Brothel busts drive *** workers underground
Written by Cat Barton
Friday, 16 May 2008
A lone, razor-thin girl ****vering 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=92s Street 70
that flourished until recently, when a government crackdown put the
country=92s *** industry under siege.
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 *****sment next month
of the Kingdom=92s anti-trafficking efforts by the US State Department.
But advocates say that new legislation enacted in February to curb
trafficking and ***ual exploitation has really only given authorities
a license to rape and rob =96 evidenced by the spiraling number of
re****ted abuse cases at the hands of police rousting former brothel
workers from their perches in parks and on street sides.
=93What is happening is that the police are confiscating property =96
chairs, tables =96 from outside karaoke bars, they=92re taking
everyone=92s
jewelry,=94 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.
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.
At the heart of the problem, advocates say, is a flawed law that
equates all commercial *** work with human trafficking, what Cheryl
Overs of the Asia Pacific Network of *** Workers (APNSW) calls a
=93conflation of prostitution and trafficking.=94
=93It assumes that *** work is inherently degrading and therefore that
you cannot consent to it =96 like you can=92t consent to slavery =96 so
all
*** workers become victims of trafficking,=94 she told the Post.
Critics of Cambodia=92s =93Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and
***ual Exploitation=94 said it is so broad and open to interpretation by
authorities that even those unwittingly associating with *** workers
can be arrested for trafficking.
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.
Offering one=92s ***ual services for money is now also illegal for the
first time, whereas in the past only pimping and procurement could be
prosecuted.
This zero-sum approach, with its arrests and mass brothel closures,
also does little more than drive prostitutes deeper underground =96 more
vulnerable to trafficking and further away from the legion of public
health groups who have been instrumental in curbing Cambodia=92s HIV/
Aids epidemic.
The Ministry of Health=92s National Center for HIV/Aids, Dermatology and
STD Control has re****ted a recent 26 percent reduction in the number
of women seeking diagnosis and treatment for ***ually transmitted
infections at their family health clinics.
Implementation of the law is =93having serious negative public health
consequences and threatens Cambodia=92s remarkable success in cutting
HIV prevalence from 2.0 percent in 1998 to 0.9 percent in 2007,=94 said
a United Nations, donor and civil society position statement released
May 5.
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.
UNICEF funding and sup****t helped create the legislation but other
world body agencies including the UN=92s 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.
=93At all the agencies, the anti-trafficking wing of one is working
against the other =96 this is more than one hand not knowing what the
other is doing, they are actively working against each other,=94 said
Overs.
=93The Cambodian government itself mirrors that lack of cohesion at the
UN level.=94
One Cambodian institution that is fully behind the new legislation is
the police, according to the force=92s head of anti-trafficking, Bith
Kim Hong, who dismissed concerns over the law=92s impact on the control
of HIV/Aids.
=93NGOs that work with HIV/Aids think differently from the police,=94 he
told the Post on May 13.
=93Stopping [brothels] from existing is better than having brothels =85
when there are no brothels HIV/Aids cannot spread to other people,=94 he
added.
Kim Hong denied re****ts from groups like the Women=92s Network for Unity
(WNU) that large numbers of prostitutes were being rounded up under
the law=92s soliciting clause, only to emerge from jail stripped of
their money and possessions, or showing signs of physical and ***ual
abuse.
=93It 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,=94 he said.
=93We 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.=94
However, this sup****t 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.
=93When orderly organized venues are being closed, it becomes a buyers
market,=94 said Overs.
Cambodia=92s new trafficking law and the ensuing *** industry crackdown
serves as a backdrop to next month=92s re*****sment of the country=92s
anti-trafficking efforts by the US with significant amounts of funding
at risk should the country be downgraded.
Cambodia in 2006 was elevated from the list=92s lowest designation, Tier
3, and has remained on Tier 2 Watch since then.
In an interview with the Post on May 8, US Ambassador to Cambodia
Joseph Mussomeli said =93it=92s a very close call=94 as to whether
Cambodia
is a Tier 2 country or not.
=93The 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.
=93My view is at the highest levels of government there is a genuine
concern for the people of Cambodia that they should not be
trafficked,=94 he said. (Additional re****ting by Thet Sambath)
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