Man goes undercover to combat child sex slavery
source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/09/cambodia.wus.child.sex.trafficking/
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Phnom Penh, Cambodia (CNN) -- Aaron Cohen first met Jonty Thern and her older sister, Channy, in 2005 while singing in a karaoke bar in Battambang, Cambodia. He has come back to see them every year since.
The California native often schedules his trips for November, the month when Cambodians celebrate the Bonn Om Teuk water festival, marking the end of the rainy season.
"The whole country comes together for boat races. Hundreds of thousands of people descend on the waterfront and it's filled with colors and flags," said Cohen. "You know my thoughts about the water festival always include Jonty, because she and her sister would get a day pass during the festival."
There was a smile on his face when he started the sentence, but by the time he had finished, it was gone.
Abolishing slavery
Cohen is a human rights advocate. He founded a charity called AbolishSlavery.org last year, but his work freeing victims of human trafficking began more than a decade ago.
A bad problem getting worse
According to the NGO, End Child Prostitution, Abuse and Trafficking (ECPAT), as many as one-third of all sex workers in Cambodia are children. Government entities, including the U.S. State Department, are pressuring countries like Cambodia to do more to stop the modern-day slavery epidemic.
"We are making major strides in the fight against human trafficking. But it is a major problem, we know that," said Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca, who leads the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. "You have estimates as to the number of people in servitude worldwide and it's anywhere from 12.3 million on the low end as cited by UN's International Labour Organization -- to as many as 27 million people on the high end.
The California native often schedules his trips for November, the month when Cambodians celebrate the Bonn Om Teuk water festival, marking the end of the rainy season.
"The whole country comes together for boat races. Hundreds of thousands of people descend on the waterfront and it's filled with colors and flags," said Cohen. "You know my thoughts about the water festival always include Jonty, because she and her sister would get a day pass during the festival."
There was a smile on his face when he started the sentence, but by the time he had finished, it was gone.
Abolishing slavery
Cohen is a human rights advocate. He founded a charity called AbolishSlavery.org last year, but his work freeing victims of human trafficking began more than a decade ago.
A bad problem getting worse
According to the NGO, End Child Prostitution, Abuse and Trafficking (ECPAT), as many as one-third of all sex workers in Cambodia are children. Government entities, including the U.S. State Department, are pressuring countries like Cambodia to do more to stop the modern-day slavery epidemic.
"We are making major strides in the fight against human trafficking. But it is a major problem, we know that," said Ambassador-at-Large Luis CdeBaca, who leads the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. "You have estimates as to the number of people in servitude worldwide and it's anywhere from 12.3 million on the low end as cited by UN's International Labour Organization -- to as many as 27 million people on the high end.
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