Cambodian Sex Workers Raped, Beaten, and Electrocuted by Police

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-07-22 17:00:00 UTC
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Following up on a report detailing violence against women in Cambodia, Human Rights Watch felt the need to do a follow-up solely focusing on sex workers in the country. As you can guess from the special attention being given to them, it's not all sunshine and roses for sex workers in Cambodia.

Police officers in Cambodia have a nasty habit of extorting, beating, and raping sex workers, and shocking them with electric batons. The problem of abuse by law enforcement has reached a fever pitch since Cambodia instituted legislation criminalizing sex work under threat of sanctions by the United States for failing to prevent human trafficking. Unfortunately, instead of really trying to protect victims and prosecute traffickers, police are using the anti-trafficking guise as an excuse to harass and mistreat women in the sex work industry; RH Reality Check calls it declaring "open season on sex workers."

The U.S. has begun to recognize the massive worldwide problem that is sex trafficking, but in foisting policies upon other countries to address the issue, it must be careful not to worsen the situation for many women. Within the human trafficking community debate exists as to whether criminalizing all sex work is the best way to protect victims of trafficking, while many women's rights advocates, myself included, are concerned with defending the rights of sex workers to make decisions for their bodies and practice their trade free from violence. In Cambodia, a history of police corruption and violence should have been a warning that criminalizing sex work would endanger many women, which ought to have given America pause before insisting on such a law. And it also appears that law enforcement is doing little real work on behalf on trafficking victims, making this both harmful and useless.

Wherever you fall on the spectrum regarding whether or not sex work should be legal, America should at least be opposed to empty gestures against trafficking. All this does is make life more difficult and dangerous for women.

Photo credit: Helga Weber

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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