Children playing in the centre of Phnom Penh. Prohibitive school fees are one of the reasons children do not attend school, notwithstanding the bribe requested by corrupt teachers to let pupils in. Photo (c) peripheries

Prostitution and sex work are particularly difficult subjects to comment on. They are heavily loaded with emotional and often irrational charge especially when trafficking and children are taken into consideration. I would usually leave these topics to more qualified commentators such as Laura Agustin, but I’ll make an exception when HIV is involved.

What prompted this posting is an article by Cliff Newell published in The Lake Oswego Review online. This article embodies most of what is wrong when trafficking and sex work are debated in the media and this from its very opening line spoken by Shari Newman, a member of World Vision, who went on a “mission” to help children in Cambodia: “It was emotional”.

So, what’s wrong with Shari, World Vision and lazy journalism?

“… the statistics on child sex trafficking in Cambodia are still overwhelming” said Shari, but are they? In 2003 the Cambodian police investigated over 400 human trafficking-related cases. The Ministry of Interior claimed that 153 individuals were arrested for trafficking and trafficking-related offences (quoted here). Official reports may be dubious so let’s look at a report from an NGO well-known for its work with children (and sometimes for its “blame the tourists for sex work and trafficking” stance)  ECPAT-Cambodia which says that, “it is estimated that 20.2% of the country’s sex workers are trafficked and of 20,829 sex workers in brothels, massage parlors, streets and nightclubs in 2003, 3.7% were children”. ECPAT-Cambodia reported the percentages of child prostitutes below 16 years old ranging from 1% (ADHOC 1999), 3% (Arensen 2004) and 8% (CHRRC 1997) to almost 26% (Thomas/Pasnik S2) depending on the sources. This is in stark contrast with the claim that child sex trafficking is still overwhelming and with “The statistics faced by Ear-Dupuy and her World Vision colleagues are these: 5 million Cambodians are trafficked in sex and labor.” Out of a population of roughly 15 millions, this would mean that one-third of the Cambodian population is trafficked in sex and labour. – Overwhelming –

Bar Girls in Phnom Penh. The “glamourous” face of sex work targetting tourists. Real sex work goes on away from touristic spots, caters for locals and has recently been driven underground by repressive laws. Photo (c) bmoshaughnessy @ Flickr

When it comes to HIV, writer Newell stresses “a huge HIV/AIDS rate” in Cambodia though the 2008 UNAIDS report on the HIV epidemics quotes the figure of 75,000 people living with HIV/AIDS (including approx 5,000 children) and a prevalence of 0.8% compared to 18.7% in South Africa. – Huge –

Newells also writes that “Selling sex is one way to make dollars in Cambodia. “Sex tourists” from all over the world, especially the U.S. and Asia, come looking for young girls.” But the Cambodian Ministry of Interiors figures in 2005 showed that there were 665 reported child sex offences in Cambodia, resulting in 280 investigations and 397 arrests. A little over 1% of offenders were foreign nationals (quoted here). – From all over the world –

The ECPAT report (which only considers cases reported or dealt with by 22 NGOs working on the ground in 2003/4) provides further interesting information about the traffickers. In 2004, 63% of the traffickers were women, 19% were family members (40% in 2003), and 11% were friends or neighbours of the trafficked person. Remarkably many of the trafficked people are foreigners who have even fewer rights than nationals.

And that’s only a few of the many things that are wrong with Shari, World Vision and lazy journalism.

Why is it important to correct this? It is important because people who are on a “mission” often ignore the needs, will and wishes of those they aim to save. It is important because their actions are based on ideology, beliefs, dogma and blind ignorance. World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization whose actions are based on the teaching of the Bible who they believe “is to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God”. Such beliefs have little in common with the root cause of HIV, sex work and “trafficking” and don’t care much about understanding people, misssionaries act on belief, not raison.

David Beckham advertises for Gillette in the centre of Phnom Penh. The omnipresent images of Western culture and life style are a driving force of migration for people looking to improve their life. Migrations in Cambodia start de facto in “The West”, where missionaries come from and where they should stay. Photo (c) peripheries

Then when zealots like Shari are on mission to “rehabilitate prostitutes” that is to restore them to a useful place in society, they deny women (and men) the very right and freedom to chose and decide what they want to do with their life and a social identity other than that of powerless victims with no self-determination. They simply ignore the reality and complexity of life in a poor country like Cambodia and the motivation leading women and men to sex work. Migration, rather than trafficking, is a complex process that does not always lead to sex work and is not always a business conducted by profit-driven thugs. But missionaries simplify and reduce complexe situations to the point of objectifying women, sex workers and migrants even further. They divert attention from the real causes of sex-work and the HIV epidemics. They divert resources and energy away from those who really need support (men who have sex with men and IDUs in Cambodia) because these do not fit the pious and romantic image the orphans and widows offers. They cast off the kind of support that would clearly make a difference, like condoms, health service and rights for sex workers and MSM and clean needles for IDUs.

This is important because the response to trafficking in Cambodia which resulted in the 2008 Law on the Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation encouraged gender discrimination and increased the danger of sex work concluded a report published by Cambodian Alliance for Combating HIV/AIDS (CACHA) along with 11 local, international and governmental organisations. According to the report “by regarding all sex workers as victims, the 2008 anti-trafficking law conflates women who have been trafficked with women who consent to sex work, thereby diverting attention away from traffickers”

In complete contradiction with what many think, “Less than 1 percent of [1,116 female sex workers] said they were sold into prostitution, and more than 90 percent said sex work was their best available job option.” The key word here is “best available job”.

Women, and men, have a limited number of options to make a living and sometimes limited freedom to choose an option. Selling fruit on the roadside for a few dollars is one option. selling sex for a few more is another. Photo (c) peripheries

Police crackdowns on brothels resulted in a lower level of HIV education amongst sex workers, restricted access to health services and more dangerous working conditions for women in the trade. In brief the exact opposite of what was planned. “[An] entertainment worker led and controlled programme can play a much more effective role in combating trafficking … than law enforcement approaches,” says the report.

Missionaries like Shari believe that sex workers are always victims, that nobody –and certainly not a decent woman, can possibly choose to sell sex willingly and that if offered with the possibility to flip burgers in a Mc Donald they would. But would they? There is little evidence that this is the case, mostly because there are not that many Mc Donald in Cambodia. Their solution? Confining women to traditional craftwork, or offering them goats a tad colonialist, demeaning and patronising but reassuringly decent.

Missionary approaches are misguided and do not really solve anything.

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