Human Trafficking in Cambodia
Imagine a four year old girl growing up in contemporary Cambodia. Each morning she wakes up miles from home, homesick and scared. She is forced to beg for money for the brothel that she belongs to, and all of her earnings go straight to her master. Then, that night, about seven men come to the brothel. These men, some as old as fifty, often pay as little as two dollars to partake in sexual intercourse with these school-aged children. The toddlers enslaved in the horrific sex trade are forever stripped of their purity, making human trafficking a major issue in present day Cambodia. Over 30,000 children are sexually exploited annually (“Children for Sale”), and millions have been forced into human trafficking in the past ten years. Additionally, multiple calculations by human trafficking specialists show that, “at least ten times as many girls are now trafficked into brothels annually as African slaves were transported to the New World in the peak years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade” (Kristof), putting the issue as a high priority to abolish. Moreover, with such a large number of prostituted girls in Cambodia, the birth rate has skyrocketed in the years after the Cambodian genocide, when the sex-trade developed due to cultural differences and ethnic diversity in the country. A corrupt communist government, the Khmer Rouge, executed over thirty percent of the population of Cambodia in just four years. However, the ethnic conflict has led to more brothels, causing a larger population. This large birth rate has created overpopulated cities and poor sanitation. Furthermore, education is an issue due to the lack of responsible teachers and classroom availability, and many girls are rejected by their fa...
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Where are the parents? Where are the adults to protect the children? Why are there not more police enforcements? It seems as if sex trafficking is only an issue amongst the poor Cambodians because the higher ones are the perpetrators. Is not the military supposed to be protecting their people? However, when a nine-year-old victim at one of the rehabilitation centers tells Somaly “When you go around the world, when you go to see the military in Cambodia, can you tell them, a few minutes of their pleasure killed me,” it raises the question whether Cambodia has more issues beyond sex trafficking.
Jacobs, Harriet. "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Penguin Books, 1987. 333-513.
Jacobs, Harriet. "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: Mentor, 1987.
As victim count continues to rise, its difficult to see how such great numbers of men, women and children are bought and sold every year. Trafficking can be found in many forms, including: prostitution, slavery, or forced labor (Harf and Lombardi, 2014). It wasn’t until the 1980’s that international human trafficking became globally noticed. With the lack of government intervention and control in several nations, and the free trade market, slavery once again became a profitable industry (Harf and Lombardi, 2014). As previously mentioned, easier movement across nations borders is one of the outcomes of globalization. It is also what makes human trafficking so easy today. It is estimated that about 20.9 million people are victims across the entire globe (United Nations Publications, 2012); trafficking accounts for 32 billion dollars in generated profit globally (Brewer, n.d). 58 percent of all human trafficking was for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and of this 55-60 percent are women (United Nations Publications,
Jacobs, Harriet Ann. "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl." Henry Louis Gates, Jr., ed. The Classic Slave Narratives. New York: Penguin Group, 1987.
CNN to air Mira Sorvino-led Freedom Project special on sex trafficking in Cambodia. (2014, February 6). CNN Press Room RSS. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/06/cnn-to-air-mira-sorvino-led-freedom-project-special-on-sex-trafficking-in-cambodia/?iref=allsearch
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Ed. Lydia Maria Child. Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace, 1973. Print.
Mary Rowlandson, published in 1682, writes about her journey of becoming a captive to being ransomed into freedom. Harriet Jacobs, author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861, writes about her life as a slave girl and the events that caused her to escape for her freedom. Michelle Knight, author of Finding Me: A Decade of Darkness, published on May 6, 2014, tells her story about being held captive for over ten years. To prove that being held captive makes one a stronger person, these three women share their captivity stories with the world by writing about their journey from a captive, to a free person.
Human trafficking is prevalent throughout the world, especially in Asia and more specifically in China but the government and non-governmental organizations (NGO) are taking measures to put an end to it. Human trafficking involves exploitation of human beings; either sexually or by coercing them to work in unfavourable conditions for little pay or nothing at all. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defines human trafficking as “the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them.” Women and children, especially girls between the ages of fourteen and twenty constitute the majority of victims of human trafficking. “China is a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking; the majority of which is internal trafficking” (www.humantrafficking.org).
