Troll.

Trapper if you really want to help go back to where ever you came from and get two well paid jobs. Keep those jobs for how ever long you were planning on staying in Cambodia. Save up all your money add the money you would have spent here in Cambodia and donate it all to a professional and reputable Anti-Trafficing organisation like SISHA. As a western educated individual with little or no experience of Cambodia or the extremely difficult field of anti-trafficing the best thing you can do is give financial support to professionals. Sorry to say it, but if you can't see the logic in this then the reality probably is that what you really want to do is play out some white saviour fantasy to fulfil your own needs and desires. Cambodia does not need amateur enforcers who's best effort so far seems to be an inane post of a web forum.

Harsh I know but someone had to tell you.

thanks for the advice. i have contacted the somaly mam foundation and have a volunteer interview next week

Good luck with the interview. But some advice first.

Your moniker and initial post reek of an arrogance too often seen with people who want to help. People who, in fact, often turn out to be total f#&kwits. Do some research within this forum and you'll see one what I mean.

And I've been told in the past by professional law enforcement officers based here that the leading NGOs have sometimes had total losers working as investigators. I hope that you are not going to be one of these.

So, tone down your act, look, listen and learn, and most important of all, develop good working relationships with the professionals.

thanks for your advice gondal. i am sure you are right about some of the people on here. in my case though my moniker is just a family nickname. my grandfather is nicknamed this and also the first dog i ever had as a child was called trapper. it is just a nickname that i am fond of.
i also have, like you, heard of some shady NGO's and NGO investigators. but as far as i have learned, the somaly mam foundation is quite reputable. i guess i will find out. thanks again for the advice though gondal.

OK Trapper - just tread warily.

"i came here to see if what i have read about this place is true. and it is. so i want to help."

What did you read?

hey taylor and gersteinrb,
i have read quite a few books about this. to name a few "terrify no more" by gary haugen..... "the road of lost innocence" by somaly mam......."half the sky" by nikolas kristof. if you dont wanna read any books go to youtube and type in sex slavery cambodia. there is tons of stuff about it there.
the reason i know it is true is because every night that i walk around downtown here i see very old men walking around holding hands with very young girls. some of them cant be over 14 or 15. (ya i know that cambodian girls look young) and while i know i cant definitively say that these young girls are forced to be with these men i dont think anybody could argue that a young girl would actually like the idea of being with an old man. no young girl would. so there are underlying reasons why they are with them. even if its just the fact that they need the money, then the situation is that these old men are taking advantage of someone in need. and that is never right.
that is the best case scenario, the worst case scenario being that some of these young girls are actually being forced to service these men and all the books i have read, (which are written by intelligent people who have studied or actually lived thru this) say that much of the time that is the case. just because the girl is smiling and laughing doesnt mean she means it. according to every book ive read on the subject, their pimps force them to act like they are having a good time no matter what happens to them, or they make them regret it later.

If you want to do the actual fighting, then become a police officer or a member of special forces in your home country, learn khmer and see if the cambodian government or some NGO will hire you. I don't know. To do the actual fighting, you would need years of training, then 5+ years of experience with raids, drug busts, hostage situations, anything dangerous before anyone would be willing to hire you for actual fighting. Gun crime is still a problem in Cambodia. Once a prosecutor said during a brothel raid "If you want to stop me, you can shoot me if you dare!".

What foreigners can mostly do is prevention. Organization Daughters of Cambodia is looking for cafe managers, restaurateurs, someone who would be willing to hire their girls and invest some time to train them into professional waitresses or chefs or for any other job skill before they turn back to prostitution. This org also doesn't rely on raids but instead invites prostitutes to quit their work and join the training program.
http://www.daughtersofcambodia.org/get_involved.php

Instead of getting shot at during a brothel raid in Toul Kork, you could simply provide jobs with better working conditions than in garment factories. That's why they prefer brothel work, cause sewing for H&M is too harsh, the bosses are often abusive and the pay is low compared with brothel work. I don't know how many of them are actual children, but if you work in this type of job, you'll also be rescuing 25 years-old vietnamese prositutes that sadly end up smuggled in a cargo container on new year's eve.

