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Work Undertaken by the Children/Youth – Siem Reap 2009
100
80
60
93
40
20
39
0
Scavenger
Beggar
18
ConstructionWorker
15
VendorSeller
6
Farmer
6
Stealing
5 4 2 2 2 1 1
Sewing
Laundry
SexWorker
FactoryWork
CarPark
Porter
HouseWorker
1
ShoeShinner
7
NoInformation
Several street children/youth in Siem Reap provided multiple answers to the question
of what activities were undertaken on the streets in order to make a livelihood – thus
working in more than one area. The most common work undertaken is scavenging at
67.4 percent of the total questionnaires, followed by begging at 28.3 percent. Activities
evolving around street vending or construction work were other frequent answers at
10.9 percent and 13 percent respectively. Comparing the trends of this years’ Siem
Reap questionnaire survey to last year there has been a small decrease of children/
youth engaging in scavenging activities from 75 percent in 2008 to 67.4 percent in
2009. A similar tendency applies for begging activities. However, from a methodological
perspective, it is necessary to be a bit cautious when making such comparative analysis
between the two years as this years’ survey entailed more possible answers to the
street activity question. However, there appears to be statistical equivalence between
the two years.
It has been well established that in addition the large number of tourists visiting Siem
Reap and the Angkor temple complex, the local sex tourism industry has also been
developing at a similar rate. Conversely, the data analysis shows that only 1.4 percent
of the street children/youth are sex workers. Analysing this tendency, it appears that most
sex workers are outside the target group of this report. However, it is necessary to keep in
view the stigma associated with sexual topics which might impact on the survey outcome.
CSCN
54 CSCN Street Children Profile 2009