When the non-marginalised becomes marginalised

This was first posted at The Malaysian Insider on 20 February 2011 under the title “Marginalising the non-marginalised”.

I once had an interesting conversation with my former boss who was then the country representative of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) I was volunteering for in Phnom Penh. She lamented that too many NGOs, international aid agencies and government institutions are giving too much attention to HIV/AIDS programmes. 

So much so that those who are afflicted by less notorious diseases such as diabetes are being neglected despite the latter killing more people each year. According to UNAIDS, 1.8 million people died of AIDS in 2009 while 3.4 million people were reported to have died of diabetes in 2004 according to WHO’s statistics and this number may very well have doubled by now. 

Then I started to think about what she said and realised that on many levels, there is a lot of truth in it and it doesn’t just stop at HIV/AIDS. 

Part of my volunteering work involved working with staff from Tom Dy Centre, a shelter and rehabilitation centre for women rescued from human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Cambodia. I had visited this centre several times and was amazed by the level of comfort provided by this well-equipped and relatively modern centre but as soon as I stepped out of it, the surrounding area looked more like the rest of Cambodia; bare, under-developed, poor and dirty. 

The roads in the area were appalling and could easily succumb to flooding if there was a heavy downpour and needless to say, the wooden houses around the neighbourhood were old, small, flimsy and completely weather-beaten. It was safe to assume that they would not have been able to protect the three little piglets from the big bad wolf. This scene is just a few kilometres away from Phnom Penh city centre. 

When I asked my colleague about the community’s perception of the women at the shelter, she told me that while some are inclined to look down on them, many actually harbour some form of jealousy towards them. I was not surprised since most people living in the community are struggling to make ends meet while the women at the shelter are given free regular healthcare, vocational training and reintegration packages to help them start their own small businesses. 

It’s difficult to imagine that any of these women would want to return to their previous life as a village girl waiting on her family hand and foot. I also can’t help but wonder whether such new “improved” living conditions would help them readjust easily to their former lifestyle. 

I don’t know whether it’s Angelina Jolie who made adoption “sexy” because it is extremely popular in Cambodia. It is common to see adopted Cambodian children dressed up in OshKosh B’gosh and Gap Kids while being enrolled in international schools that seem to have mushroomed in the capital city to meet the demands of a growing expatriate community. 

Although these local children are being given a chance to have better education and standard of living, the majority of Cambodian children drop out from schools before the age of 12 in order to help their parents support their large families. Not unlike Thailand, the burden of taking care of the family falls on the daughters’ shoulders more than the boys. 

I had the opportunity to meet the executive director of a local NGO called Health Centre for Children. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that their reintegration approach for trafficked and sexually exploited children is very different from other NGOs in Cambodia. Their approach is very much about integrating the victims’ needs with the needs of their community and at the same time, cultivating a collective sense of ownership and responsibility amongst themselves. Families and communities of reintegrated children are rewarded for developing and improving their economic condition and thus preventing their children from being trafficked and sold into the sex trade. 

In a nutshell, all of them get a piece of the pie. 

The NGO will provide a loan or other forms of incentives to help develop the community as a whole. In addition, community-based activities such as campaigns and group sessions to talk about issues concerning human trafficking and sexual exploitation are held regularly. All these activities will help inculcate a common sense of responsibilities towards protecting the children. 

To me, this is obviously a more effective and sustainable approach towards preventing further exploitation of children. For a start, it tackles the root cause of the problem. The majority of women and children are being trafficked or sold as slaves because of poverty. Hence, a more effective method of preventing this form of modern-day slavery is to develop the community first and at the same time, provide the children with education. 

In a country like Cambodia where more than 90 per cent of the population live beneath the poverty line, it is not hard to think that nearly all of them are marginalized in one way or another by our standard. 

For the average Cambodian who barely makes more than US$40 a month, it doesn’t help them to think that one must be a victim of some sort of tragedy, chronic disease or crime in order to receive assistance. For the majority of them, better infrastructure, employment, education, basic health care, food and water will help improve their lives tremendously. 

By no means am I saying that those whose lives are being tragically compromised by HIV/AIDS, trafficking, forced prostitution, disability and other hardships do not deserve the amount of attention the world seems to be giving, but I think it is time for humanitarian institutions to adopt more community-based programmes so that the non-marginalised will not end up being the marginalised.

Sex, thugs and NGOs in Cambodia

At a cursory glance, it’s easy to regard Phnom Penh as Bangkok’s less developed, poorer and “innocent” cousin. In many ways, this is true.

Here, there are many majestic pagodas situated in almost every corner, making them practical landmarks while navigating the small city. The King and Buddhist monks are highly revered by its people.

Every single day, the drones of four-wheeled tuks-tuks can be heard early in the morning without fail while ubiquitous street vendors accessorize the city landscape.

