Prevalence,
Abuse & Exploitation of Street Children In the first decade
of the 21st Century gvnet.com/streetchildren/Cambodia.htm
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CAUTION: The following links and
accompanying text have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation
in Cambodia. Some of these links may
lead to websites that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even
false. No attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to
verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspect(s) of street life are of particular
interest to you. You might be
interested in exploring how children got there, how they survive, and how
some manage to leave the street.
Perhaps your paper could focus on how some street children abuse the
public and how they are abused by the public … and how they abuse each
other. Would you like to write about
market children? homeless children? Sexual and labor exploitation? begging? violence? addiction? hunger? neglect? etc. There is a lot to the subject of Street
Children. Scan other countries as well
as this one. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. Teachers Check out some of
the Resources
for Teachers attached to this website. ***
FEATURED ARTICLES *** Eat To Live:
Feeding Pol Pot's children Julia Watson, Posted
at EARTHtimes.org, Phnom Penh, 21 May 2007 ki-media.blogspot.com/2007/05/eat-to-live-feeding-pol-pots-children.html [accessed 1
September 2011 January 2011] These, though, are
not the food of the poor, but popular snacks. What the city poor eat in this
staggeringly impoverished country is what they can scavenge from garbage
dumps, those putrid-smelling piles of rubbish mixed with plastic bags and
food scraps piled on every street corner and in every gutter. The
visible city poor are children, as young as 5 years old. Their parents more
than likely have HIV/AIDS, or have sent them in from the countryside to
support the family. This is a nation of no contraception. When foreign
NGOs distribute birth control methods in the villages, they are seldom used;
farmers need workers in the fields. In the city and towns, children are
useful earners as beggars or prostitutes -- for their families if they have
one, for themselves if not. So long as tourists support them, there is no
incentive to seek out the few opportunities for education. As you sit on the
sidewalk outside in the steaming Cambodian night, eating the mild local fish
curry happily named Fish Amok, children below the age of 7 stagger by
barefoot with small babies on their shoulders. Some drag boxes behind them.
When they want a break from their begging, they crawl into them for a brief
rest and to bottle-feed their tiny charges as the tourists buy a 10 cent
shoeshine while sipping their ice-cold beer. Tots doing trade Debbita Tan, The
Star (Malaysia), September 20, 2008 thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/9/20/lifefocus/2033597&sec=lifefocus [accessed 13 April
2011] khmerization.blogspot.com/2008/09/tots-doing-trade.html [accessed 25
November 2016] But the essence of
Cambodia that affects most visitors, if not all, must surely be the
resilience of its street children.
They teach you that survival means taking a step forward each time you
are about to be shoved a step back. In
short, if you are a street kid in Cambodia, it is all about survival. Earning
another dollar means buying a bit more time and a bit more of life. A dollar
can go a long way here. Visitors often arrive
with images of the Angkor temples in their minds and leave with memories of
the local folk in their hearts. Even
harder to forget would be the faces of the street children. They don’t have
the luxuries of their counterparts in other countries. They are trying to sell something every
other minute just to ensure their survival.
One child told me, “No, no school for me. No play for me. You buy
postcards, please? I give good price.”
These kids will do anything to get through the day. They will play you
a medley of tunes using the handmade flutes they are hoping to sell. They will pose with snakes coiled around
their little necks in exchange for payment. Their desperate situation also
means that they are a prime target for child prostitution and child sex
trafficking. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor U.S. Dept of Labor
Bureau of International Labor Affairs, 2005 www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/cambodia.htm [accessed 26 January
2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Street children engage in scavenging, begging, shoe
polishing, and other income generating activities. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, March 8, 2006 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61604.htm [accessed 7 February
2020] CHILDREN
-
Child abuse was believed to be common, although no statistics were available.
