Infrastructure development and increased tourism mean exploitation of children is on the rise

Svay Pak children watching cartoons at The Sanctuary. (Photograph by: Courtesy Brian McConaghy , Ratanak International)

Part Five: What's to be done?

Infrastructure development and increased tourism mean exploitation of children is on the rise

March 23, 2012
By Daphne Bramham
Vancouver Sun

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Preschool-aged victims may be off the streets, but Cambodia is still a destination of choice for sexual predators.

Even though the country prosecuted more child sex offenders last year than in 2010, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child raised a red flag.

“The committee is seriously concerned that child sex tourism has been increasing in recent years and that an alarming proportion of children are exposed to sexual violence and pornography especially through the Internet,” it said in a June 2010 report.

It expressed “deep concern that thousands of children are exploited into prostitution ... and that rape of children is on the rise.”

CNY doctor arrested in Cambodia for child sex abuse

APRIL 24, 2011

SYRACUSE, NY (WSYR-TV) – A doctor from Central New York has been arrested in Cambodia and is being held in a Phnom Penh prison on a charge of sexual abuse of an underage boy, according to the non-governmental organization Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE).

In a release on its website, APLE says James D’Agostino, 56, was arrested February 16 by the Phnom Penh anti human trafficking and juvenile protection police. He was charged two days later under article 34 “purchase of child prostitution.”

APLE is an organization that provides assistance to vulnerable children in South and South-East Asia by monitoring and investigating child sexual exploitation and associated trafficking activities.

British man detained in Cambodia on child sex abuse charges

Friday, September 10, 2010
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A British man has been arrested in Cambodia for having sex with three Cambodian girls.

Michael Julian Leach allegedly paid to have sex with girls between the ages of 10 and 15. He was arrested Sunday at a guesthouse on the outskirts of the capital, Phnom Penh. He was with the girls.

On Friday, a Phnom Penh judge ordered the 50-year-old from London held until his trial.

Samleang Seila, director of Action Pour Les Enfants, a child rights group, said two Cambodian men and a woman who helped procure the girls were also arrested.

Cambodia has long been a magnet for foreign pedophiles because of poverty and corrupt law enforcement. But in recent years police and courts have increasingly targeted sex offenders.

Defamation fight to come before the bar

Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Cameron Wells and Chrann Chamroeun
The Phnom Penh Post

CHILD protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE) is set to file a complaint with the Cambodian Bar Association regarding a lawyer who has accused the group of entrapping foreigners suspected of committing sex crimes.

Samleang Seila, APLE’s country director, confirmed the complaint would be lodged today, following a defamation lawsuit filed against the lawyer at Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday.

“We will ask the bar association to consider a fine, a professional suspension, or to cancel his lawyer’s license,” he said.

Defence lawyer Dun Vibol, who often represents foreigners in child sex cases, told the Post on May 10 that he believed entrapment had been employed by APLE “in most sex cases related to foreigners”, reiterating claims he has previously made in court.

Sok Sam Oeun, director of the legal aid organisation Cambodia Defenders Project, during a conference on May 7 also accused local NGOs and police of engaging in entrapment, although he declined to name which NGOs were complicit in the practice.

In its lawsuit, APLE accused Dun Vibol of lacking evidence to back up his accusations and deliberately slandering APLE to sway the group’s foreign donors, its partnerships with other NGOs and international law enforcement agencies. It states that Dun Vibol’s comments “damaged the reputation, dignity and determination of staff” at APLE.

The suit seeks to charge Dun Vibol under Article 63 of the 1992 UNTAC Criminal Code, which defines defamation as “any allegation or imputation” that harms the honour or reputation of an individual.

“We will ask for 20 million riels [around US$4,820] compensation, and a fine of 10 million riels [$2,440],” Samleang Seila added.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court officials could not be reached for comment Monday. But Dun Vibol said the complaints were “unacceptable”, and pledged to file a countersuit if the courts dropped the defamation charge.

“I would prepare a countersuit defamation charge against APLE if I find out that it has deliberately destroyed my reputation,” he said. “I will find evidence to defend myself by revealing APLE reports of its investigations against suspects.”

He again repeated claims that APLE allowed child sex crimes to occur despite having prior knowledge of them, in order to catch foreign men red-handed.

“They file records to police and court prosecutors two or three days in advance, before nabbing the foreigners,” he said, adding that APLE should have made “a thorough consideration” before bringing the case to court.

Separate case
APLE is also awaiting a decision after a separate complaint lodged with the Bar Association in June last year, when it accused Dun Vibol of bribing officials to change the age of a victim in a child sex case from 16 at the time of the abuse to 19, before submitting the forged documents with the falsified age to the courts.

