Trafficking of Vietnamese women

and children to cambodia

March 1998

Annuska Derks

IOM is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society. As an intergovernmental body, IOM acts with its partners in the international community to: assist in meeting the operational challenges of migration; advance understanding of migration issues; encourage social and economic development through migration; and work towards effective respect of the human dignity and well-being of migrants.

CAS is an independent non-political Cambodian institution devoted to research, education and public debate on issues affecting the development of Cambodian society. Using an integrative, problem-oriented approach, the CAS seeks to work with Cambodian and international scholars to conduct research programs which will help clarify and shape public policy, inform education and training activities and lead to people-centered development projects.

Co-publishers: International Organization for Migration & Center for Advanced Study

17 route des Morillons #6D, Street 57

1211 Geneva 19 Phnom Penh

Switserland Cambodia

Tel: +41.22.717 91 11 Tel: +855.23.21 44 94

Fax: +41.22.798 61 50 E-mail: cas@forum.org.kh

E-mail: hq@iom.int ;or

iomphnompe@iom.int

Internet: http://www.iom.int

ISBN-92-9068-070-9

Opinions expressed in the report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Organization for Migration or the Center for Advanced Study.

The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout the report does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IOM and CAS concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning its frontiers or boundaries.

Table of Contents

Foreword 4

Chapter One

Introduction 5

Chapter Two

The trafficking issue in Vietnam 7

Recent changes in Vietnam 8

Trafficking in and from Vietnam 10

In-country trafficking 10

Cross-border trafficking 11

Chapter Three

Trafficking from Vietnam to Cambodia 12

Trafficking versus migration 12

Background on Vietnamese migration to Cambodia 12

Myths about Vietnamese women migrating to Cambodia 13

General patterns of migration to Cambodia 14

Vietnamese who come on their own initiative 14

Vietnamese men recruited for work in Cambodia 16

Vietnamese women trafficked to Cambodia 17

Crossing the border 20

Chapter Four

Vietnamese and trafficking within Cambodia 24

Trafficking by and among Vietnamese in Cambodia 24

Khmer and Vietnamese attitudes toward commercial sex work 27

Trafficking in virgins 30

Working and living conditions of Vietnamese sex workers 32

Matron-client relations 34

Repeated trafficking 36

Chapter Five

Returning to Vietnam 39

Deportation or repatriation 39

Considerations regarding going home 42

Chapter Six

Conclusion 46

Recommendations 48

Glossary 50

References 51

foreword

Today the issue of trafficking of women and children receives increased attention in the public and the mass media. Confronted with the complexity of the problem and under the shock of sometimes cruel individual stories of victims, one is tempted to concentrate almost exclusively on the criminal aspects of the trade and on the issue of rescuing victims. While this approach is indeed important, it nevertheless falls short of understanding and considering the underlying social, cultural and economic causes. Only by exploring and addressing these root causes can sustainable and efficient activities be developed and implemented against the trafficking of women and children.

In this second report of a series of IOM/CAS publications, the researchers undertook again to thoroughly assess the issue of trafficking in women and children in Cambodia and neighbouring countries. This report concentrates on the trafficking of Vietnamese women and children to and within Cambodia. Like in the last report on trafficking of Cambodian women and children to Thailand, the researchers put emphasis on the recruitment process of victims of this trade and provide suggestions as to how to tackle the problem in a holistic and pro-active way. By publishing this new report, IOM and CAS try to contribute to a broader understanding and consequently more efficient actions against the phenomenon of trafficking in women and children.

The study was financed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), World Vision International (W.V.) and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). It was implemented by the Center for Advanced Study (CAS) where it was coordinated by Ms. Annuska Derks, M.A., an United Nations Volunteer and anthropologist seconded to the CAS.

It is hoped that this publication will prove to be a useful tool for policy makers, authorities, organizations and individuals who are interested in the problem, to come to a better understanding of the complex issues involved. The report will also be used as a basis for further IOM prevention activities against trafficking of women and children in the region.

