Contact Admin. Cambodian prostitutes stand near a shelter in a Phnom Penh slum, June 10, In a page report titled "Off the Streets: Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses against Sex Workers in Cambodia," Human Rights Watch said police beat prostitutes with fists, sticks, wooden handles, and electric batons and on occasion rape them in detention.
All of the interviewees reported paying bribes or having money stolen by police officers, the report added, while they were held in dismal conditions. The new law criminalizes all forms of trafficking, including forced labor. Authorities have since then conducted brothel raids and street sweeps, but rights groups say that the new law has worsened exploitation, and Human Rights Watch said police have used the law to justify harassing sex workers.
The new law is broad enough that it can be used to criminalize advocacy and outreach activities by sex worker groups and those who support them. Chou Bun Eng, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, dismissed the report and warned against "making generalizations," adding, "Bad people will take advantage of any law.
Human Rights Watch said it had conducted more than 90 interviews and group discussions with female and transgender sex workers in the capital, Phnom Penh, as well as in Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, and Siem Reap. In its latest report on human rights in Cambodia, the U. State Department said Cambodia remains "a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for sexual exploitation and labor," including children.
In Phnom Penh, people detained in so-called "beautification" street sweeps "typically lost all money and belongings in the course of a sweep; in at least one case, an HIV-positive woman lost her medication and authorities would not provide substitute medicines. Original reporting by RFA's Khmer service. Translated from the Khmer by Poly Sam. Link to original story on RFA website.
