Awareness of Child Trafficking and Domestic Violence

Objectives:

1. To provide child trafficking education to all CHO beneficiaries.

2. To open a safe haven centre on CHO land to provide medium-term shelter to children and single mothers who have been trafficked or are at risk.

3. To reintegrate trafficked children and single mothers from the safe haven back into their communities.

Children are trafficked for the sex trade, for begging, to smuggle drugs and to provide cheap labour in neighbouring countries. CHO works namely in Poipet and other towns bordering with Thailand where child trafficking is a rapidly increasing problem.

One of CHO’s immediate objectives is to promote awareness of child trafficking via training, mixed media presentations, and through liaising with local authorities, churches and other organizations.
CHO visits public schools and villages on the border, running two education programs in child trafficking and domestic violence. CHO runs workshops for teachers, village authorities and church leaders in order to increase awareness of trafficking, thereby reducing its occurrence. Local children and their parents also receive lessons in trafficking recognition, which further decreases their vulnerability.
These programs are run in collaboration with other NGOs and are supported by both the Cambodian and Thai authorities.

The primary means of traffick prevention is to reduce the temptation of a trafficker’s offer. By increasing the possibilities and opportunities in Poipet, children and their parents are less likely to be enticed over the border to Thailand. Therefore CHO has provided volunteer teachers for rural schools and set up vocational programs in order to encourage children to remain at home and gain an education as opposed to seeking employment elsewhere.