Combo showing a phone containing porn content and drawing of children. - Illustration: Adobe Stock via Khmer Times
PHNOM PENH (Khmer Times): Child-exploitation content and other forms of extreme pornography are now more available to Cambodians than ever, thanks mainly to the distribution from syndicates in Vietnam, causing concern about their impacts among Cambodian minors amid the rising cases of child sexual abuse in the country.
The last major headlines about child pornography in Cambodia occurred in 2018, when the US Embassy in Phnom Penh dismissed nearly three dozen employees after a Facebook group chat containing alleged child exploitation material was discovered.
Before that, child porn, locally defined as “pornographic material that visually depicts a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct” and outlawed by the Kingdom’s legislation, had taken form as cheap video discs being sold secretly in the market.
Occasionally, the public learns about arrests, typically of foreigners, involved in producing child porn.
However, as the smartphone and the internet make content sharing faster and more open than ever, the technology also opens a door for child porn to spread. A significant but often overlooked issue is the profiteering from such offensive materials by unscrupulous Cambodian operators, who depend on end-to-end encryption in social media to hide their identities and e-payment to receive payment.
In recent years, Telegram, the most popular messaging app in Cambodia, and other social media have beefed up their crackdowns and policies against child pornographic content.
For instance, it was reported in October last year that Telegram has banned 2,114 groups and channels related to child abuse content. Facebook has also announced tools to prevent the sharing of images, videos, and any other content that includes child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on its platform. For one, it will warn users when they are sharing images that could contain potential CSAM material.
Secondly, it will prevent users from searching for such content on its platform with a new notification.
Still, Khmer Times’s investigation in recent years has unveiled a number of Telegram groups created for the purpose of selling child porn videos and images to local users. Another recent probe by KT journalists found that such content is now more available than ever due to the flow of “supply” from Vietnam-based “distributors”.
No fewer than a thousand Khmer-language Telegram groups and channels are either selling or distributing child pornographic materials. However, the modus operandi is very different from the earlier form of operation, in which the materials are uploaded to the group or channel directly.
Direct uploading will allow Telegram to catch on to the evil operation and ban that group or channel, so operators nowadays take advantage of the loophole by sending or posting private links instead. The links lead the clickers to a cloud-based platform, such as MEGA or Telegram, where the materials are stored for viewing. The only requirement is a fast internet connection.
The title, description, and caption that come with the link are in Vietnamese, thus evidently pointing to the importing destination. Several operators, in their comments to their “clients,” admitted that they had bought the links from Vietnamese operators. Further investigation by Khmer Times found that the same modus operandi has also been implemented by the Vietnamese operators. It is safe to say that Cambodian operators copied it from the Vietnamese ones, while there is another probability that the ring leaders are actually in Vietnam itself.
One operator, who appears to be Cambodian, is selling “life-time access” to a Telegram group where he regularly posts links to “new videos” for $10 each. The group has more than 1,000 subscribers, which means an easy $10,000 for the owner.
A user checking a link which allowed access to pornographic content. - Khmer Times
To make it worse, these operators are not only selling child porn but also extreme pornography that focuses on disturbing themes, including rape, incest, and even zoophilia.
Both Cambodia and Vietnam are not documented favourably when it comes to child pornography—not to mention that both countries have been labelled “destinations for child prostitution” by many child rights organisations.
In its country report, the Indian Council for Child Welfare says Vietnam lacks adequate laws to punish the trafficking of children for sexual purposes. Although Article 120 of the Penal Code criminalises “trading” in children, this vague provision does not encompass the range of offences covered by the Trafficking Protocol.
Additionally, Vietnam does not have any laws specifically defining or prohibiting child pornography, which creates a significant gap in the protection of children from commercial sexual exploitation and a lack of compliance with its obligations under the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography (OPSC).
While the Criminal Code (Article 253), Internet Regulations (Decree No. 31/2001), and the 2003 Ordinance on the Prevention of Prostitution can be used to regulate child pornography, they are never clearly defined or specifically mentioned.
Meanwhile, according to the National Committee for Counter Trafficking (NCCT), there is no official data on the extent of online child sexual exploitation in Cambodia. However, public reports to authorities and hotlines indicate more than 150 cases per year, excluding unreported incidents.
Cambodia’s Law on the Suppression of Kidnapping, Trafficking, and Exploitation of Human Persons criminalises all activities related to child pornography. It defines child pornography as “a visible material such as a photograph or videotape, including electronic material, depicting a minor’s naked figure that excites or stimulates sexual desire.” Those who distribute, sell, lease, display, project, or present child pornography in public face two to five years in prison and fines between $1,000 and $2,500.
“The internet has taken child porn into a new age, and our officials do not possess enough expertise to deal with it,” says Major General Kim Pheap, deputy director of the Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department. He confirmed that his department handles cases of child pornography reported by the public, but acknowledged that limited expertise remains a significant challenge.
“Unlike officials in some countries who are trained to handle these issues, we lack the necessary skills and tools to identify and arrest the perpetrators. We have to rely on the Anti-Cyber Crime Unit to address them.”
Mam Somaly, Founder and Managing Director of AFESIP Cambodia, who works to assist underage Cambodian rape victims, has accused the wider spread of child and extreme pornography of being behind the recent rise in severe child sexual abuse cases, including gang rape.
“These materials contaminate the minds of your people, especially the young ones, and push them to commit the crime themselves,” she said. “They need to be curbed.”
The impact of such pornographic materials on people’s sexual orientation was confirmed by Dr Ka Sunbaunat, the country’s renowned psychologist.
“Such pornographic materials appear to normalise the extreme sexual behaviour or fetish, thus pushing more people to do it in real life,” he said. “Severe punishment is needed to put this under control.”
Deputy Director of Plan International Organisation to Cambodia Yi Kimthan also expressed his concern about the open access to the content and called for the Cambodian authorities to enhance their ability to crack down on offenders.
“Cambodian authorities should study and cooperate with the experts in other countries, such as the US and Australia, who have achieved success in the fight against child pornography, to improve their capability,” he said.
“Otherwise, it will be our children who will suffer.” - Khmer Times
