Generally man are trafficked for forced labor in agriculture but also they are used as slaves in construction industries and for fisheries too. As it's easy to imagine, women are trafficked for sexual exploitation and also they are forced to work as servants. Furthermore, talking about children, not only they are smuggled for sexual aims but also they are forced to work in organized begging rings. As I said before, Cambodia has also become the destination for this illegal activity. In fact, a 2005 report estimated that about 2000 victims were trafficked in Cambodia and the 80 per cent of them were women and girls from Vietnam and China.
The causes of the human traffic in Cambodia are various. According to the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Traffic (UNIAP) this particular form of exploitation of human beings has increased in Cambodia due to an high number of factors such as poverty, socio-economic imbalance between rural and urban areas, lack of unemployment and education. Moreover, the International Labour Organization argues that the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime is still felt both psychologically and economically and that it still plays a role in the sexual exploitation and human trafficking.The upheavals caused by the lack of opportunities in the poorer and rural areas have plumped a strong return to the cities that were almost emptied during Pol Pot dictatorship. During the past years, Cambodia faced big problems in providing decent work for its younger population, perpetuating the cycle of vulnerability to human trafficking.
To prevent this phenomenon, the Cambodian government has recently raised awareness through posters, television, local theaters and radios. In 2006 these prevention efforts reached an incredible number of people, especially students, when police conducted an awareness raising company among 23,000 students in Seim Reap and Phnom Penh.
However, the Royal Government of Cambodia is not left alone in the battle against human trafficking. The United Nations are supporting the development and implementation of national, bilateral and regional policy frameworks, action plans and capacity building. That includes also the training for governments officials. In addition, in 2000 was established the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Traffic. This agency is so important not only because it promotes the involvement of appropriate NGOs in the fight against the trade of human being, but also because it facilitates the cooperation between NGOs and the local Government. It also offers different services, such as the protection and reintegration of trafficking victims and the prosecution of the traffickers that may be arrested.
The problem of human trafficking and how to deal with it is still an open question. The international community and NGOs are, in my opinion, the only ones that can really do something about it and, as I said before, things are starting to move in the proper direction.
I want to conclude my work by linking an interesting video, taken from the France24 English Youtube channel.
Nicola Zaninello
Sources: http://www.no-trafficking.org ,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_Cambodia ,
http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-2009-03-23-voa20-68797892/411883.html ,
http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/cambodia
18/11/2012
RispondiEliminaThis post explains very well the situation in Cambodia.
It’s always sad that while we continue our comfortable life, in many countries the majority of people don’t have anything, and this doesn’t happen only in Africa as many people think.
The problem of trafficking is not the only one because the majority of Cambodians live on less than a dollar a day and obviously this absolute poverty mainly affects children.
In fact, Cambodia is the country with the highest rate of infant mortality and the first cause is malnutrition that leads to serious mental retardation, an inefficient immune system, serious heart problems and epilepsy.
So in this way many children die before the age of 5 years old: if children die, a country can’t have a future. I trust in the work of Cambodian government with the support of the United Nations and I agree with it, but I’m sceptic too.
Isabella Juvarra
Questo commento è stato eliminato dall'autore.
RispondiEliminaThe problem of human trafficking in a country is, in my opinion, a considerable proof of the whole system: it flourishes where corruption, poverty, starvation, miserable health conditions are present in a more incisive way. And on these points the Government has to intervene, but it is surely necessary the help of specialized non-profit organizations and international agencies (such as the UN Inter-Agency). Human trafficking needs for its final solution a general awareness campaign that could explain to the families and communities, living in poorness, that handing over children and women to the traffickers entails a life of slavery and desperations. Human beings are not simple goods, and their value are not quantifiable in a modest amount.
EliminaAnother important step for limiting this social plague could be to bring the traffickers (but also who abuses of this phenomenon) to justice, increasing the punishment as a discouragement.
With your article you have been able to enlighten us about the problem of human traffic. What are happening in Cambodia is so different from our actual situation that it’s seem so difficult even to imagine what Cambodian people are experiencing. We have been lucky enough to live in a country where human right are granted by an efficient control, but not everyone are so lucky. However many countries, located in Far East and Africa are not so lucky.
RispondiEliminaTwo big question arise from your article. The first one is how could we help to stop this failure of the system and I think that the answer could be to raise awareness of the problem, not only in Cambodia, but all over the world. Actually People that are kidnapped from Far East are very often brought to western counties.
The second question is if all this are happening because of us, because of our prosperity. If we could be able to stop exploiting eastern countries for our profit, to stop making use of prostitution and to stop using child traffic for our purpose, maybe we would be able to eradicate human traffic from all over the world.
An important step in the fight against trafficking in human beings is the Protocol adopted in Palermo in 2000, an international agreement between the United Nations and other 117 countries.
RispondiEliminaThe purpose of the Protocol is to promote, through international cooperation, the investigation and criminal prosecution of criminals. The first objective can be found in an attempt to protect and assist the victims of these heinous crimes in full respect of human rights. This is the first instrument, globally, aimed at combating trafficking in human beings and the only one that attribute a universal definition against this crime. A great step forward which must be accompanied by strong measures relating to the commission of the offense and to a commitment by governments and civil society to combat this serious violation of human rights.
Anna D'Amico.
It is really sad that people have still to suffer situations like the one we have read about Cambodia. I think goverment should do more for their population; If a state can not guarantee the security of their population, how can we call it a state? People are not a bargaining chip and for that reason can not be used as a thing. I agree with what Isabella said about to born in a different country can make a such big difference... It should not be like this, every person in the world should have the right to have a family, to go to school and to fell safe in his/her own country. It is not admissible that in nowadays there is the trafficking of human beings.
RispondiEliminaCaroline Bastos
What to say, every country have to face different issues. Different societies are the result of different cultures and in the case of Cambodia the historical human trafficking is one of their dark characteristic. As you have underlined sometimes the people responsible of this illegal activity are friends or relatives, this show both: how much desperate are some class of the society and how common is this practice that even closer people sell you to the underworld. The first “generation” of human right that chronologically appears in the history lists the right to freedom. This essential right is abused and limited every day in a lot of places. It’s important that ASEAN organization is slowly paying attention to the serious challenges of south east countries. In 2007 ASEAN member countries have committed themselves to the fight against trafficking in persons. To prevent trafficking, to identify and protect the victims, and to ensure that offenders are punished they need to cooperate and to access to all the data that they need. In order to satisfy their requests the international organization for migration make a publication in the same year with all the mainly information. As the post says one of the best tool to destroy this problem is the information. Since the edges are the sources of human being for trafficking or smuggling, people that live in the cities (lately come back to life) have to know the situation in order to help their fellow countrymen. Recent campaigns to make other people aware of the phenomenon reached some good results. Often it occurs that the power of knowledge is stronger than any other things. Transparency is the better tool to reduce this aberrant behavior.
RispondiEliminaTo see the publication of the international organization for migration: http://publications.iom.int/bookstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=19&products_id=111