Dun Vibol has previously denied that he submitted forged documents to the courts, but admitted paying an official $50 in “tea money” to expedite the process of confirming the age of the victim.

Bar association President Chiv Songhak could not be reached for comment Monday, but said last Wednesday that the investigation into the complaint would soon be complete.

Experts Urge Vigilance Against Child Sex Abuse

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
05 February 2010

Sex abuse in Cambodia is on the rise, according to experts, who warn parents to be wary of foreigners who may trick their children.

“Parents should be careful, because they use money, free gifts, English teaching and other [deceptions] to abuse children,” said Am Sam Ath, head of monitoring for the rights group Licadho, as a guest on “Hello VOA” Thursday.

“Parents should not see the gifts, money or material goods as important,” said Nuon Phanith, a lawyer for the group Action for the Children, who also appeared on the show.

Child sex abuse was punishable to up to 25 years in prison, Nuon Phanith said.

Both agreed that sex abuse cases were on the rise and could happen to either boys or girls, a result of poverty, chance, business propositions by parents, migration of children and poor education.

They appealed to common people to help the government curb the practice.

“If parents allow this to happen, that means the parent is associated with the foreigner; then the parent will be in jail,” Am Sam Ath said.

Sexual abuse can affect a child’s life, education, health and reputation, Am Sam Ath said, adding that some families had left their hometowns following instances of abuse that led to shame in front of neighbors.

Accused Pedophiles Transferred to US

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 September 2009

Three Americans arrested for pedophilia in Cambodia in 2008 were taken into US custody Monday, arriving in Los Angeles after being held in Phnom Penh, the US Embassy said Tuesday.

All three were arrested by national police in February, having allegedly traveled to Cambodia to procure sex from underage boys and girls, the embassy said.

Ronald Gerard Boyajian, 49, reportedly traveled to Cambodian in September 2008 and allegedly engaged in sexual activity with a 10-year-old girl from Vietnam, at Kilometer 11, an area on the outskirts of the capital frequented by child sex tourists.

Erik Leonardus Peeters, 41, was accused of sexual acts with three underage Cambodian boys.

Jack Louis Sporich, 75, is accused of abusing one underage boy, and, according to affidavits against him, would ride through the streets of Siem Reap on a motorcycle, throwing money to attract children.

The charges against them “clearly demonstrate to the Cambodian people that the United States will not tolerate this type of abuse,” US Ambassador Carol Rodley said.

The cases sent a signal to the victims that the US is committed to justice, and would “act as a powerful deterrent” for would-be pedophiles traveling to Cambodia, she said.

The arrests came from cooperation between the Cambodian government, local organizations and US authorities, in an ongoing operation called Twisted Traveler, the embassy said.

Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, told VOA Khmer the arrests were a “positive sign” for the reduction of sexual exploitation of children.

“I understand that this is to strengthen the law and is the result of cooperation between the concerned authorities to eliminate this problem,” he said.

Seila Samneang, the country director of Action Pour Les Enfants told VOA Khmer the group was happy “three bad men” had left Cambodia “to face strong condemnation in the United States.”

“We hope these three dangerous men will be strongly controlled in the United States, and we hope they will not have any opportunity to make relations with children abroad,” she said.

Twelve offenders in 30 reported cases of sexual exploitation of children were arrested in 2008, she said, while 40 child victims from ages 8 to 16 had been rescued. This year, 24 offenders have so far been arrested, and some 70 children rescued.

Released Calif. Molester In Cambodian Jail

May 13, 2009
The Post Chronicle (New Jersey, USA)

A man who won a court-ordered release from sex offender treatment in California has been charged in Cambodia with molesting boys.

Jack Louis Sporich, 74, is in custody in Siem Reap, a tourist destination near Angkor Wat, Action Pour Les Enfants-Cambodia told the Sacramento Bee. Seila Samleang, the organization's executive director, says he allegedly enticed four boys to his house.

Samleang told the Bee in a e-mail Sporich could get as many as three years in prison if he is found guilty.

Sporich spent nine years in prison in California for molesting children. On his release, he was committed to Atascadero State Hospital for treatment as a sexual predator.

In 2004, Sporich was released from Atascadero, where he had refused treatment, and moved to Arizona. His sister, June Caine, told the Bee he married a Cambodian waitress after giving her a $100 tip and built a house there.

"I don't want him out anymore," Caine said. "I think he's sick, and he's never going to get well. I don't want this to go on."

Swede held for child sex crimes in Cambodia

8 May 09
The Local (Sweden)

A Swedish man in his sixties has been arrested in Cambodia on suspicions of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old boy.