A domestic NGO estimated that more than 1,200 street children in Phnom Penh
had no relationship with their families and more than 10 thousand children
worked on the streets but returned to their family homes in the evenings. It
was estimated that there were between 500 and 1,500 children living with
their families on the streets in provincial towns. A local NGO reported a
monthly intake of approximately 60 street children into its shelter for
vocational and literacy training. The NGO reported observing 80 to 100 new
children on the street every month. The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans,
and Youth Rehabilitation (MOSAVY) provided lower statistics, reporting 3,084
street children nationwide. In June 2004 the
governor of Phnom Penh began a controversial roundup of street children who
were deemed "an eyesore to the outside tourists." The media
reported that government officials stated the children were being sent to an
NGO in Banteay Meanchey Province for drug rehabilitation. Many children were
released on the roadside outside the city and subsequently returned to Phnom
Penh; however, some children were never accounted for, and no NGO claimed to
have received them. Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 2 June 2000 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/cambodia2000.html [accessed 26 January
2011] [28] The Committee
recommends that the State party ensure that all the rights enshrined in the
Convention are enjoyed by all children, without any distinction. The
Committee further recommends that the State party take effective measures to
eliminate discrimination against girls, in particular with regard to their
access to education. Efforts need to be made to eliminate discrimination
against children living and/or working on the streets and children belonging
to minority groups, especially of Vietnamese origin. On the mean streets
of Poipet
[PDF] May Titthara and
Eleanor Ainge Roy, The Phnom Penh Post, Poipet, 22 June 2009 www.gouttedeau.org/fileadmin/csn/Justin/Poipet_article.pdf [accessed 13 April
2011] GANGLAND RULES - According to
Kheav Bory from the rights group Adhoc, most of Poipet's street children are
organised into gangs, which are usually about 50 to 60 members strong. The older gangsters, generally aged between
20 and 25 years, make their living "leading" the group, and the
younger members pay the older members to take care of them. I know the things I do are bad for society,
but society does not care about me. In return they are offered protection
from rival gangs, food and often drugs - usually glue or metamphetamine - to
feed their addictions, which Adhoc claims many gang members actually
encourage as a means to control the children.
Drug use is endemic, while physical and sexual abuse is common and likely
to go unpunished, Kheav Bory said. "The local authorities largely ignore
the gangs of street children, as they have no way to make money off of
them," Kheav Bory said.
"They will only act when the gangs turn violent towards each
other, or robberies become too frequent." CAMBODIA: Methamphetamine
usage rising UN Integrated
Regional Information Networks IRIN, Phnom Penh, 21 August 2008 www.irinnews.org/report/79917/cambodia-methamphetamine-usage-rising [accessed 10 March
2015] Shirtless, with
crude tattoos and scabs on his upper arms, 24-year-old Thom has been living
on the streets of Phnom Penh for the past four years, one of a growing number
of youths struggling with their addiction to crystal methamphetamine, also
known as “ice”. NEW DRUG OF CHOICE - The NACD report
also says there has been a shift in usage, mainly by Cambodian youth who have
switched from glue-sniffing to “ice”.
In 2000 a survey produced by Mith Samlanh, a local NGO that
rehabilitates street children in Phnom Penh, found that 12 percent of street
children were using methamphetamines. By 2007 the number had jumped to 87
percent. But what is more alarming is
the increase of methamphetamine use among street children aged 12-18, while
usage among those in those aged 19-25 declined over the same period. “In 2000, when the substance users first
started using drugs, it was sniffing glue,” said David Harding, technical adviser
for drug programmes at the NGO Friends International. “Now, over the years,
`meth’ has become easily available and turned into the new gateway substance
for street kids.” “We are now
starting to see small numbers of kids at the age of eight using meth,”
Harding added. Travel Blog:
Cambodia - country of children - Wednesday, 30
Jan 2008 10:17
Anna Kainberger,
Travel Blog, 30 Jan 2008 www.travelbite.co.uk/travel-news/asia/cambodia/travel-blog-cambodia-country-children-$485000.htm [accessed 13 April 2011] Phnom Penh is also
a city full of begging street children; orphans living in the street trying
to survive on the money they are able to beg from tourists. In perfect English these children will
explain to you that they want your half-drunk can of coke because they are
starving. If you want to do something
for these kids you should gather them together and take them to dinner or
lunch at any of the local food stalls.
