Showing posts with label Child sex trade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Child sex trade. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Cambodian village has disturbing reputation for child sex slavery
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/23/world/asia/cambodia-child-sex-slaves/?hpt=wo_mid
Cambodian village has disturbing reputation for child sex slavery
 |
These two Vietnamese girls, aged eight and 10, were found after a raid on a brothel in the Cambodian village of Svay Pak, near Phnom Penh. --REUTERS |
By Sara Sidner, CNN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- One former sex slave says she was 5 or 6 years old when she was approached by a man
- "No one could help me," she says
- Don Brewster and his wife operate a rehab center for child sex slaves
- "Just yesterday we rescued a 5-year-old girl," Brewster says
SVAY PAK, Cambodia (CNN) -- Svay Pak has a disturbing reputation. The village outside Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh is known as a place where little girls are openly sold to foreign predators looking for sex.
One of the girls who was sold into the sex trade told CNN that before she could read she was working in a brothel.
"I was about 5 or 6 years old," she said. "The first man said to me, 'I want to have sex with you.' At the time I didn't know what to do. No one could help me."
Dozens of girls have had the same experience in her neighborhood.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Amercia's Most Wanted to travel to Cambodia
Oct 12, 2010
By Michael White
Bloomberg
By Michael White
Bloomberg
“America’s Most Wanted” will accompany authorities to Cambodia next month to investigate the country’s child sex trade.
The syndicated show, produced by 20th Century Fox, is broadening its scope beyond U.S. borders, host and executive producer John Walsh said in an interview. The first episode of the fall season dealt with the search for Adnan Shukrijumah, accused of planning terror attacks on New York.
“We really have become ‘The World’s Most Wanted,’” Walsh said in a telephone interview. “We’re sort of becoming the court of last result internationally.”
“America’s Most Wanted” crews will travel to Cambodia with U.S. federal marshals, Interpol officials and representatives of the U.K.’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, Walsh said.
The show, which averages 5.3 million viewers per episode, started its 24th season after laying off 17 of about 70 staff members in August. Walsh blamed the cuts on declines in television advertising.
“It was very, very painful to reduce the staff,” Walsh said. “It’s a harsh reality in these economic times.”
To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net.
The syndicated show, produced by 20th Century Fox, is broadening its scope beyond U.S. borders, host and executive producer John Walsh said in an interview. The first episode of the fall season dealt with the search for Adnan Shukrijumah, accused of planning terror attacks on New York.
“We really have become ‘The World’s Most Wanted,’” Walsh said in a telephone interview. “We’re sort of becoming the court of last result internationally.”
“America’s Most Wanted” crews will travel to Cambodia with U.S. federal marshals, Interpol officials and representatives of the U.K.’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, Walsh said.
The show, which averages 5.3 million viewers per episode, started its 24th season after laying off 17 of about 70 staff members in August. Walsh blamed the cuts on declines in television advertising.
“It was very, very painful to reduce the staff,” Walsh said. “It’s a harsh reality in these economic times.”
To contact the reporter on this story:
Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net.
Monday, March 22, 2010
In Cambodia, American Evangelicals Fight to End Child Sex Trafficking
Christian Volunteer: 'There Is a Deep Fulfillment in Laying Your Life Down for Somebody Else'
By DAN HARRIS, ALMIN KARAMEHMEDOVIC, AUDE SOICHET and SIDNEY WRIGHT IV
ABC News (USA)
SVAY PAK, Cambodia, March 21, 2010 — Clay Butler, a 27-year-old evangelical Christian from California, points to a group of children playing in the street and said, "I know kids in that group who are being trafficked. I know the situations, I know the brothels that they're in."
Butler runs a community center in the village of Svay Pak, the epicenter of Cambodia's raging child sex trafficking epidemic. It's a place where, on any given night, many of the children will be sold -- by their own parents -- for sex with strangers.
He is one of many American Christians who have come to this impoverished, war-ravaged country to protect some of the world's most vulnerable children.
"I think the most exciting part of Christianity is living it out," Butler said. "This stuff is not fun at all, but there is a deep fulfillment in laying your life down for somebody else."
Other Americans Christians are practicing an even more daring version of their faith. A group called the International Justice Mission regularly sends undercover agents into the brothels to gather video evidence. The group then works with local police to bust suspected sex tourists, oftentimes American men.
They also rescue child sex slaves like Bella, a 15-year-old who says she was forced by pimps to have sex every day.
Bella was sold into slavery by her mother. In Cambodia, it can be astonishingly easy to buy a child from the family. During a recent visit to Cambodia, ABC News was able to negotiate -- in broad daylight -- with the mother of a 15-year-old girl. The mother said she was willing to sell her daughter to a foreigner for marriage.
