A new law that requires 100-percent condom use among sex workers in Cambodia --
where prostitution was recently outlawed -- has left sex workers all the more
vulnerable to arbitrary detention and human rights abuses.
* Women and girls in Cambodia learn how to protect themselves from
human trafficking. © Advocacy ProjectIn February 2008, Cambodia outlawed
prostitution as part of a new law addressing human trafficking. Since then, sex
workers and their allies have vehemently protested the legislation, staging
days of action and other events to draw attention to the brutality of the
police crackdown that followed the prohibition of prostitution. In contrast,
some groups, including anti-trafficking organizations, have voiced support for
the new law, calling it ''a watershed because it criminalizes a wide range of
trafficking offenses, from sex slavery to bonded labor.''
* As the country with the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection in the
region, condom use is key to health in Cambodia. The government's 100-percent
condom use stipulation, however, has backfired against sex workers and the
civilian population in general as many police are now arbitrarily detaining
anyone carrying a condom on the alleged grounds that they sell sex. To read
more about health and human rights in Cambodia, visit OneWorld UK's Cambodia
country guide.
Cambodia: Sex workers, 100% condom use and human rights
Cambodian sex workers have taken to the internet to make their plight and fight
for human rights better known. In Cambodia, a 100% condom use law which states
that sexual exchanges with clients have to take place with condoms on sounds
like a good idea, but it has been turned against those it is supposed to
protect, by being used as a means to imprison sex workers, using the fact that
they carry condoms with them as evidence for them doing sex work.
Sex workers arrested are sent to “rehabilitation” centers that are basically
prisons, where women are held in communal cells with no bathrooms or running
water, hardly receive food or water, some are beaten and raped, and are denied
Anti-retroviral drug treatment for HIV positive women.
The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers has a series of studies of the
perceived results and effects of the 100% Condom Use Program according to sex
workers in different countries, such as Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. You can
also see the video the have uploaded on their Blip.tv channel Sex Workers
Present, where a comprehensive video with explanations of the implications of
the 100% condom use program, interviews with women who have been arrested or
sent to “rehabilitation” facilities where no type of education or training is
received, and how these programs that connect condom use exclusively with sex
workers are not going to be able to impact HIV and STI propagation among the
rest of the population. The Asia pacific Network of Sex Workers recently won
the 2008 international Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights at the
International AIDS conference in Mexico City the first week of August. The
organization was founded in 1994 and has been
working with sex workers on health and human rights along with other
organizations and groups such as Empower Thailand, Sweetly Japan, Pink Triangle
Malaysia, the Scarlet Alliance Australia and Sonagachi.
The following video is named Caught between the Tiger and the Crocodile:
----- Original Message ----
From: khmerization junior <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Nokoreach <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 10:29:50 AM
Subject: [angkoriansociety] Thailand Wants A Piece Of The Preah Vihear Cake
Dear All,Cambodia's Minister of Defence Tea Banh has agreed with Thai PM to
jointly develop the Preah Vihear areas with Thailand. I believe that this is
tantamount to conceding Cambodian territorial integrity to Thailand. The areas
are belonged to Cambodia and should be transferred to Cambodian control first
before any ageement to develop to the areas. Here is the excerp from my
article:
"When Mr. Samak was talking about "promoting tourism at Preah Vihear temple",
he was talking about sharing the Preah Vihear tourist dollars between Cambodia
and Thailand. This is an insult to injury and a double robbery because while
the issue of "Thai occupation" of the Preah Vihear areas had not been resolved,
Thailand now turned its attention to acquiring benefits from the Preah Vihear
temple."
To read the full report click below:
Thailand Wants A Piece Of The Preah Vihear Cake
If you don't want to receive any message from Khmerization, please send an
email with the message "please remove my address from your mailing list".
Khmerization
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