Thirty years of war has left Cambodia ravaged and poverty-stricken. Since the end of the brutal Khmer Rouge rule, poverty, corruption and global tourism have combined to make it particularly vulnerable to the child labor industry. Children as young as ten years old are trafficked into cities from rural areas to become sex workers or trafficked out to comparatively wealthy Thailand to work as beggars, domestic laborers, or laborers on construction sites. Most of the sex workers are girls, although some of the boys on the streets are working as prostitutes too.
With seventy percent of the Cambodian population living in rural areas, international trafficking gangs target poor rural families, often striking when times are hardest. They offer 'loans' in return for the children which then accumulate huge interest repayments, leaving the children trapped in 'debt bondage' for life.
This program from the City Life series investigates the trade and new efforts by the International Labor Organization and local groups to rescue the children and stop the traffic.
The producer of this program has collected extensive resources at www.tve.org/lifeonline/index.cfm?aid=1154.
The other titles in the series are:
1. City Life - Explores Sao Paolo in introduction to series examining the effects of globalization on people and cities.
2. The Long March - Community in Chengdu, China has organized to clean-up polluted river.
3. The Health Protestors - Health care advocates demand universal health care for the world's population at international convention in Dhaka.
4. Together Against Violence - Poor Jamaican community overcomes violence.
5. Paradise Domain - Pacific islanders are not benefiting from digital windfall or World Wide Web.
6. Pavements of Gold - Increase in urban poverty and population, caused by globalization, threatens Peruvians.
7. Doing the Right Thing - Porto Alegre, Brazil has benefited from urban revitalization.
8. My Mother Built This House - Large homeless contingent in South Africa has organized to build houses for each other.
9. Barcelona Blueprint - Barcelona today is a model of urban planning that may prove sustainable.
10. Gaza Under Siege - The Gaza Strip has been a virtual prison for Palestinians for over fifty years.
11. Waiting to Go - Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are denied human rights.
12. A Fistful of Rice - Protein deficiency threatens generations of children in Nepal.
13. Patently Obvious - International patent regulations only protect multinationals.
14. The Other Side - Poor Mexicans attempt perilous border crossing to US, often at the expense of family, traditional culture, and their lives.
15. The Miller's Tale: Bread Is Life - Efforts are underway in Egypt and Yemen to fortify flour with iron to wipe out needless malnutrition.
16. Brazil: Winning Against AIDS - Brazil has developed generic antiretroviral drugs to care for those afflicted with HIV/AIDS.
17. Missing Out - Anemia threatens the population of Niger and Tanzania.
19. My Hanoi - Tour of rapidly urbanizing Hanoi, and the effect on citizens and culture.
20. Lines in the Dust - In revolutionary programs in Northern Ghana and India, gender roles are challenged, and illiterate adults educated.
21. Paying the Price - Pharmaceutical companies block generic drugs, threatening the lives of millions of Africans with AIDS.
22. Holy Smoke: Cambodians Fight Tobacco - Buddhist monks lead anti-tobacco campaign in Cambodia.