But you can't do much simply by being just a volunteer (unless if I'm wrong). NGOs already have their staff spending time with the girls. You have to offer some skill, even if it's just learning english, so maybe you could get an ESL certificate and a clean background check. Alternatively, because a lot girls are traumatized, MAYBE if you have a lot of money to spare, some organizations would appreciate if you can buy a ton of art supplies, rent a studio and let the girls express their feelings through painting, sculpting, music or any other hobby, dancing or sports, but even for painting you would need to have skills, so become Picasso first and dress like an eccentric artist, but you don't have to cut off your ear though.

I am not sure you should take Nicholas D. Kristof seriously- he IS a classic example of someone with a "white savior industrial complex" who makes a living selling stories and often gets it wrong. In my opinion he is a predator...

What Nick Kristof Got Wrong: Village Voice Media Responds
http://www.villagevoice.com/2012-03-21/news/kristof/

Somaly Mam Foundation does a good job however Somaly herself lied about her past to get where she is today. Why?

Sex Work and Dignity in Cambodia – Not Everyone’s a Victim at That Girly Bar
http://www.expat-advisory.com/articles/southeast-asia/cambodia/sex-work-...

Transactional sex in Phnom Penh
http://www.expat-advisory.com/forum/asia/cambodia/phnom-penh-pub-expats-...

Personally I am skeptical as to whether there are really many child sex trafficking victims in Cambodia at all. I think a lot of it may just be hype. I went to a talk a few weeks ago by a person who had worked on human trafficking with IOM, and he told me that when he was hired as a consultant to work with trafficking victims, he interviewed many children at trafficking centers, and only one of them he interviewed was really a child trafficking victim. Most of the children at these centers were children considered to be 'at risk' of trafficking.

Even sex trafficking of adults is far less than what people often imagine. Look at this study, which is probably the best empirical study done on sex trafficking in Cambodia. I think you will be surprised by the numbers:

http://www.no-trafficking.org/reports_docs/estimates/uniap_cb_estimates_report.pdf

There are certainly a large number of areas where Cambodia needs help in development, but human trafficking seems to be a case where it's been like a 'fad' of the donors, and of course it's a very sexy issue. Shocking to western moral sensibilities and therefore very easy to get people whipped up about it.

As for young girls with old men, are you sure you are seeing this correctly? I have been here for a number of years, and I almost never see westerners with women who look underage. Occasionally, yes. But most of those women are in their twenties. If that is your problem, then its better to look at the issue of prostitution. Declaring that prostitution is equivalent to human trafficking is one of the main problems in the approach that many organizations take to 'trafficking'.

As for Somaly Mam, I do not have any evidence of this, but several expats who live here have told me that they think Somaly Mam's organization is somewhat of a scam. They say that she has gotten very rich due to her organization. And these are not people who patronize sex workers, but just normal expats who live here.

Since you don't speak Khmer and will have no access to the budgets of her organization, you would have no way of being aware of this. You may just be aiding her in this if you volunteer there.

Again, I can't prove this, but I also don't really see why people would say this about Somaly Mam for no reason, either.

I've also heard similar stories about Somaly Mam. I personally think that Action Pour Les Enfants is one of the best organisations that help child sex victims.

Is this a joke thread?

You got fired up reading books by Somaly Mam, and Kristoff (both of whom, as other posters point out, may not have entirely objective, academic, or even honest perspectives)?

And you've seen with your own eyes old men walking with child prostitutes at the riverside? Really? Did you report them?

Were you approached for "Yum Yum" by an eight year old at the riverside too? That's obviously an offer of oral sex right?

Sheesh.

No doubt there's child sex exploitation in Cambodia.
As everywhere.
The BBC today has a story about a pedophile ring in Oxford, UK
But I think the days of Cambodia being a "destination" for it are probably over. It's about the first thing that people mention in connection with Cambodia, I doubt abusers want to expose themselves to that kind of focus by coming.
Unless you're Chinese, Korean, etc.

runner has the right idea.
If you want to fight the abuse, you either have to be a highly trained police investigator, or a counsellor for the victims.
The best way may be to help in offering alternate choices, probably targeting the parents in the case of child prostiution.
I don't have facts but I believe the problem is largely the parents being complicit, rather than dead-of-the-night abduction of children for the sex trade.
That is something we all (can) help with, even without focusing on this particular area.
Perhaps there are openings simply helping run refuges etc. Is it that you want to spend time with child prostitutes?

