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TOURISM

 

 (i) Introduction

 

Cambodia is becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination. Foreign tourist arrivals to Cambodia jumped from 463K in 2001 to almost 1.5 million in 2005. Despite Birdflu fears in nearby countries, the number of tourists arriving in Cambodia still remains high. The importance of tourism is reflected in the income earned and jobs created. The 2005’s earning was 777 million US Dollars and created approximately 180,000 local jobs. Tourism is one of the six priority areas for The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC).

 

Along with the benefits of tourism, there is also the negative side of attracting unwanted social problems such as drugs, prostitution, and human trafficking. Paedophiles and sex tourists seek out places with weak law enforcement and weak judicial systems. The demand of children for sex does not come from only foreign tourists; domestic tourists also take part in exploiting children. To date, the number of sexually exploited children remains unclear.

 

To address the problem of sexual exploitation of children, World Vision, in partnership with the Ministry of Interior, UNICEF and other international organizations works to strengthen the application of existing mechanisms to prosecute offenders and protect children.

 

Working towards the country’s National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) and the five-year national plan against trafficking and sexual exploitation of children, the Ministry of Tourism signed an Agreement with ILO IPEC on the 29th of September 2005, to promote Child Safe Tourism and prevent trafficking of children and women; it also seeks to involve many partners in the tourism sector such as government, private business, members of the work force, and communities. Other governmental entities who will also take part in the initiative includes: The Ministry of Labour Vocational Training, The Ministry of Social Affairs Veteran and Youth Rehabilitation, The Ministry of Womens Affairs, and the Ministry of Interior.

 

Some of the activities that the group will carry out include capacity building of the entities working in the tourism sector, raising awareness through public campaigns and TV programs, and social services for victims and individuals vulnerable to trafficking. In an effort to generate more jobs, the RGC is promoting the production and the use of local products.

  

Progress

Some of the progress made to date includes hotlines set up in key cities such as Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, and Siem Reap. Through the inter-governmental agencies, the Ministry of tourism conducted the Launching Action Program on Promoting Child Safe Tourism Polices to Prevent Trafficking in Children and Young Women for Labour and Sexual Exploitation in Cambodia on 22 September 2005.

 

 

 

 (ii) Key Issues

 

Though it appears that many issues have been addressed with respect to combating sexual exploitation of children in the tourism industry, Cambodia is far from being a safe place for children. There is still a belief that cracking down on those who sexually exploit children will hurt the tourism industry. For instance, operations such as hotels, guesthouses and Karaoke bars are still not respecting the regulations set forward by the MoT. The owners do not take the training session seriously and often send middle management representatives with little implementation power to workshops.

 

The gap between the rich and poor is still widening as children, trapped in poverty and sometimes violent family life, drop out of school and live on the streets where they easily fall prey to substance abuse, child labour, and sexual abuse. Sometimes they are even sold into sex slavery where they have to work and pay off an exorbitant sum of money to their merciless “owners”.

 

  (iii) Recommendations

 

Recommendations to the Royal Government of Cambodia:

 

 

Recommendations for Donors:

 

 

Recommendations for NGOs:

 

 

For more information on the issues raised in this paper, please contact:

Nuon Rithyniron, Project Manager, Child Safe Tourism Project, World Vision.

Email: rithyniron_nuon@wvi.org, Tel: 855-23-216052

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