To shed light on the growing problem of child sex trafficking in Cambodia, the CNN Freedom Project recently released “Every Day in Cambodia,” a documentary featuring Academy Award-winning actress and UNODC Goodwill Ambassador for Global Fight against Human Trafficking Mira Sorvino, that profiles two organizations actively working to prevent sex trafficking: Agape International Missions (AIM) and 3Strands.
Founded by activists Don and Bridget Brewster, AIM is a California-based nonprofit focused on ending the evil of child sexual slavery in Cambodia. The mission of AIM is to prevent, rescue, restore, and reintegrate.
Kristin Damask, a local community member and humanitarian, recently participated in AIM’s global outreach program, where she was able to experience firsthand the crisis in Cambodia. For two weeks, Kristin volunteered at AIM Restoration Home for formerly trafficked children, and upon returning, she shared with us both the horrific acts and the emerging hope she witnessed in Phnom Penh.
What inspired you to make this journey?
I was first exposed to the harsh reality of sex trafficking after my friend, Liv, came back from Cambodia. She shared firsthand accounts of the atrocities that were happening to defenseless children—stories of graphic, perverse cruelty that were happening to girls younger than my six year old niece. I knew that I had to do something to help stop this from happening to little girls that did not have overprotective aunts.
How pervasive is this problem of child sex trafficking in Cambodia?
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| Kristin (center) in Cambodia |
Are there boys who are trafficked?
Yes. It’s less common, but there are boys that are forced into sex trafficking as well. I saw this more transparently the day we spent working with Hard Places Community, which targets street kids most likely to become victims. While volunteering there I was able to interact with a few boys that had been trafficked.
What are the most common ways that children enter the trade?
There are numerous ways that the children become victims of sex trafficking. Several are sold by their family into the trade or even by a neighbor. In most cases, this is to pay off a debt. Some are kidnapped from Vietnam or Thailand and brought into Cambodia. Some children, not knowing what they are doing, sell themselves to provide for their families.
It sounds horrible to us, who live in a wealthy first-world country, but it's not a simple, surface-level issue. It is out of desperation. Several of the families in Cambodia live on a dollar a day. If they need medical attention, they take on loans with high interest rates that are impossible to pay off. When they get in over their heads, that's when the loan sharks come around to collect—either their money or their daughters.
You also have to understand that the parents themselves have faced trauma in their lives. Several of them grew up during the Khmer Rouge genocide that tortured and murdered 1.7 million of Cambodia's populace. Many kids (now parents) were even forced to kill their own families.
Why does the government allow this abuse to persist?
Corruption runs deep. That's not to say that there aren’t good cops or government officials that want to see the change take place, but there are several bad seeds that prevent the protection of the children. I have even heard of a story where a cop's wife ran a brothel while her husband worked to protect it from the law.
A game changer would be to allow undercover surveillance in the prosecution of brothel owners and their customers. Currently they are allowed in drug cases, but not in prosecuting against sex trafficking.
AIM is involved not only in the rescue of victims, but in their restoration and reintegration as well. What happens after a child is rescued from a brothel?
AIM will evaluate each child to find the program that will best suit their well-being. Most will go straight to AIM’s Restoration Center where they can be given not only therapy, healthcare, and education, but freedom from what has happened to them. This is accomplished through a holistic healing program that showers them with love and rebuilds their self-worth using a Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy approach.
At this center, the girls have access to Agape Training Center. Through this program Agape builds up their skills and knowledge to allow them to enter trades that will not exploit or harm them. After graduating from the program, the older girls can be reintegrated into society if it is deemed safe. If not, AIM helps them find housing, whether it is in AIM’s safe house or in the community.
AIM also serves several of the girls through the AIM Employment Center, which provides not only job opportunities, but also several services to help the girls thrive. AIM offers free continuing education, meals, child care, and a community. This center produces the 3Strands and AIM Apparel products.
Join us next week as we continue our conversation with Kristin and delve deeper into the realities of child sex trafficking in Cambodia.