Does anyone know about what goes on here in Cambodia in regards to gangs and officials using kids to try and trap foreigners to be prosecuted as pedophiles? It seem like it could be a lucrative occupation.. some sort of legal entrapment like the police do with fake hookers around bridges in the US to engage possible 'customers'. I wonder how many people they are able to lure somewhere to be arrested accompanying an underaged, and how nobody getting caught would like anyone to find out, and pay whatever they can to get off the hook and keep things quiet. I have seen gangs of kids approach loner male tourist types at the riverside many times. Usually some guy in a 'childsafe' uniform can be found close nearby.. the kids seem trained to be very touchy feely with people, even rubbing themselves up against their possible victim in public. Just wondering what goes on here. I read many articles about how well off some of the NGO's working in this field are, and wondering how big the real problems of pedophilia really is around here these days, as opposed to how much it is being mentioned in the international press.. and how some visitors here seem to get all excited about this subject in general..

Does anyone know about what goes on here in Cambodia in regards to gangs and officials using kids to try and trap foreigners to be prosecuted as pedophiles? It seem like it could be a lucrative occupation.. some sort of legal entrapment like the police do with fake hookers around bridges in the US to engage possible 'customers'. I wonder how many people they are able to lure somewhere to be arrested accompanying an underaged, and how nobody getting caught would like anyone to find out, and pay whatever they can to get off the hook and keep things quiet. I have seen gangs of kids approach loner male tourist types at the riverside many times. Usually some guy in a 'childsafe' uniform can be found close nearby.. the kids seem trained to be very touchy feely with people, even rubbing themselves up against their possible victim in public. Just wondering what goes on here. I read many articles about how well off some of the NGO's working in this field are, and wondering how big the real problems of pedophilia really is around here these days, as opposed to how much it is being mentioned in the international press.. and how some visitors here seem to get all excited about this subject in general..

Oh dear.
i was not going to bother commenting further but this thread worries me.
The OP is deluded and will in the long run be disenchanted.
To suggest that the young girls he sees on the riverside with barangs have pimps is just crap.
I believe that somaly mam is probably an opportunist.
The real problem here as in other asian countries is the local culture,most pedos are locals.
If he really was sincere he would risk his life by learning to speak khmer and socialise with rich khmers who take abusing young khmer women for granted.
I doubt that the OP is willing to risk his life to do this?
Who would?
If he is serious the he can PM me and i will tell him the facts of life in asia.
So many believe the propaganda of the western media and the propaganda of local NGOs who do very nicely thank you out of ignorant people like the OP.
I doubt that any long term expat would disagree with me on this.

Below is an interesting and relevant extract (and link) from today's Brisbane Times about the former head of The Grey Man. This organisation has been, and probably still is, operating in Cambodia (see last two links). Another clear example of the White Savior Industrial Complex. I hadn't picked up on this in the past, but why would someone heading up such an organisation want to use two names?

Sex-slave charity head quits amid row
Lindsay Murdoch
March 25, 2012 - 11:00PM

Rescued girls are taken to a shelter in 2010 in a picture supplied by Sean McBride.

Rescued girls are taken to a shelter in 2010 in a picture supplied by Sean McBride.

THE head of an Australian charity that has been accused of faking the rescue of Thai hill tribe children from sexual slavery has resigned.

Former Australian army commando Sean McBride stepped down from the Grey Man charity at the weekend following new claims about the organisation and an investigation into the hill tribes children by Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation.

Mr McBride, who also uses the name John Curtis, told The Age the Grey Man’s board decided he should step down because ‘‘personal issues’’ between him and people in Thailand were interfering with the organisation’s operations.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Sean McBride, who also uses the name John Curtis.

Sean McBride, who also uses the name John Curtis.

Funded by Australian donations, the high-profile charity promotes the use of former Australian soldiers and police in daring missions to rescue victims of sex trafficking in Asia. [Read more in the link below]

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/sexslave-charity-head-quits-ami...

[Previous EAS postings that refer to The Grey Man below]

http://www.expat-advisory.com/articles/southeast-asia/cambodia/qld-chari...

http://www.expat-advisory.com/articles/southeast-asia/cambodia/two-paedo...

Another extact from the article mentioned above -

The former head of Grey Man’s 10-person Thai investigation unit said Australian volunteers who travelled to Thailand to support operations could provide little assistance because they could not speak Thai and had little knowledge of Thai culture.

Mr McBride said the man did not like working with foreigners ‘‘so we had to send our volunteers off to do their own tasks’’.