The man, who resides in the Stockholm area, was arrested Wednesday night local time, but denies committing any crime.

According to the newspaper, the Swede was the target of an investigation into other child sex crimes, and was a figure in another investigation into child sex crimes in Cambodia which was abandoned in September last year.

Interpol’s division for child pornography crimes learned of the arrest on Wednesday.

“We’ve received information about it, but haven’t been directly involved in the arrest,” said Interpol’s Anders Persson from Lyon, France.

Varg Gyllander, a spokesperson with the Swedish police’s National Investigation Department (Rikskriminalen), confirmed that a Swedish man had been arrested in Cambodia and that they had received information that he was taken to a detention centre in the capital city Phnom Penh.

“What we’re doing now is making sure that the Cambodian police receive the help they need from us. We’ll help them out as best we can,” he said.

Police don’t know of the exact charges against the Swede, but it has something to do with the sexual assault of a child.

“All we can say is that he’s known for similar crimes from before,” said Gyllander to the TT news agency.

Local organizations which against paedeophiles in Cambodia are said to have had the man under surveillance for some time.

He is reported to have been in the country since 2007 and been in contact with small boys, according to the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper.

Seila Samelang from Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), claims that, prior to his arrest, the man was living together with five boys and had launched an adoption bid with local authorities in Cambodia, according to SvD.

It only happens in Hun Sen's Cambodia: Child sex offender released in S'Ville

Child sex offender released in S'Ville

Thursday, 07 May 2009
Written by Chrann Chamroeun
The Phnom Penh Post

A FRENCH paedophile walked free from Preah Sihanouk Provincial Court on Tuesday, despite having been convicted of indecent acts against a 12-year-old boy and sentenced to one year in prison.

Judge Tang Sunlay handed down the sentence in a hearing Tuesday, but the man, who has been in pretrial detention for nine months, was released after the remaining three months of his sentence were suspended. He was also ordered to pay US$50 compensation to one of his victims.

Frenchman Michel Roger Blanchard, 44, was arrested August 4 last year for sexually abusing five Cambodian boys between the ages of 11 and 16 at his rented home in Sihanoukville.

Charges reduced

Blanchard was charged with purchasing child prostitution and indecent acts but was only convicted of the latter charge, which carries a relatively light sentence of one to three years.

Samleang Seila, country director of the anti-paedophile NGO Action Pour Les Enfants, said he was "very disappointed" with the light sentence handed down by the court, and that the $50 did not come close to "compensating" the victim.

"The court should have severely punished him since he has had an adverse impact on social morality," he said.

"Our organisation has observed that the man has been involved with at least 20 boys since 2005."

The Kingdom is struggling to shed a reputation as a haven for underage sex offenders, putting dozens of foreigners in jail on paedophilia charges since 2003.

Cambodia Arrests Suspected Pedophiles from US, France

By Daniel Schearf
Voice of America
Bangkok
04 March 2009

Cambodian police have arrested an American and a French national on suspicion of molesting children. One organization that helped police catch the suspects worries that, despite increasing arrests, foreign pedophiles are still making Cambodia one of their prime destinations.

Cambodian authorities say the 64-year-old Frenchman was arrested after taking two Cambodian girls, aged 10 and 13, into his guesthouse room.

He was charged with "indecent acts" and could face up to three years in prison.

Separately, an American man charged with purchasing sex from two underage boys in northern Cambodia could be jailed for up to 15 years.

Samleang Seila is the Cambodia director for Action for Children, a French organization helping police to identify suspected pedophiles.

"That American man was under surveillance by our organization for more than one year," said Seila. "We heard that that American was coming to Cambodia for almost two years and he was moving from place to place in Cambodia to engage in sexual relations with separate boys."

Seila says, since 2003, his organization has helped rescue 185 sexually abused children in Cambodia, 80 percent of them young boys.

He credits international cooperation with agencies like the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation for helping track down traveling sex offenders.

U.S. Embassy spokesman John Johnson confirmed to VOA the FBI did help with recent arrests.

"At the Cambodian government's request, the FBI is involved in a number of cases in the country, including the pedophile case, not just in the north but in several cities," said Johnson.

Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in Southeast Asia and has gained the unfortunate reputation of attracting child molesters looking to exploit children living in poverty.

Seila says he worries that, despite increasing cooperation and arrests, the number of pedophiles traveling to Cambodia may actually be on the rise.

"If you look at the number in 2008, there were about 15 arrests of foreign pedophiles in Cambodia. And, up to date this year, January to today, there are six pedophiles arrested in Cambodia already for abusing children," said Seila. "So, my anticipation is that there is still a concerning, increasing number of foreign sex offenders traveling to Cambodia to engage in sexual exploitation of children."