Like Thailand, there are more than a dozen of cramped markets selling all sorts of cheap silk and wooden handicrafts. The ingredients used in Khmer cuisine are similar to Thai minus the hotness.

Before the recent economic depression, hundreds of thousands of women trooped to work in garment factories, spending hours putting together clothes for big labels such as Gap, Banana Republic, Abercrombie and Finch, Ralph Laurent and Tommy Hilfiger. Earning about USD50 to USD80 a month, most of these clothes cost more than their monthly salary a piece.

Yet, many girls aspire to be garment factory workers. They drop out from schools, leave their homes in the village to attend training for three months before joining their “sisters” in the exploit by industrialized nations. What we spend for USD80 at a fraction of a minute, can feed their entire family for a month.

What makes Phnom Penh innocent compared to Bangkok is the absence of red light districts where  sex industry is part of the tourist attraction. You still see the occasional local young girls escorting “barangs” (foreigners) in the city, but not as conspicuous as in Bangkok.

That’s how most tourists would think of Phnom Penh; just a charming developing city with happy and friendly people. If they have lived here long enough like me, and work in the field that I do, there is a much uglier and sinister side of the city than Bangkok.

Unlike Thailand, majority of the sex workers in Cambodia are being forced into prostitution.

Unlike Thailand, there is no specific districts or locations where strip bars, brothels and sex shows operate on a nightly basis.

Here, everything is carried out more discretely and hence gives the impression that sex is not for sale in Cambodia.  Because it’s so discrete, nobody knows the brutality of this sleazy and inhumane business.

Not only is sex for sale here, the girls and boys are as well. Many of them have been sold by their own family as sex slaves to meet the perpetual sexual demands of expat and local men while temporarily feeding the basic needs of their families.

This is not the only ugly and sinister part. Many of these girls and boys are under the age of 16. Here, it is a paradise for paedophiles.

In Cambodia, the responsibility of taking care of the family lies in the daughter. Boys are often given more opportunity to attend schools while girls remain at home to take care of household chores or get a job.

If this isn’t enough, there is another solution.

They are sold to traffickers or pimps. These girls are supposed to work as prostitutes to pay off their debts. The trick is, they don’t receive any payment in return and hence holding them as financial hostage forever.

Sexual slavery, like any other form of slavery, is a multi-million dollar industry.

If the girls try to escape, they are beaten up, tortured and threatened to death. They receive similar treatment if they don’t smile and seduce customers or have the audacity to reveal any hint of coercion from their handlers. So, customers go on thinking that they sell their bodies voluntarily.

Remember, they don’t even get paid.

Because Cambodia is considered less developed and poorer, it’s infested with hundreds of international NGOs, pouring in millions of dollars to help the people, to free them from any kind of bondage. In the end, the majority of people who do benefit from this “industry” are NGO workers, companies who provide the logistics for NGOs, the government and the lowest of the lower income group.

I recently had the opportunity to visit an international NGO providing free formal education and vocational skills training programmes to children and youths living in Steung Meancheay, a garbage dump in Phnom Penh.

When I entered the training compound, I was astounded by the extravagant infrastructure on its 5 hectare land. After more than one hour of tour around the whole area, I concluded that this is the Disneyland of Vocational Skills Training Centre.

With 600 full time staff and USD5 million annual budget for its operating cost alone, it’s no wonder that the hospitality, cooking, hairdressing and spa training areas are able to simulate what you would get at a five star hotel.

All  200 students are smartly dressed in clean and pressed uniforms. The products used at the hairdressing training are all genuine L’Oreal and Evian brands, none of the counterfeited ones used by the other training centres.

They are even expanding their training centre to include a full size swimming pool, basketball and tennis courts for their students. It’s even better than the school I attended in Malaysia.

The Head of Public Relations told us that all students are guaranteed jobs with the tourism industry upon graduation.

While I listened with great amazement, my heart was filled with sadness. Sadness for the millions of children from low income group who are not able to share such privilege.

I have been visiting many governmental and non-governmental training centres for disadvantaged group in Cambodia. It is part of my job to gather information on how to improve the training curriculum of the NGO I am volunteering for. None of them could ever compete with the Disneyland of Vocational Skills Training Centre. The quality of training is far below reasonable standard and most of the trainees do not benefit from job placement upon graduation.

One day, I asked a local colleague of mine whether any of the rescued women who have been sold as sex slaves (the NGO I work for provides rehabilitation, training and reintegration of trafficked women) comes from Steung Meancheay.

He replied, “None.”

I expressed my surprise, seeing how much poorer the families living in the dumps are and hence presumably more desperate.

He answered solemnly, “Nobody wants to touch these girls from Steung Meacheay. They are dirty and they have diseases.”