Operations to rescue sex trade workers in Thailand have become highly contentious. The Empower Foundation, which represents sex workers, said in a report released this month that ‘‘we have now reached a point where there are more women in the Thai sex industry being abused by anti-trafficking practice than there are women exploited by traffickers’’.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/sexslave-charity-head-quits-amid-row-2...

There have been similar complaints about the way local authorities and NGOs use the anti-trafficing laws in Cambodia. Including the forced detention and re-education of sex-workers in sub-standard government facilities where they are at risk of further abuses.

marklatham,
i would gladly risk my life to help these girls. if you know of any rich khmers that are abusing women in this way then let me know so that i can befriend them and then try to figure out how to have them arrested. i am not deluded and i am not ignorant. i do know that the problem here is largely a cultural one and that the crime in question is perpetrated mostly by the local populace, but what does that change really? you admit then yourself that it is happening. just not so much by tourists.
there is a very real child sex trafficking underground scene. if there wasnt then there would not have been so much reported on it in the last 5 years or longer. there is a reason this stuff catches on and becomes the cause of the week. its because it has roots in truth or it would not have become popular in the first place. i agree with you that it is possible reporting on this may have become exaggerated and overblown, but that doesnt change the fact that this is a problem here. there are countless videos about it all over the net including undercover surveillance videos by investigators who have gone into brothels with hidden cameras and videotaped girls as young as 4 or 5 being offered up for sex. i dont claim to know as much as you about cambodia. but i would respectfully ask you to go to youtube, type in "the face of slavery" and watch the video at the top of the page before you think there isnt much of a problem here.
this girl, with only one eye now, (whose name is somana) i am meeting on friday, along with the rest of her team. her team, called "voices for change" is a branch of the somaly mam foundation and they travel the country educating villages and towns about the realities of sex trafficking. but at one time, her and her whole team were each sex slaves, and have since been rescued by somaly mams organization. some only a couple years ago. you can type "voices for change" into youtube too, if you want to watch more about them. these girls have met with kings and presidents, and others, like hillary clinton and oprah. so i think there is at least a little bit of legitimacy here.

also, i am currently learing khmer right now. haha she is expensive and i can only afford 2 days a week right now, but, just so you know, i am trying.

as a side note: i have only been here 2 weeks but i have already had about 10 offers from tuk tuk drivers to take me "to young girls for yum yum or boom boom" so in my humble opinion this is very real. i dont think "young girls" means 18 year olds.

Stay home and investigate the catholic church-rich pickings there.
As foe the grey man stuff-dont believe all that you read.Thai police are corrupt and viscious and dont like anyone interfering with their patch.
I lived for many years in thailand a generation ago and I have seen things that cant be repeated here.
I will say it again about the OP-you are naieve and vulnerable.
Good luck with your khmer lessons,maybe in five years or so you may have some idea of what goes on here.

If you have been offered young girls by tuk tuks, that would seem to be a very obvious way to get started on your quest. It would be interesting to see what you find out. But make sure to take a witness along with you so you don't get framed.

You may be surprised by what you find out.

Willing to give your life-hahaha.

Trapper, what a number of posters have said is generally true and you should heed their advice no matter how cynical they are.

There is a Western paedo problem here. Those who say not are delusionary. Since living in Sihanoukville I've had a number of confrontations with these scum. One, thankfully, is currently in jail. And the Government has let some out of jail early on King's pardons - great.

Some further advice to that already given:

. don't mess with the Khmer paedo situation. It's not our issue to fight at the front line. It's so engrained in much of the Khmer male psyche, sadly, that if you do mess with it you will have had either a short life or a long one in a god-forsaken jail. By all means join a reputable NGO that is trying to help victims of Khmer abuse. Work with them and help them. But be warned, don't fight the frikkers - they are evil, the involvement goes very high and you will stand out like a tattooed forehead

. go slow, look, listen, learn. How old are you? - sound like mid-20s - full of bravado stuff that many young soldiers die for needlessly. Did you fail to get into the military or the police? Your quest for action would seem to indicate that that career path would have been more appropriate. You provide no information. In any case you need to slow right down, learn the language, as you say you are, study the culture, do your research, more research and even more, and understudy good experienced Khmer investigators. This will take a few years - similar to that of specialist police training

. watch whom you trust. This is a corrupt society at all levels. Most Khmers see foreigners as $ and will sell to the highest bidder. There are many good, honest, non-corrupt Khmers who want to see change. You have to suss out these people and earn their respect, as much as they will yours. I know some in the police and one in the military, and believe me you need some good people on your side who can bail you out if need be

. don't believe everything you hear, or necessarily see. Develop an open, questioning 'lawyer's mind'. That young girl may not be that young - nothing is as it seems in Cambodia. And be careful that the young girl is not the old fart's daughter. If any bastard confronted me about my daughter I'd chop straight to the Adam's apple without hesitation

. entrapment is supposedly not legal here, but it happens - it's a totally corrupt place. Most entrapment is probably justified because the perp deserves it, but just be careful that it's not a set-up.

