The concept of human trafficking has many facets; however, of concern to CCPCR is the trafficking of young women and children from mostly rural poor rural regions of Cambodia and Vietnam for commercial sexual exploitation. The trafficking of children for commercial sexual purposes is an endemic problem in Cambodia and has become the focus of domestic and international human rights concerns.

Most rural regions of Cambodia are suffering from extreme poverty due to the low value of agricultural production and the long-term effects of decades of civil war. Most provinces experienced years of turbulent Khmer Rouge activities, and the effects of living for decades in dire poverty in regions engulfed by violence have created a volatile, precarious environment in which serious human rights violations continue to prevail.

These poor rural communities have proved to be a fertile environment in which unscrupulous individuals prey on vulnerable young people. Child prostitution rings and sex abusers commonly draw their victims from the poorest families in the communities. Some families have been mislead into believing that they are sending their child away to earn good money to send back to the family, while others have been tricked by people they trust such as friends, other family members, or people posing as respectable business men or women. With the “agreement” of the family, the child is then sold to brothels and locked into sexual slavery. If the child ever gets the opportunity to return to their community they are often confronted by reactions of contempt from the local population and sometimes even their own families, as they struggle with the stigma of their new identity. Social norms attach high value to women’s chastity and stipulate that women remain virgin’s until marriage. Deviation from these norms, even through rape may result in the victim being shunned by society and deemed unfit for marriage.