Opportunity Can Turn into Hell

BY SOY SOPHEA*

POIPET, Cambodia — Instead of going to school everyday, 16-year-old Khon Nor and her four siblings crossed the nearby border into Thailand daily to toil in sugarcane farms in Aranyaprathet district in Sakeo province.

They earned 50 baht (1.25 U.S. dollars) a day, but this was never sufficient for the needs of the family that has a drunken stepfather. It was not long before Nor decided it was time to go into Thailand — and stay there.

After all, she had always thought of Thailand as heaven for people like her. Every morning at seven, the border checkpoint to Thailand opens after the Cambodian national anthem fades away, and thousands of Cambodians make their way across to what many think would be the land of milk and honey.

With the help of an agent, Nor, and other women like her found work in a small family-run garments business. She earned 4,000 baht (about 100 dollars) a month. Nor was extremely happy with her wages, which she hoped would help support her family. Little did she know that she was actually a victim of trafficking.

"After working from morning till late at night for nearly three months, I started getting tired and felling dizzy," she said. "The Thai boss raped me and ordered me to take heroin. In the end, I realised that I had become a drug addict. I only wanted to be sent back home," she said, obviously upset.

"I used to think that Thailand was heaven for me and for other poor Cambodians, but actually it is hell," she added.

With help from the Cambodian Women's Crisis Centre (CWCC) in Banteay Meanchey province, along the Thai border, Nor was able to escape. According to a CWCC official in Banteay Meanchey, who did not want to be named, Nor was heavily addicted to drugs but "she is now getting better and is able to speak to her friends at the centre."

According to CWCC officials, thousands of Cambodian women are in a situation similar to Nor's.
Thai immigration officials estimate that some 10,000 Cambodians cross into Thailand everyday, with one-day passes. However, many do not return home and become undocumented migrants in Thailand. According to Oung Chanthol, CWCC director, at least 9,000 Cambodians, many of whom are women and children, are smuggled into Thailand every year and forced to work as beggars and sex workers.

While there is no reliable data on the trafficking of children in the Mekong Region, estimates by groups like the Bangkok-based Child Workers in Asia say that some 200,000 children from Burma, Cambodia and Laos have been trafficked into Thailand, the main magnet for migrants in the region. Many are trafficked for sex and construction work, and to work in sweatshops.
The group also estimates that 95 percent of child beggars in Thailand are from Cambodia. In March 2004, the Thai police deported 236 Cambodians, of whom 142 were children.

"Our task is to follow up some reports from radio, newspapers, or other communities that have such kinds of cases," explained Moung Mearedey, project coordinator of CWCC that works in the areas of domestic violence, trafficking of women and rape.

"Then, we go to investigate. We often ask the police and the local authorities for intervention to help release victims," she added. "For instance, when we have enough evidence indicating that a brothel or a pimp has cheated a woman into sex work, we have to cooperate with the police and the local authorities to release her."

The organisation also trains women on how to avoid being tricked into being trafficked. "Most victims", she said, are lured by traffickers who tell them, 'If you want to earn a lot of money, please go to work in Thailand where much money is waiting for you.'

After arriving in Thailand, some get jobs as waitresses or fruit vendors for a few days, but soon thereafter they are sent to work in the city's red light areas, and similar places. The best option for victims like these is to run away from the brothels and report to the police, explains Moung Mearedey.

The CWCC offers meals and accommodation to the rescued victims. It also provides them with skills in Khmer literature, sewing, and hairdressing for some six months until they feel more confident to return home.

"The main reason for trafficking is poverty. Therefore, traffickers can easily lure poor women. If the government creates more job opportunities and more development, the number of migrants will go down," said Moung Mearedey.

Besides the CWCC, there are other organisations working with vulnerable groups at the border like the Don Bosco Children's Centre, an Italian-based Catholic organisation here in Poipet, which is known as a hub for business and criminal activities. The centre takes in not only trafficked children but vulnerable children, says Kong Chamroeun, supervisor of the children's centre. The 35 children there now are provided meals, clothing and study materials.

Twelve-year-old Chey Khon, like many of the children at the centre, was brought to Thailand to work as a beggar.

"It was the most terrible situation I have ever been in," said 12-year-old Chey Khon, who hails from Cambodia's eastern province of Kampong Cham. She dropped out of school and decided to go to Thailand with her 10-year-old sister to work as beggars. "I did not know where Thailand was, but I just knew that I had to earn money for my family," she said.

In September 2004, she and her sister were detained for begging. She said that while in Bangkok, they begged money from foreign tourists but not Thais because "The Thai people hated Cambodian people. I did not know why," she said.

On the Thai side of the border, in Aranyaprathet, the World Vision Foundation of Thailand has been trying to tackle the issue of child trafficking from the receiving end. Project Coordinator Yuwarat Chuachuaychoo explains that the project has set up a cross-border network, a drop-in centre in the Rongklua market area, and a referral system -- to ensure the children's safe return home to Cambodia.

The project also provides informal education in Thai, Khmer, math and agriculture and has facilities for sports, and counselling.

According to Yuwarat, about 250 children attend her drop-in centre every month. "We want to reduce the number of children exploited along the border of Thailand and Cambodia," she said. "I believe that if they all get an education they will not go to Thailand,"

Choun was brought to Bangkok to beg. "I was hit if I did not get money," the 12-year-old explained.

She came to Thailand after her father remarried when her mother passed away. A Cambodian couple told her that she could earn a lot of money in Bangkok - and promised to take her to the Thai capital if she agreed to share her earnings with them.

Bangkok was a totally different experience. Choun Thon travelled to many places to beg and earned between 300 to 500 baht (7.5 to 12.5 dollars) a day, though half of this went to the agents. She said she dreamt of earning lots of money, eating delicious food and buying nice clothes.

"I felt okay because it was not only I who was begging, but also many other Cambodians. I was really happy to make so much money on the streets," she recalled.

However, things soon changed for the worse. After a month in Bangkok, the Thai police arrested her and other beggars while they were asking money from foreigners. They were sent back to Poipet after being detained for a few days in a Thai jail. "Now I know Bangkok. It is heaven, but for beggars it is hell," said Chuon Thon, who is still a beggar in Poipet.

In Cambodia, the weak enforcement of anti-trafficking laws has ensured that the trade in human beings continues. According to the law, traffickers face 15 to 20 years in prison. "Law enforcement is still poor," said an NGO worker who asked not to be named. "Bribery is also widespread amongst Cambodian officials," he added.

According to a report from Mahidol University's Institute of Population and Social Research in Thailand, trafficked youngsters suffer the most from exploitative child labour. "Children living in a foreign country with foreign customs and language are easily deceived and often treated like slaves," said the report. "In their isolation, they do not know where to turn for help. They cannot use normal channels, and often face discrimination and harassment."

The report, commissioned by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), defines a trafficked child as one "who is recruited and transported from one place to another across a national border, with or without the child's consent". (END)

*Soy Sophea wrote this article under the 'Our Mekong: A Vision amid Globalisation' programme.