A Stop To Sexual Abuse

Zana Gilaj, 10B

Lisa Factora-Borchers once said"...In the wildest, most indulgent dreams, we only hear about sexual assault and abuse in hsitory books", and she couldn't have said it any better. When was the last time you heard about sexual abuse in the news? There is not enough public attention to sexual abuse as it occurs in the daily basis all around the globe. Sexual abuse is a big thing all around the world, especially in Cambodia. Sexual abuse is still going on and millions of people are being sexually abused. Sexual abuse is any conflict in sex. It happens to men and women of any age, it includes derogatory name calling, refusal to use contraception, unwanted physical pain during sex, passing on of diseases and infections, and much more crucial things. Every year more than 100,000 individuals are sexually abused, and that’s a huge number. Infact, several people that are sexually abused every year are under the age of 12. In 1994, it was reported that there were 432,750 sexual and rape assaults according to a survey. The rape of sexual assault was 1.0 for every 1000 people, and only 32% of the assaults were reported to the police. 67% of the victims of rape and sexual assault knew who their offender was. The offenders that raped and assaulted use guns and knives to assault and threaten.

It is said that 636 cases of sexual abuse and trafficking were reported in Cambodia in 2004, of these 433 were children, most of them girls. However it is estimated that between 60,000 to 80,000 women and children are sexually abused every year in Cambodia.

Photo of a girl named Bros Long which was found on
Zimbio.com

It is hard for many people to come out and talk about their experience as they were sexually abused. Someone who was brave enough to write about her experience was Somaly Mam in her book “The Road of Lost Innocence”. Somaly grew up in Cambodia, she was sold into sexual slavery by her grandfather and was continuously harassed by many different men. She as as well as many other women in Cambodia were sexually abused. She was raped several times and mistreated. One day Somaly had arrived in Battabang and there were four police men, and she had to pay in order to get out, but they took her money and started beating her. “There were three or four policemen and they said, ‘If you want to get out you’ll have to pay,’ but I had no money--they had taken it away. They took turns beating me and raping me all night. They said this was a way to pay, and they laughed about calling all their friends too. There was no point trying to resist. I only got hit harder, as if they expected it. In the morning they just let me go”(53). This is just one of the many times Somaly was sexually abused, and she wasn’t the only one that was being abused, there were so many others. Somaly speaks for all the marginalized voices in Cambodia that don't have the opportunity to speak up about what they went through.

Somaly Mam, author of "The Road of
Lost Innocence"

There needs to be put a stop to sexual abuse because it’s such an unfortunate thing that no one should ever go through. In the words of Somaly herself “It’s still happening today, tonight. Imagine how many girls have been raped and hit since you started to read this book. My story doesn’t matter except that it stands for their story too”(61).  Too many people are being abused sexually and there is no good to it. It has to stop and there are many ways people can try to put a stop to it. A matter of fact there are many organizations today that help stop sexual abuse, human trafficking and prostitution in Cambodia. One organization is the ECPAT Cambodia which stands for 'End Child Prostitution, Abuse and Trafficking in Cambodia'. It involves 26 members that work together to make sure that people in Cambodia are exposed to their fundamental rights, and it keeps them from being sexual abused, harassed, etc.