Sex trafficking accounts for more than 70 percent of all trafficking, or as many as 19 million people (Behnke 30). Which is a lot of people that have had to go through this traumatic experience at any age they were during that time and they don’t have no choice. There are a number of reasons why children and adolescents become prostitutes. In some cases, parents are in such extreme conditions of poverty that they see the sale of the child as the only way of ensuring its survival. (Hobbs). So most of the kids that are being forced into prostitution because they want their families to have a better life and make more money so they feel like it’s their only option. Sex trafficking and prostitution have always been a part of Thailand’s history, however, the Vietnam War contributed to an explosion of the issue between 1955 and 1975. With an influx of anxious, homesick, and bored soldiers into the country, spilling over from Vietnam, the demand for prostitution skyrocketed, resulting in the growth of the human trafficking industry which still remains today.
Over 2 million children are sold into sex trafficking each year (Global). Sold gives the eye-opening narrative of just one of them. I followed Lakshmi through her journey as she learned about life outside her small hometown in Nepal. She loved her mother and baby brother and worked hard to keep up with her repulsive step-father’s gambling habit. When given the opportunity to take a job that could provide for her family, Lakshmi accepted the offer. Unknowingly, she walked into the hands of horrible people who led her blindly on the path of prostitution. Discovering her fate, Lakshmi latched onto hope when all seemed bleak. After months of endless abuse, some Americans gave her the opportunity to escape her situation, and, thankfully, she took
In order to understand how sex trafficking affects its victims, one must first know the severity of sex trafficking and what it is. The issue of sex trafficking affects 2.5 million people at any given time (Abas et al., 2013). The form of sex slavery affects many women and children across the world. Even though both males and females are sexually trafficked and exploited, there is a deep emphasis on the sexual exploitation of women and children. This is due to gender discrimination (Miller, 2006). This is because women and children are more vulnerable and appeal to the larger populations of brothels and the so-called “clients” since the majority are men. Ecclestone (2013) stated that children as young as age three are trafficked. Sex trafficking has changed over time; “Today, the business of human sex trafficking is much more organized and violent. These women and young girls are sold to traffickers, locked up in rooms or brothels for weeks or months, drugged, terrorized, and raped repeatedly” (Walker-Rodriguez & Hill, 2011). It is found that many of the victims of sex trafficking are abducted, recruited, transported and forced into involuntary “sex work”. These sexual acts include prostitution, exotic dancing, pornography, and sexual escort services (McClain & Garrity, 2011). What happens to these sex trafficking victims is extremely traumatizing.
Sex trafficking is essentially systemic rape for profit. Force, fraud and coercion are used to control the victim’s behavior which may secure the appearance of consent to please the buyer (or john). Behind every transaction is violence or the threat of violence (Axtell par. 4). Just a decade ago, only a third of the countries studied by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had legislation against human trafficking. (Darker Side, par.1) Women, children, and even men are taken from their homes, and off of the streets and are brought into a life that is almost impossible to get out of. This life is not one of choice, it is in most times by force. UNODC estimates that the total international human trafficking is a $32-billion-per-year business, and that 79% of this activity comprises sexual exploitation. As many as 2 million children a year are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, according the the U.S. State Department.-- Cynthia G. Wagner. (Darker Side, par. 4) The words prostitute, pimp, escort, and stripper tend to be way too common in the American everyday vocabulary. People use these words in a joking manner, but sex trafficking is far from a joke. Everyday, from all different countries, people are bought and sold either by force or false promises. Some are kidnapped and others come to America with dreams of a dream life and job. The buyers involved in the trade will do anything to purchase an innocent life just to sell for their own selfish profit. Many people wouldn’t think of a human body to be something you can buy in the back room of a business or even online. But those plus the streets are where people are sold most often. There are many reasons and causes for sex trafficking. The factors behind sex traffic...
... treated like property and abused to make them comply with the demands of men. Not even the police in Cambodia tried to help these girls because they had no control over the misogynistic culture; they often allowed the crimes being committed in exchange for money. Neth explained this corrupt system during her time with Kristof and WuDunn. When Kristof asked her why she never went to the police to help her escape she explained that, “the police wouldn’t help me because they get bribes from the brothel owners”. The influence that the brothel owners had throughout Cambodia extended to the one place where girls like Rath, Neth and Momm should feel safe and protected; but as a result of the lack of intervention by the government and the public’s denial of the problem, girls and young women have become victims of the vile sex industry and the cycle of abuse will continue.
Sex trafficking is a world wide epidemic. It targets unknowing victims such as women and children enslaving them and exploiting their innocence. Human trafficking is becoming one of the biggest money making organized crimes in the world. The sex trade is one of the most profitable of all current slave trades. Through the age, gender, class, and race many are trapped in a never-ending cycle of coercion and abuse in order to survive in the corrupt society around them. In order to stop this monstrosity in the world, we need to start at the root of the problem. We must bridge the barriers between gender, class, and race in order to respect one another and live in harmony