Camryn Sippy

Paying the Grim Reaper

Imagine you are in great debt, this amount of debt is challenging to pay off. Over time it
accumulates, sending you further and further into the dark depths of poverty. Then you hear of a
solution. Imagine you have a daughter, young and pure; she still holds her innocence. You have
been given the option to sell you daughter to repay your debt. Despite the difficult position it
puts parents in, the child sex trade of Cambodia has been the main way to pay off debt for those
living in the country.
For years the sexual exploitation of adolescents in Cambodia has been a way of life for families
hoping to pay off debt and continues to be an acceptable alternative. Girls are sold at ages as
young as four to brothels to perform sexual acts on tourists that come to the country seeking
cheap sex. Most families are either tricked into thinking their daughters are going to work for a
modeling agency or to become a waitress, yet some know what they are selling their daughters
into. These families are unable to make enough money in factory jobs or in the fishing industry
that the well being of their daughters is rarely considered.
Yet is it really worth it? Child sex trafficking is seen as an acceptable way to pay off debt, yet the
effects are deadly. The economy of Cambodia and has been unstable since the overrule of the
Khmer Rouge that lead to the Cambodian Genocide. Since then, the religious, educational, and
social structures have struggled to rebuild. Due to the need for work in Cambodia, large
corporations are investing in the country to produce their cheap goods. This onslaught of
confusion has led to the deep poverty of most areas in Cambodia.
Cheaply produced products made in Cambodia are being sold in the United States. The workers
are paid extremely low wages, most live on less than fifty cents a day. These low wages make it
impossible for people to pay off their loans, sending people deeper into poverty: And with
wages in countries such as Thailand and China on the rise, Cambodia is likely to become even
more attractive. (Singh)
A great amount of the poverty-stricken population of Cambodia lives in makeshift houseboats on
the rivers and outskirts of the country, a country where brothels disguised as karaoke bars line
the streets. Most families fish to make a living yet fishing isnt always a mean of steady income.
Many face debts that to us may not seem that extensive, yet are insanely high to them. One
Cambodian riel is equal to about 0.00025 US dollars. These families that are selling their
daughters are in debt up to 9000 US dollars because of loans and medical expenses. (Hume,
Cohen, and Sorvino)
The child sex trade seems like a promising way to make money because families are promised to
make up to $800 for their virginal daughters. For $800, a sex tourist will take a virgin to a hotel
where she is drugged and raped for up to three days, then returned to her mother. She is then sold
off again for stints up to 6 months in brothels, where she is drugged and raped 3-6 times a day,
then beaten and imprisoned: Gang rapes are becoming more common, and many of the
attackers don't use condoms. Instead, they share a plastic bag.Poor women, they have been

raped by eight, 10, 20, 25 men.They receive a lot of violence." (Rivers) Most women rescued
from these brothels are living in safe houses and suffer from severe psychological trauma.
These girls are abused with such aggression that some attempt to commit suicide: "I went to the
bathroom and cut my arms. I cut my wrists because I wanted to kill myself," Toha says. A friend
broke down the door to the bathroom and came to her aid. Not long after her suicide attempt,
Toha was sent to a brothel in southern Cambodia. She endured more than 20 days there, before
she managed to get access to a phone, (Hume, Cohen, and Sorvino) A study performed by
EPCAT in 2009 found that 37% of sex slaves in Cambodia are children and have four times the
risk of attempting to commit suicide. (UNICEF: A statistical snapshot on child abuse in East Asia
and the Pacific)
Suicide is seen as the only way out by many girls in the sex industry because one does not
simply just walk away from it. It is the price that is paid when young girls are sold into the sex
trade industry to pay off debt. This is the effect that cheaply producing large corporations have
on the country of Cambodia. The child sex trade of Cambodia is not going to disappear unless
these low paying corporations disappear. The replacement of these large corporations with
smaller, better paying companies is whats going to help protect these young girls.
Word Count: 825
Works Cited:
Hume, Tim, Lisa Cohen, and Mira Sorvino. "'The Women Who Sold Their Daughters into Sex
Slavery." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2013/12/world/cambodia-child-sex-trade/>.
Hume, Tim. "Child Sex Trafficking: Why Cambodia? - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network,
12 Dec. 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/09/world/asia/cambodia-cfrwhy-history-child-sex-trafficking/index.html>.
Rivers, Dan. "Girl, 6, Embodies Cambodia's Sex Industry." CNN. Cable News Network, 26 Jan.
2007. Web. 12 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/01/23/sex.workers/index.html>.
Singh, Puneet P. "Cambodia Economy Defies Global Trend." BBC News. BBC, 25 July 2013.
Web. 13 Feb. 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/news/business-23429693>.
"UNICEF: A Statistical Snapshot on Child Abuse in East Asia and the Pacific."Child Safe
Tourism UNICEF A Statistical Snapshot on Child Abuse in East Asia and the Pacific Comments.
Child Safe Tourism, 02 Sept. 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2015. <http://childsafetourism.org/unicefstatistical-snapshot-child-abuse-east-asia-pacific/>.