and abuse by police and other authorities in government detention, Human Rights Watch reported Tuesday.

Citing interviews with 90 different sex workers, the international organization said the women face rape, physical abuse and robbery at the hands of authorities—charges a government spokesman denied.

“The Cambodian government should order a prompt and thorough investigation into these systematic violations of sex workers' human rights and shut down the centers where these people have been abused,” Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said.

The 76-page report, “Off the Streets: Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses Against Sex Workers in Cambodia,” is based on interviews with women and transgendered prostitutes in Phnom Penh and the provinces of Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Siem Reap.

Sex workers are regularly arrested in sweeps of streets and parks and other sites under a 2008 anti-trafficking law that ill-defines crimes and allows the abuses to occur, the group said. Human Rights Watch found that even members of the anti-trafficking unit were culpable in some abuses.

“Sex workers told Human Rights Watch that police officers beat them with their fists, sticks, wooden handles and electric shock batons,” the group said in a statement. “In several instances, police officers raped sex workers while they were in police detention. Every sex worker that Human Rights Watch spoke to had to pay bribes or had money stolen from them by police officers.”

The group also pointed to “abysmal” conditions in the government center called Prey Speu, where it says at least three people were beaten to death between 2006 and 2008 and where a few sex workers have been detained this year. The center is a collecting point for marginalized groups such as street children, homeless and sex workers.

“The Cambodian government should immediately and permanently close down detention centers such as Prey Speu, where people are being unlawfully detained, beaten up and abused,” Pearson said in a statement. “Prosecuting those who commit these crimes will send a strong message that abuses against sex workers are not tolerated.”

Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, denied the reports' findings.

“The sex trade is an illegal business in Cambodia, but our authorities do not use violence to suppress the sex trade,” he said.

Detained sex workers are kept in “social affairs centers” run by the government, where they are trained for “proper professions,” he said.

“If Human Rights Watch directly raises the names of police who committed crimes against sex workers, we will be happy to receive it,” he said. “But we regard the Human Rights Watch report as an accusation against the police that is not factual nor constructive criticism.”

He called the report an act of “defamation” against the government.

Cambodian police abuse sex workers: rights group

Tue Jul 20, 2010

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodian police and social workers have beat, extorted and raped sex workers after taking them into their custody, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday, adding foreign governments could do more to stop such abuse.

"From beginning to end, those people who should really be protecting sex workers from violence and other abuses are in fact the ones who are harming them," Elaine Pearson, acting director of Asia Human Rights Watch, told a news conference.

Quoting victims, the rights group said in a report that police often abused sex workers arrested during regular sweeps of the streets and parks in the capital, Phnom Penh, following the enactment of an anti-human-trafficking law in 2008.

It called on the government to close down certain detention centers where drug users, beggars, street children, homeless people and sex workers had all been illegally detained.

And it urged foreign donors to review funding to the police and Social Affairs Ministry.

"Donors should not spend their money on abusive officials but instead take steps that will promote accountability from the Cambodian government," Pearson said.

Cambodian police spokesman Kirth Chantharith told Reuters he had not read the report and could not comment.

Lim El Djurado, a Social Affairs Ministry spokesman, said the allegations against his ministry were false, adding government centers did not house sex workers and officials did not abuse them.

"There are no sex workers at our centers. The centers are for the homeless," Lim El Djurado said, adding that prostitutes had in fact been sent to non-governmental organizations for vocational training after police round-ups.

(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Alan Raybould)

HRW Says Cambodian Officials Abuse Sex Workers

Cambodian sex workers sit on a sidewalk in a street of Phnom Penh (2008 AFP file photo)

Robert Carmichael, VOA
Phnom Penh 20 July 2010

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that the Cambodian government must act to end police abuse against sex workers. A new report by the organization found prostitutes in the country suffer arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention, beatings and rape by authorities.

Human Rights says its research was based on interviews with 90 sex workers, in the past year and reveals the problem is particularly acute in the capital, Phnom Penh.

