Helping Trafficked Children Safely Reintegrate With Their Families and Home Communities

Ambassador Mussomeli works with  Damnok Toek children on an arts and craft project. Full Size

Since January 2004, World Education's OPTIONS program, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, has been providing support to the NGO Damnok Toek (Drop of Water) for the operation of a Reception Center for trafficked and abused children. The Damnok Toek Reception Center, which is located in Poipet, has created a system for the safe and orderly repatriation of children from Cambodia apprehended in Thailand while selling flowers/candies or begging, most often on the streets of Bangkok or Pattaya. Prior to the set-up of the repatriation process, many trafficked children would be deported into Cambodia by Thai authorities, but they would find themselves re-trafficked shortly after their release. The orderly repatriation process tries to break the re-trafficking cycle by keeping children in the care of responsible government authorities, such as the Cambodian government's Transit Center, and their NGO partners until such time when the children can be safely reintegrated with their birth families or in their home communities.

U.S. Ambassador Joseph A. Mussomeli recently visited the Damnok Toek Reception Center to learn more about its programs and to meet the 45 children currently under the Center's care. It is a short-term care facility, designed to provide care to the children for up to eighteen months. During this period, the Center staff conduct family tracing, get to know the children’s families, and then work together with the families towards eventual reintegration. If a child cannot be reintegrated (because he/she has no family, or because the family environment is deemed to be unsafe for the child), Damnok Toek looks for a long-term care solution, which could be Damnok Toek’s long-term care Residential Center, or the center of another NGO.

In his remarks to Damnok Toek staff members, Ambassador Mussomeli said, "There is no higher priority for the American Embassy than the protection of Cambodian children, and we know that it's a high priority for the Cambodian government as well. Gandhi once said that you can tell whether a society is civilized or not by how it treats its weakest members. Of course, the weakest members of society are children, so for a society to be considered civilized, it must protect its children. We were very proud of the work that we have been able to do with the OPTIONS program because that funding is very well spent taking care of children. There is a lot of talk these days about Cambodian natural resources such as minerals, oil and gas. The most important natural resource, however, is its children. Thank you for working to protect them from exploitation."

Children living at the Reception Center participate in educational programs that include Khmer language studies, mathematics, geography, Khmer customs and morality, natural science, history, sport, hygiene, drawing, traditional dance, embroidery, and gardening. They receive a healthy meal three times per day, and receive medical care from an on-site physician working for Damnok Toek.

Since the inception of the Reception Center in the year 2000, Damnok Toek has taken care of more than 150 trafficked children. Of these, 105 have received assistance since the start of US government assistance in January 2004 under the auspices of the OPTIONS Program. Among the 105 children who have been enrolled since January 2004, 28 have been reintegrated home, and 30 have been referred to long-term care within Damnok Toek or with other NGOs. Three children have left the Reception Center by choice.