When asked how much it would cost, the mother answered, through a translator, "It's up to you."
In response to a question about whether her daughter had been with another man before, she said, "No, no, no. If you don't trust you can take her to the hospital& for a medical examination."
So why is it so easy to buy a child on the streets of Cambodia? Poverty is one explanation, but some Christians say the ghosts of history play a role.
Pastor Has Seen Cambodian Child Sold to Pay for Superficial Items
Cambodia endured a massive genocide in the 1970s, during which children were forced to spy on and even execute their parents -- and the educated and religious communities were nearly wiped out.
Pastor Don Brewster, who runs a shelter for former child sex slaves and works with Clay Butler, said he believes that Cambodia now suffers from a moral vacuum.
"These families will take a loan to buy a TV which they can never pay," Brewster said. "They can't feed themselves, never mind buy a TV, but they know, 'Hey, I've got my ace in the whole. I can sell my daughter.'"
Bella, the 15-year-old rescued by the International Justice Mission, is now staying at Pastor Brewster's shelter, where she said she is finally getting help.
By DAN HARRIS, ALMIN KARAMEHMEDOVIC, AUDE SOICHET and SIDNEY WRIGHT IV
ABC News (USA)
SVAY PAK, Cambodia, March 21, 2010 — Clay Butler, a 27-year-old evangelical Christian from California, points to a group of children playing in the street and said, "I know kids in that group who are being trafficked. I know the situations, I know the brothels that they're in."
Butler runs a community center in the village of Svay Pak, the epicenter of Cambodia's raging child sex trafficking epidemic. It's a place where, on any given night, many of the children will be sold -- by their own parents -- for sex with strangers.
He is one of many American Christians who have come to this impoverished, war-ravaged country to protect some of the world's most vulnerable children.
"I think the most exciting part of Christianity is living it out," Butler said. "This stuff is not fun at all, but there is a deep fulfillment in laying your life down for somebody else."
Other Americans Christians are practicing an even more daring version of their faith. A group called the International Justice Mission regularly sends undercover agents into the brothels to gather video evidence. The group then works with local police to bust suspected sex tourists, oftentimes American men.
They also rescue child sex slaves like Bella, a 15-year-old who says she was forced by pimps to have sex every day.
Bella was sold into slavery by her mother. In Cambodia, it can be astonishingly easy to buy a child from the family. During a recent visit to Cambodia, ABC News was able to negotiate -- in broad daylight -- with the mother of a 15-year-old girl. The mother said she was willing to sell her daughter to a foreigner for marriage.
When asked how much it would cost, the mother answered, through a translator, "It's up to you."
In response to a question about whether her daughter had been with another man before, she said, "No, no, no. If you don't trust you can take her to the hospital& for a medical examination."
So why is it so easy to buy a child on the streets of Cambodia? Poverty is one explanation, but some Christians say the ghosts of history play a role.
Pastor Has Seen Cambodian Child Sold to Pay for Superficial Items
Cambodia endured a massive genocide in the 1970s, during which children were forced to spy on and even execute their parents -- and the educated and religious communities were nearly wiped out.
Pastor Don Brewster, who runs a shelter for former child sex slaves and works with Clay Butler, said he believes that Cambodia now suffers from a moral vacuum.
"These families will take a loan to buy a TV which they can never pay," Brewster said. "They can't feed themselves, never mind buy a TV, but they know, 'Hey, I've got my ace in the whole. I can sell my daughter.'"
Bella, the 15-year-old rescued by the International Justice Mission, is now staying at Pastor Brewster's shelter, where she said she is finally getting help.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Sacrava's Political Cartoon: High-Ranking Pigs
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Child sex trade soars in Cambodia
Al Jazeera's investigation found underage girls working in brothel's around Phnom PenhTuesday, October 21, 2008
Al Jazeera
Girls as young as 14 work in brothels' around Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, and while the industry is often shown as serving predatory foreign tourists, local men have been found to be the mainstay of clients.
Thousands of children are bought and sold for sex every day in Cambodia an investigation by Al Jazeera found.
Al Jazeera filmed secretly at several brothels, and in each case found much the same thing - rooms full of young women in their early twenties, as well as teenagers.
"For my virginity they gave me $200," Ya Da, a 16-year-old former prostitute, said.
Ya Da worked in a brothel for two years before she ran away. Now, she lives in a safe house with other former prostitutes and abused children.
"There were just a few foreign customers [at the brothel]," she said. "I never slept with any, I slept only with Cambodian men."
'Local customers'
Mu Sochua, a politician with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party and a former minister for women's affairs, told Al Jazeera that most of Cambodia's sex industry was supported "by local customers".
