This is a critical time. Both of the Australian men are still in prison, one in Siem Reap in Cambodia and one in Australia where he was committed by the Australian government on the word of the Cambodian authorities.

The New Zealander, Graham Cleghorn, had an ‘appeal’ on December 6 2004, at which his lawyer never spoke and where the girls who travelled nearly 400 kilometres to testify on his behalf were not permitted to do so. Some of them did speak outside the court. The appeal collapsed when the girls still presented by the CWCC as accusing gave ages lower than the ages given at the original trial. This was a desperate attempt to maintain an ‘underage’ status. It was so obvious that the judge declared an adjournment and demanded proof of age from their village elders.

Some of the girls and their families are in dire financial straits, without even enough money for food, while the organization they are fighting is funded by international aid, from countries such as the US and Australia.

The cases against the three men are continually unravelling. For the first time, newspapers and other media are picking up the story that the girls are claiming that they were forced to lie. The stakes are big as half of Cambodia’s income comes from foreign aid, and the corruption being employed to trap both well off local expatriate residents and foreign tourists who visit night spots is emerging and could affect the tourist trade.

Un Sokunthea was Cambodia’s anti-trafficking police chief until recently suspended.
Mu Sochua is the founder and patron of the CWCC and is a former Minister for Women’s Affairs. She supported Un Sokunthea and the police that worked closely with the CWCC. She is a US citizen with strong support from the American Republican Party.
This is the doorway of the CWCC facility in Siem Reap where the girls were imprisoned.
An American women visitor to the CWCC Cristi Head (picture right) is an American political science graduate who received a US grant to work with the CWCC in Siem Reap during 2004. She also toured the region with her lawyer husband and her sister in law. Back home in the US she praised the work of the CWCC and wrote the following in the University of Virginia School of Law newsletter in an article about her work ‘targeting sex paedophiles’: “For a girl to be the victim of a sex crime in Cambodia is devastating for her future. It is very hard for a girl to get married if she is not a virgin. She may also be ostracized by her community, even if the community members see her as a victim and don’t blame her for what happened.” Cristi Head, please read what Srei Lika now writes in her sad letter about being kidnapped when she was 15 by the CWCC and having to endure a virginity test which shamed her. She writes “You know I am very ashamed to speak about this but this organization (CWCC) took me to a doctor to check my virginity. I didn’t want to go but I was very afraid of them. Nobody in my village wants to marry me now. What will I do? Somebody have a good heart please help me and my aunt.”

This is the home of one of the families.