Elaine Pearson is Human Rights Watch's acting Asia director. She says several factors lie behind the unlawful arrest and detention of sex workers and the further abuses that follow detention.

"We found that the 2008 anti-trafficking law somewhat contributes to these abuses because it can provide a pretext for arresting sex workers," she said. "However, we found it can also happen simply because governors order crackdowns against vice and prostitution, periodic efforts to clean up the streets and maintain public order and so on."

Pearson says the government should suspend the provisions in the anti-trafficking law that some police use to arrest sex workers.

Human Rights Watch says the government must distinguish between sex workers and trafficking victims.

It also wants those detention centers where abuses are taking place to be shut down and says sex workers would be better off in facilities run by non-governmental organizations, which it says are better-run than those controlled by the Ministry of Social Affairs.

"We don't think that sex workers should be sent to a detention center, where they're at risk of violence, of further abuse. And, really those detention centers are not providing any rehabilitative function at all," said Pearson. "There are plenty of other ways of providing services to sex workers and there are plenty of NGOs and groups that are able to provide that support. So we call on the government to work together with those groups to address these issues."

Human Rights Watch also wants a full investigation into the allegations of abuse by police and other government officials. Pearson says donors - who have provided funding to combat trafficking and to train the police - must play their part, too.

"So we're calling on donors to support these recommendations and to review their funding to the Ministry of Social Affairs and to police until their efforts to investigate these abuses and close the centers," she said.

For its part the government denies that it is unfairly targeting sex workers and says it will investigate allegations of abuse that are submitted to it.

Chou Bun Leng is the secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, in charge of combating trafficking. She says the government wants to hear of such abuses, but it needs complainants to name those deemed guilty, to ensure an effective investigation.

She says the police are subject to the law and will be prosecuted if abuse allegations are substantiated in a court of law.

Rights group urges Cambodia to end sex worker abuse

PHNOM PENH, Tuesday 20 July 2010 (AFP) - Sex workers in Cambodia are routinely unlawfully arrested and taken by police to government detention centres where they face beatings, rape and extortion, a rights group said Tuesday.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that interviews with more than 90 female and transgender sex workers in capital Phnom Penh and three Cambodian provinces found they faced regular abuse by authorities.

"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," said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

"The Cambodian government should order a prompt and thorough independent investigation into these systematic violations of sex workers' human rights and shut down the centres where these people have been abused."

The group's 76-page report said police beat the prostitutes with their fists, sticks, wooden handles and electric shock batons and, in several instances, raped them while they were in detention.

All reported paying bribes or having money stolen by police officers, the report added, while they were held in dismal conditions.

The Cambodian government began prosecuting a new "Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation" in 2008 after years of pressure from the United States to clamp down on sex trafficking.

Since then authorities have conducted brothel raids and street sweeps, but rights groups complain the new law has in many ways worsened exploitation and HRW said police at times use the law to justify harrassment of sex workers.

"The government should go back to the drawing board -- starting first by consulting extensively with sex workers and other groups -- before continuing to implement the provisions which have been abused by police," Pearson said.

Report: Sex workers face array of rights abuses in Cambodia

Tue, 20 Jul 2010
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.

Cambodia: Sex Workers Face Unlawful Arrests and Detention

20 Jul 2010
Source: Human Rights Watch

(Phnom Penh) - The Cambodian government should act quickly to end violence against sex workers and permanently close the government centers where these workers have been unlawfully detained and abused, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. Human Rights Watch also urged the Cambodian government to suspend provisions in the 2008 Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation that facilitate police harassment and abuses.

Human Rights Watch's 76-page report, "Off the Streets: Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses against Sex Workers in Cambodia," is based on more than 90 interviews and group discussions with female and transgender sex workers in Phnom Penh, Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, and Siem Reap. It describes how sex workers face a wide range of abuses, including beatings, extortion, and rape at the hands of authorities, particularly in Phnom Penh.

"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," said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The Cambodian government should order a prompt and thorough independent investigation into these systematic violations of sex workers' human rights and shut down the centers where these people have been abused."

