Katie Chalk is a writer and researcher who has been working for World Vision in the Asia-Pacific region for the last four years.

It was the search for a story on human trafficking that brought me to Cambodia’s “wild west” border town of Poipet.

Writing on this topic was certainly the edgiest assignment I’d ever undertaken with World Vision. Most everyone in Cambodia knows that trafficking is rife, yet nobody really wants to talk about it.

The Problem
Human trafficking is modern-day slavery. It happens when someone is forced or tricked into life as a slave or servant. The person may be working to pay off a debt that they themselves did nothing to incur, a family debt for instance, or the price that the trafficker paid to secure them.

The scale of the problem is staggering. It is estimated that trafficking enslaves well over 27 million people around the world. Many of these millions are children. Children are vulnerable, trusting and fetch a high price as sexual slaves.

Human trafficking is emerging as one of the world’s most lucrative crime industries, third only to arms and drugs. Like arms and drug trafficking, the trade in human beings is highly organized and transnational. Because it crosses borders and operates below the radar, human trafficking is notoriously difficult to stop.

Nothing to See Here…
“There are no illegal crossings on our border,” said an officer with the Cambodian border police. “Trafficking happens through the immigration post.”

So I went to talk to immigration officials.

“There is no way people can pass through immigration illegally,” said a Cambodian immigration officer. “That would require a high level of corruption from both Thai and Cambodian officials. They cross the border instead.”

In fact, we were told in an anonymous interview, people go willingly and illegally across borders, across rivers and through immigration—hundreds of them every month. As many as half of them are children too young to work.

I asked others who admitted there was a problem, “Why do people go with traffickers?”

Because they are poor, most would say. I was told that in Cambodia general labourers earn $3 a day but in Thailand they can earn $8 for a day’s work.

“Are children trafficked?” I asked. “Yes,” they answered. They would quickly add, “But not on our watch.”

World Vision Fights Human Trafficking
Sleuthing around Poipet’s underbelly felt more like an investigation than reporting. I will even admit to suffering a twinge of journalistic envy that I could not push harder and break the crime rings with an exclusive “hidden camera” expose.

But in fact, what World Vision is already doing is probably more important than that. One major solution to the problem lies in advocacy, in working with governments across borders on their will to change, working with communities to teach them how to protect themselves and understand their rights.

World Vision has formed and joined coalitions that push governments to ratify and uphold legislation, including last year’s groundbreaking Thailand law that finally recognized that boys and men could be considered victims of trafficking.

Last year World Vision also hosted a workshop for border authorities in Poipet, with both Thai and Cambodian officials in attendance to learn about the causes, effects and legalities of human trafficking.

Many of the police we met told us with pride that they had been in attendance.

“The situation is definitely improving,” our anonymous source told us.

No Time to Rest
It’s not time to rest just yet, though. Poipet is still a transient, dirty, relatively lawless little town. Poverty still pushes people to take risks that will cost them dearly.

We met Phu Pean, a grandmother at home with her two grandchildren; her daughter travels across the border to Thailand each day to make shoes at two baht a pair.

“When should children work?” I asked her.

“Oh, once they can talk,” she said. “Then they are able to look after themselves.”

“Your grandchildren are talking now,” I told her. “Would you ever send them to live and work in Thailand?”

She thought. “I would,” she said, “but I don’t know how to find the people that would take them.”

At least she was telling the truth.

What You Can Do to Help
Child sponsorship is one of the best ways to prevent innocent children from being exploited. It assists them to stay in school and helps families out of desperate circumstances by giving them ways to earn an income. Sponsor a child today.

If you suspect someone is a victim of human trafficking, call your local police. If you wish to report a crime anonymously, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.