The
Foundation For Women, an NGO founded in 1984, provides assistance
to both foreign and Thai women based in Bangkok. FFW began as an
information center to assist Thai women going abroad and soon expanded
to include a shelter for victims of domestic abuse and an education
project focusing on child prostitution. Today, FFW runs a comprehensive
anti-trafficking program as well, which offers services ranging
from community awareness to individual counseling. The women they
help come to them through a hotline or go to shelters where they
are cared for while they wait to be returned to their home country.
The FFW adopts a holistic solution to each case with not just those
hotlines but workers in hospitals, social workers to meet with the
individuals, and psychiatric treatment for mental rehabilitation.
In total, the work they do is multi-faceted and very open to any
woman in need of help.
The Center for
the Protection of Children's Rights (CPCR) was established in
1982 to assist children who had been neglected, abandoned, physically
abused or exploited through child labor. CPCR investigates cases
of suspected abuse and works with the families to determine if the
parents are capable of raising their child without fear of future
abuse or if the child will need to be removed from an irrecoverable
environment. In the latter case, the CPCR has shelters of differing
agendas to house a child while they procure a living situation for
him/her. In addition to working on individual cases in Thailand,
CPCR plays an active role in amending and creating laws that will
halt the proliferation of human trafficking. With CPCR’s aid,
all of SE Asia is currently coordinating to produce a strong, unified
front against the child labor, trafficking, and exploitation. CPCR
works extensively with Thailand’s Ministry of Social Development
and Human Security and many international organizations to address
children’s issues. Special thanks to Wassana Kaonoparat, who
took time to speak with Jacob and Raphael about CPCR and its anti-trafficking
efforts.
Asia
Regional Cooperation to Prevent People Trafficking (ARCPPT)
is a project funded by the Australian Government. Its goal is to
contribute to the prevention of people trafficking in South East
Asia. The Project is working in four countries: Thailand, Lao PDR,
Myanmar (Burma) and Cambodia. The main focus of Project activities
in on strengthening the criminal justice process to deal effectively
with the crime of trafficking. To this end, the Project is seeking
to build up national structures and capacities as well as to improve
coordination and cooperation across borders and regionally.
Agir
por les Femmes en Situation Precaire (Acting for Women in Distressing
Situations) AFESIP is a non-governmental, non-partisan, and non-religious
organization established at the grass-root level in Cambodia in
1996. AFESIP combats trafficking of women and girls for the sex
industry through a victim-centered rehabilitation program that includes
holistic care and teaching occupational skills. AFESIP has a presence
in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam and is begining to become active
in Loas, where the TFE riders met with a representative.
Street
Friends was started in 1994 by a group of expats who realized
the need for a children's support center in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Originally sustained by personal funding, Street Friends now provides
extensive and comprehensive services to an average of 1,600 children
per day thanks to a network of expatriate advisors, donors and friends.
The organization aims to support the basic rights of children by
offering meals, shelter, and medical care as well as emphasizing
education and family support.
Womyn's Agenda
for Change (WAC) focuses on the exploitation of women in Cambodia.
WAC addresses the sex trade as well as garment workers' rights and
the debt cycle that perpetuates poverty in rural communities. |