'The Storm Makers' puts Cambodia's sex-trafficking under spotlight

[geovalin]

'The Storm Makers' puts Cambodia's sex-trafficking under spotlight

By Astrid Zweynert

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Cambodians say that when human traffickers arrive in a village, they bring a storm and tears with them, an experience that Aya, sold into slavery when she was 16, will never forget.

Her story is at the center of the "The Storm Makers", a documentary by French-Cambodian filmmaker Guillaume Suon, who spent three years filming human trafficking victims and traffickers in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation.

A chilling expose of Cambodia's human trafficking underworld, the film depicts the lives of women like Aya who have returned from a life of slavery abroad, and those preparing to leave the country in the hope of earning enough money to support their families at home.

It also portrays a trafficker who claims he has sold more than 500 Cambodian girls, some as young as 14, without ever being arrested by police.

"Aya's story is a strong example that shows all the reasons why Cambodians become victims of human trafficking," Suon, 32, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Almost 20 percent of Cambodians live below the poverty line and the country lacks a social welfare network to support poor families, its institutions still struggling to recover from the devastation caused by dictator Pol Pot's genocidal regime in the late 1970s.

Aya, now in her early 20s, recently came back to Battambang province in northwestern Cambodia after she was trafficked to Malaysia to work as a maid.

Disabled and unable to support their family, Aya's parents had been approached by a recruiter promising Aya would be able to work in Malaysia in a secure job and send home money.

source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/31/us-cambodia-trafficking-idUSKCN0R001Z20150831

-- Reuters 2015-08-31

[DavisH]

They may also want to run a series on how families sell their children into the local sex trade as well. I'm sure there are plenty of children and young adults working in Pattaya and other locations around south-east Asia who would rather not be there.

[Shermanator]

"It also portrays a trafficker who claims he has sold more than 500 Cambodian girls, some as young as 14, without ever being arrested by police."

I always find it rather strange that the so-called "film makers" put such subjects in front of their cameras to get good material and make their film more "sellable" and then wave those crooks goodbye just like that once the footage is complete, without a blink... If I were cameraman, sound tech, stringer or whomever and I would hear and see someone boasting about selling 14 year olds into prostitution, never getting caught, I'd certainly know what I'd do to that guy after hours. Press and film truly do whatever it takes as long as it suits their cause. Sickening!

Edited August 31, 2015 by Shermanator

[ggt]

Sad commentary on how desperate some poor people become...literally selling their children to unknown people with a promise of receiving a continuous income from the work of their children...

Much of the world is very happy to receive these children into prostitution...with little to no regard to their safety or health...

Thailand is not immune to this scam...sad for the children...damaged emotionally for the rest of their lives...

Edited August 31, 2015 by ggt

[ginocox]

"It also portrays a trafficker who claims he has sold more than 500 Cambodian girls, some as young as 14, without ever being arrested by police."

I always find it rather strange that the so-called "film makers" put such subjects in front of their cameras to get good material and make their film more "sellable" and then wave those crooks goodbye just like that once the footage is complete, without a blink... If I were cameraman, sound tech, stringer or whomever and I would hear and see someone boasting about selling 14 year olds into prostitution, never getting caught, I'd certainly know what I'd do to that guy after hours. Press and film truly do whatever it takes as long as it suits their cause. Sickening!

If they betray their sources, would they ever be able to obtain another story?

[timendres]

"It also portrays a trafficker who claims he has sold more than 500 Cambodian girls, some as young as 14, without ever being arrested by police."

I always find it rather strange that the so-called "film makers" put such subjects in front of their cameras to get good material and make their film more "sellable" and then wave those crooks goodbye just like that once the footage is complete, without a blink... If I were cameraman, sound tech, stringer or whomever and I would hear and see someone boasting about selling 14 year olds into prostitution, never getting caught, I'd certainly know what I'd do to that guy after hours. Press and film truly do whatever it takes as long as it suits their cause. Sickening!

If they betray their sources, would they ever be able to obtain another story?

And if they landed in a Cambodian prison (or worse), the first story would never see the light of day.

That said, you would think they could report the dude upon exiting the country, but they would be reporting him to the very people he is paying to get away with it.

Difficult problem to solve. Telling the story will probably do the most good of any possible action.

[Linzz]

"It also portrays a trafficker who claims he has sold more than 500 Cambodian girls, some as young as 14, without ever being arrested by police."

I always find it rather strange that the so-called "film makers" put such subjects in front of their cameras to get good material and make their film more "sellable" and then wave those crooks goodbye just like that once the footage is complete, without a blink... If I were cameraman, sound tech, stringer or whomever and I would hear and see someone boasting about selling 14 year olds into prostitution, never getting caught, I'd certainly know what I'd do to that guy after hours. Press and film truly do whatever it takes as long as it suits their cause. Sickening!

I get it that you are outraged by the trafficking and are venting but is it sickening that the truth gets out? You should be applauding that there is this kind of exposure .If the criminals got wind that they were in any kind of threat from the film makers then there would be no story they would tell, and you would be none the wiser and not have the chance to boast about what "you would do."

[Berkshire]

"It also portrays a trafficker who claims he has sold more than 500 Cambodian girls, some as young as 14, without ever being arrested by police."

I always find it rather strange that the so-called "film makers" put such subjects in front of their cameras to get good material and make their film more "sellable" and then wave those crooks goodbye just like that once the footage is complete, without a blink... If I were cameraman, sound tech, stringer or whomever and I would hear and see someone boasting about selling 14 year olds into prostitution, never getting caught, I'd certainly know what I'd do to that guy after hours. Press and film truly do whatever it takes as long as it suits their cause. Sickening!

I get it that you are outraged by the trafficking and are venting but is it sickening that the truth gets out? You should be applauding that there is this kind of exposure .If the criminals got wind that they were in any kind of threat from the film makers then there would be no story they would tell, and you would be none the wiser and not have the chance to boast about what "you would do."

Exactly. The Sherman dude should understand basic journalistic rules, the first and foremost of which is to protect their sources. It should be obvious that if sources feared reprisal, they wouldn't be sources in the first place and there would be no story. It's an occupational hazard for journalists, no different than lawyers having to defend scumbag criminals.

[HerbalEd]

"It also portrays a trafficker who claims he has sold more than 500 Cambodian girls, some as young as 14, without ever being arrested by police."

I always find it rather strange that the so-called "film makers" put such subjects in front of their cameras to get good material and make their film more "sellable" and then wave those crooks goodbye just like that once the footage is complete, without a blink... If I were cameraman, sound tech, stringer or whomever and I would hear and see someone boasting about selling 14 year olds into prostitution, never getting caught, I'd certainly know what I'd do to that guy after hours. Press and film truly do whatever it takes as long as it suits their cause. Sickening!

It is documentaries like this one that inform the public, police and government officials about many of the evils of the world that would not otherwise be known. And, without offering the evil doers anonymity they would not come forward to reveal their evil deeds. Yes, it may be making a deal with the devil, but I'd rather the world learn the truth.