Then, it dawned on me. Unless you’re rich or an “untouchable” ; the lowest of the lower income group, you will continue to struggle and suffer like the majority of the people I meet here.

Note: This article was first published at Loyar Burok, a leading human rights portal run by a group of young lawyers in Malaysia.

The 21st Century Slavery (Part VIII)

What we’ve learned from our market research assessment

During the last few weeks, we finally carried out our market research project by interviewing four different target groups; 1) residents undertaking vocational skills training courses at three shelters, 2) government and non-governmental vocational skills training centres for women, 3) local small to medium sized businesswomen and 4) international NGOs that implement vocational skills training courses and income-generating programmes for women.  

We have uncovered a wealth of information and at the moment, are still trying to develop an action plan for the reintegration component of AFESIP. The action plan will provide recommendations on whether to expand or improve the training curriculum at AFESIP’s shelters (or both) and if yes, what courses should be implemented or act as a supplement to the existing courses; hairdressing and sewing.

What do the residents say?

About 150 women were interviewed based on a series of questions and a list of 21 training options were given to them in the forms of pictures (see photo above). They were asked to choose 3 training courses which they would like to take if they are each given more options than the current ones .

Our questionnaire revealed that majority (more than 70%) of the residents at the shelter will return to their families in the village after they complete their vocational skills training courses. While majority of them are happy with the current two training courses, an overwhelming number would like to have some form of computer lessons and if they are given more options, many would like to choose agriculture (particularly fish-raising), cooking, running small businesses, tourism and traditional dancing courses.

Surprisingly (or rather unsurprisingly), none of these women chose housekeeping as an alternative course. We are uncertain as to whether the reason was because most of the women do not feel that they need to be trained on domestic science or that they do not want to pursue a career as a domestic helper.

What we learned from the government and non-governmental vocational training centres for disadvantaged women

We visited several training centres in Phnom Penh, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Speu and Siem Reap. It was interesting that all the centres provide the same courses; hairdressing and sewing. Some offer silk weaving and food processing as well. It’s easy to understand why training options are limited to these and but at the same time, difficult to imagine that such homogenous career paths can help the women to become more competitive in the market. In the end, it feels as if all the women will become either a hairdresser, tailor or garment factory workers.

One of the main reasons that hairdressing, sewing and silk weaving trainings are such popular options is because majority of these women have very low education level. These training courses do not need much literacy skills and at the same time, there is a high and consistent demand for hairdressing and tailoring services in a country where weddings and cultural ceremonies are part and parcel of community living all over the country. Cambodia is also a country which depends heavily on its garment industry where big labels like Gap, Banana Republic, Abercrombie and Finch, etc. are being outsourced here. Nevertheless, there has always been a fear that these labels may not stay for long in Cambodia once economic trade agreements change and other less developing countries begin to provide cheaper labour.

The other thing we learned is that in order for these centres to be sustainable, it needs to form network and partnership with international organizations, governmental agencies, financial institutions and business associations. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA), Ministry of Labour and Vocational Trainings (MoLVT), International Labour Organization (ILO), UNDP, Asian Development Bank (ADB), JICA and World Bank are the key partners in programmes like this.

- to be continued -

When the non-marginalised becomes marginalised

One day, I had an interesting discussion with my boss, who is the Country Representative of the NGO I am volunteering for. She lamented on the fact that so many NGOs, donors and government institutions are giving so much attention to HIV/AIDS programmes that those who are inflicted by less severe diseases such as diabetes are being ignored.

Then I started to think about what she said and realised that at a certain level, there is a lot of truth in it and it doesn’t just stop at HIV/AIDS. Not so long ago, I was talking to a Cambodian colleague of mine while we were visiting Tom Dy Centre, a shelter for women rescued from human trafficking and sexual exploitation. I was somehow amazed by the comfort and infrastructure at the centre and when you step out from the centre, the surrounding area is much closer to the reality in Cambodia; bare, under-developed, poor road condition with flimsy and small wooden houses built on thin poles. This is just a few kilometres away from Phnom Penh city centre.

When I asked my colleague about the community’s perception and reception towards the women, she told me that while some may be inclined to  disparage them, many do harbour some form of jealousy. It is not surprising since many of them are struggling to make ends meet while the women at the centre are being given free health care, vocational training courses and reintegration packages to help them start their own small businesses.

Adoption of  orphans is extremely popular in Cambodia. It is common to see Cambodian children dressed up in decent clothing and sent to international schools. Although these children are being given a chance to have better education and standard of living, the majority of Cambodian children drop out from schools  before the age of 12 in order to help their parents support their large families, especially girls.

