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Home > About Us > Latest News > Laos: Resistance Movement

Laos: Resistance Movement

Children Defy Sex Traffickers

February 19, 2007

Young girls in Laos voice their opposition to child sex traffickers. Photo by Albert Yu.

Children yelled their defiance toward sex traffickers and held placards condemning their trade at an awareness-raising event in the Laotian village of Naphaekngai, close to the Thai border.

"Don’t believe recruiters. Don’t believe recruiters!" chanted Mahaxay, 13, with her classmates — some holding placards bearing the words "Stop Trafficking."

Identifying Traffickers

The event was the first of its kind organized by the village Child Advocacy Network (CAN) — a group of concerned locals, operating under the auspices of World Vision’s Mekong Delta Regional Trafficking Strategy (MDRTS).

Through song, dance, drama, lectures, and games, organizers taught nearly 150 primary and secondary children how to identify traffickers and how to respond if approached.

A key theme was that although recruiters can be persuasive — promising lots of money and a better life — they are usually frauds. They will pay much less than what they promise and will force children into exploitative situations, such as Thailand’s sex industry and hazardous factories.

"Today, I learned that traffickers will offer a lot of money, but they will cheat people and transfer them to another place than was promised," said Mahaxay after the event.

Lured Away, Never Heard From Again

About 60 young people have been lured from Naphaekngai village, which has a population of about 2,000.

Mrs. Keo, 58, a mother of three children who sits on the 13-member CAN committee, said she got involved to warn village young people of the dangers.

"Many people who migrate are never heard from again," she said.

MDRTS manager Detdavone Ketavong said girls were especially vulnerable to unscrupulous traffickers.

"They are generally less educated so when recruiters come they are more easily convinced. It’s difficult for them to tell between good and bad people," he said.

The MDRTS program is currently operating in 41 villages in Savannakhet Province. In each village World Vision provides training to local committees on trafficking, AIDS prevention, and child rights. Once trained, the committees organize awareness events, monitor traffickers, and file missing person reports.

The Human Toll

Research by World Vision in villages close to the Thai border shows that 44 percent of parents whose children have left them have no idea where their offspring are. Of children who return home; 50 percent say the experience was terrible; 40 percent report being locked up; and 13 percent report being raped.

The United Nations' International Labor Organization estimates more than 1.3 million Asians have been trafficked, more than half the world's total.

Learn More

>> Visit the Child Sex Tourism Prevention Project page on our Web site.

Get Involved

>> Pray that the combined efforts of governments, organizations like World Vision, and caring individuals will effectively stem the tide of child exploitation worldwide.

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Who Is World Vision?
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.

Learn More

Visit the Child Sex Tourism Prevention Project page on our Web site.

Get Involved

Pray that the combined efforts of governments, organizations like World Vision, and caring individuals will effectively stem the tide of child exploitation worldwide.
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