It’s recently been declared by some that child sex trafficking in Cambodia has been eradicated.
This is a premature pronouncement of mission accomplished.
Sadly, this statement also has the potential to leave thousands of Cambodian girls enslaved in a life of commercial sexual exploitation as efforts to free them are abandoned.
There is no doubt that significant progress has been made in this fight, and celebrating what has been accomplished is a good thing. We celebrate each and every raid and each and every life rescued. But, there is still significant ground to be covered before victory is achieved.
Now is the time to double down on our efforts!
In a recent conversation, Lieutenant General Pol Phie They urged the fight to continue, “Progress has been made in the fight against child sex trafficking in Cambodia but there is still a significant amount of work to do and we cannot stop now. As our leading partner in this fight, we strongly urge AIM [Agape International Missions] to maintain their support of our work in order to continue that progress.”
In part, it seems that the misperception of the situation in Cambodia is the result of a misunderstanding of the evolution of the evil we fight. We cannot judge the current situation solely on the past. We can’t seek the victimized in the places, and in the ways, we did previously. Doing so will only result in a misleading assessment of the present reality.
The face of trafficking is changing, it’s ever-evolving.
As progress has been made in the fight against child sex trafficking, the traffickers have changed where and how they go about doing business.
It has gone underground; it’s now in hiding.
A recent raid on a brothel fronting as a barber shop conducted by Cambodia’s Anti-Trafficking Police and AIM SWAT (AIM Rescue Team) is just one example. Get the full story HERE.
As we continue this fight, evil will continue to evolve and so must those who fight against it.
For Freedom,
Don & Bridget Brewster
Co-Founders of AIM’s fight against sex trafficking