Gender Equality Cambodia Project #34719

Support for child victims of sex trafficking

by Hope for Justice

Project Report | Jun 7, 2021
Support for child victims of sex trafficking

By Isabelle Bryan | Project Leader

Thank you so much for joining Hope for Justice in this fight against human trafficking.

Despite the pandemic we have remained committed to delivering specialized support to young girls who are victims of sex trafficking and modern slavery at our Lighthouse in Cambodia, Phnom Penh.

Each girl is given care tailored to their specific needs. On average we support 20 girls every month at our Lighthouse where they receive restorative care to put them on the path to recovery after their trafficking ordeal.

Thanks to your support, we can celebrate success stories like that of Thavy* who was recently reunited with her daughter Kimlay* who was trafficked into a brothel when she was just 15.

Hope for Justice has supported Thavy* and her eldest daughter Kimlay* in Cambodia for three years, providing care and support after Kimlay’s trafficking ordeal, and later providing both with the vital skills and means to create a safe and self-sufficient future.

Single mother-of-five Thavy had been earning a living collecting and recycling plastic and metal, but her cart had broken down, and she had no money to buy another. Desperate to make ends meet, she agreed to let Kimlay leave home and take up an offer of a job in a restaurant.

But Kimlay was then forced into the brothel. After a few months, the brothel was raided by the police, who arrested the owner. We then took Kimlay in at our Cambodia Lighthouse. For four months, our expert team provided care and support to help her gradually heal. Having recovered, Kimlay was then keen to carry out training in a beauty salon. We supported her throughout her training, and helped her find a job in a salon.

Meanwhile, in order to further safeguard the family’s future and reduce the risk of the other four children being trafficked, we worked closely with Thavy too. We provided a new cart for her recycling business, plus financial and parenting training.

With our continued support, she and her other children have now moved from one small room to a house, where they are also able to grow their own vegetables.

The four children are back at school. Kimlay, now aged 18, is living independently and enjoying her job, while also helping to support her family.

Thank you

*name changed to protect victims’ identities

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Feb 8, 2021
Support for child victims of sex trafficking

By Isabelle Bryan | Project Leader

Thank you so much for joining Hope for Justice in this fight against human trafficking.

Despite the challenges that covid-19 has presented, we have continued to deliver specialised support to young girls who are victims of sex trafficking and modern slavery at our lighthouse in Cambodia, Phnom Penh. Whilst following government guidance and safety measures, we remain committed to protecting the health and wellbeing of each child by providing them with tailored care and programmes to meet their unique needs.

In September 2020 we celebrated FIVE YEARS of Hope for Justice’s lighthouse in Phnom Penh, which acts as a transition facility and short-term assessment centre for young victims of sex trafficking, forced labour or forced marriage in the days and weeks immediately after their rescue.

Our intensive program provides crisis support, family and community assessments, clinical interventions, and collaborative planning with government agencies, allowing the girls to either safely transition them back to their families, to appropriate long-term care or to independent living, depending on their age and individual needs.

Since September 2015, nearly 300 children have been served at the Lighthouse after being rescued from trafficking or intense vulnerability to trafficking.

We have also supported dozens of girls through the prosecution process, during which survivors have bravely testified in court against their perpetrators.

Thanks to the ongoing support of our Hope for Justice donors, our Cambodia Director, Maggie Crewe signed an official agreement to continue our partnership with the Cambodian government for another three years in the fight against human trafficking.

Your generosity enables us to support these young girls and continue our fight towards ending slavery.

On behalf of all the lives changed at our lighthouse over the last five years ‘Thank you!’

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Oct 14, 2020
Support for child victims of sex trafficking

By Isabelle Bryan | Project Leader

Thank you so much for joining Hope for Justice in this fight against human trafficking. During this global COVID-19 pandemic we are committed to continuing to deliver specialized support to young girls who are victims of sex trafficking and modern slavery at our Lighthouse in Cambodia, Phnom Penh. During full lockdown we have worked to follow government guidance and safety measures to protect the health and wellbeing of each child. Each girl is given care tailored to their specific needs. In the last quarter, on average 20 girls were supported every month at our Lighthouse where they received restorative care to put them on the path to recovery after their trafficking ordeal.

Thanks to your support, we can celebrate success stories like the recent rescue of three teenage girls from a brothel where they had been forced into prostitution.

The girls, two of whom are aged 15 and one 18, were being held by traffickers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. The brothel – disguised as a bar – was employing children as well as adult women in commercial sex work.

Maggie Crewes, Hope for Justice’s Cambodia Director, said: “We were told these young and very vulnerable girls from the countryside had been held in the brothel for between four and six months.

“They have now been at the Lighthouse for a few weeks so this is just the beginning of their recovery journey. It is early days but the pictures they recently drew at our Lighthouse tell a thousand words – of how they have escaped the dark life they had been plunged into and are now thankfully in safety, and moving towards a brighter and safer future.

“They have come from extremely poor families and for this reason were targeted by brokers as easy prey to be lured by their promise of a ‘good restaurant job’, which actually turned out to be a brothel disguised as a bar.”

Visits are being arranged to their family homes to assess what is in the girls’ best interests for the next stages of their recovery, and whether their families will be more stable and safe if they get assistance with opening a small business or similar income-generating activity.

Maggie said: “Please pray we can find safe solutions for both the girls and their families so they never have to be exploited like this again.”

Hope for Justice is working to ensure the law is brought to bear against the bar owner responsible for trafficking the girls.

Links:

https://hopeforjustice.org/

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