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Truth Or Lies: Somaly Mam


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An Al Jazeera Story.

 

Just watched this, very interesting.

 

Whilst there is no doubt that there is/was trafficking and such in Cambodia, it would seem that Somaly Mam has been lying through her teeth to get funding.

 

In particular, her French ex husband was quite candid, in saying that she hadn't been trafficked and had entered the P4P trade after the age of 16, voluntarily, where he met and married her, she spent time in France before returning to open her NGO.

 

She's been outed 'coaching' girls to invent spectacular stories to further the NGO's goals..

 

Shame really, this kind of thing only sets back legitimate work by honest people.

 

 

Al Jazeera Link

 

Wiki link

 

 

And related to this is this Al Jazeera story I think that reading the whole text of this story is mandatory if you want to comment on trafficking in Cambodia:

 

"Phnom Penh, Cambodia - In early 2011, Srey Mao, 28, and two friends were "rescued" and taken to a shelter run by Afesip, a Cambodian organisation that prides itself on helping sex-trafficking victims recover from trauma while learning new trades such as sewing and hairdressing.

 

There was just one problem: The women claim they hadn't actually been trafficked.

 

Instead, the women said they were willing sex workers who had been rounded up off the street during a police raid and sent to Afesip, headed by the internationally renowned anti-sex-slavery crusader Somaly Mam with funding from the foundation that bears her name.

 

They said they were confined there for months as purported victims of sex trafficking. Srey Mao claimed that she, her friends and a number of other sex workers in the centre were instructed by a woman to tell foreign visitors they had been trafficked."I was confined against my will," Srey Mao said on Saturday.

 

The person she said ordered her and others to lie was Somaly Mam."

 

and

 

Mam's star-studded image abruptly lost its sheen on May 28, when she was forced to resign from the Somaly Mam Foundation following a Newsweek cover story reporting that she had lied about her past.

 

Not only had Mam not been an orphaned trafficking victim - reporter Simon Marks revealed in Newsweek that she grew up with both parents and graduated from high school - but she reportedly encouraged and coached girls to lie as well.

 

much more at the link

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A friend 9 or 10 years ago showed me a handbook for BGs printed in Thai by a women's right group working in LOS. One section was on how to write deceitful letters to rip off enfatuated Farang "boyfriends". It even provided samples for them to copy. Nice. :banghead:

 

 

p.s. Michael Yon has been taking on the "comfort women" claims on his facebook site, showing evidence that many of them may not actually have been forced into prostitution. He says China is backing the claims to embarrass modern Japan and keep the WWII bad guy image going. He has posted newspaper adverts from the time openly asking for prostitutes. He could be right, but like most journalists he has a tendency to become one sided on issues.

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คนโง่

Me or the question? UN came up with the label I know to keep them distant from the influence of governments back in mid 20th century. But on the other hand most countries have government bodies to regulate them. So I don't quiet see your point.

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Me or the question?

 

Neither, bust: NGO = 'ngo" = stupid, foolish, right Flash? No offense meant, no-how, I'm sure.

 

Sure there are plenty of NGOs that go wrong, leadership that perpetuate lies and fraud - Somaly Mam, the "Three Cups of Tea" guy. And they exaggerate facts to improve - in some cases, simply to perpetuate their own existence. But I'll stand up to defend them in general terms - they can do a lot of good, handle issues others prefer not to deal with, remind us of our principles and help us to put them into practice. "And that's all I have to say about that..."

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