I recently had the opportunity to meet the Executive Director of a local NGO called the Health Centre for Children. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that their reintegration approach  for trafficked and sexually exploited children are very different from others which I have come across. Their approach is very much about integrating community needs and ownership whereby families and communities of the reintegrated children all get a piece of the pie. The NGO will provide loan or other forms of incentives to help develop the community as a whole. In addition, community-based activities such as campaigns and group sessions to talk about issues concerning human trafficking and sexual exploitation are held regularly. All these activities will help to inculcate a common sense of responsibilities towards protecting the children.

For me, this is obviously a more effective and sustainable approach towards preventing further exploitation of children. For a start, it tackles the root cause of the problem. The majority of women and children are being  trafficked or sold as slaves  because of poverty. If you want to get rid of this form of modern-day slavery, you have to develop the community and provide the children with education.

In a country like Cambodia where more than 90 percent of the population live beneath the poverty line, it is hard not to think that nearly all of them are marginalised, in our standard. For the average Cambodian who barely makes more than USD40 a month, it doesn’t help them to think that one must be a victim of some sort of severe crisis, chronic disease or crime in order to receive help and attention. For the majority of them, better infrastructure, employment, education, basic health care, food and water will help improve their lives tremendously.

I am not saying that those whose lives have been tragically compromised by HIV/AIDS, trafficking, forced prostitution, disability and other hardships do not deserve the attention we are giving, but I think it is time for humanitarian institutions to adopt a more community-based programmes so that the non-marginalised will not end up being marginalised.

The 21st century slavery (Part VII)

 

There is a traditional Khmer saying, “If Heaven could cry, then Cambodia would never know drought.” Today, I heard Heaven’s cry.

This afternoon, I sat at a meeting with AFESIP, discussing our next action plan for a market research we have been doing for the past few weeks. We have prepared two separate sets of questionnaires to be answered by rescued victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution sheltered by AFESIP, and vocational training centres run by government and non-governmental organizations for disadvantaged women. The purpose of these questionnaires is to consult the women’s views on what sort of training skills would interest them as well as to understand the reality of the job markets in Cambodia.

We took a field trip to Kandal and Kampong Cham provinces last week to visit a girl, formerly a resident of Tom Dy Center, who is now running her own hair salon in Khsach Kandal district and the Women Development Center (WDC) run by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Kampong Cham. We soon realised that our interview with the manager of WDC ran on for more than one and half hours. We figured that we need to be more efficient with our questionnaire as we are going to interview more than two hundred respondents in the next three weeks.

At the meeting, we discussed about the number of residents in each shelter in order to ascertain the number of days needed to carry out the interview. AFESIP runs three such shelters in Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham and Siem Reap. We are unable to ask the residents to fill in the questionnaire since many are illiterate and instead have to rely on staffs and volunteers to carry out face-to-face interviews. When we asked AFESIP how many residents are taking training courses in their centre in Kampong Cham, they told us 12 although there are 35 residents in total. We then wondered what the other 23 women do at the centre.

Reluctantly, one of AFESIP’s staffs told us that the rest are three to five year-old girls. I was unable to disguise my shock and bewilderment, much to the discomfort of my Cambodian colleague who was sitting next to me. He whispered shamefully into my ears that this is Cambodia and it is common to have girls that age to be sexually exploited. In a way, I wished that I hadn’t display such shock and remorse so openly because many Cambodians I  met often feel shameful towards the atrocities committed in their country. It feels almost as if the whole country is so overwhelmed by countless account of tragedies from poverty to human rights abuses that they believe these tragedies only happen here.

When I looked down at the questionnaire in front of me, all those questions asking the women whether they would like to run their own businesses, or whether they prefer to learn silk weaving, etc. seemed so obscene. These questions are not meant for a 3 year-old because she is not meant to be in the shelter to begin with.

I know for a fact that child sexual  exploitation is not uncommon here. I read it on the paper almost every other day about which sex offenders have been prosecuted and I see campaign posters on the back of tuk-tuks around the city. But not until I hear it with my own ears, do I begin to hear the cry of Heaven so loudly and heart wrenchingly.

The 21st century slavery (Part VI)

Dreams, aspirations and reality

I had an interesting discussion with some people recently about employment opportunities for the rehabilitated women. The issue was about whether an expat living in Cambodia would be willing to hire these women as nannies. This idea came about when I discovered that there is a high demand for nannies here among the expat community. In Phnom Penh, there is a high concentration of international NGOs and UN agencies and since it is a family accompanied mission area, many staffs bring their families along. When both parents work, it is common for them to hire a nanny to look after their children.

Unfortunately, there is very little supply for this since many expats require nannies to speak basic English. So, I thought there may be an opportunity there if these women are trained in this field. On top of that, I also thought that perhaps it might provide a good family environment for the women. One of the main concerns we have when assessing the types of marketable jobs for the women is to ensure that their work environment will not expose them to the risk of being trafficked or forced into prostitution. Jobs which require them to spend  huge amount of time in the street or male-dominated outlets are likely to present them with such threat, although not entirely so.