He says, in the past, Cambodian authorities lacked the resources, skills and political will to tackle the problem.

But he says, in the last few years, police have received better training, are taking child molesting seriously and hoping to improve Cambodia's image.

NZ man says Cambodian activists fabricated evidence

Monday, June 23, 2008
AFP

A New Zealand man appealing his 10-year sentence for sexually abusing Cambodian boys has claimed evidence against him was fabricated by child welfare organisations.

Malcolm Hatfield was convicted of debauchery in 2004 after being convicted of molesting four boys aged 12 to 14.

The 62-year-old hid his face behind a plastic bag as he emerged from a two-hour closed-door hearing at Phnom Penh Appeals Court, and told reporters he had not committed any crimes.

"Because some NGOs want to get money," he said when asked why children had testified against him.

However Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), the Cambodia-based child welfare group that collected evidence against Hatfield, rejected his allegations.

"If he is going to make an accusation like that, please show us the evidence," APLE lawyer Nuon Panith said.

Hatfield's appeal hearing was previously delayed three times because the court did not have funds for an English translator, court officials said. The verdict of his appeal is expected July 1.

Cambodia has struggled to shed its reputation as a haven for paedophiles, putting dozens of foreigners in jail for child sex crimes or deporting them to face trial in their home countries since 2003.

US Hari Krishna leader accused of pedophilia in Cambodia

Mar 6, 2008
DPA

Phnom Penh - The president of a Hari Krishna-affiliated aid organization has been arrested in a guesthouse, allegedly in the company of two young girls in a state of undress, an anti-trafficking police chief said Thursday.

US national Thomas Rapanos Wayne, alias Tattva Darshan Das, whose age was not given, president of the non-government organization Bhaktivedanta Eco Village (BEV) Cambodia, was allegedly arrested in a Phnom Penh guesthouse in the company of two girls aged 12 and 16.

The age of consent in Cambodia is 15.

Phnom Penh Municipal anti-trafficking police chief Eim Rathana said Wayne was arrested Wednesday and investigations were continuing.

'The American has denied the charges, and we must continue to investigate,' Rathana said by telephone.

BEV registered in Cambodia as an aid organization focusing on agricultural assistance, education and child care in 2006.

An anti-trafficking group which said it assisted in arresting Wayne, Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), said by email Thursday that the alleged victims had been cooperating with the investigation.

Rathana said Wayne had yet to be charged Thursday evening.

The relatively obscure branch of his BEV organization in Cambodia claims to assist 'little children and even university students aspiring to learn,' according to its website.

Cambodian authorities have arrested dozens of foreign pedophiles in recent years, often with the help on non-government organizations such as APLE, in an effort to shake off its reputation as a haven for child molesters.

Police arrest German on child sex abuse charge in Cambodia

Friday, November 2, 2007
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Police caught a German man in bed with a 14-year-old girl in the Cambodian capital and arrested him on debauchery charges, two of the arresting officers said Friday.

Police raided the suspect's Phnom Penh hotel room Thursday and discovered him with the teenage girl, said Keo Thea, deputy chief of Cambodia's anti-human-trafficking police.

Keo Thea declined to give any details, but one of the arresting officers, who asked not be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the 61-year-old man came from Cologne in Germany.

Keo Thea said the suspect would face formal charges in a court, but he did not say when or define the charges.

The other officer said the suspect was arrested for debauchery — a legal term for the sexual abuse of children under the age of 16 — a charge that is punishable by up to 20 years in jail.

He said police officers burst into the German's hotel room and found him — dressed only in his underwear — lying asleep on the bed with the fully clothed girl.

The girl later told police that she and the man had sex several times before the raid. It was not immediately clear if she also faced any charges.

A French child rights group had been watching the suspect for some time. Action Pour Les Enfants investigators saw the man hanging around with two teenage girls, including the one whom he was with during the arrest, said Samleang Seila, the group's director in Cambodia.

The detention of the German is the latest in a string of arrests of Westerners suspected of child sex offenses in Cambodia.

In March, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced two German men to a total of 40 years in prison for sexually abusing ethnic Vietnamese girls aged 10 to 14 years.

Then in April, the same court charged Walter Muze, a 62-year-old German from Stuttgart, with debauchery for having sex with a 13-year-old Cambodian girl. Last month, a Russian businessman was arrested in Cambodia on charges of having sex with at least six girls.

