Cohen's Little Angel

Aaron Cohen, founder of AbolishSlavery.org, is a human rights advocate who visits brothels and karaoke bars in Cambodia to combat child sex slavery. He visits the places as an undercover sex vice but his hopes are to rescue these girls. Jonty Thern is one of the many girls Cohen met working at a local karaoke bar. Her mother had sold her at the Cambodia-Thailand border when she was just ten years old and expected her to be working selling flowers. However, she was in a rude awakening when she found out that her daughter was raped and beaten for three years. Jonty and her sister Channy worked there for three years until they were allowed to return to their home in Battambang. Soon after, she and her sister willingly went to work at a karaoke bar to help the family pay off their debt. This is where Cohen first spotted her, working and gulping down a beer faster than he could. It was here that he learned that “as evidenced in the State Department report, it is a poorly-kept secret in Cambodia that many of these establishments are also operating brothels” (Coorlim). Cohen used the solicitation video from that night, recorded on a cell phone camera, to provide police with the information they needed to raid the karaoke brothel. More than a dozen girls, including Jonty and her sister, Channy, were freed that night and sent to live in a victim's shelter, where they received counseling, care and an education. This article ends when Cohen went back to his yearly visit of Cambodia, but this time to say goodbye to Jonty. She had passed away from liver failure in which her family says is a result of alcohol and drug abuse while working in the night clubs. The death of Jonty is one thing that keeps Cohen fighting to end child sex slavery in Cambodia and the rest of the world.

This article reminds me of some of the others simply because I have read a lot of articles that related to human trafficking in Asia. I have also learned a lot of facts and that Asia is an extremely popular place for sex slavery. This, just like many others, has been a sad article to read because it resulted in a death of a human trafficking victim. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for my own goddaughter to die from something that resulted in her being a victim of sex trafficking. That is so sad. And I don’t know what culture is like in Asia but after reading all the stories, I keep wondering why so many parents are trusting total strangers with their daughters’ lives. Maybe people are more trusting over in Asia, but obviously they aren’t trustworthy. If it were me, I wouldn’t dare sell my daughter to a complete stranger. That’s ignorant. It is so sad because Jonty didn’t deserve death for something she didn’t have much control over at all. If it shows you anything about the sex industry, take into consideration that even after her and Channy escaped the brothels, they ended up going back to work for a karaoke bar to pay off debt. It’s crazy how being a part of that lifestyle and being taken advantage of can altar your mindset. I say Cohen should keep doing what he is doing and use being undercover to his advantage to rescue these girls and end sex trafficking.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/09/cambodia.wus.child.sex.trafficking/index.html


Coorlim, Leif. "Man goes undercover to combat child sex slavery." CNN World. Cable News Network, 09 February 2010. Web. 21 Apr 2010. .