Phnom Penh, March, 1998

Hans R. Beckers Dr. William Collins

Chief of Mission, IOM Phnom Penh Acting President CAS

Chapter one

Introduction

This survey on the trafficking of Vietnamese women and children to Cambodia is designed as a follow-up on the survey on the trafficking of Cambodian women and children to Thailand.[1] Together, these surveys strive to gain more insight into the cross-border trafficking processes in Cambodia, being a sending as well as receiving country. At the same time, they will provide more insight in the sending and receiving processes in the neighbouring countries, Vietnam and Thailand. In both surveys the focus has been especially on the recruitment procedures related to trafficking. For both surveys the research was primarily conducted in Cambodia.

In this survey the focus is on the different ways, routes, reasons and perceptions of trafficking of Vietnamese women and children to Cambodia. The fact that this research was conducted in the receiving country has led to a very different perspective on the topic of trafficking compared to the earlier survey on trafficking from Cambodia to Thailand. As the circumstances, actors and processes involved could not be approached within the ‘recruitment environment’, some issues could not be explored as intensively, whereas other topics became more salient. Accordingly there is a relatively modest discussion of the recruitment processes and related issues, while greater focus is placed on the situation of ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia, as migrants as well as victims of trafficking. Also more attention is paid to the perspectives and wishes for the future for those Vietnamese women and girls who have become victims of trafficking.

Although many of the research findings might correspond with the research on trafficking to Thailand, we also found some significant differences. These differences are related to the different economic, political and historical realities of the countries involved. A broader understanding of these situations will help gain more insight into the push and pull factors, the rationale, the role of social and cultural factors and the selection processes related to the trafficking in general and the trafficking of Vietnamese women and children to Cambodia in particular.

The survey was conducted by Mrs. Lim Sidedine and Ms. Annuska Derks, with additional help from Mrs. Rakline and Mrs. Tean Sophorn for the Vietnamese and Khmer translations. Some information was collected through organizations working on the topic in Ho Chi Minh City. The survey itself was conducted in Cambodia, in different shelters and areas in Phnom Penh and Kompong Som and in the border provinces Takeo, Svay Rieng and Ratanakiri in order to find out more about the movement of people from Vietnam to different places in Cambodia.

The experiences, knowledge, reasons and consequences of the trafficking of Vietnamese women and children were explored through interviews with Vietnamese women and children, especially girls, who had been victims of trafficking. Because the police had raided many brothels in different parts of Phnom Penh, many of these women and girls could be contacted in the various shelters. Other women and girls were interviewed in brothels, dancing halls, massage places and karaoke bars. For more background information, family members of the girls and women, brothel owners, police and other authorities, representatives of Vietnamese and Vietnamese migrants in Cambodia, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations (IOs) working in this field and other resource persons were also interviewed. This survey could not have been conducted without the kind cooperation of these different organizations, authorities, related persons and, especially, the Vietnamese women and girls who shared their experiences with us. We would like to thank them all.

The following report describes the different issues related to trafficking of Vietnamese women and children to Cambodia in specific geographic foci. Chapter two discusses the trafficking situation within Vietnam, with some background information on the economic and social changes that have taken place within Vietnamese society in the past years. Chapter three describes the patterns and background of the different forms of migration - i.e. legal, illegal, trafficking - of Vietnamese to Cambodia. Chapter four focusses on the situation of the Vietnamese in Cambodia and how they are related to the issue of trafficking of Vietnamese women and children. Since this trafficking is mostly for the purpose of commercial sex work, a major part of chapter four is dedicated to Vietnamese commercial sex workers. In chapter five attention is paid to issues related to returning to Vietnam and moving out of sex work. After the conclusion, recommendations are made based on the insights that came out of this study.

Chapter two

The trafficking issue in Vietnam

In the report on ‘Trafficking of Cambodian Women and Children to Thailand’[2] a clear distinction was made between the different purposes for trafficking and between the ‘abusive recruitment and brokerage practices’ and the ‘abusive working and living conditions’. Using the definitions[3] of Wijers and Lap-Chew[4], trafficking was described as:

All acts involved in the recruitment and/or transportation of a person within and across national boundaries for work or services by means of violence or threat of violence, abuse of authority or dominant position, debt bondage, deception or other forms of coercion.

Forced labour and slavery-like practices were defined as:

The extraction of work or services from any person or the appropriation of the legal identity and/or physical person of any person by means of violence or threat of violence, abuse of authority or dominant position, debt bondage or other forms of coercion.

