Phnom Penh sex workers hauled to Prey Speu in latest roundup
Fri, 5 August 2016
Mech Dara and Erin Handley

Fifteen sex workers yesterday became the latest of the capital’s “undesirables” forced to call the long-pilloried Prey Speu detention centre home.

The latest targeted detention was criticised by rights advocates and gender experts alike, and comes just two months after Prime Minister HE demanded the centre – a dumping ground for the city’s homeless, addicts, mentally disabled and sex workers – be radically improved or shut down.

Wat Phnom commune police chief Un Sam Ath said the sex workers and two others had been arrested during a sweep of the Wat Phnom area between 8pm on Wednesday and 4am yesterday.

“We did this in order to get rid of prostitute women at the Wat Phnom tourist attraction,” he said. “They cause disorder and insecurity . . . and sometimes when their clients get drunk, they could cause further crime. When we clean them up, it also reduces [crime].”

The arrest falls in a legal grey area – while buying and selling sex are not illegal, under the anti-trafficking law, a sex worker who publicly solicits or “lures” payment for sex can be slapped with a fine.

Keo Tha, education officer at the Women’s Network for Unity, condemned the detention of the sex workers, highlighting that many were not homeless and had families to care for.

“When they are detained at Prey Speu, they cannot look after their children and they miss their HIV medicine – that violates their rights,” Tha said.

UNAIDS country director Marie-Odile Emond said her organisation was working with the Phnom Penh municipality on the issue but likewise expressed concern about the ongoing street arrests.

“t is hard to understand how those women pose a threat to public security,” she said via email. ..

CEOCambodiaNews wrote:
Seventeen homeless people were arrested in the capital’s Daun Penh district from Wednesday night until early yesterday morning and sent to the municipal social affairs department for education and training, police said yesterday.

Un Samath, the Wat Phnom commune police chief, said police rounded up 17 homeless people, four men and 13 women – who were “causing disorder” around Wat Phnom and near the front of the US embassy.

“The men came along with their girlfriends and sometimes, if they had the chance, they would rob tourists,” he said.

Mr. Samath said his forces started their operation to clean up the streets at 8:30pm on Wednesday and finished early yesterday.



He said the social affairs department did not force them to stay and they only wanted people who voluntarily chose to learn skills such as sewing or motorcycle repair...
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28110/ ... n-capital/