Police arrest sex workers in regular sweeps on the streets and parks of Phnom Penh. Some of the violence is opportunistic, while other abuses commonly occur in periodic crackdowns and raids by police and district authorities, at times targeting sex workers specifically and other times picking up sex workers along with other groups of marginalized people on the streets.

Police abuse sex workers with impunity. Sex workers told Human Rights Watch that police officers beat them with their fists, sticks, wooden handles, and electric shock batons. In several instances, police officers raped sex workers while they were in police detention. Every sex worker that Human Rights Watch spoke to had to pay bribes or had money stolen from them by police officers.

A 2008 Cambodian law on trafficking and sexual exploitation criminalized all forms of trafficking, including forced labor. Human Rights Watch found that police officers at times can use those sections of the law that criminalize "solicitation" and "procurement" of commercial sex to justify harassment of sex workers. The provisions are also broad enough that they can be used to criminalize advocacy and outreach activities by sex worker groups and those who support them.

Human Rights Watch urged the Cambodian government to consult with sex worker groups, United Nations agencies, and organizations working on human rights, trafficking, and health to review and address the impact on the human rights of those engaged in sex work of provisions in the 2008 law on trafficking and sexual exploitation, before implementing those provisions.

"In an environment where police already act with impunity, the Cambodian government needs to recognize that criminalizing soliciting is a recipe for continuing human rights abuse," said Pearson. "The government should go back to the drawing board - starting first by consulting extensively with sex workers and other groups - before continuing to implement the provisions which have been abused by police."

In Phnom Penh, police refer sex workers to the municipal Office of Social Affairs and from there to NGOs or the government Social Affairs center, Prey Speu. Conditions in Prey Speu are abysmal. Sex workers, beggars, drug users, street children, and homeless people held at Prey Speu have reported how staff members at the center have beaten, raped, and mistreated detainees, including children. Local human rights workers, citing eyewitness accounts, allege that at least three people, and possibly more, were beaten to death by guards at Prey Speu between 2006 and 2008.

Following advocacy by Cambodian and international organizations, in 2009 and 2010 the municipal Social Affairs office began sending most sex workers picked up in sweeps to the custody of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) rather than Prey Speu. However, since May 2010, at least eight sex workers have been detained there. Sex workers detained in Prey Speu in June 2010 were locked in their rooms, only allowed to leave their rooms to bathe twice a day in dirty pond water, or, accompanied by a guard, to go to the toilet.

Human Rights Watch called on the Cambodian government to permanently close Social Affairs centers such as Prey Speu where people are being unlawfully detained. In a January 2010 report, "Skin on the Cable," Human Rights Watch also documented horrific abuses at drug detention facilities in Cambodia against people who use drugs. The Cambodian government should also establish a special commission to investigate abuses thoroughly and independently, and hold the perpetrators accountable. So far, police and other authorities have evaded accountability for these abuses.

"The Cambodian government should immediately and permanently close down detention centers such as Prey Speu where people are being unlawfully detained, beaten up, and abused," said Pearson. "Prosecuting those who commit these crimes will send a strong message that abuses against sex workers are not tolerated."

Donors supporting anti-trafficking efforts and police training, especially the US, Australia, Japan, the European Union, and the UN, should review funding to the police and Ministry of Social Affairs until there is a full independent investigation into allegations of abuses and prosecutions of those found responsible and the Social Affairs centers such as Prey Speu are permanently closed. Despite years of training for police, police abuses continue, even by units that have been trained with international donor support, such as specialized anti-trafficking police units.

"Donors should not spend their money on training abusive officials, but instead take steps that will promote accountability from the Cambodian government," said Pearson.

Testimony from sex workers in "Off the Streets"

Neary, a male-to-female transgender sex worker described being tortured by police:

"Three police officers beat me up seriously at Wat Phnom commune police station after I was taken from the park. One of the police officers pointed his gun at my head and pulled the trigger, but the bullet did not fire. They kicked my neck, my waist, and hit my head and my body with a broom stick. It lasted about half an hour. I begged them not to beat me. The police officers were cruel and they did not tell me any reason why they did this to me. "

Twenty-year-old Tola described how police extort money from sex workers:

"At the [Daun Penh district] police station, police asked us if I have a "me-ka" [manager]. Police allowed me and other sex workers to call our me-kas to come pay the lous [bribe] in exchange for our release. Fifteen out of 20 [sex workers] were released after their managers came to pay the police. The rest of us were kept at the police station for three days before being sent to the Social Affairs office and then an NGO shelter."

