Princess Anne of Great Britain called attention to the plight of young girls trapped in Cambodia’s flourishing sex industry during a visit to that country from April 29 to May 4. Among the projects the princess visited was World Vision’s child-safe tourism project.

This partnership with Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism works to curtail the growing sex-tourism industry.

Thousands of foreigners travel each year to Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries to have sex with young girls. Package “sex tours” are advertised on the Internet and are provided through a variety of travel agencies.

“The Internet makes sex tourism even more of a widespread problem,” said Child-Safe Tourism project manager Laurence Gray. “People exchange information on prices and where to go through chat rooms and photo exchanges. Pornographic photos of thousands of Cambodian children are on the Internet.”

World Vision has worked in Cambodia for more than 30 years. Currently, more than 1.3 million people benefit from health, income-generation, education and other assistance.