Sunday, April 27, 2014

The Cause of Sex Trafficking In Cambodia and the Effect it has On The Daughters

By: Tachina Hardy

During the 18th Century there were many variations of prostitution and one was known as the Yellow Slave Traffic. The Yellow Slave Traffic consisted of women working in brothels, human zoos or out the house of their owners. This occurred from Asia to the West Coast. This slave traffic consisted of babies, teenagers, and children. They were put in harsh living conditions and were forced to solicit the men who walked past. [1] With this being such a long time ago you would assume the means to receive an income would have changed, however this is not the case for those who reside In Svay Pak.  

Sex trafficking in Cambodia can be considered to be fairly new. It takes place in a village outside of Cambodia’s capital known as Svay Pak. Svay Pak is an impoverished fishing village that is known for mothers to sell their kid’s virginity or sell them in general to help make ends meet or to pay off debt. Many wonder how this village and many others in Cambodia have been able to flourish in this industry and the answer to this would be bad economy and law enforcement. Between the years of 1975 through 1979 Cambodia experienced genocide which stripped them of their educated individuals and many of the social structures that kept the village up and running. It was also said that insufficient law enforcement from the government because it had been reports that government officials were an accomplice to the brothels that sold the kids by accepting bribes. With the government officials in compliance with brothels and no outlets for the kids such as schools or any recreational elements they are free for their parents to do whatever they want with them which in this situation is to sell them for financial stability. [2]

Multiple families in Svay Pak are Vietnamese migrants who are in poverty and have poor living conditions. They live in houseboats along the Tonle Sap River that has nets attached to them so they can catch fish. The water in this river is dirty and the families that do live on this river get by on less than a dollar a day, this leaves no room for safety. With that being said many moms sell their kids for this very reason. This leads me to a story of a girl I Svay Pak named Kieu. She was sold by her mom to a Cambodian Man of 50. She received $500 from this “transaction”. When Kieu’s mom was asked why she sold her daughter’s virginity her response basically was that they needed the money to pay off debt from a loan shark which was $200. She then sent her back because they had more debt to pay off. This all stems from Kieu’s father becoming ill with tuberculosis and they had no one to maintain the fishing nets. Kieu says that although she knows the men are being pleased by her acts with them make her feel very bad. Kieu’s relative Sephak was also sold by her mother as well. She was sold to a Chinese man for three nights and her mother was paid $800. Sephak wondered why her mother would do such a terrible thing toward her. The sexual act with the Chinese man made her feel weak and it hurt her. What the lack of money can cause someone to do!

Another victim of sex trafficking would be Toha who was the second oldest out of eight children. She was sold for sex by her mother at the age of 14. The man who her mom sold her to begun to request to see her again; her mom urged her to go seeing that the money was more than needed but Toha refused. The constant pressure from her mom to go work at a brothel lead Toha to self-mutilation. She did this because she wanted to kill herself because of the memory she had of being raped for three days. Not many days following her suicide attempt Toha was sent to a brothel where she only withstood 20 days and she managed to gain access to a telephone; she called a friend who then got into to contact with a former pastor who then got her help and was able to retrieve her from the brothel. Toha now lives in an AIM shelter where she is being given an education and has begun weaving bracelets; which are sold at stores. [3]

The many economic woes that present themselves within the community of Svay Pak forced the mothers to make drastic decisions which resulted in a tragic fall for their daughters. Although the act of sex trafficking may provide an income to the impoverished families that reside in Svay Pak the mothers do it at the expense of their young daughters who will never again have a normal life unless they get lucky as Toha did; and the odds of this happening in Svay Pak are slim to none.



[1] Crystal Moore, "Sexual Commerce." (lecture., University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2014)
[2] Human Trafficking, "Cambodia." Last modified 2006. Accessed April 27, 2014. http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/cambodia.
[3] Hume, Tim, Lisa Cohen, and Mira Sorvino. CNN, "The Women who Sold Their Daughters into Sex Slavery." Last modified December 11, 2013. Accessed April 27, 2014. http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/12/world/cambodia-child-sex-trade/.

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