Srey Pha, age 27, described her experience at Prey Speu:

"[Prey Speu] was like hell. I was among 30 people in one locked room of men, women, and children. No toilet in the room, but two buckets served as toilet for all of us to share. There were blood stains all over the walls. I could not sleep at night as I was so scared and worried. I received little food to eat in two meals per day - rice with Prahok (fermented fish paste) and some tamarind. No plate or spoon, I had to eat from a plastic bag. At night, the guard seriously beat up a man who tried to escape."

Nika, age 28, describes a beating by municipal park security guards:

"First one guard came and kicked me and said, "Why?" Then three other guards came. Two guards held my arms while the other two beat me. They slapped me in the face. They seemed a bit drunk. They beat me with bamboo sticks and their radio on my head and all over. They ripped my clothes. The police came by, but they didn't do anything. The guards continued to beat me for almost half an hour. Many people saw, but everyone was too scared to intervene. The head of the security told the other guard if they see me there again, they should beat me to death."

Off the Streets: Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses Against Sex Workers in Cambodia

*** News Conference Invitation ***

Off the Streets
Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses Against Sex Workers in Cambodia

Human Rights Watch is pleased to invite you to the launch of a new report, "Off the Streets: Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses against Sex Workers in Cambodia," to be held on July 20, 2010, at 9:30 a.m. The report documents the abuse of sex workers by police and other government officials, including beatings, rape, extortion, and arbitrary arrest and detention. The report also analyzes the impact of a 2008 law on trafficking and sexual exploitation, and urges the Cambodian government to end impunity by holding the perpetrators of these abuses accountable.

What: Release of the Human Rights Watch Report*:
"Off the Streets: Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses against Sex Workers in Cambodia"

Who: Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director, Human Rights Watch
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director, Human Rights Watch

When: July 20, 2010 at 9:30 a.m.

Where: Baitong Restaurant
No. 7, Street 360
Boeng Keng Kang 1,
Phnom Penh

* The news conference will be held in English and Khmer.

For more on Human Rights Watch’s work on Cambodia, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/en/asia/cambodia

For more information and to schedule interviews, please contact:

• In Phnom Penh, Elaine Pearson (English): +855-77-788-320 (mobile); or elaine.pearson@hrw.org
• In Phnom Penh, Sara Colm (English, Khmer): +855-12-804-755 (mobile); or sara.colm@hrw.org
• In Bangkok, Phil Robertson (English, Thai): +66-85-060-8406 (mobile); or phil.robertson@hrw.org

Police turning a blind eye to gang rape

Monday, 28 September 2009
The Phnom Penh Post

Dear Editor,

Comment: I do agree with Soprach that government has repeatedly operated unsustainable policies. For instance, sex workers in the public will be legally charged but the sex consumers are flying free into the brothels. On the other hand, sex workers have been often raped or forced to have sex but they dare not take those actions to the police. So it is pathetic for those Cambodian sex workers who are facing free rape/sex, bribing the police, and charged of coming out to the street. In the meantime, the rich and company investors enjoy evicting the poor families and resell the lands...only Cambodia that the weak will become weaker, the poor will become poorer; the strong will become stronger, the rich will become richer, and the criminal perpetrators have happilily flied free in this land...Welcome to Cambodia!!

I am writing in response to your two articles: “Five men accused in Siem Reap gang rape” (September 22), which reported that a girl was raped by her boyfriend and four others; and “Seven men charged in girl’s rape and murder to face trial in Kampong Cham” (September 23), which reported that a girl was raped and killed by members of a youth gang, one of whom is her neighbour and who claimed he had fallen in love with her.

