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Child Trafficking

Child Trafficking

Photographs used are from a portrait photography workshop, and were taken by Riverkids children of each other. They are not related to the topics discussed.

Trafficking is coercion and exploitation. We consider child trafficking as the separation of a child from family and a normal childhood primarily for profit.

Like most NGOs, we use the U.N. Trafficking Protocol definition of child trafficking: the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of any person under the age of eighteen for the purposes of sexual or labor exploitation, forced labor or slavery.

In Cambodia, widespread corruption and poverty combined with a weak judicial and police force makes it difficult to prosecute child traffickers. But, big strides have been made with shelters established, successful prosecutions and growing awareness.

In the community we work in, child trafficking is generally in three forms: illegal adoptions, child labour and child prostitution.

Child Labour

Child trafficking for labour is when a family sells a child for exploitative labour. Exploitation can mean the child is too young to be working full-time, or that the work is dangerous for a child. All the children in Riverkids work for their parents, from domestic chores to pitching in during fishing season or harvest. Some of the children sell flowers, candy or food at night, on top of school and chores. In desperately poor families, a child’s labour is essential. At Riverkids, we target exploitative child labour, such as when a child is forced to drop out of school entirely or the employers are abusive.

Child Prostitution

Cambodia is notorious for child prostitution. The worst places have been shut down, but foreign pedophiles still use the country as a corrupt and cheap haven, while local demand for prostitutes has grown for younger teenage sex workers. Many of the Riverkids children come from families where a parent, sibling or relative has been involved in sex work. Abusive families are also more likely to allow abuse of their children. Either parents approach the trafficker or the families are tricked by promises of a good job for their daughter. When the parents are arranging the sale, the girl usually co-operates because she believes it is her duty. For boys, sex work is usually limited to occasional street work, not brothels. The sold child is watched closely and often beaten, drugged and raped into submission. Once they have been broken, they’re usually allowed to visit their families and paid wages. Sex work has become a comparatively lucrative job for young girls in the Riverkids community. A foreign ‘boyfriend’ can support an entire family, versus the initial $200-$400 for virginity, with $1-$5 a time subsequently.

Illegal Adoption

Child trafficking for adoption is when a family gives up a child primarily for payment. If they were not being paid, they would not relinquish the child. It’s culturally accepted in Cambodia and fairly common. Private informal adoptions by Cambodian families involve a “mother’s milk” price to recompense the birth family for the cost of the pregnancy, but this often becomes an outright purchase. The saddest part of this is that Cambodia has many orphans who desperately need families, but because child trafficking ensures a steady supply of healthy infants with perfect papers, these children are left behind.

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