So Trapper, give it a go and good luck. But if you don't take notice of the advice in the many posts here, you will most likely end up a casualty. Please keep the forum informed of progress. I'm sure many of us would like to know how you go and what you find. Cheers

I agree. stay out of the locals business here.. it's not a foreigners job to come around and try and change things about a completely different society, since they know nothing about local cultural values, and often create misunderstandings with the people living here. It would be better to help out doing what they welcome you to.. find a local friend, perhaps a nice girl, and help their family on the farm with some cash instead.. otherwise, enjoy the warm weather and people here, as well as the affordable yet fairly good beer around,

Trapper, you're not thinking critically about this situation, and you're not doing your homework.

What one sees on the street (i.e. an older man with a younger woman) is subjective (as you say - who can really judge the actual age of a woman when some women intentionally try to look younger - actually I believe you said something more generally patronizing, to the extent of "ya i know that cambodian girls look young").

There is no burden of proof that child trafficking is an open 'on the street' phenomenon in Cambodia, as you later admit, this is happening underground -

"there is a very real child sex trafficking underground scene."

Ok, yes, there is evidence to suggest that there is still a certain amount of human trafficking for commercial sexual exploitation in Cambodia (far far far less than other forms of labor trafficking - but this is a separate issue), but it is still nowhere near the levels reported by Somaly Mam, Nick Kristoff or even the majority of NGOs and other civil society actors out there. After discussing the "underground [trafficking] scene" you go on to say:

"...if there wasnt then there would not have been so much reported on it in the last 5 years or longer"

I encourage you to think about this statement. Do you always take everything at face value? If, for example, a man like Nick Kristoff writes a book does that mean his perception of the situation is the only truth?

The Asia Foundation, USAID and the Center for Advanced Study cooperated on a research endeavor several years ago and decidedly found the opposite (please read below):

"The subject of trafficking lends itself to “moralist” headlines. Certain media reports speak of
“Children for Sale”1
or argue that “Cambodia may be becoming the first sex slavery state”.2
This occurs not only within mainstream media; certain research or advocacy papers also
discuss the subject by means of moralist language and emotive stories. Such reporting does
not really contribute to a deeper understanding of the patterns, context or extent of the
phenomenon because the evidence is flimsy and the conclusions tend to be “grounded in the
construction of a particular mythology of trafficking” (Sanghera 2005: 4).
The most obvious example that illustrates the lacking evidence base relates to the estimates of
numbers of trafficked persons. Steinfatt (2003:5) rightfully criticized that most estimates on
prostitution and trafficking printed in publications by NGOs and international organizations
cannot be relied upon. They have no basis in fact and may have originated unintentionally,
but, once printed, are uncritically cited in other reports. In the same vein, conclusions about
the links between trafficking and poverty, vulnerability, migration or organized crime are
often repeated without checking whether the collected data actually support the claims" (Asia Foundation, USAID & Center for Advanced Study. Review of a Decade of Research On Trafficking in Persons. 2006, pg.9; emphasis added).

Ultimately, what I was alluding to in my previous post about the "white savior complex" was that "good intentions" do not equal "doing good", and unless you think very carefully about your actions here, you may end up doing unintended harm. I think you have mostly missed that point, or perhaps by only providing a link to a much more articulate article than I could have written, I somehow failed to illustrate my point clearly.

I think it is great to have noble intentions - absolute, there are few things I can think of more insidious and damaging to human dignity than human trafficking; however, the reality is far more nuanced than the normative-moralist yellow journalism you have been digesting. As others have said, take your time, learn about the situation before jumping head first into something- this forum is a start.

Good luck.

thank you everyone for your continued interest and involvement in this thread. i do appreciate all your comments, constructive or otherwise, and i do take into account and consideration everything everyone is saying. obviously many of you have been in this country for a long time so i would be a fool not to heed your advice. and i am. i respect and agree with all advice to "look, listen, and learn" and to move slowly. this is what i am trying to do and that is why i posted this topic in the first place.
thanks for all your input.