However, while keeping in mind that their interest and well-being are a priority, it doesn’t mean that the potential danger it might bring to others should not be considered. So, the debate was whether nanny is a suitable job for the women. Some of the comments I received were valid as well as an indication that the stigma attached to the women, regardless of whether they were forced into prostitution or not is very much present.

Most of the people I discussed with said that they would not be willing to hire these women as a nanny. The reasons were not solely based on the fact that they were sex workers but  also the psychological vulnerability of the women. Some expressed that the women may not be psychologically well enough to be entrusted with the responsibility of handling children. This is particularly a concern if they are HIV positive too. This is a valid point especially when it involves the well-being of a child. If a nanny agency were to be established for this purpose, then there must be sufficient policies and standards to ensure accountability.

There are a few who said that they would be willing to consider if the women were indeed being forced into prostitution and a strict screening process should be carried out to determine this. Then, there were some who raised the question of whether it is a legal or ethical requirement for the women to reveal their past. My thought on this was that if their past identity would become a basis for discrimination, then perhaps they are not legally bound by it.

Finally, there was one person who asked whether it is wise to limit the women to domestic jobs only because by virtue of that, we are narrowing down their options based on their education level. Perhaps we might want to encourage them to become more than just nannies, domestic helper, waitress, etc. After all we don’t really know what are the aspirations and dreams of these women. We might not expect them to be rocket scientist or doctors, but secretarial or managerial positions may be some of the options.

The truth is, judging from the cultural aspect and reality of the situation, it is not an easy task if we were to cater to each and every woman at the centre. There are presently more than 50 women being rehabilitated at the centre and we certainly would like to see the women achieve something which they can be proud of but at the same time, the more pressing issue to tackle, bearing in mind the limited resources available, is how to ensure that the women can earn some money while maintaining their dignity.

There are very few women who have seized the opportunity to hold professional jobs, mainly with AFESIP. Then, there are the majority who said that they would be happy with any jobs, as long as they get one. So, in the end, it is up to the women. If they desire to be something more and show the potential to achieve that, then the doors remain open to them.

The 21st century slavery (Part V)

Starting all over again

Cambodian women are known to be one of the preferred choices of being a life partner for many foreigners. Their caring, selfless, gentle and hard working nature, make them desirable in this modern age when women are becoming more individualistic almost everywhere in this world. I’ve been told many times that Cambodian women takes the responsibility of feeding their family very seriously and this is perhaps one of the reasons why many of them are being sold as prostitutes.

As they often say, you can’t teach old dogs new tricks and this proverb applies to cultural upbringing too. Fortunately enough, as human beings, we are a lot more intelligent than dogs and are able to change our views of things and learn to differentiate what is right and wrong.

For now, this culture remains in Cambodia. With this in mind, AFESIP provides two training options for the women at the Tom Dy Centre; sewing and hairdressing. On top of that, they are given basic education in English, Khmer and Mathematics since most of them do not even have primary school education. Other essential knowledge such as hygiene, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, labour law, human rights are also being taught.

All these courses are seen as important life skills which will facilitate the women to start their lives all over again. Somaly Mam applies very pragmatic methods to ensure that these women are not being sheltered permanently at the centre. After all, this is not the purpose she sets out to do.

She pushes the women to do something for themselves and believes that at the end, most of them have a choice. They can either stay in the centre to be rehabilitated and trained, or they can choose to be returned home. But for those who choose to stay, they must go through the programmes catered for them. Her view is that if the women are left there with nothing constructive to do, they will not leave but rather treat the centre as a permanent vacation home. One can easily understand why since the centre is much more comfortable than majority of the homes here.

AFESIP’s training programme is rather progressive in the sense that it doesn’t want to limit the women to only two options. At the moment, with the NGO that I am volunteering with, we are trying to carry out a market analysis to provide the women with more skills and training options that will give them more employment opportunities. This remains as a huge challenge.

The 21st century slavery (Part IV)

Challenges faced by AFESIP

There are many causes why human trafficking and forced prostitution occur; lack of education and employment opportunities, poverty, corruption in government,social discrimination, political instability, armed conflict, relocation of communities because of mega projects without proper resettlement and rehabilitation packages, profitability, presence of organized criminal gangs, insufficient punishments against traffickers, lack of law enforcement on global sex tourism industry, growing demand for child sex workers and increased deprivation and marginalization of the poor.

For Cambodian women, the threat is enhanced by the cultural practice where daughters hold the responsibility of looking after the family. Many, out of desperation to help clear family debts are forced into prostitution.