A distinction between trafficking and slavery-like practices in relation to migration makes it possible to also pay attention to those victims of trafficking who did not end up in slavery-like circumstances, as well as to those in slavery-like circumstances who were not victims of trafficking. This distinction is of much value for understanding the different practices and processes related to trafficking in general, and especially for those found in the flow of Cambodians to Thailand. However, some of these processes and practices are specific to the historical, political and economic situation of the countries involved. Very distinct patterns can be observed in the flow of Vietnamese to Cambodia, although some patterns are similar to the Cambodian-Thai situation.

Trafficking and illegal migration from Cambodia to Thailand included a broad range of purposes. Women and children were trafficked for commercial sex work, as domestic servants, beggars, construction labourers, or as labourers in fisheries, on farms, or in factories. While some of these migrants volunteered to go, others were deceived or abducted and forced to work in Thailand. Here the flow of migrants was clearly from a poor, war-torn country to a more developed wealthier neighbour where there was a pull in the form of a great demand for cheap, unskilled labourers. However, with the present economic crisis in Thailand, this demand has decreased, which has resulted in Thailand taking measures “to force back foreign workers illegally entering Thailand in an attempt to secure work for Thais who have lost their jobs recently as many companies collapsed.”[5]

The situation between Cambodia and Vietnam is quite distinct. The migration of Vietnamese to Cambodia is not a new phenomenon. But the trafficking of Vietnamese, especially women and girls, to Cambodia has only come to the attention of non-governmental and international organizations, and the governments of Cambodia and Vietnam, in the past few years.

Recent changes in Vietnam

Vietnamese have migrated to Cambodia during different times in history and for different reasons, as will be described in chapter 3. Migration was at times facilitated by political ties between Cambodia and Vietnam but is nowadays especially facilitated through familial, geographic and cultural ties. Besides these ties, economic motivation is an important impetus for Vietnamese to migrate to Cambodia. Cambodia is perceived as a country where money can be easily earned, especially since the opening up of the country for the liberal market economy induced an economic boom which was stimulated through the large-scale UNTAC[6]-operation in 1992-93.

Vietnam has undergone a similar, although not as far-reaching reform process from a socialist to a more market-oriented economy since the late eighties. As a result of this ‘renovation’ or doi moi, Vietnam has experienced enormous economic growth rates. Irvin[7] states that this “breakout”[8] to the market has benefited mainly the poor, i.e. the peasantry. Vietnam is still a predominantly agricultural country, with 80 percent of the population living in rural areas and 72 percent of the labour force being engaged in agricultural activities, while little more than one-tenth is involved in industry.[9] The growing privatization of land use from 1988 onwards as well as the increasing role of the private sector has brought economic opportunities to many farming families. However, for those families who did not have the capability or the access to the capital or the technology to farm their plots successfully, the reforms created more economic difficulties. As a result, Vietnamese farmers who cannot earn enough to support their families in agriculture seek additional employment somewhere else, in urban areas or even abroad. This is, according to several authors, not necessarily a consequence of growing poverty, but also of growing expectations brought about by economic growth and a broader view on the outside world through more open (trade) relations with other countries. Rigg writes that:

[G]rowing expectations and an absence of sufficient opportunities within agriculture are creating the conditions in which rural households are looking further afield, both spatially - beyond the village - and in sectoral terms - beyond agriculture.[10]

Although growth rates have been high in Vietnam during the past years, they have not been equally high in different regions among different sub-groups of the country, causing relative poverty to increase. Income disparities are rising, while at the same time the quality and quantity of some social services are declining.[11] Therefore, the economic benefits are often set against the social costs of the adjustment policies. Truong[12] writes regarding this:

Vietnam has always been proud of the fact that despite being [one] of the poorest countries in the world, it has an extensive social infrastructure and relatively high rates of access to education and health. But this position is being threatened by fiscal reforms introduced since the beginning of [doi moi].