After reading the two articles, I experienced shock and felt so sad about the two victims, especially the child who was murdered after being raped. These brutal activities are not isolated cases but have been occurring regularly in the recent past and perhaps longer. In 2002, a study by PSI (Population Services International) on sexual relationships revealed sex workers in Phnom Penh were often victims of gang rape, or bauk (Khmer for “plus”) .

In 2003, a study by GAD/C (Gender and Development for Cambodia) revealed that female students were also sometimes victims of bauk. In 2004, a study by CARE International showed that bauk was not limited to Phnom Penh, but occurs across Cambodia. In 2009, a study by an independent researcher revealed that over 10 percent of a sample of young men not in a stable relationship had perpetrated bauk with a sex worker in the last three months.

We should urge the police and the courts to deal severely with the perpetrators of these two recent youth gang rape cases if they are found guilty. Note that the two cases seem copy-and-pasted from bauk cases that many youth perpetrators have learned and used against female sex workers.

In my opinion, police have failed to act in cases where sex workers have claimed they are gang raped. Not only do police fail to act in the event of bauk but sex-workers fear to bring charges, as they fear the police reaction – including arrest for “illegal business under the trafficking law”– even while the law remains silent on the issue of voluntary sex work.

In the past, when police cracked down on brothels, massage parlours, guest houses and hotels, police arrested the sex workers but allowed the men to go free.

The arrest of rapists and jail with so-called “re-education” is not sufficient. We call for the government, donors, youth workers and human rights groups to increase their interventions to change men’s attitude about bauk. Critically, the issue has to be raised through awareness in the school curriculum and outreach activities. We all have a responsibility to change the attitude of our young men so that violence against women and girls is actively discouraged.

Tong Sprach
Phnom Penh

Cambodian minister promises action against sex workers' abusers

Friday, June 6
By KER MUNTHIT, Associated Press Writer
AP

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A Cambodian Cabinet minister said Thursday he would take legal action against law enforcement personnel if there was evidence that they misused their authority to abuse local sex workers.

Interior Minister Sar Kheng made the remark a day after about 200 Cambodian sex workers claimed their colleagues had been physically and sexually abused in custody. The female and male sex workers made the allegations during a peaceful protest Wednesday against a recent crackdown on prostitution.

Police began rounding up workers from brothels, bars and parks in March, detaining them for a week to 10 days at a rehabilitation center for sex workers on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh.

Cambodian law does not explicitly define prostitution as illegal, but authorities frown upon commercial sex and routinely launch such sweeps.

During the recent protest, sex workers said that many of their colleagues had been unlawfully detained and that some guards at the rehabilitation center had abused them.

In the recent protest, 32-year-old prostitute Chan Dina, a member of the sex workers' advocacy group Cambodian Prostitutes Union, said some of her colleagues "were beaten and gang-raped by the center guards." She said they did not use condoms.

Sar Kheng said the government "will take legal action against any official alleged to have abused sex workers."

"We have asked for evidence about any official or group involved in abuse or mistreatment of sex workers, but so far we have not received anything concrete about that yet," he said.

He was speaking at a news conference about the release of the Cambodia chapter of U.S. State Department's 2008 Trafficking in Persons report.

The report gave Cambodia an improved ranking of "Tier 2," up from levels it had held for the previous four years, when it had been described as "a source and destination country for trafficked persons" due to the government's allegedly inadequate efforts.

Sar Kheng said Cambodia would not allow its rating to slip down again.

US says Cambodia needs to do more to fight trafficking

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The United States said Thursday that Cambodia still needs to do more to fight human trafficking, even though an annual State Department report said the nation had made progress.

The United States this year upgraded Cambodia to Tier 2 on its yearly human trafficking report, after the country increased law enforcement and passed new legislation to crack down on the crime.

Cambodia, which has a reputation as a haven for sex offenders, had ranked below the second tier since 2004 -- raising the risk that Washington could impose sanctions or other punitive measures.

US embassy charge d'affaires Piper Campbell told a press conference that trafficking remains a problem here.