The latest salvo in the pedo wars has been fired by a journo working for the vancouver sun.
There is link on www.penhpal.com
It is one of the worst articles on the subject that I have ever read-but the OP will like it.
It even suggests that the flights to snookyville are a result of pressure by the pedos to get them to the kids quicker.
Initially it says that svay pak is long gone then quotes a US state dept report that the place is a nest of child trafficking.
The article is emotive and inaccurate and claims that the sex business in thailand is being wound down(!!!)leading to increased immorality in cambodia including transexual shows-ha ha ha.

The op has been given some very good advice on this forum.

If he would like to get involved in anti trafficking then move to Thailand, its the hub of human trafficking.

Very little is being done in Cambodia, its all hype by a few NGO trying to rake in more money.

Link to the report cited by gersteinrb, above... an interesting read:

http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNADS386.pdf

While it is noble of Trapper to want to help out abused children, it's not clear if s/he is really listening to what others are telling them about the real doubts about some of the information created by the likes of Kristof and Somaly Mam. The fact of the matter is that it seems quite difficult to determine the extent of the problem of child sex trafficking in Cambodia.

What Trapper seems to be lacking until now at least is a healthy dose of skepticism. It's not clear why someone would automatically believe what some people have written about child sex trafficking when there is a real lack of empirical, factual information to support their claims.

The OP was given good advice. I strongly suspect he is too naive and/or arrogant to heed it. As stated by others, Kristof is well intentioned but incredibly naive, and probably does more harm than good here. I was told by a disillusioned former high level employee of her foundation that Somaly Mam keeps the great majority of all donations for herself, and that most or all of her story is fiction, but that she is incredibly charismatic. The person who told me is still active in NGO work and has no axe to grind or reason to lie. As for organizations that set westerners up to make them look like pedophiles and then entrap them, many suspect APLE. (Apparently the international organization is good, but the head of the Cambodian chapter is not. If you look closely at the info, most of the legit cases they are involved in are ones where the investigation was started by someone else, then they forced their way in just before the arrest in order to get publicity.)

Yes there is are western pedophiles here, and I applaud any efforts to stop their activities. There are also plenty in the OP's home country. Even among foreign pedophiles, westerners are in the significant majority in Cambodia compared to the Chinese, Malaysians, Singaporeans, etc. Nothing the OP can do, short of the suggested donations to professionals, will do anything to put a stop to their activities. The situation here with regard to westerners is horribly exaggerated by most news media, because it is good for ratings. Maybe 3/4 of what they say was true 10 years ago. Less than 1/4 is true now.

USExpat
+1

"Even among foreign pedophiles, westerners are in the significant majority in Cambodia compared to the Chinese, Malaysians, Singaporeans, etc." What evidence are you basing this statement on?

"The situation here with regard to westerners is horribly exaggerated by most news media, because it is good for ratings." This contradicts your above statement, doesn't it?

I think that he meant to say minority!
Plenty of healthy scepticism here from local expats isnt there?
I wonder if the OP is taking any of it on board.
If he works for somaly mam maybe he can blow the lid on her organisation.
Do these NGOs have transparent accounting practices?
Can a donor ask to see the books?
When I saw a picture of somalys pool and landscaping some years ago I asked myself-hmm,if i was a martyr to this cause would I install a lovely pool or spend that 20K on helping the victims?
We have certainly heard stories of khmers in the child business enriching themselves and driving lexies-its what they do isnt it?

make up your own mind.

Somaly Mam on the Tyra Banks Show (1 of 3)

Somaly Mam on the Tyra Banks Show (2 of 3)

Somaly Mam on the Tyra Banks Show (3 of 3)

I think some people always try to find the worst in people when all people are trying to do is be there best. If you believe you can help, go for it I wish you all the luck in the world xxx

@Expat Admin:
Nice video but still makes it pretty hard to assess whether the number of victims is significant in relation to the amount of budget.

The video says 10-20,000 sex workers, which seems like a pretty good estimate, but then says that 25% are children, which seems unlikely. Misinformation on this subject is rife, it seems.

Bleeding heart tv shows with prominent actors don't help this debate one bit. We all know child sex trafficking goes on. But the only research that seems to have any credibility about the extent of the problem is the Asia Foundation/USAid/Centre for Research report mentioned in a previous post.

