How it Happens

The 'sex workers' operate out of brothels run by pimps.  Most of these brothels are owned through organized crime.  This type of organized crime is the third largest in revenue, bringing in $7 billion globally, behind guns and drugs.


Most girls, as young as 5 years of age, are forced into sex labor by being either sold into it by their parents in order to repay a debt or to make money for their family, being that this part of the world is developing and is significantly poor.


Others are tricked by friends or acquaintances, telling the girls that they are getting them a job at a business like a coffee shop, then instead selling them to a brothel for hundreds of dollars in some cases.


After the capital city Phnom Phen was raided after complaints about human trafficking, the organizers of the brothels moved their businesses to outside provinces.  This became successful with much lower prices because of other markets thriving in the area, such as fishing.  Girls will charge about the equivalent of 2 or 3 dollars, giving half to their pimps, and earning up to 25 dollars a week for themselves.

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