Ex-Footscray cop hunts Cambodian human traffickers

New beat: Steve Morrish swapped Footscray's streets for those in Cambodia in his role of combating crime. (Picture: Michael Copp)

28 Mar, 2012
BY CLAIRE KNOX
Maribyrnong Weekly (Australia)

BEADS of salty sweat filter down Steve Morrish's creased brow. It's the dry season in Cambodia in 2008, and the ex-detective from Footscray is waiting uneasily in an old crimson Camry in Battambang, the country's second-largest city.

He and a local police team are about to pounce on a brothel they suspect is using underage girls as sex slaves.

It transpires one owner of the brothel is a military police officer, the other a policeman working in the anti-human trafficking unit created to combat this type of crime.

Once freed, the 16 victims, most under 14, tell of a friend missing with her baby, fearing they may be dead.

After scouring the site, Morrish and local police find a tiny, shallow grave but suspect the mother is buried in dense jungle littered with landmines.

They never did find her body.

Report: Demand for virgins brings girls into Cambodian sex trade at young age

Friday, September 14, 2007
The Associated Press

"Thirty-eight percent of the women and girls interviewed had their virginity sold, and they collected an average of US$482 (€347), the report said. In most cases middlemen pocketed sizable amounts from the deals" - Eleanor Brown, author of a report on sexual exploitation in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: The strong demand for young virgin girls from men who patronize prostitutes in Cambodia fuels the entry of underage women into the commercial sex trade, a humanitarian group said in a report Friday.

More than one-third of female sex workers surveyed for the report by the International Organization for Migration said they entered the sector through the sale of their virginity.

"Like other Asian men, they (Cambodian men) have a strong cultural desire for virginity," said Eleanor Brown, author of a report on sexual exploitation in Cambodia.

Some Asian cultures believe that sleeping with young virgins helps preserve virility and vitality.

The report said 203 women and girls working in brothels and places like nightclubs and bars were interviewed in depth for the study.

The average age of girls who sold their virginity was 16-17 years old, it said.

Though some girls sold their virginity voluntarily, many were tricked into the trade by friends and relatives or were forced by poverty and domestic violence into it, the report said.

"While in the majority of instances this trade appears to be voluntary for women and girls selling their virginity, there was a high use of force and incapacitation through drugs or alcohol at the time of commercial sex," it said.

It said 18 percent of women and girls were incapacitated in some way, with up to 10 percent being completely unconscious.

The findings indicated that Cambodian men, who accounted for 49 percent of the market for virgins, are the primary customers for commercial sex trafficking, especially the trade in virgins, the report said. Other Asian clients were Chinese, Japanese, South Koreans, Taiwanese, Thais and Filipinos, it said.

Westerners accounted for 9 percent, it said.

The study was conducted in Siam Reap and Koh Kong provinces and in the city of Sihanoukville, which are trafficking "hot spots" in northwestern and southwestern Cambodia mainly because of their links with tourism and foreign-led demand, IOM said.

Thirty-eight percent of the women and girls interviewed had their virginity sold, and they collected an average of US$482 (€347), the report said. In most cases middlemen pocketed sizable amounts from the deals, Brown said.

Trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation is widespread in Cambodia, which has weak law enforcement. In recent years, authorities have stepped up efforts to crack down on sex offenders, but have focused on Westerners who prey on children.