Cambodia: YUON CRIMINALS ACTIVE IN PROSTITUTIONS(4/6)[EN&KH]

Poor Vietnamese might also try to get some money by going to beg in Cambodia. Especially in Neak Leung one can observe many Vietnamese kids begging for money. Some of them came along with their parents who sell food or toys, while they try to get some extra income through begging. We found no organized begging groups as in Thailand. Perhaps this is because, as a representative of the Vietnamese association in Phnom Penh suggested, they have too much competition from the Khmer beggars of whom they are afraid.

The decision to go to Cambodia is not only made because of financial need, but also because of financial ambition. More money can be earned in Cambodia, according to many informants, because doing business is not restricted with as many regulations and does not require as much capital compared to Vietnam. But also in day labour or in commercial sex work, more money can be earned than in Vietnam. A Vietnamese girl in a brothel in Kompong Som recounts how she was attracted by her friend's wealth earned in Cambodia:

"I followed my friend to come here. She lived in the same village and she had lived in Cambodia before. I saw that she had jewelry and that she had brought money to her home. So I asked her to bring me to Cambodia."

Besides the attractions of earning easy money, going to Cambodia can for some be a welcome escape from their situation at home. Several women interviewed wanted to be away from their husband, boyfriend, or family and therefore going to Cambodia was an attractive option to them. Often, these women had negative experiences being divorced, violated or betrayed. One Vietnamese woman said:

"My husband and I were divorced and I was very sad. I did not want to meet him anymore. So I came here. There was no-one who forced me to come here."

Going to Cambodia is a chance to get away from the sad experiences and to live in a completely new environment. Although this escape is often seen as temporary, they hope to benefit from it emotionally as well as financially. For others, the excitement of having some fun or having some adventure and change in their life is the prime reason to come to Cambodia. A 28 years old prostitute in Svay Rieng commented:

"I heard that it is great fun living in Cambodia. I wanted to enjoy myself, so I decided to come here."

A Vietnamese woman in a karaoke shop summarized why, according to her, Vietnamese are coming to Cambodia:

"There are many complex problems in our society that we cannot understand. There are some people who come here because they were sad, because they had problems. Others came because they were very poor... In Vietnam there are very rich and very poor people. There are mainly the poor people who come to Cambodia... Here one can work for other people and earn much more money than in Vietnam... But [the young girls] mostly were deceived to be sold here."

VIETNAMESE WOMEN TRAFFICKED TO CAMBODIA

A better known purpose of recruiting Vietnamese is the recruitment, often deceptive or exploitative, of women and girls for prostitution in Cambodia. The recruitment processes in these cases are more similar to what was described in the survey on trafficking of Cambodian women and girls to Thailand. Unicef writes that "criminal groups" which are "highly organized, extremely violent, and often involved in other criminal activities" sometimes control the trafficking in women. Since this survey was geographically limited to Cambodia, it was not possible to find out about the extent and activities of the "criminal groups" that are involved. A representative of the Vietnamese in Phnom Penh estimated that every month about twenty young Vietnamese girls are brought to brothels in Cambodia. However, another Vietnamese representative in Kompong Som expressed concern about getting too involved in this issue, because "they will hire people to kill me."

In this survey, we found that in most cases the recruitment of young Vietnamese women for prostitution in Cambodia operates on a small-scale level. Recruiters target one or a few girls at a time, in order to provide a family member, friend or other acquaintance some extra women in their brothel. The recruiters often approach poor, desperate or divorced women or girls who are receptive to promises of well-paid work in Cambodia. A Vietnamese woman in a karaoke shop in Kompong Som recounted that after her husband left her with her three-year-old child, a woman in her village told her to come with her to work in Phnom Penh. She and five other young women were brought to Phnom Penh, where they were all together sold to a shop in Tuol Kork. Later this woman opened her own shop using the money she got from selling the girls. A 17-year-old Vietnamese girl described, out of own experience, how the recruiters operate to recruit young girls: