Congresswoman Examines Cambodia’s Sex Trade

Sisters, Reps. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., left, and Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif, pose during a re-enactment of their swearing-in ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Photo: AP)

In an exclusive interview with VOA Khmer, US Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a Democratic congresswoman from California said she had wanted to look into the issues of human trafficking, especially sex trafficking.

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington Monday, 19 April 2010

“Cambodia is a destination, that means that Westerners, including US citizens, go to Cambodia for the sex trade. Mostly because they can afford it—you know, because people are poor there—they use their money to buy in particular children and young women…to have sex with.”

US Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a Democratic congresswoman from California, recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Cambodia. In an exclusive interview with VOA Khmer, Sanchez said she had wanted to look into the issues of human trafficking, especially sex trafficking.

“Cambodia is a destination,” she said. “That means that Westerners, including US citizens, go to Cambodia for the sex trade. Mostly because they can afford it—you know, because people are poor there—they use their money to buy in particular children and young women…to have sex with.”

In its attempt to curtail the crime, the US has helped Cambodia strengthen its laws, she said.

“We have helped Cambodia to make its judicial system better, so that it can in fact prosecute people,” she said. “We have put in an [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] unit and put in our immigration people to train [the authorities], to show them the signs for when these people come into Cambodia.”

The US also has officials from the Department of Homeland Security working with border and immigration authorities, as well as assistants to help the judiciary and court system.

The US also has an extradition treaty with Cambodia that helps bring perpetrators of sex crimes back to the US for prosecution if they do not face trial in Cambodia, she said.

“And we have investigators there,” she said. “We have people helping the local police be trained so we catch these people [beforehand], as they are trying to come into the country.”

Sanchez said the US was serious about prosecutions and would not attempt to alleviate sentences for US citizens found guilty of sex crimes.

Sanchez has worked on human trafficking issues at the US-Mexico border, as well as in the communities of Cambodians, Filipinos and Vietnamese in Orange Country, Calif., which she represents.

“So it is a big issue for me, an issue that I am passionate about, and I knew that there was a lot of this going on with respect to Cambodia, so I wanted to go to Cambodia on this trip,” she said.

Sanchez also looked into the US military’s role in the country and the region, demining operations and counterterrorism.

[US Congresswoman Loretta] Sanchez probes Asian human trafficking

In Cambodia, she said, “I met with women who had been trafficked.’’ Men from the United States, Sanchez said, “are going there supposedly for tourism and going on these sex things mostly with underage children.’’

April 12th, 2010
By Dena Bunis, Washington Bureau Chief
The Orange County Register (California, USA)

Whether countries like Taiwan, the Philippines and Cambodia are doing what they can to combat human trafficking was at the top of Rep. Loretta Sanchez’s agenda last week when she visited four Southeast Asian countries in six days.

“I went and had meetings with trafficked victims,’’ Sanchez, D-Santa Ana, said Monday. “I had an hourlong discussion with the Minister of Foreign Relations and the Minister of Labor’’ in Taiwan.

Sanchez had hoped to bring these issues to leaders of the government of Vietnam but she was unable to get into the country after officials there ignored her request for a visa, she said.

Sanchez said what she discovered in Taiwan was that it has the laws it needs to help get these women out from under a life of virtual enslavement but that the laws are not being implemented.

“They are trapped,’’ she said. When a woman calls the hot line the government has set up, government officials do respond. But, “they show up with the brokers and the deal-makers who own contracts on these workers.’’

Sanchez said while the United States has diplomats in all these countries who raise these issues with the government, “there’s nothing like a congressman meeting with the president of Taiwan saying this is important to us.’’

Sanchez said the United States has laws that tie good conduct by foreign governments in this area to their receipt of foreign aid. And each year, she said the State Department does an assessment of how well these nations are living up to their promises to thwart these practices.

Taiwan is looking for a better rating in this area than they’ve gotten before, she said. But she pointed out to Taiwan’s President, Ma Ying-jeou, that they need to better implement the laws they have on their books.

In Cambodia, she said, “I met with women who had been trafficked.’’ Men from the United States, Sanchez said, “are going there supposedly for tourism and going on these sex things mostly with underage children.’’

In Vietnam, Sanchez wanted to raise the issue of women being trafficked for sex and for domestic work.

Not receiving a visa from that country’s government is something she has experienced before. Sanchez, who has been an outspoken critic of the government of Vietnam’s record on human rights, was denied access in 2004, 2005 and 2006. In 2007, when she was given a visa, she found herself in the middle of an incident where Vietnamese officials refused to allow a group of dissidents to meet with her at the American ambassador’s residence.

“They don’t directly say no,’’ Sanchez said of the Vietnamese government. “What they do is just don’t approve you and then your trips comes and goes and it’s too late.’’

Sanchez said the human trafficking issue has U.S. components, particularly in Orange County, which she called a “destination point” for people from Vietnam and Mexico who are brought here to do domestic work .