You can feed ten kids for as little as US$3-4. There is also a lot of
organised begging and book selling going on in the capital and I was not sure
if the kids were actually able to keep the money or had to hand it to a
superior. Student documents
plight of Cambodian street children Clayton Norlen, The
Daily Utah Chronicle, July 30, 2007 streetchildrennews.wordpress.com/2007/07/30/student-documents-plight-of-cambodian-street-children/ [accessed 16 January
2017] In Phnom Penh,
Cambodia, it is common for children living on the streets to beg, sell books,
offer shoeshines or fall into the sex trade just to survive. Alder described
scenes in Cambodia where young children between the ages of six and 17 would
carry around infants, rented from mothers, to aid in their begging. According to the
documentary, there are currently 24,000 children living on the streets in
Cambodia. Childsafe.org
explains that the money tourists give to children who are begging or selling
items doesn't help the situation because children are still on the streets
and not in school. The money children make is often split between gangs they
may be involved with or given back to the family members and bullies who sent
them to work on the streets. "Tourists
are unaware that they are contributing to the problems with street children
by giving money to children directly," Garcia said. "Tourists are
adding to the problem because they feel guilty or want the children to go
away." Begging some
difficult questions Nattha Keenapan,
United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF, Bangkok, April 2007 -- (Originally
written for the Bangkok Post) www.unicef.org/thailand/reallives_6619.html [accessed 13 April
2011] Puen, 11, sits down
quietly in the noisy classroom ready to begin his language class. This
shelter is not new to him and many of his classmates are not strangers. The
children at Ban Phumvet, who range from two to 17 years old, have been
rescued from the street and will stay at the shelter before being sent back
to Cambodia. Many, like Puen, have been through this process before; and many
will be back again. "I went back
to Cambodia [after being caught last time] and found that my father had left
us for another woman" said Puen. "Now my mother and I don't have a
home. My mother told me to come here again to beg so that we will have enough
money to build a house. She said I can go to school when we have the house
and she will buy me a bicycle. Festival with a
heart for change The Star (Malaysia),
December 17, 2006 ki-media.blogspot.com/2006/12/festival-with-heart-for-change.html [accessed 13 April
2011] They recorded the
struggle of the street children’s parents who grew up in a country that had
practically returned to medieval times. And they’ve been recording the lives
of those children, too. But they grew tired
of taking pictures of dead-end kids living in sad conditions. Stepping out of
the detached, journalistic role they’ve had to play all these years, these
photographers decided to do something for the children. About Angkor
Photography Festival Stuart Isett,
Consulter le lien, actuphoto, 2007-12-08 www.actuphoto.com/3808-about-angkor-photography-festival.html [accessed 13 April
2011] OUTREACH: STREET
CHILDREN AT THE HEART OF THE FESTIVAL - The Angkor Photography Festival
organizes an outreach program for Siem Reap’s street children. In October
2005, two workshops were conducted for them: one on photography and another
on self-expression through a combination of dance and photography. Antoine d’Agata
introduced the children to photography as a means of articulating their
perception of the world. The children, the majority of whose parents are
handicapped from landmine blasts or afflicted with AIDS, created a
photographic mosaic with pictures of their lives. Consortium for
Street Children At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 21 September
2011] There are 1,200
street-living children in Phnom Penh; 10,000 to 20,000 street-working
children, and hundreds of children who are living with their family on the
streets. Children In
Cambodia Mith Samlanh
Friends, Cambodia At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 21
September 2011] During this period
of rapid change in Cambodia, in Phnom Penh in particular, lone children as
well as entire families are finding themselves in new situations. The entire
