Child Sex Trafficking In Cambodia Prompts Unusual Investigation Of American Missionaries' Nonprofit

The NGO Agape International Missions (AIM) reported by CNN to be helping vulnerable child sex-trafficking victims in Cambodia, is now being investigated by the country’s Interior Ministry for allegedly providing false information for the report, The Cambodia Daily reported.

The CNN report published July 25 was a follow-up report to the one in 2013 and detailed the gruesome story of a 13-year-old being sold for sex by her mother. The girl was rescued by AIM, an anti-trafficking non-profit, and now works in an AIM-run factory alongside others who were also rescued, producing bracelets and clothing.

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"Now I have a decent job. I really want other people to have the kind of work that I have,” the former victim, Sephak told CNN. The report went on to detail the work AIM is doing in Svay Pak, a district in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, infamous for child prostitution as reported by CNN and others.

The initial report from four years ago did point to an improvement in the situation. "When we talk about child sex trafficking, this was at one point the epicenter," the report quoted Don Brewster, the founder of AIM, as saying.

Eric Meldrum, AIM’s director of investigations said their relationship with the police had been crucial in the rescue of 130 girls. "The police are doing a good job," he said. "We've got a very good cooperation with them and there's a definite willingness throughout the police, throughout the hierarchy of the police, to crack down on the issue."

"We would say when we came [to Svay Pak] it was 100% — if you were a girl born here, you were going to be trafficked. We would say today it's significantly below 50%," he added.

The Cambodian Prime Minister, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, however, did not take too kindly to the report. "This is a serious insult on Cambodian wives, daughters and sisters," Hun Sen said, according to Xinhua News Agency.

"My country is poor, but you cannot insult my people," he added.

Huy Vannak, the director of the Union of Journalist Federations of Cambodia, called CNN “fake news” in a statement, according to The Cambodia Daily. Vannak said the story was misleading because the situation had changed from a few years ago. “The story [now] is completely different in Svay Pak. When you look at CNN, it looks so current,” he said.

“When the war is over, it’s over. You cannot portray that it still exists,” he added.

Furthermore, he took issue that the girls were described as Cambodian despite speaking both Vietnamese and Khmer.

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According to The Cambodia Daily, CNN defended its report, although it did supposedly remove the word “Cambodian” from the headline describing the girls. “The stories revisit our original investigation from 2013 and clearly highlight the progress that has been made since by the authorities in Cambodia.”

“We stand by our reporting,” the statement said.

Vannak who is also a member of the ruling Cambodian People's Party and a senior official at the Interior Ministry said he was not aware of how far the investigation into AIM had progressed, butsaid it was ongoing and looking into “AIM’s current work against its stated activities.”