History

 

Although forms of sex trafficking have occured for thousands of years, the first international legislation against it began in 1902 with the International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic to “prevent the procuration of women and girls for immoral purposes abroad.” The United Nations first addressed the issue in 1949 with its Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others.

In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge, the polictial party that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 had a strict anti-prostitution policy. They were associated with the Cambodian genocides and after the party collapsed, the Cambodian government was able to maintain the strict policies to keep trafficking to a minimum. After 1989, however, the amount of trafficking went up considerably and continues to rise.

Here is a brief timeline marking a few economic and politically significant events in Cambodia’s history and how it effects sex trafficking:

• From 1969 to 1973, the US heavily bombed the Cambodian countryside, targeting Northern Vietnamese soldiers and the Cambodian government allowed this to happen. This was during the US Vietnam War. The bombing heavily impacted Cambodia’s infrastructure, caused about 150,000 casualties, and displaced thousands from their homes in the countryside.
• The Khmer Rouge, a brutal communist regime, took over the Cambodian government from 1975 and stayed in power until 1979.
• The regime’s goal for Cambodia was to create a utopian peasant society based on agriculture. In order to achieve this, they evacuated all of the cities and distributed the people around the countryside. This halted all business – international and domestic.
• The Khmer Rouge killed about 1.7 million Cambodians, which made up over 1/5^th of the population. They especially targeted intellectuals, merchants, bureaucrats.
• After 1975 and the removal of the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese were largely in power in Cambodia until 1989. Political instability and economic instability marked the country.
• Since 1989, Cambodian markets have been gradually opening to the global economy and the country has been developing, but it is still a poor nation with a GDP ranked at 121 in the world. This number does not reflect the division between the rich and poor within Cambodia.
• UNTAC in 1992 went into Cambodia to stabalize the environment so that Cambodia could have a general election. The increase in 20,000 troops and personnel caused a huge spike in the demand for prostitution.
• In 1993, UNTAC pulled out of Cambodia and the demand dramatically decreased, but prostitution, brothel ownership, trafficking, and sexual exploitation already had become a way of life for many Cambodians.
• A law was passed in January 1997 to curb trafficking of women, with fines of up to $12,000 and prison sentences of up to 20 years for pimps and brothel owners
• As of April 2007, there were at least 200 different organizations and government ministries set up to try and stop the sex trade in Cambodia

 Source: http://www.hrsolidarity.net/mainfile.php/1996vol06no04/219/

Picture from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/2207321.stm