And it's precisely this sort of media nonsense that the report is highly critical of.

It would be useful if the report's authors could provide an update as the original report is dated 2006.

Trapper the person that started this topic hasn't been back since 1st April, perhaps he is busy trying to save the world.

@ Gondal,"But the only research that seems to have any credibility about the extent of the problem is the Asia Foundation/USAid/Centre for Research report mentioned in a previous post."

Actually the Steinfatt et al study I posted a link to is also fairly credible. It's dated from 2008. The Asia Fdn/ CAS study also cites Steinfatt et al from their earlier research.

The Steinfatt et al research from 2008 is provocative because it suggests the sex trafficking problem is much smaller in Cambodia at least than people generally assume.

Thanks Floating.

haha, no banker, i havent been out saving the world, and i have been following this blog with interest, wanting to see which way it would go. it is hard to know the truth isnt it? there is the "NO" cambodia doesnt have a big problem with child trafficking camp and there is the "YES" cambodia does have a big problem with child trafficking faction. both sides are very eloquent and well spoken. both sides present good arguments citing this or that study or this and that report but really who is to say who is right? who is to say which reports or studies are correct and which erroneous? it is just as easy for the "YES" side to cite their "YES" reports and reject the "NO" reports as factually inacurate or otherwise as it is for the "NO" side to do the same. and both sides have done this on this forum.
My purpose for starting this forum was to find out how i can get involved, however big or small the problem is, and also to hopefully gleam some important wisdom and advice from longtime expats that obviously know more than i do about this place. i am not so much of a fool as to presume that i know anything more about this place then what a short time here has taught me. and with this forum, i have gained valuable insight and knowledge from you all. thank you.

But my respectful question to you all is this: why do some of you seem to be getting hung up on arguing about the size and scale of a problem that none of you refute exists? no matter the size of it, cant it be enough that there is a problem? so maybe its not 40,000 sex workers - 25 percent children, like some reports say. maybe its only 5,000 children, maybe its only 2000, maybe its only 1000. it is impossible to really know and i would put forth the argument that it doesnt really matter. does it? the point is that there are children being expoited in this country, sexually and otherwise. whether its 10,000 or 1,000 or 100 i dont really personally care about the number. really, if it is even 1 child it is too much, isnt it? we are talking about children.

its not a matter or numbers. the actual truth is probably somewhere in between the high estimates and the low. beyond that who can know? but if it was your daughter out there you wouldnt care about how many girls there were or werent out there with her. it would be enough that your daughter was out there. all those girls are somebody's daughter.

and ya i agree 100 percent that there are many corrupt NGO's in this country. it is pretty obvious where a large portion of their money is going when you can see many of them driving down the road in brand new rangerovers and mercedes everyday. i dont know somaly mam so i cant speak about her. but i have met about 10 of her staff and i am very impressed with them. they are all former victims of the child sex trade so i do believe their hearts are in the right place. they were all rescued by the somaly mam foundation also, so no matter what negative things people have read about somaly mam herself, there is doubtless at least some positive to her organization. beyond that i really cant say. and, really, who can? somaly mam might be a saint or she might not be. she is probably somewhere in between just like all of us. but she isnt the point.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke

Good article on the dancing boys in afghanistan in the daily lately.
Now there is a cause for a martyr-do boys count as well as girls.
It seems that the powerful people we prop up in afghanistan recruit boys as young as ten years old and marry them later on.
The taliban was horrified by this practice apparently,if you are against singing,dancing and kite flying then one would hope so.
Which NGO is willing to have a crack at this problem,so to speak.
There is some danger involved but that should suit the martyrs.
I am always supicious that we have so many NGOs here because of the safe and comfortable lifestyle available in phnom penh. How many anti traffickers live in kompong cham or svay rieng far from the villas and coffee shops of BKK1?

It will NOT take long to develop a little healthy skepticism if you stick around long enough. Trust me on that one.

But PLEASE educate yourself with academic and professional research - NOT gary haugen, somaly mam or nick kristof. Contrary to what you think, there IS such a thing as doing more harm than good.

Somaly Mam grasping at straws...

Front page of today's Cambodia Daily: In front of the UN General Assembly, Somaly claims 8 girls were killed by the military following the 2004 Chai Hour II raid.

The claim is denied by Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights, LICADHO, the US Embassy, as well as the police chief.

Is she deliberately spreading disinformation or just lost her mind?