Phnom Penh sex workers stuck between Prey Speu and the street

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kiwiincambodia
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Phnom Penh sex workers stuck between Prey Speu and the street

Post by kiwiincambodia »

Phnom Penh sex workers stuck between Prey Speu and the street

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Fri, 26 August 2016
Kong Meta and Audrey Wilson

Eight years after Cambodia passed a strict – and contentious – anti-trafficking law, street sex workers continue to suffer detainment and alleged abuse at the hands of clients and police. Things need to change, say researchers, human rights defenders and the women themselves.

Three months ago, Leakhena*, a sex worker, was walking alone on a dark street near Wat Phnom when she was stopped and pushed into a Daun Penh district police van. It was late. She wasn’t “looking for customers”, she says. And she certainly wasn’t talking to anyone.

There were five other women inside the van, which was driven directly to the police station. Later, the group was taken to Prey Speu – the notorious detention centre on the outskirts of Phnom Penh designated for “re-educating” the homeless, the mentally ill and those who sell sex.

“In [Prey Speu], they treated us as if we were prisoners who had committed a serious crime,” Leakhena says. “We lived in a room with 50 people. At meal times, the guards unlocked the door, but they walked between us with batons. We couldn’t take a bath.”

She stayed only one week. Then, like convicts, she and six other detainees broke a window and climbed out, escaping before dawn.

Leakhena returned to the street almost immediately – she couldn’t afford not to. Now 30 years old, she turned to sex work four years ago after she divorced her husband. She has two young sons and needs to support them.

“We get $5 per customer,” she says. “If I worked as a cleaner in a restaurant, I could not make $5in a day.”

But she abandons her work if she gets a glimpse of the cops. “Every time I see the police – plainclothes or in uniform – I walk back home,” she says. “I will never let the police catch me again.”

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weeke ... and-street
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Re: Phnom Penh sex workers stuck between Prey Speu and the street

Post by General Mackevili »

A prostitute at Wat Phnom didn't think it was fair she was arrested for prostitution.

She's complicated.
"Life is too important to take seriously."

"Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh."

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kiwiincambodia
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Re: Phnom Penh sex workers stuck between Prey Speu and the street

Post by kiwiincambodia »

General Mackevili wrote:A prostitute at Wat Phnom didn't think it was fair she was arrested for prostitution.

She's complicated.
What woman isn't?
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Re: RE: Re: Phnom Penh sex workers stuck between Prey Speu and the street

Post by General Mackevili »

kiwiincambodia wrote:
General Mackevili wrote:A prostitute at Wat Phnom didn't think it was fair she was arrested for prostitution.

She's complicated.
What woman isn't?
I'll let you know if I find one (or two).
"Life is too important to take seriously."

"Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh."

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Re: Phnom Penh sex workers stuck between Prey Speu and the street

Post by Anchor Moy »

General Mackevili wrote:A prostitute at Wat Phnom didn't think it was fair she was arrested for prostitution.

She's complicated.
Thing is, they are only getting picked up and arrested at Wat Phnom.
Wat Phnom, well-known as a place men go to pay for sex, is a frequent – and sometimes the only – stop on police “roundups” that often end in detention.
Lesson should be, don't hang out at WP unless you want to get arrested, there are plenty other places in PP where you don't get hassled by the police.
Also not fair that the cops are shaking the girls down for big bucks, much more than the official fines. :evil:
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Re: Phnom Penh sex workers stuck between Prey Speu and the street

Post by Jamie_Lambo »

Wat Phnom only $5?
Looks like my days wasting my money at GSM are over...
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Re: Phnom Penh sex workers stuck between Prey Speu and the street

Post by Bitte_Kein_Lexus »

A man of your prestige didn't know? TK train tracks as well... However, don't expect good looks or even a change of position, as Khmer dudes take "wham bam, thank you mam" to a whole new level. I'm sure you can find the same prices in Sihanoukville. No more girls by Wat Phnom since the latest crackdowns and "renovations", but a few further down towards Le Royal are still hanging out.
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Re: Phnom Penh sex workers stuck between Prey Speu and the street

Post by Jamie_Lambo »

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:A man of your prestige didn't know? TK train tracks as well... However, don't expect good looks or even a change of position, as Khmer dudes take "wham bam, thank you mam" to a whole new level. I'm sure you can find the same prices in Sihanoukville. No more girls by Wat Phnom since the latest crackdowns and "renovations", but a few further down towards Le Royal are still hanging out.
haha i was under the impression it was closer to $10 these days :roll:
i thought the days of $5 were over,
ive heard even the Blue Mountain girls are pushing their prices up for foreigners,
while i have driven through Blue Mountain on a number of occasions ive never stopped to ask for a quote so i wouldnt know myself lol
cant comment on the Chicken Farm prices either, only been down there once with friends for a few towers in a couple of the KTVs
my main interest was to check if the areas were still "active" as i get asked quite a lot, they both are, but only just.
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Re: Phnom Penh sex workers stuck between Prey Speu and the street

Post by mammothboy2 »

In a well-organised corrupt place - like the Osaka entertainment district - the taxi-drivers and the cops and the tarts
and the love hotels would all be playing on the same team and there wouldn't be all this unpleasantness scaring off the punters.
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