Western pedophiles APLE target

By Sam Rith and Charles McDermid
Phnom Penh Post, Issue 16 / 05, March 9 - 22, 2007

The hunt for child-sex offenders begins in front of the Royal Palace, leads to the lawn of Hun Sen Park, and winds up under the lights of Phnom Penh's riverside carnival.

It's about 10 pm in the city; and the backdrop of balloons - of teddy bears, candy bars and kiddie rides - make for a difficult place to define the line between the honorable and the inhumane.

But for 37-year-old social worker Map, it's his job.

The Phnom Penh native and father of two works as a field investigator for child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE). Five days a week, from 5 pm to midnight, he shadows Western men who are under APLE investigations for child sex abuse.

It's a life of hidden cameras, false identities and detective work. Part sleuth and part spy, Map is part of a network of field monitors and investigation teams meant to provide "street presence" in the battle against child sex abuse.

They don't make arrests, but collect crucial evidence for the courts and police and maintain a web of informants, look-outs and assistants.

"The sex offenders are changing their modus operandi," said Katherine Keane, APLE country director. "They're becoming more aware and increasingly using intermediaries. So we've changed accordingly.

"Our network includes children themselves, ex-pats, social workers, hotel staff. They report what they believe to be suspicious behavior. When we feel we have enough evidence, we ring the police and then they get involved. Sometimes we monitor for quite a long time: some cases take two hours, some take two months."

APLE is one of many NGOs working with the government to thwart child sex abuse. Funded originally by Spanish humanitarian organization Global Humanitaria, APLE was founded in France in 1994 and came to Cambodia in 2003. The organization works in partnership with the Department of Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection and the Juvenile Protection Unit of the Phnom Penh Municipal Anti-Human Trafficking police.

"We been able to successfully crack down on pedophilia because we have good people and NGOs such as APLE that provide us with information," said Than Phanith, chief of the juvenile protection unit of the Phnom Penh municipal anti-human trafficking police bureau, on March 7.

"APLE have their own investigators on pedophilia. The information provided by APLE is very useful and most of the cases provided by APLE we pursue. After APLE provided us with evidence, we go immediately to the place to arrest the assailant. But before we arrest them we also do more research at the scene in order to know clearly whether the victim is really a child under 15 years old or not."

Map, and the 12 other APLE investigators, work two shifts: day and night. They stalk suspects or slink around "active" areas where large numbers of children are targets for abuse.

Map's best ruse is to pose as an over-friendly moto-driver. It's common, he says, to feign friendship with suspects in order to glean information. He said he once shared dinner with a man who was later arrested based on evidence he provided. Although the majority of child-sex offenders in Cambodia are not Westerners (Oung Chanthol, executive director of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center, estimates less than one percent of sex crimes by foreigners) they are APLE's priority.

"Street-based child sex offenders tend to be Western men," Keane said. "Child-sex offenders from Asian nations, especially virginity seekers, come to Cambodia, but tend to stay in establishments: private clubs, karaoke parlors. Cambodians commit abuses in their own communities. It can be a step-father or a friend of a family. We don't work just on street-based sex, but to our knowledge we are the only one whose major focus is on street-based child-sex offenders."

On the night Map takes the Post out to track "Jimmy" - an alleged sexual predator who's been under investigation for over a month. The suspect is found at the carnival with two young girls, but his actions appear to be fatherly and kind. According to Map, he's become very close to the girls' mother and there is still not enough evidence to present to his supervisor. As the night ends, the suspect lifts the girls into a tuk-tuk and heads off into the night.

"We don't know if the suspect is a good man or a bad man," Map said. "There's no typical physical type for these pedophiles, but there is typical behavior. Normally, a sex offender will exhibit a lot of physical contact and buy gifts, clothes or toys. But it's still difficult, because this same behavior can be done by a good person."

Distinguishing truly benevolent behavior from evil is the most difficult part of the job, Map said. And Keane is adamant that cases only go forward if there is an obviously sinister element. Investigators receive the same monthly pay whether they lead to arrests or not.

"We don't have to create cases; I would say there's enough bad guys to create cases," Keane said. "We act as support for the police. There are checks and balances in place. For example, we don't handle arrests or convictions. We hand them over to the police - and offer an initial support group."

And although angered, at times, by the grim realities of the Cambodian sex trade, Keane says APLE is not a punitive endeavor.

"We enforce the law. We don't beat people up. We have to put emotions aside, we do this work because it makes us angry - but you must translate that passion into development of the law - not into crucifying people," she said. "Overall, things are improving. Cambodia is less and less a haven for child-sex offenders - the police and courts are doing their job in this area. The court system is still not fixed, but with in law enforcement and some parts of the judiciary the will is improving."

For additional information about APLE Cambodia, click here.