"And some of these local customers are high-ranking officials. You have the military, the police and civil servants. you have rich businessmen who have lots of money," she said.
The involvement of high-ranking officials has been one reasons, NGOs say, that the sex industry has thrived in Cambodia.
"Very often these brothels and criminal networks are being supported and protected by high ranking officials," Mark Capaldi, from Ecpat International, an orgnaisation working to eliminate child prostitution, said.
"The problem is not just as abusers but also the impunity and lack of law enforcement in closing down these brothels and karaoke bars."
Daniela Reale, an advisor from Save the Children, told Al Jazeera: "The reality is that we do know local demand is the force driving this abuse.
"We also know it is around 70 per cent of local demand rather than sex tourism."
But General Bith Kim Hong, from the Cambodian national police force, rejected allegations that the officials focused their efforts to curb prostitution almost exclusively on foreigners.
"The national police are concerned about anyone who commits a crime, who has sex with children, whether they are foreigners or Cambodian," he told Al Jazeera.
"We have a very high commitment to prevent child prostitution."
Few arrests
Last year, the Cambodian police arrested only 21 people for committing sex crimes with children - eight of those arrested were foreigners and 13 were Cambodians.
The police also admit that the brothels they shut down in high-profile raids often reopen a few weeks later.
In 2002, Gary Glitter, the British pop star, was expelled from Cambodia amid child-sex allegations.
But while the arrest and conviction of foreigners make the headlines, most child sex trafficking supplies local demand, Mu Sochua said.
"It is easier to catch a foreigner and also the government wants to have showcases to make itself look good - that Cambodia is actually taking care of this problem of human trafficking, which is really not the truth," she told Al Jazeera.
Reale said that governments need to combat the worldwide problem: "They need to address their legal system and their law enforcement."
To tackle the poverty that forces girls into prostitution, Reale said that governments must provide support systems to help families match their needs.
She said that the 3rd World Conference on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Rio de Janeiro next month will be as a big opportunity to make real and genuine committments.
Thousands of children are bought and sold for sex every day in Cambodia an investigation by Al Jazeera found.
Al Jazeera filmed secretly at several brothels, and in each case found much the same thing - rooms full of young women in their early twenties, as well as teenagers.
"For my virginity they gave me $200," Ya Da, a 16-year-old former prostitute, said.
Ya Da worked in a brothel for two years before she ran away. Now, she lives in a safe house with other former prostitutes and abused children.
"There were just a few foreign customers [at the brothel]," she said. "I never slept with any, I slept only with Cambodian men."
'Local customers'
Mu Sochua, a politician with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party and a former minister for women's affairs, told Al Jazeera that most of Cambodia's sex industry was supported "by local customers".
"And some of these local customers are high-ranking officials. You have the military, the police and civil servants. you have rich businessmen who have lots of money," she said.
The involvement of high-ranking officials has been one reasons, NGOs say, that the sex industry has thrived in Cambodia.
"Very often these brothels and criminal networks are being supported and protected by high ranking officials," Mark Capaldi, from Ecpat International, an orgnaisation working to eliminate child prostitution, said.
"The problem is not just as abusers but also the impunity and lack of law enforcement in closing down these brothels and karaoke bars."
Daniela Reale, an advisor from Save the Children, told Al Jazeera: "The reality is that we do know local demand is the force driving this abuse.
"We also know it is around 70 per cent of local demand rather than sex tourism."
But General Bith Kim Hong, from the Cambodian national police force, rejected allegations that the officials focused their efforts to curb prostitution almost exclusively on foreigners.
"The national police are concerned about anyone who commits a crime, who has sex with children, whether they are foreigners or Cambodian," he told Al Jazeera.
"We have a very high commitment to prevent child prostitution."
Few arrests
Last year, the Cambodian police arrested only 21 people for committing sex crimes with children - eight of those arrested were foreigners and 13 were Cambodians.
The police also admit that the brothels they shut down in high-profile raids often reopen a few weeks later.
In 2002, Gary Glitter, the British pop star, was expelled from Cambodia amid child-sex allegations.
But while the arrest and conviction of foreigners make the headlines, most child sex trafficking supplies local demand, Mu Sochua said.
"It is easier to catch a foreigner and also the government wants to have showcases to make itself look good - that Cambodia is actually taking care of this problem of human trafficking, which is really not the truth," she told Al Jazeera.
Reale said that governments need to combat the worldwide problem: "They need to address their legal system and their law enforcement."
To tackle the poverty that forces girls into prostitution, Reale said that governments must provide support systems to help families match their needs.
She said that the 3rd World Conference on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Rio de Janeiro next month will be as a big opportunity to make real and genuine committments.
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