These social costs are not only observed within the social service sector, which is still comparatively very strong, but also in social relations. Truong argues that the introduction of doi moi has accelerated the process of gender disparity in many ways. Whereas women made gains in rights and political space during the struggle for independence and revolution, the recent reforms have caused women’s alternatives and options to narrow, which could erode further their socio-economic position. Truong argues that to some extent the gains in gender equality were sacrificed through a trade-off for economic sufficiency, which allowed what she called “patriarchal culture” to re-emerge.[13]

This means that the shift in responsibility of reproduction as well as production from the cooperatives to the household has caused an increased workload for women on the farm and at home. Statistics show that women’s visible employment in the agricultural sector is declining. Besides, women working in the industrial sector are moving towards positions that are more labour-intensive, are lower paid and have less security.[14] These developments have created “a constant and rapid turn over of women workers.”[15] Truong argues that the lack of sustainable alternatives for these women has given rise to increased poverty and bonded labour, which leads again to other social costs, such as women being driven into prostitution, international trade of sexual slavery and the mail-order-brides market.[16] In a Unicef report[17] similar concerns are raised:

The introduction of an open door policy and a market economy has had both positive and negative results in society and economy. Traditional values may be deteriorating, as families are faced more and more with material desires, which they cannot meet. As a result, child employment and the sale of children for labour (and eventually other forms of exploitation) have been increasingly noticed in Vietnam.

The deterioration of so-called traditional values is often mentioned as an important determinant of an increase in trafficking and prostitution in Vietnam. The introduction of a nascent market economy and the broadening relations with other countries are said to stimulate consumerism and promotion of enjoyment, but also a loss of social control and family functioning. However, others reason that the re-emergence of so-called traditional traits -like growing disparities between rich and poor, men and women, but also between different groups in the society- are contributing to practices regarding trafficking and prostitution. In reality, neither the loss of certain values nor the re-emergence of other characteristics can explain completely the issues related to trafficking in Vietnam. Therefore, a careful look at all issues involved will be necessary for a real understanding of the problem.

Trafficking in and from Vietnam

Attention to the problem of trafficking in women and children has increased considerably over the past years. More and more attention has been given to the different routes, motivations and consequences of trafficking. In Vietnam, although the problem has been recognized, little information is available. It is therefore difficult to estimate the number of women and children trafficked every year. However, some clear patterns of movement have been identified.[18]

In-country trafficking

In-country trafficking within Vietnam is taking place from rural and ethnic areas to urban areas for adoption, forced labour or prostitution.[19] Most documents on the trafficking of women and children in Vietnam have focussed on trafficking for prostitution. Young girls from the poorer rural areas are kidnapped, deceived or brought by their parents to brothels in the big cities. Commercial sex work is practiced in different price-ranges in brothels, mini-hotels, cafe or beer om [cuddle] places or on the street. Some young girls are initiated into commercial sex through the sale of their virginity, which is believed to help the customer remain virile or succeed in business.[20] Also boys have been reported to engage in commercial sex, but they are often working more individually on the street whereas girls are usually working in the more organized commercial sex business.[21]

The growth of prostitution is often explained to be a result of the growing numbers of foreigners, and especially sex tourists, visiting Vietnam. However, as Anja Nitzsche[22] notes, the overwhelming majority of customers of prostitutes are local. She asserts that commercial sex work in Vietnam is not only the result of poverty, i.e. women and girls pushed into prostitution because of poverty, but also the consequence of increased wealth. Greater purchasing power resulted in increased local demand for commercial sex work. The economic growth since 1986 has thus provided a large group of new customers for commercial sex workers.

Unicef reports that, in order to serve customer demand for women, several small private agencies have been set up to recruit women in the rural areas. The women are promised highly paid jobs in factories and restaurants, which sounds appealing to both the young women and their parents who can receive a high-interest loan for the arrangement of their daughter’s trip.[23] Once brought to some city, the women are forced to work as prostitutes. It is estimated[24] that over half of the child sex workers started working as prostitutes by advice or persuasion of recruiters using deceiving methods to convince families in villages. These recruiters, in turn, work on behalf of brothel owners in order to be able to offer new ‘fresh’ girls for their brothel. Another non-negligible part of the supply were those women deliberately brought into prostitution by relatives of the girls.

Besides trafficking for prostitution within Vietnam, children have been reported to be trafficked for adoption purposes. Hopkins[25] mentions kidnapping of babies from a hospital with the purpose of selling them to childless Vietnamese and Viet Kieu[26] families as well as foreigners. In the same line, children are said to be sold for their organs. However, there is no evidence of the truth or prevalence of these practices.