structure of many families was destroyed as a result of the massive killings
and separations during the Khmer Rouge regime. Mealtime
of Street Children Editorial --
Submitted by: ThaRum, 26 May 2005 editorials.cambodia.org/2005/05/mealtime-of-street-children.html [accessed 13 April
2011] As a shoes polish
boy in the city of Phnom Penh, he work more than 8 hours a day, much more
than ordinary people. Unfortunately he earns much less than them Rays of Hope on
Dark Streets in Phnom Penh Antonio Graceffo,
Readers' Submissions, Tales of Asia www.talesofasia.com/rs-37-streets.htm [accessed 13 April
2011] www.mekong.net/cambodia/rays.htm [accessed 25 November
2016] The boys told me
that they could buy a large quantity of glue for only 5,000 Riels ($1.20
USD), which they could earn in a day of begging and shinning shoes. But if
they didn't have the 5,000 Riels, there was a nice Khmer lady who purchased bottles
of glue, and resold it in smaller containers for as little as 500 Riels. Information about
Street Children - Cambodia [DOC] This report is taken from “A Civil Society Forum for East and South East Asia on Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Street Children”, 12-14 March 2003, Bangkok, Thailand At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 21
September 2011] Malnutrition is
high (35% of all street children registered in 2002 displayed stunted
growth). Poor mental health is an
issue for street children who show low self-esteem and exhibit
self-destructive behavior. AIDS Orphans Turn
to Streets for Survival Vannaphone
Sitthirath, Inter Press Service News Agency IPS, Phnom Penh, Jun 29, 2004 www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=24415 [accessed 14 April
2011] www.ipsnews.net/2004/06/rights-cambodia-aids-orphans-turn-to-streets-for-survival/ [accessed 25
November 2016] Samnang would soon
turn to the streets of Phnom Penh for survival. ''His grandmother is old and
cannot go on providing for him and his sisters. He will be forced to the
streets,'' said Marot. ''Samnang will be
treated with trepidation because he's sick and will be segregated. Other
people in the community also treat him very badly. It really has an enormous impact,''
he added. ''He will have no choice but to turn to the streets.'' ''HIV/AIDS is one
of the main factors that push children into difficult circumstances like
being street children, being beggars and so on,'' said Marot Lost and Found - Children Orphaned by AIDS are Finding a
Home in the Pagoda Michelle Vachon, The
Cambodia Daily, Weekend Saturday, October 6-7, 2001 www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/selected_features/lost_found_1.htm [accessed 14 April
2011] www.cambodiadaily.com/archives/children-orphaned-by-aids-are-finding-a-home-in-the-pagoda-648/ [accessed 25
November 2016] “We try so hard,” said Muny Vansaveth. “For
10 years, it was very difficult—we had no funds. We wanted to protect them
from being sold to prostitution.” During a recent
visit, Homeland had 409 children under its care—street children, AIDS
orphans, kids returning after being sold to work in Thailand. Children have to agree to discipline, to
handle their share of chores and to go to school in order to live at the
center; they are free to leave at any time.
Homeland workers send children back to their families only after
investigation. Mao Lang refuses to let the older sister of 13-year-old Try
Raksmei take her back home; she believes Try Raksmei’s sister will sell her
again to the broker who took her to Thailand to work. Try Raksmei has been at
the center one year. Street children World Vision
Australia - Connect - Street Children At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 21
September 2011] [scroll down] SOKHOM’S STORY - As a young
teenager, Sokhom thought he could help his parents escape poverty by finding
work in the city. He left their small farm in rural Cambodia and found
a job as a construction working in the capital, Phnom Penh. But the heavy
labor was too difficult for him. Sokhom became one of the thousands of
children living on Phnom Penh’s streets, begging for food and sleeping on the
ground because he couldn’t afford to return home. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this webpage as: Patt,
Prof. Martin, "Street Children - Cambodia", http://gvnet.com/streetchildren/Cambodia.htm,
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