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Executive Summary

This report presents trafficking for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation and rape data from 2007 and 2008 in Cambodia collected and collated from 23 out of 32 participating non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Whenever possible, comparison to the ECPAT Cambodia 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 data and available data from other sources is made to better assess trafficking and rape situation in Cambodia. The findings are as follows:

Trafficking Of the trafficking cases submitted by 32 NGOs, 165 cases met the standardized assessment criteria. Some victims were either single or double orphans. The victims were aged between 8 and 46 years old, 41% were under 18. Most of the trafficking victims were between 18 and 25 when they were trafficked. The majority of the victim’s educational attainment was very low, which is consistent with ECPAT Cambodia 2005-2006 data.

71.5% were either illiterate or had only reached a primary school level of education. Most victims of trafficking were single which is consistent with 2005-2006 data. 85.4% of the victims were Cambodian and the rest were Vietnamese. 96.9% were recruited in Cambodia and 3.6% were recruited in Vietnam and trafficked into Cambodia. While most victims were trafficked once, some were trafficked more than once. Some victims were not the only people trafficked from a family. Students, entertainment workers and the unemployed were more often the victims of trafficking than other groups. 14.8% of trafficking victims were raped before they were trafficked. It is unknown if the rapist was also their trafficker. 91.3% said they willingly went with their recruiter because they needed money to buy things, to repay a debt, to pay for medical care or to support their family. However, some were deceived about the true purpose of their migration. Some went with their trafficker out of choice or were willing to take risks simply to escape their situation at home. 35.1% were aware that they were being recruited to be entertainment workers, such as prostitutes, karaoke girls or masseuses.

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*Thanks Mr. Chenda Keo, a Ph.D student at the Australian National University, for the contribution of this paper.