Cross-border trafficking

Trafficking of women and children is not only an internal problem. Women and children have been trafficked abroad, especially to neighbouring countries China and Cambodia. The distinctive geographical, cultural and economic relations of northern and southern Vietnam are related to the routes of trafficking to these neighbouring countries. Trafficking to China takes place predominantly from the northern provinces of Vietnam, whereas the southern provinces are more linked to Cambodia.

Unicef[27] reports that women and girls from the north are recruited as wives or domestic helpers in China. Unicef observed that a growing demand for wives and domestic workers within China has led to the recruitment of Vietnamese women, sometimes through special recruitment or mail-order-bride agencies. Entry into China is easy, since visa restrictions no longer apply, with the result that China, within a short period of time, has become a major receiving country.[28] Also in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau professional bride-order agencies have arranged marriages between Chinese men and Vietnamese women. According to Lee Chuan-Hsien, Vietnamese women attract Taiwanese men because they are considered to be more submissive and willing to accept their traditional role as housewives than contemporary Taiwanese women.[29] Estimates indicated that by the end of 1996 about 5,000 Vietnamese brides were living in Taiwan. Some of them ended up in fake marriages and were forced to work in the commercial sex business.[30]

Women and children from Vietnam are also reported to be trafficked to Thailand.[31] It is, however, not clear if these are also directly recruited in Vietnam and brought to Thailand or another third country. In some cases, Vietnamese women working in Cambodia are recruited for work or services in Thailand, as described in the report on Trafficking of Cambodian Women and Girls to Thailand.[32]

The trafficking to Cambodia is, according to some resource persons working on the topic in Vietnam, most extensive. The existing documentation on trafficking of Vietnamese women and girls to Cambodia shows that the victims mainly end up in prostitution. This and related issues will be discussed more extensively in the next chapters.

Chapter three

Trafficking from Vietnam to Cambodia

Trafficking versus migration

The problem of trafficking of women and children cannot be separated from the other forms of migration, whether legal or illegal, from Vietnam to Cambodia. Therefore, this chapter will describe the background and patterns related to migration from Vietnam to Cambodia. The topic of migration, in whichever form, of Vietnamese to Cambodia is a sensitive one. It touches a range of historical, cultural and political issues in addition to the economic motivations that induce Vietnamese to cross the border into Cambodia. Although this research focussed on the current situation in which Vietnamese, especially women and girls, are brought to Cambodia by force, deception or other exploitative recruitment practices, for a broader understanding of these phenomenons it is necessary to have a look at past experiences and migrations of Vietnamese to Cambodia.

Background on Vietnamese migration to Cambodia

As described by several authors[33] Vietnamese have settled in Cambodia in several migration flows, starting from the 17th century. Most dominant were the Vietnamese who settled in the Mekong Delta, which has ever since become part of Vietnam. Over the centuries, more and more Vietnamese have migrated into this fertile area, causing the remaining Khmers to become “surrounded by more than ten times as many Vietnamese.”[34] The earlier settlers in present day Cambodia were rice farmers and fishermen. They settled along the rivers and Tonle Sap and have lived now for generations in Cambodia. New flows of migrants from Vietnam started coming to Cambodia during the Vietnamese occupation between 1835 and 1840. In this period the Vietnamese tried to impose an intensive program of Vietnamization, which affected many aspects of Cambodian life.[35] Later, under the French protectorate, new groups of Vietnamese settlers arrived. These settlers were recruited by the French as labourers on the plantations and for jobs in administration.[36] The migration encouraged under the French continued until 1970. At that time, the Vietnamese were present in the urban centers where they earned their livelihood as skilled artisans, petty merchants, professionals, and in the countryside as farmers, plantation workers and fishermen.[37]

However, after the coup of Lon Nol against Sihanouk, the Vietnamese, some of whom had been resident in Cambodia for generations, came under severe threat. Racist campaigns against the Vietnamese left tens of thousands of Vietnamese dead, and many more left the country. The anti-Vietnamese policy was even further exacerbated under the Khmer Rouge regime, when all Vietnamese were either returned to Vietnam or targeted for execution.[38]

This changed again after the Vietnamese ousted the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979. During the eighties many of the Vietnamese who lived in Cambodia before 1970 gradually returned. Along with these returnees came relatives, friends, Vietnamese soldiers and other professionals.[39] Although officially the Vietnamese soldiers were repatriated after 1989, many of the other Vietnamese who came during the eighties decided to stay. Increasing violence against the Vietnamese before the elections in 1993 forced some of the Vietnamese living in Cambodia to flee again to Vietnam. Yet new Vietnamese migrants came to Cambodia and are still coming to Cambodia, attracted by the economic boom and greater economic freedom as a consequence of the opening up of the country in the early nineties.