Which is why, one of the most important aspects of AFESIP (Agir pour les Femmes en Situation Précaire/ Acting for Women in Distressing Circumstances)’s programme is the rehabilitation, vocational skill training and reintegration components. For them, it is not enough to just rescue the women, usually through raids conducted by its protection officers in collaboration with local enforcement authorities, but also to provide them with regular medical and psychological treatments, vocational and life skill trainings, basic education and other recreational activities with the hope of effective reintegration back into their communities.

Due to this wide range of services provided, AFESIP is faced with many challenges. Effective reintegration remains the biggest challenge because at the end of the day, the most important impact and outcome is to ensure that the women are  welcomed back into their family and community with minimal stigmatization, gain some financial independence through employment and thus preventing them from falling into the same cycle of forced dependency.

First step towards rehabilitation

AFESIP has its own clinical team of doctors, psychologists and therapists who carry out regular medical and psychological assessments, including consistent follow-up. While successful reintegration would indicate that AFESIP’s overall objectives have been achieved, it would not be possible if the women are not healed physically and emotionally. All of these women have been subjected to many forms of physical torture and emotional trauma, some to the extent of being permanently disfigured, such as Long Pross.

In addition to this, many are infected with HIV/AIDS since many customers refuse to wear condoms and those who are courageous enough to request for it are often beaten up. Some of the rescued women have died of HIV/AIDS.

There is an endless list of damages which have been inflicted on these women and we cannot begin to conceive how long the healing process will take. For most of them, never.

 

The 21st century slavery (Part III)

I visited the Tom Dy Centre where about 50 women who were rescued by Somaly Mam’s team are being sheltered. The first impression one gets is how serene and normal the place looks. There is no tell-tale sign of how this place had been crashed and attacked by a mob of people awhile back. Then when I met the women, they all look so young, too young to have gone through such unimaginable ordeal.

I have also learned that sexual slavery does not discriminate in terms of appearances. Very often, I imagine that women who were being kidnapped and forced into the sex industry must possess at least one criteria; beauty. However, I have noticed that the women come in different shapes, sizes and appearances. I suppose there are only two criteria; youth and being female. (This does not mean that boys are free from being victims as well but this series is meant to focus on women.)

Everything at the centre seemed so sanitized and organized. A couple of friendly dogs were running around, keeping the women company. From a distance, I could hear monotonous chanting and discovered that  lessons were being conducted in a small classroom with about 6 women. The rest of the women were either attending lessons in another classroom, learning how to sew in a bigger room or at the hairdressing salon situated just outside the centre. They were not having their hair done. Some who have opted for hairdressing training, stay in the salon to learn and provide hairdressing services to the community around the area.

In the beautifully landscaped garden, two women sat quietly on a swing, reading. They were ill and therefore excused from attending lessons. That’s the thing. As I am writing this, I have only realised how quiet it was at the centre. Nobody was shouting, talking loudly or laughing. The sort of things you would have expected in boarding schools or classrooms. I wouldn’t say that the women looked miserable or depressed. Very often, they just looked curiously at me and many even smile, but the overall feeling was sombre.

The New York Times have been featuring a  column about some of the women rescued by Somaly Mam. The writer managed to interview two women and here are their stories. The following account is taken from Nicholas D. Kristof’s articles. I feel that there is no need for me to re-write what he has eloquently wrote. For the full article and other related topics,  please click on this  link: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/sexual_slavery/index.html?8qa&scp=1-spot&sq=&st=nyt

These are what they do to them

(From “The Evil Behind the Smiles”)

Sina is Vietnamese but was kidnapped at the age of 13 and taken to Cambodia, where she was drugged. She said she woke up naked and bloody on a bed with a white man — she doesn’t know his nationality — who had purchased her virginity.

After that, she was locked on the upper floors of a nice hotel and offered to Western men and wealthy Cambodians. She said she was beaten ferociously to force her to smile and act seductive.

“My first phrase in Khmer,” the Cambodian language, “was, ‘I want to sleep with you,’ ” she said. “My first phrase in English was” — well, it’s unprintable.

Sina mostly followed instructions and smiled alluringly at men because she would have been beaten if men didn’t choose her. But sometimes she was in such pain that she resisted, and then she said she would be dragged down to a torture chamber in the basement.

“Many of the brothels have these torture chambers,” she said. “They are underground because then the girls’ screams are muffled.”

As in many brothels, the torture of choice was electric shocks. Sina would be tied down, doused in water and then prodded with wires running from the 220-volt wall outlet. The jolt causes intense pain, sometimes evacuation of the bladder and bowel — and even unconsciousness.

Shocks fit well into the brothel business model because they cause agonizing pain and terrify the girls without damaging their looks or undermining their market value.

