Safe Migration and Reduction of Trafficking (SMART)

Cambodia is a widely known source, transit and destination country for human trafficking. Traffickers sometimes use coercive tactics to trick victims into a tragic cycle of debt bondage, while other times victims are used as loan collateral or sold by their parents. Children are frequently trafficked to neighboring Thailand for begging and street vending while others end up victims of the more lucrative and heartbreaking sex trade. In 2005, the Cambodian Minister of Women's Affairs estimated that 30,000 children were presently involved in the Cambodian sex trade.

Poipet on the Thai-Cambodian border is a well-recognized point of trafficking both out of and into Cambodia. There are at least seven unofficial crossing points along the porous border close to Poipet. Lotus Outreach is supporting a mobile anti-trafficking program which moves from point to point along this border area to provide anti-trafficking advocacy presentations and materials, literacy classes, and referral services to at-risk migrant laborers with the goal of potentially preventing tens of thousands of people from falling into the grips of traffickers. In addition, girls actively engaged in exploitative labor are referred to our formal or non-formal education programs and other services.

Partner: Cambodian Women`s Crisis Center