"Trafficking in Cambodia is indeed still prevalent. It's obvious in combating human trafficking that you have to take a multi-dimensional approach that involves education, legislation, law enforcement and also support for victims," he said.

However, some victims claim that they have suffered abuse under the new anti-trafficking legislation.

Chan Dina, head of the Cambodian Prostitute's Union (CPU) which represents about 300 sex workers, said prostitutes have been robbed, beaten and raped by police since a crackdown on brothels began in March.

"The closures abuse the rights of sex workers. They do not want to work the sex industry, but they are destitute, that is why they have decided to do so," Chan Dina told AFP Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng told reporters at the press conference that prostitutes abused by police should come forward.

"We ask that they provide evidence to us," Sar Kheng said.

Some 300 prostitutes rallied Wednesday to protest the police abuse amid Cambodia's human trafficking campaign.

Khieu Sopheak calling sex work unacceptable in Cambodia ... maybe he forgot to consult his boss first

Cambodian prostitutes protest police crackdown, allege physical and sexual abuse

Wednesday, June 4, 2008
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: About 200 Cambodian prostitutes protested peacefully Wednesday against a police crackdown and claimed to have been physically and sexually abused in custody.

The prostitutes staged a protest in the capital, Phnom Penh, to complain that they had been unlawfully detained and to highlight the behavior of guards at the rehabilitation center where they were held.

"Some of them (the sex workers) were beaten and gang raped by the center guards, and most of the time they did not use condoms," said Chan Dina, a 31-year-old prostitute and member of the Cambodian Prostitute Union, a sex workers' advocacy group.

Police began rounding up male and female sex workers from brothels, bars and parks in March, detaining them for a week to 10 days at the Prey Speu rehabilitation center on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

Cambodian law does not explicitly define prostitution as illegal, but commercial sex is frowned upon by authorities who routinely launch sweeps to clean up the streets.

"Sex workers are human beings and we have equal rights" and deserve protection from abuse, Chan Dina said.

"We do not think that sex work is wrong. It is just a means to an end," said Pich Sokchea, a 42-year-old transvestite sex worker with the Women's Network for Unity, another prostitutes' advocacy group.

Pich Sokchea urged the government to end the crackdown because it was affecting the livelihood of sex workers, many of whom were forced into the profession by poverty and debts. "We are people who sacrifice everything for the sake of our families and for our livelihood."

It was unclear what prompted the latest crackdown but some activists said an anti-trafficking law approved in March may have caused authorities to take a tougher stand against prostitution.

Police Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak, the Interior Ministry's spokesman, dismissed claims that police committed violence against sex workers and said none was mistreated in the crackdown.

He defended the crackdown, calling sex work unacceptable in Cambodia.

Cambodia to investigate alleged police abuse of sex workers

Jun 4, 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's top anti-trafficking official Wednesday pledged an immediate investigation after sex workers tearfully alleged a new zero tolerance policy on brothels had led to rapes, robberies and abuses of human rights by police.

More than 100 sex workers and representatives gathered to urge the government to ease new legislation that makes brothels illegal and has resulted in scores of sex workers being rounded up by police.

'Among the sex workers who were detained ... some were living with HIV/AIDS and needed treatment every day, but were unable to obtain it,' Chan Dina from the Cambodia Prostitute Union said.

'Some were beaten and gang raped by guards, and most of the time they did not wear condoms,' Dina said. 'How can we reduce the AIDS epidemic if the guards keep raping women?'

Cambodia has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the region, and rights groups said the new legislation was forcing sex workers away from education and health services and onto the streets.

Interior Ministry Anti-Trafficking Chief Bith Kimhong said the allegations were new to him and he doubted their veracity, but pledged a full and immediate investigation.

He said the government was only detaining brothel owners and managers for significant periods, and police were only 're-educating' prostitutes and some male patrons.

Cambodia, once known as a haven for pedophiles and a hotspot in the region's flesh trade, implemented new legislation earlier this year which sex workers say equates consensual sex work with human trafficking and is too broad.

Kimhong said he remained determined to close down brothels.