SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

Prior to 2008, research documented some brothel-based sex workers who experienced
debt bondage or forms of indentured labour. It was reportedly standard practice for
brothel owners to retain the identity cards of sex workers who were repaying debts to
owners, which restricted capacity to travel. 375 Focus group discussions with entertainment
workers held in 2011 in Kampong Cham, Prek Leap and in Phnom Penh found that debt
bondage is no longer considered to be a problem:
SIT staff and activists said that some waitresses who work and sleep in some big
restaurants along Prek Leap area of Phnom Penh might borrow some money from
restaurant owners, however, none of them had heard about retaining of identity cards
for such small money lending these days. The CPU (Cambodian Prostitutes Union)
members said that money lending still exist between some EWs (entertainment
workers) and karaoke or massage owners due to personal and or family needs of
entertainment workers, however, there’s no indentured labour involved. Two out
of the seven CPU members interviewed said that they borrowed money from the
karaoke owner due to their families’ problem but they are free to work in that shop or
in any other karaoke shops they like or where they can earn more income. 376
Law enforcement approaches
Initiatives of the Royal Government of Cambodia and civil society (with support from UN
and donor partners) have significantly improved the legal environment for HIV responses
among sex workers since 2009. This section refers first to the difficulties experienced
in policing of the sex industry, most of which occurred prior to 2010. It then describes
the progress that has been achieved in developing a more enabling policy environment
through adopting new approaches to policing and HIV risk reduction in the period 2010-
2012.
Police abuses against sex workers were reported during a police crackdown in 2008.
Police reportedly relied on the soliciting offence under the Trafficking Law, public order
offences and rental laws to target entertainment workers. 377 The Trafficking Law has been
criticized for being drafted in an overly broad manner, with many elements lacking precise
definition, enabling arbitrary enforcement against sex workers during the crackdown. 378
Research by Human Rights Watch found that police extortion and demands for bribes
were common in 2008-2009. Sex workers reported incidents of arbitrary detention,
violation of due process rights, beatings, physical violence, rape, sexual harassment, forced
labour, extortion, confiscation of their belongings, and other ill-treatment. 379 During the
2008 crackdown, sex workers were held in two detention centres where human rights
375 Sandy L. (2006) My Blood, Sweat and Tears. 2006 Unpub. doctoral thesis submitted to the Australian
National University, p.143.
376 Serey Phal Kien, Consultancy Report to UNDP, Jan 2012. Focus groups involved Women’s Network for
Unity, Cambodian Prostitutes Union and Save Incapacity Teenager.
377 Cambodian Alliance for Combating HIV/AIDS (CACHA) (2009), The Policies Environments regarding
Universal Access and the Right to Work of Entertainment Workers/Sex Workers, Phnom Penh: CACHA, p.78. Low S.,
(2009) Summary of Key Research Findings for NAA in collaboration with CACHA, WNU, CPU, CNMWD, CCW and
BC, Phnom Penh: CACHA, p.5.
378 Overs C. (2008), op cit., p.3.
379 Human Rights Watch (2010) Off the Streets: Arbitrary Detention and Other Abuses against Sex Workers
in Cambodia. New York: Human Rights Watch; A study in 2006 found one third of a sample of sex workers
in Phnom Penh were gang-raped by police in the past year and one half were beaten by police: Jenkins C.,
Cambodian Prostitutes’ Union (CPU), Women’s Network for Unity (WNU), Sainsbury C. (2008) Violence and
exposure to HIV among sex workers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Washington: POLICY Project USAID, pp.32-42.
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