“Because we’re such a diverse community here, people don’t notice these people here. We have a lot of it going on.’’

Sanchez said she believes beyond the human rights component of this issue there are national security implications.

“If they have the ability to smuggle people you can also smuggle terrorists, drugs, you have the forging of documents and money laundering,’’ she said.

Sanchez also went to Singapore on this trip to check out port security procedures as part of her work on the Homeland Security Committee.

US Congresswoman Visits Cambodia

US Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-California)

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
07 April 2010

Lorreta Sanchez, a Democratic congressional representative from California, begins a short visit to Cambodia today, where she plans to spend two days in Siem Reap province to look into child trafficking, officials said.

Sanchez is the vice chairwoman of the House of Representatives’ Homeland Security Committee. A US Embassy spokesman confirmed her visit but declined to give more details.

A representative for a human rights organization, who asked not to be named, said Sanchez is scheduled to visit healthcare centers and an orphanage and to meet victims of trafficking.

The trip follows a gathering of 250 women from 30 US states last month who lobbied congressional representatives to do more to fight child trafficking and high infant and maternal mortality rates.

Cambodia is a favorite destination for child traffickers and pedophiles, and the government has made a number of arrests of Americans in recent years.

The US estimates a total of 1 million children are trafficked globally each year into the sex trade, with another 1.2 million trafficked into child labor. An estimated 24,000 children die each day from preventable diseases like diarrhea, measles and malaria.

KKF Joins Media Advisory Conference Ahead of Vietnam PM Visit to USA

Co-Chair Rep. Christ Smith and Rep. Loretta Sanchez
Mrs. Sophia Richardson the Director of HRW in Washington DC and New York speaks about human rights.

2008-06-22
Source: KKF

Members of the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation, Mr. Lenny Thach, Mr. Duong Hoang and Mr. Ricky Tran have attended the Media Advisory at Cannon Terrace, Washington D.C. on June 19th 2008.

Amongst the speakers present included Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), VN caucus Co-chair, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), VN Caucus Co-chair, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), VN Caucus -Co-chair and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations.

During the press conference, the Representatives stressed the need to bring Democracy reforms for the Vietnamese people and all ethnic groups in Vietnam.

"Massive human rights violations perpetrated by the Government of Vietnam will not be forgotten, overlooked or trivialized. We will continue to highlight these abuses—which are ongoing today—in an attempt to offer encouragement, solidarity and hope to the victims and pressure the government to reform," said Vietnam Caucus Co-Chair Chris Smith (R-NJ) in the Media Advisory statement.

Vietnam Caucus Co-Chair Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) spoke about the need of Vietnam to improve its human rights record and to reform for Democracy for Vietnamese people and all ethnics in Vietnam which included the Khmer Krom people.

The Director of Human Rights Watch, Mrs. Sophia Richardson stated that the situation on human rights needed to be improved as many human rights and religious activists such as Khmer Krom Buddhist monks remain imprisoned.

The Director of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Mr. Leonard added that religious freedom was deteriorating and that President Bush needed to bring these issues with Prime Minister of Vietnam.

Representatives called for US to place Vietnam back on the Country of Particular Concern list.

KKF representatives also distribute pamphlets to the distinguished representatives at the press conference and spoke about Khmer Krom issues.

[US] Lawmakers speak out on human rights in Vietnam

State Department asked to put Vietnam back on the Countries of Concern list on religious freedom.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007
By DENA BUNIS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER (California, USA)

WASHINGTON - A group of bipartisan lawmakers Tuesday called on the Bush administration to put Vietnam back on the State Department's Countries of Concern list when it comes to religious freedom.

At a hearing on the state of human rights in Vietnam, lawmakers told a Foreign Affairs subcommittee that ever since Vietnam was granted most favored nation trading status and admitted into the World Trade Organization, human rights abuses have escalated.

"Now the Vietnamese have their desired trade status, yet they continue to harass and detain individuals who promote democracy, human rights and religious freedom,'' Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, told the panel. Sanchez and Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach and Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, urged that Vietnam be put back on the list.

But the State Department's witness said progress has been made on the religious front even in the midst of a crackdown on political activists.

Being on the Country of Concern list "really suggests a very, very severe problem in religious freedom,'' said Scot Marciel, a deputy assistant secretary of state. "Our view is that Vietnam has made significant progress and failing to recognize that progress would send the wrong message, not only to Vietnam, but elsewhere.''

But Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, who like Sanchez represents a district with a large Vietnamese American population, was skeptical about Marciel's contention that there has been progress.

"I really don't see that we're pushing as hard as we should,'' Lofgren said. "Unless we come up with some teeth to what we're saying, the nose thumbing will continue.''

The House earlier this year passed the Vietnam Human Rights Act by a vote of 414-3. The bill would curtail future increases in foreign aid to Vietnam unless progress is made on human rights and other issues.

The measure is stalled in the Senate. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., is expected to hold a hearing soon on the issue.

Contact the writer: (202) 628-6381 or dbunis@ocregister.com