Ethnic Vietnamese living in Cambodia are often divided into different categories that reflect their length of stay in Cambodia.[40] The category of Vietnamese newcomers is the main focus of this study. However, these new migrants are often related to earlier groups of migrants, especially those who came during the eighties. Attracted by the stories of these earlier migrants, or by the promises of the recruiters, who have experience in Cambodia, new Vietnamese decide to come along and try their luck. These newcomers perceive migration to Cambodia as a chance for earning easy money, having some fun or getting away from certain problems, although in reality this often means fear of expulsion, language barriers and for some extreme difficult working and living conditions.

The history of Vietnamese migrating to Cambodia plays an important role in how the Vietnamese are perceived by the Cambodians, as, according to Goshal[41] “it is this history that makes the Cambodians obsessed with the destiny of being destroyed by the Vietnamese.” The historic fear of the Vietnamese slowly taking over land and ‘Vietnamizing’ Cambodia has led to anti-Vietnamese feelings. The category of newcomers is especially perceived by Cambodians, as well as by some long-term Vietnamese residents in Cambodia, as mainly consisting of thieves, gamblers, traitors and prostitutes. Thus, for many reasons, migration and even trafficking of Vietnamese to Cambodia is a sensitive issue which is easily used in order to direct political or criminal accusations at ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia.

Myths about Vietnamese women migrating to Cambodia

Vietnamese women have always been regarded as an important tool to be used by the Vietnamese to enter Cambodia. According to the Cambodian chronicles, the first introduction of the Vietnamese to Cambodia took place in the beginning of the 17th century, with the marriage of King Chey Chestha II with a Vietnamese princess. The princess, daughter of King Sai Vuong of the Nguyên court, brought 500 young court women and 500 young guardian or artisan men along, forming a small Vietnamese colony in Cambodia.[42] In more popular versions of this story, the Vietnamese King used his daughter as a means to enter Cambodian territory, knowing the Cambodian King would immediately fall in love with his beautiful daughter. This created the opportunity to send Vietnamese settlers to Cambodia, with permission of King Chei Chesda, and therefore “enabled the Vietnamese King to lay the groundwork for overtaking the area.”[43] The region in question is still known among Cambodians as Kampuchea Krom, or ‘lower Cambodia’. Thion[44] refers to this particular story as a “mixture of historical facts and legends” that is used as “irrefutable proof of the ‘sordid use’ of young girls” by the Vietnamese.

The idea of the seductive powers of Vietnamese women forms a recurrent theme in explanations of how the Vietnamese will try to overtake Cambodian territory. Because of their seducing skills, Vietnamese women can easily convince border police to let them cross into Cambodia[45], and their overwhelming presence (especially as prostitutes) could, according to some Cambodians, again lay the groundwork for a major Vietnamese takeover or at least could pose a threat to Cambodian culture and society.[46] This conspiracy theory or fantasy regarding the influx of Vietnamese women and girls as spies of a greater power that will eventually take over, are a far cry from the stories the women and girls themselves recount about their reasons for and experiences in coming to Cambodia.

General patterns of migration to Cambodia

Migration is often related to many different economic, political and socio-cultural issues which play a role in the perceptions of the migrants as well as the inhabitants of the receiving country. Although the topic of migration cannot be studied in a vacuum, as if there were no such issues, there is no intention to discuss these extensively here. The attention here is focussed particularly on the Vietnamese who were forced or deceived into coming to Cambodia. Therefore a distinction is made between those who decided to come on their own initiative and those who were recruited for specific purposes.

Vietnamese who come on their own initiative

Many of the Vietnamese who decide to come to Cambodia do so because of economic reasons. Most of the Vietnamese who cross the border every day come temporarily to rook sii [literally ‘find food’] by selling some vegetables, tiles, house ware or other goods, or to visit their relatives in Cambodia. Some stay only during the day; others come for several weeks or months until they have sold all their wares. There are also those who come to work as day-labourers, often coming during certain parts of the year to supplement their poor income in Vietnam. They have heard from others that it is easy to earn money in Cambodia and want to come along with their relatives, neighbours or others who have experience in Cambodia.