After the beatings and shocks, Sina said she would be locked naked in a wooden coffin full of biting ants. The coffin was dark, suffocating and so tight that she could not move her hands up to her face to brush off the ants. Her tears washed the ants out of her eyes.

She was locked in the coffin for a day or two at a time, and she said this happened many, many times.

Finally, Sina was freed in a police raid, and found herself blinded by the first daylight she had seen in years. The raid was organized by Somaly Mam, a Cambodian woman who herself had been sold into the brothels but managed to escape, educate herself and now heads a foundation fighting forced prostitution.

After being freed, Sina began studying and eventually became one of Somaly’s trusted lieutenants. They now work together, in defiance of death threats from brothel owners, to free other girls. To get at Somaly, the brothel owners kidnapped and brutalized her 14-year-old daughter. And six months ago, the daughter of another anti-trafficking activist (my interpreter when I interviewed Sina) went missing.

(From “If this isn’t slavery, what is?”)

Anyone who thinks it is hyperbole to describe sex trafficking as slavery should look at the maimed face of a teenage girl, Long Pross.

Glance at Pross from her left, and she looks like a normal, fun-loving girl, with a pretty face and a joyous smile. Then move around, and you see where her brothel owner gouged out her right eye.

Yes, I know it’s hard to read this. But it’s infinitely more painful for Pross to recount the humiliations she suffered, yet she summoned the strength to do so — and to appear in a video posted online with this column — because she wants people to understand how brutal sex trafficking can be.

Pross was 13 and hadn’t even had her first period when a young woman kidnapped her and sold her to a brothel in Phnom Penh. The brothel owner, a woman as is typical, beat Pross and tortured her with electric current until finally the girl acquiesced.

She was kept locked deep inside the brothel, her hands tied behind her back at all times except when with customers.

Brothel owners can charge large sums for sex with a virgin, and like many girls, Pross was painfully stitched up so she could be resold as a virgin. In all, the brothel owner sold her virginity four times.

Pross paid savagely each time she let a potential customer slip away after looking her over.

“I was beaten every day, sometimes two or three times a day,” she said, adding that she was sometimes also subjected to electric shocks twice in the same day.

The business model of forced prostitution is remarkably similar from Pakistan to Vietnam — and, sometimes, in the United States as well. Pimps use violence, humiliation and narcotics to shatter girls’ self-esteem and terrorize them into unquestioning, instantaneous obedience.

One girl working with Pross was beaten to death after she tried to escape. The brothels figure that occasional losses to torture are more than made up by the increased productivity of the remaining inventory.

After my last column (“The Evil Behind the Smiles”), I heard from skeptical readers doubting that conditions are truly so abusive. It’s true that prostitutes work voluntarily in many brothels in Cambodia and elsewhere. But there are also many brothels where teenage girls are slave laborers.

Young girls and foreigners without legal papers are particularly vulnerable. In Thailand’s brothels, for example, Thai girls usually work voluntarily, while Burmese and Cambodian girls are regularly imprisoned. The career trajectory is often for a girl in her early teens to be trafficked into prostitution by force, but eventually to resign herself and stay in the brothel even when she is given the freedom to leave. In my blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground, I respond to the skeptics and offer some ideas for readers who want to help.

Pross herself was never paid, and she had no right to insist on condoms (she has not yet been tested for HIV, because the results might be too much for her fragile emotional state). Twice she became pregnant and was subjected to crude abortions.

The second abortion left Pross in great pain, and she pleaded with her owner for time to recuperate. “I was begging, hanging on to her feet, and asking for rest,” Pross remembered. “She got mad.”

That’s when the woman gouged out Pross’s right eye with a piece of metal. At that point in telling her story, Pross broke down and we had to suspend the interview.

Pross’s eye grew infected and monstrous, spraying blood and pus on customers, she later recounted. The owner discarded her, and she is now recuperating with the help of Sina Vann, the young woman I wrote about in my last column.

So Somaly saved Sina, and now Sina is saving Pross. Someday, perhaps Pross will help another survivor, if the rest of us can help sustain them.

 

The 21st century slavery (Part II)

Victims for victims, women for women, human for human

The woman responsible for resonating the voice of trafficked victims in Cambodia is Somaly Mam. Some of you might have heard of her, some of you might not. She is the driving force and “the face” of the Somaly Mam Foundation and AFESIP.

I have never met her in person but I have seen pictures of her and there is no doubt that she is a beautiful woman. In 2006, Glamour Magazine named her “Woman of the Year”. She was an Olympic flag bearer in the Torino Game 2006 and on top of the different international awards she received for her effort in combating human trafficking, she has been photographed with many famous international celebrities and influential people.  It’s almost as if everyone just can’t get enough of her and she seems to be the perfect person for the job.

They say that beauty is power and Somaly certainly uses it to her advantage. She spends most of her time promoting her cause and does it successfully in terms of generating funds and support for the foundation she runs. (Check out the foundation’s website at http://www.somaly.org.)

