When International Justice Mission first began conducting investigations in Cambodia back in 2002, we found a small town just outside the capital city of Phnom Penh that was dedicated to the sale of children. Svay Pak was the destination every moto driver in Phnom Penh knew to take men who were seeking “young girls.” Indeed, when our investigators posed as sex tourists in Svay Pak, it was only a matter of moments before they were ushered, greeted by young boys trained as guides, and led into the back rooms of brothels. There in those back rooms our investigators were introduced to dozens of little girls … 12 years old, 10 years old, 8 years old… even 5 years old.
In 2002, sex trafficking was a crime that largely went unpunished. An entire town like Svay Pak existed as a haven for pedophiles, traffickers and brothel keepers, simply because there was no accountability. Even when our investigators first began to bring evidence to the police that little girls were indeed being sold for sex, we saw no response.
Today, Svay Pak is a very different place.
Our team worked tirelessly to develop relationships of trust – and eventually Cambodian officials of good will agreed to partner with us on an operation to bring rescue to the children victimized in Svay Pak’s brothels.
After months of investigation and planning, we were able to bring a first ray of light into this dark place, freeing 37 children in a single day in 2003 – the youngest only five years old (Lanah*, pictured above at the moment of freedom)– from the horrors of forced prostitution.
And Svay Pak itself has been transformed. Lanah and dozens of girls with her were rescued through IJM’s work with the Cambodia National Police. Since then, the tide of rescue has continued to roll: Today, there are no more brothels lining the village’s main street. Children are no longer on open sale to pedophiles. Perpetrators who trafficked little girls, repeatedly sold them, and abused them are serving landmark sentences for their crimes; and the Cambodian National Police, for the past 5 years now, at the request of the Cambodian government, are regularly trained by IJM specifically to combat sex trafficking crimes in this country.
Today, because of the rule of law, Svay Pak is a very different place. It is no longer a town that exists for the sale of children. Many girls who have been rescued now have livelihoods, and have known love and support through the aftercare homes where they have lived and healed. And most astoundingly of all, the brothel that once held so many of the girls we first found being sold in Svay Pak was not only shut down, but it has recently been rented by a ministry partner of IJM’s and now serves as a ministry and community center for the children of Svay Pak.
The issue of trafficking has not been completely eradicated in the community, and the fight goes on. But the changes we have seen so far are a beautiful and true testament to the hope that is possible.
As we commemorate Human Trafficking Awareness today, we celebrate the unprecedented victories that have been won across the globe by governments, ministries, and NGOs joining together, in just a few short years. And yet the work has only just begun.
We long for a final victory to come – a day when trafficking will exist only in history books, when institutions of violence upheld by corruption and impunity will crumble under the weight of the watchfulness of global citizens who have brought the protection of the rule of law, a day when the sale of humans by humans will simply be wholly untenable.
Until that day, I hope you’ll consider joining this fight. You can find action steps on IJM’s Web site, and get regular updates on operations and other frontline work on the blog of the IJM Institute.
