Cambodia's Children

Cambodia is struggling due to the after effects of the Khmer Rouge regime. The country has always been underdeveloped, but the Khmer Rouge regime's destruction of all social, health, educational, and financial systems can still be felt 30 years after the regime toppled. The children and their families are greatly suffering. Over 36% of all Cambodians live below the official poverty line. More than half of Cambodia 's 13 million population are under the age of 18. [1]

Sexual Exploitation
Sexual abuse and exploitation is by far one of the largest and most depraved humilities faced by the children of Cambodia . "Debauchment," the act of corrupting, is the lawful euphemism used in Cambodia when referring to underage sex.

Up to 26% of all Cambodian children are forced into child marriages and one third of all prostitutes in Cambodia are children under the age of 8 years old. Many young girls are forced to sell their virginity at a high price before being put to work in various brothels, or pimped out by violent or abusive older men.

Many young boys who live on the streets in urban centres are also sexually exploited. They are often forced to take on the roles of rent boys, or young male prostitutes. This sickening practice is becoming alarmingly more common in recent years. [2]

Children as young as 5 years old are being sold for sex in Cambodia, and children of the age of 12 have recently been cited as "too old" for the trade. Each year, around 30,000 boys and girls are bought, sold, kidnapped, or forced into having sex with adults.

Unfortunately, many tourists fuel this terrible and harmful trade. They visit places such as Martinis, a nightclub where young girls outnumber men 10 to 1, and where many of them can be bought or sold for just a few dollars.

Lots of girls are sold or "rented" for days at a time - it can cost around $600 to rent a child for up to three days. These children are often paralysed with terror, and their abusers choose to ignore it. Because Cambodia is such a poor country, some children are even sold by their own families, in order to raise money. [3]

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