The thing is, her beauty is definitely not her only recipe for success. What separates her from other personalities such as Nicole Kidman, Darryl Hannah, Petra Nemcova and Susan Sarandon (all famous celebrities who speak out on violence against women) is that she too was a victim of sexual slavery. Being sold by her adopted father at a young age, she had endured all sorts of unspeakable acts including being gang raped, held at gunpoint, stripped naked and tortured. So, when she speaks on behalf of these women, she brings a different but yet powerful dimension to those who are willing to listen. 

Which is why, I find it a tremendous honour to have the opportunity to work with her organization, not just because she is famous or because I am a woman. It’s simply because I’ve come to realise that Somaly Mam has used her past experience as a victim to benefit all the other women she vows to rescue.

She understands and knows what these women need from a realistic point of view, including finding ways to prevent them from falling into the same trap again. Therefore, AFESIP seeks to provide a rather holistic approach towards protecting, rehabilitating, training and reintegrating the women back into their communities with the opportunity for employment. It is often rare to find an organization that goes through the whole nine yards to make sure that victims are able to regain hope, dignity, self-confidence and independence.

The following articles will focus on the struggle and challenges faced by those who have suffered and those who are trying to help.

 

The 21st century slavery (Part I)

When we talk about slavery, the first image that pops out is hard labour camps where human beings are being forced to work long hours with very little food or clothing, often followed by harsh whipping. Then, we thought that these days are over as we become a more civilized nation. Unknowingly, slavery still exist today. Unfortunately in many different forms.

In the next coming days, I will attempt to write a series of articles touching on a specific form of slavery which happens to be something which I am working on at the moment. It will not be an intellectual or legalistic piece of article because I believe that I do not have the authority nor the expertise to tackle this topic from those perspectives. What I can offer is the limited knowledge I have learned from working and reading about this topic in the last few weeks. In addition to that, I’ll share my thoughts and feelings on this matter, which has been occupying my mind a lot during these days.

Human Trafficking and Forced Prostitution

When you read the title above, it sounds like a mouthful. Well, it is definitely hard to swallow when you think about the many implications it brings. In fact, if you think further, it is not such a new human rights violation. Centuries ago, women have been trafficked to serve as sexual slaves to Kings and Emperors. At that time, it was normal and expected because there was no laws to prohibit such practice and anyone beneath the King was merely an object with no rights, freedom or independence. The person’s life was at the mercy of the King, an institution to be revered and worshipped at any cost.

Women are often forced into sexual slavery during wartimes. Who will ever forget the images and stories of women who were forced to serve more than 100 soldiers at a time during the second world war? They were not only raped, they were also forced into treating such violation of their bodies and dignities as a duty. Unfortunately, when the whole world is at a brink of a global war, anything that threatens the core of humanity is expected to be senselessly ravaged by those who hold power, no matter how unjustified it is.

So,  it was nothing out of the ordinary but what’s extraordinary is that this abominable act  is still happening today despite legal enforcement of the notion that everyone is entitled to preserve his or her physical integrity and dignity. Now, there are national and international laws which specifically prohibit the trafficking of human beings and forced prostitution.

What entitles it to be called the 21st century form of slavery is that many of the victims will die of HIV/AIDS by their 20s. Besides this, nobody has really paid much attention to forced prostitution until a few years ago. The plight of trafficked women and children  were silenced by the sensitivity surrounding its nature. Those trafficked and forced into prostitution were unable to express their forced volition and violations due to shame and a sense of helplessness. Those who had initially started off as voluntary smugglers and then tricked into prostitution were afraid that they would face criminal charges if caught by local authorities. 

Hence, many people were deceived into believing that these sex workers were voluntary prostitutes who deserve to be ignored and condemned. Since it relates to sex, it should be buried under the sand. And since it was “invisible” to the human eyes, who cares? What you don’t know won’t hurt you. A fate that was sealed by the silence and ignorance of society.

This is no longer true because those who were lucky and  courageous enough to live to tell the tale has managed to gain our attention and hence lend voice to many others who are still subjected to such cruel and inhumane treatment.

The “D” words

I am currently volunteering for an organization that supports the work of a local NGO (named AFESIP) dealing with this issue. As a woman, I naturally feel a lot for this cause but I believe that as human beings, whether you are a man or woman, we have the ability to feel the plight of others. But feeling is not enough because nothing will change unless we learn to do something about it.

Perhaps, we are unable to move mountains on our own, but if we combine our forces together, nothing is impossible. You can make a huge Difference by taking these small actions; Disseminate this information to everyone you know, Discuss this issue vigorously to create genuine awareness and above all Discourage the act of human trafficking and forced prostitution.