The Cambodian Genocide took place between 1975 to 1979 and was carried out by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Marxist dictator Pol Pot. Pol Pot attempted to create a “master race” through social engineering. More than 2 million Cambodians were either executed as enemies of the Khmer Rouge, or died from starvation, disease or overwork. Those seen as intellectuals or potential leaders of a revolutionary movement were also executed. Hundreds of thousands of the educated, middle-class Cambodians were tortured and executed in special centers established in the cities, the most infamous of which was Tuol Sleng jail in Phnom Penh, where nearly 17,000 men, women, and children were imprisoned during the regime’s four years in power.
Without education and resources, sex trafficking and work trafficking became rampant in Cambodia:
“Of the 500,000 to 2,000,000 persons trafficked across international borders every year, 80% are women and girls. Most of them end up in forced prostitution, and sexual exploitation.” – Commission of Status of Women, UN
“Ranked as one of the highest rates of human trafficking country in the world, Cambodia is ‘a source, a destination and a transit country for trafficked women and children, for the purpose of Commercial Sexual Exploitation [CSE].’” – The US Department of State
“There are 80,000 to 100,000 CSE workers in Cambodia and 80% are under the age of 18.” – Cambodia Research Network
“There are five thousand people trafficked for labor across the Thai border from Cambodia every day. Mostly turned into sex trafficked victims eventually.” – Cambodia Chab Dai Coalition
“The phenomenon of forced marriage as a form of human trafficking from Cambodia into China has received increasing recognition and attention… ” – United Nation anti-trafficking 2016 reports
Pleroma Missions in Cambodia strives to minister to girls and women so that the image of God can be restored in them, their identity as God’s precious daughters may be manifested, and that they may live out the abundant life as promised by Christ.