In Takeo we encountered several Kampuchea Krom[47] families who were working temporarily in Cambodia. Some of them had a piece of land back in Vietnam that could only be cultivated during the dry season because it was completely flooded during the wet season. Others did not have any land at all. They did not have money to start a business, nor could they earn enough to support their family by working for others. During the slack season they came to Cambodia to work as day-labourers, unloading the boats that come with goods from Vietnam. One informant said:

“I came to Cambodia in 1991. I had not enough land to support all my children. From people who had worked in Cambodia before I heard that it is easy to earn money here. At the beginning there were only few people of poor families who came to work here. But when they came back to Vietnam and told that one can earn easy money, other people followed them to go to work in Cambodia. I also came here that way with my children...Here the children also work to carry tiles. They don’t think about age. Those who want to work can work. If they earn 1,000 or 2,000 riel[48] a day, they have enough to get rice for one day... But some families could not earn enough and only ate rice porridge from Pchum Ben[49] until now [a period of one month].”

Among these families everyone, including children, was expected to work in order to contribute to the family income. Often, the children only later follow their parents to Cambodia. In many cases one family member goes first to Cambodia to follow a relative or neighbour who has been living in Cambodia for a while and who came back with appealing stories about how easy it is to earn money there. These relatives or neighbours know how to cross the border and they often can speak some Khmer and know where one can find places to work and stay. Some of them also provide some initial support, like allowing them to stay in their house and introducing them to a job. A Vietnamese young woman, who was working as prostitute in Kompong Som, explained why she followed a neighbour to Cambodia:

“My family was very poor. We only had five cong[50] of farmland. My mother borrowed money from a moneylender to buy rice grain, fertilizers and to hire people to plough the field. After we harvested the rice, we nearly used all of it to repay the debts. We did not have enough left for food for all of us. My mother has three children and I am the eldest. I wanted to come to Cambodia to earn money for my mother and my brother and sister. So I followed a women who lived in my village and who had been in Cambodia before... I must sacrifice my body for my family.”

Not only relatives and neighbours help new Vietnamese migrant families go to Cambodia. Specialized leaders also offer their services. These people are experienced in crossing the border. They are responsible for the whole trip and charge money according to the amount of people. A border official in Svay Rieng commented:

“There are Vietnamese from all provinces coming to Cambodia. They can come to work here. Most of these Vietnamese were led by neak noam [leaders]. They agreed to sell their rice fields to get some money to pay the neak noam. The neak noam gathers two or three families and brings them here... It is much easier to earn money here than in Vietnam. Even the vegetable sellers can earn more money here. Therefore the Vietnamese always want to come here... They don’t only come to work as prostitutes, but also to sell cigarettes, second-hand clothes or as workers.”

Poor Vietnamese might also try to get some money by going to beg in Cambodia. Especially in Neak Leung one can observe many Vietnamese kids begging for money. Some of them came along with their parents who sell food or toys, while they try to get some extra income through begging. We found no organized begging groups as in Thailand. Perhaps this is because, as a representative of the Vietnamese association in Phnom Penh suggested, they have too much competition from the Khmer beggars of whom they are afraid.

The decision to go to Cambodia is not only made because of financial need, but also because of financial ambition. More money can be earned in Cambodia, according to many informants, because doing business is not restricted with as many regulations and does not require as much capital compared to Vietnam. But also in day labour or in commercial sex work, more money can be earned than in Vietnam. A Vietnamese girl in a brothel in Kompong Som recounts how she was attracted by her friend’s wealth earned in Cambodia:

“I followed my friend to come here. She lived in the same village and she had lived in Cambodia before. I saw that she had jewelry and that she had brought money to her home. So I asked her to bring me to Cambodia.”

Besides the attractions of earning easy money, going to Cambodia can for some be a welcome escape from their situation at home. Several women interviewed wanted to be away from their husband, boyfriend, or family and therefore going to Cambodia was an attractive option to them. Often, these women had negative experiences being divorced, violated or betrayed. One Vietnamese woman said: