TRACEY SHELTON<\/p>\n
Sex workers wait for customers at a karaoke bar in Toul Kork, Phnom Penh, prior to a nationwide crackdown on brothels this year that has driven prostitutes from organized establishments onto the streets. <\/p>\n
A lone, razor-thin girl shivering in the rain underneath a streetlight and a man selling condoms are some of the only remaining reminders of a teeming red light district at the far end of Phnom Penh\u2019s Street 70 that flourished until recently, when a government crackdown put the country\u2019s sex industry under siege.<\/p>\n
Country-wide brothel closures and raids on dark parks where working girls and their customers gather are hallmarks of the effort to tackle rampant prostitution in Cambodia ahead of a key assessment next month of the Kingdom\u2019s anti-trafficking efforts by the US State Department.<\/p>\n
But advocates say that new legislation enacted in February to curb trafficking and sexual exploitation has really only given authorities a license to rape and rob \u2013 evidenced by the spiraling number of reported abuse cases at the hands of police rousting former brothel workers from their perches in parks and on street sides.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is happening is that the police are confiscating property \u2013 chairs, tables \u2013 from outside karaoke bars, they\u2019re taking everyone\u2019s jewelry,\u201d said one source who did not want to be named but who has repeatedly visited public places where prostitutes gathered to monitor the nightly raids by the authorities.<\/p>\n
Worse still, allegations and first-hand accounts are piling up that prostitutes are being arrested and some raped before being forced to pay money in exchange for their release, the source said.<\/p>\n
At the heart of the problem, advocates say, is a flawed law that equates all commercial sex work with human trafficking, what Cheryl Overs of the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW) calls a \u201cconflation of prostitution and trafficking.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt assumes that sex work is inherently degrading and therefore that you cannot consent to it \u2013 like you can\u2019t consent to slavery \u2013 so all sex workers become victims of trafficking,\u201d she told the Post. <\/p>\n
Critics of Cambodia\u2019s \u201cLaw on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation\u201d said it is so broad and open to interpretation by authorities that even those unwittingly associating with sex workers can be arrested for trafficking.<\/p>\n
For example, a mototaxi driver carrying a prostitute to work or a bar owner whose establishment is being used as a rendezvous could theoretically be prosecuted and risk having their property seized.<\/p>\n
Offering one\u2019s sexual services for money is now also illegal for the first time, whereas in the past only pimping and procurement could be prosecuted.<\/p>\n
This zero-sum approach, with its arrests and mass brothel closures, also does little more than drive prostitutes deeper underground \u2013 more vulnerable to trafficking and further away from the legion of public health groups who have been instrumental in curbing Cambodia\u2019s HIV\/Aids epidemic.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Health\u2019s National Center for HIV\/Aids, Dermatology and STD Control has reported a recent 26 percent reduction in the number of women seeking diagnosis and treatment for sexually transmitted infections at their family health clinics.<\/p>\n
Implementation of the law is \u201chaving serious negative public health consequences and threatens Cambodia\u2019s remarkable success in cutting HIV prevalence from 2.0 percent in 1998 to 0.9 percent in 2007,\u201d said a United Nations, donor and civil society position statement released May 5. <\/p>\n
The statement only underscores the infighting caused by the controversial legislation that has hobbled the UN agencies and health NGOs who are meant to be monitoring its implementation.<\/p>\n
UNICEF funding and support helped create the legislation but other world body agencies including the UN\u2019s Inter-agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) have reservations about how it will be enforced and say that without strict implementation, the legislation does more harm than good.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt all the agencies, the anti-trafficking wing of one is working against the other \u2013 this is more than one hand not knowing what the other is doing, they are actively working against each other,\u201d said Overs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Cambodian government itself mirrors that lack of cohesion at the UN level.\u201d
\nOne Cambodian institution that is fully behind the new legislation is the police, according to the force\u2019s head of anti-trafficking, Bith Kim Hong, who dismissed concerns over the law\u2019s impact on the control of HIV\/Aids.<\/p>\n
\u201cNGOs that work with HIV\/Aids think differently from the police,\u201d he told the Post on May 13.<\/p>\n
\u201cStopping [brothels] from existing is better than having brothels \u2026 when there are no brothels HIV\/Aids cannot spread to other people,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Kim Hong denied reports from groups like the Women\u2019s Network for Unity (WNU) that large numbers of prostitutes were being rounded up under the law\u2019s soliciting clause, only to emerge from jail stripped of their money and possessions, or showing signs of physical and sexual abuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not true police are using this law to arrest and extort money from the suspects. We never arrest prostitutes but rather we save them from brothels,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe hand them over to the social ministry to take care of them. It is no problem for [prostitutes] when brothels are closed. They can learn different professions from the ministry and local NGOs.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, this support from either the government or NGOs is rarely forthcoming, say groups like the WNU, leaving these women little choice but to continue taking more risks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen orderly organized venues are being closed, it becomes a buyers market,\u201d said Overs. <\/p>\n
Cambodia\u2019s new trafficking law and the ensuing sex industry crackdown serves as a backdrop to next month\u2019s reassessment of the country\u2019s anti-trafficking efforts by the US with significant amounts of funding at risk should the country be downgraded.<\/p>\n
Cambodia in 2006 was elevated from the list\u2019s lowest designation, Tier 3, and has remained on Tier 2 Watch since then.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Post on May 8, US Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph Mussomeli said \u201cit\u2019s a very close call\u201d as to whether Cambodia is a Tier 2 country or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue is, are they doing this just to keep the Americans off their back or are they doing this because they are concerned about their people. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy view is at the highest levels of government there is a genuine concern for the people of Cambodia that they should not be trafficked,\u201d he said. (Additional reporting by Thet Sambath)<\/p>\n
Written by Cat Barton <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TRACEY SHELTON Sex workers wait for customers at a karaoke bar in Toul Kork, Phnom Penh, prior to a nationwide crackdown on brothels this year that has driven prostitutes from organized establishments onto the streets. A lone, razor-thin girl shivering in the rain underneath a streetlight and a man selling condoms are some of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cambodia","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n