Economic hardship is pushing young Cambodian girls into the sex trade while legislation drives the trade underground. Cambodian sex workers sit on the side walk along a street in Phnom Penh on Dec. Hard times, she said, have brought her here to earn money for her widowed mother and three younger siblings. No girl wants to do this horrible work," the year-old, who asked not to be named, said in an interview as she looked for business near the Suriya Supermarket. Some clients ask me to have sex without using a condom, but I refuse.
I say that if you sleep with me without using condom, I'd rather not take your money. Rising living costs are forcing more Cambodian girls under 18 into prostitution in urban areas such as Phnom Penh to support their families in the countryside. The girls, spotted easily from around 8 p. Several Cambodian girls who agreed to be interviewed said they engage in sex work despite its dangers because they cannot afford to quit. They gang-rape me and beat me," another girl, 17, from Svay Rieng province, said.
Human rights groups, however, say the law and its enforcement have made life harder for the women they aim to help. Prostitutes caught in police raids are made to pay fines of up to U. If we don't have the money, we will be kept in custody for two or three days. So we have to run for our lives when we see police approaching us. Lim Mony, program manager for women's issues at the nonprofit group ADHOC, the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, said the number of girls and women involved in sex work is increasing because of higher living costs and the lure of modern luxuries.
Many of these girls first were lured and tricked into being sex workers by traffickers. Then, because of that, they began voluntarily selling their bodies. Other women have been voluntarily engaged in prostitution from the start," she said. According to Article 35 of Cambodia's law on "Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation," the prostitution of children is punishable with a jail sentence of two to five years and a fine of four to 10 million riel U.
But Ean Pheara, an assistant at the Phnom Penh-based People Improvement Organization, said impoverished and uneducated children remain among the most vulnerable workers in the sex industry. This year, he said, the People Improvement Organization — which provides education and vocational training — taught children the skills they will need to avoid being trafficked. Heng Sithon, deputy director-general of the Ministry of Women's Affairs General Directorate for Social Development, agreed that anti-trafficking efforts must focus on Cambodia's youth.
