Celebrate Solutions: Cambodian Coalition Works to End Sex Trafficking

By: Yousra Yusuf, Women Deliver

When many of us envision the life of a girl, we picture her poring over her notebooks and spending time with friends. Yet for trafficked young women, these images are replaced by the reality of long trips from home to an unknown village for the promise of a good job, followed by years of physical and sexual abuse. Human trafficking is the third largest crime industry in the world after drug and arms trafficking. Globally, about 2.5 million people are in forced labor at any given time, with the majority—1.4 million—working in Asian countries. Trafficking is especially rampant in Cambodia—over 2,000 victims were trafficked into the country in 2005. Fortunately, there are NGOs working to make a difference. Last year, the Coalition to Address Sexual Exploitation of Children in Cambodia (COSECAM) released a ten-year report highlighting successful efforts to prevent trafficking and help survivors rebuild their lives.

In 2001, four NGOs joined together to form COSECAM, based on the motto, “One stick breaks easily, but one bunch of sticks is unbreakable.” By 2011, the coalition had expanded to include 24 organizations across Cambodia. COSECAM's organizational strategy is to work with partners to ensure the availability of a wide variety of anti-trafficking pro-survivor programs. COSECAM achieves its goal by strengthening and building the capacity of NGOs, and increasing cooperation between them.

COSECAM offers advocacy programs, such as Child Victim Empowerment/Girls Speak Out, which brings together young trafficking victims to provide mutual support, exercises in confidence-building, and advocacy training. COSECAM also offers rehabilitation and reintegration programs, such as the Victims of Trafficking Vocational Training Fund (VTF) project, which provides participants with career counseling and training. The VTF project is estimated to have helped more than 4,000 clients over the past ten years. Overall, 79% of COSECAM clients reported that the organization’s programs led to an increased quality of life, including greater economic and educational opportunities. COSECAM has increased the number of beneficiaries and has provided educational and legal assistance to clients.

Sex trafficking, the modern form of slavery, is a heinous crime that needs to be directly combated by governmental and non-governmental organizations around the world. Cambodia, with the help of COSECAM, is making tremendous strides in spreading awareness, supporting survivors, and providing hope that sex trafficking will one day be a horror of the past.

To read more about COSECAM, click here.

Flickr photograph via sixintheworld.