Cambodia: Human Trafficking

I thought I would spend the next few days highlighting some of the issues in Cambodia, a place I will soon be calling home. One of the things that has drawn me to this place is the issue of human trafficking. Poverty contributes to this evil, because despite the warnings individuals are willing to risk everything to believe empty promises of traffickers due to their desperation. The lies quickly become bondage and by the time they learn the truth it is too late to get out. In the book Not for Sale there is an entire chapter devoted to Cambodia because this is such a serious issue.

The impoverished masses of Cambodia represent the economic challenge [to abolition]. At least one in three of Cambodia's 15 million people live below the poverty line today. Cambodian women above all, do not get the chance to study formally or learn vocational skills; 41 percent of the country's adult women are illiterate. While finding a job in Cambodia can be difficult under any circumstances, an uneducated and impoverished woman does not fit the profile that most legal employers seek to hire. Desperate to secure the well-being of their parents or perhaps their own children, a poor woman can become easy prey for a trafficker.

That is an understatement! My employer is looking at ways to increase our impact on this issue. We have submitted a grant to do work in a northern region of the country to provide alternatives for income for desperate women before they are snatched up by traffickers. We are submitting two more grants in October (one in Cambodia and one in Myanmar) to do similar work. For years we have supported partners that help women leave this life and reintegrate in to society. Specifically, the programs help women who want to make a better life for themselves or their children. It gives them business opportunities and so much more. If you want to learn more about the work of these agencies, click here and here.