Cambodia is an exotic vacation destination, with ancient cities, bold colors, legendary temples, remarkable beauty - and horrendous crimes that go on behind closed doors.
Yes, children, as young as 5 years old, are being sold as slaves for sex.
Does that imply that children for natives are no less than mere commodities?
Inside the world of child sex trafficking, each year, hundreds of thousands of girls and boys are bought, sold or kidnapped and then forced to have sex with grown men.
This exploitation appears to be driven by both internal demands by local Khmer men for young virgin girls and external demand created by the influx of tourists and businessmen.
Global sex industry
1. More than 1 million children are drenched in global sex trade each year.
2. 50,000 to 100,000 women and children involved in Cambodia’s sex industry.
3. According to one estimate, close to a third of Cambodia’s commercial sex workers are between 12 and 17 years old.
4. The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a thriving business in Cambodia.
5. Young girls are forced or volunteer to sell their virginity for a high price and then continue to work as prostitutes.
6. Boys, who live on the street in urban centers, have also been sexually exploited by pedophiles in recent years.
Child’s tragic journey
A child’s tragic journey into the sex trade often begins in a family struggling for survival. This is a country where the average income is less than $300 a year. Some children are sold by their own parents. Others are lured by what they think are legitimate job offers like waitressing but then are forced into prostitution.
Cambodia’s sex trade is often portrayed as a service for foreign pedophiles - rich westerners who head for poverty-stricken Asia to indulge in their ghastly desires.
Despite the presence of certain laws, there is a clear evidence of increased trafficking of children. Firstly, there is an organized traffic into prostitution in Cambodia of young girls from Vietnam and South China, which appears to continue unchecked by border controls. Then there is internal trafficking of young Khmer girls from province to province within the country.
Legal systems commonly fail to prevent injustice toward children or to protect them from criminal acts.
Urgent need
Thus, there is an urgent need for effective global action, strengthened law enforcement and law reform dealing with the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
Psychological, social and medical interventions as well as long-term monitoring are required to treat the sex exploiter. And this could only be possible by strengthening and implementing extraterritorial criminal laws.
In addition, certain means of livelihood for child victims and their families must be provided to prevent further commercial sexual exploitation.
The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a fundamental violation of children’s rights - the goal is to eradicate these practices and to ensure that children are given equal human rights.
