Somaly Mam

Vision and Motivation

War, revolution, and the ruthless Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s left Cambodian society
shattered. Social order was broken down to the point that a whole generation grew up in
surroundings where people would do anything to survive. It was during that time in Cambodian
history that the market for human sex trafficking quickly developed. Many poverty-stricken
families resorted to selling children to brothels or sending them to the capital city of Phnom Penh
in search of work, the two most common ways that children are forced into sexual slavery. 1

When Somaly Mam was 16 years old, she was sold to a brothel, where she endured rape and
unimaginable cruelty. 2 At 20, Mam met a French national named Pierre Legros, a humanitarian
worker who helped her leave prostitution forever. 3 In 1994, while volunteering at the Doctors
Without Borders clinic at which Legros worked, Mam saw a young girl at the clinic whom she
assumed be a prostitute; she taught the girl about protecting herself from diseases and extended
an invitation to the girl’s friends to visit her. 4 Girls from brothels began coming to see Mam in
groups. “I knew these girls: they were me,” says Mam. “I thought every night about those girls
leaving the hospital, sick, to go back to the places where that same evening they would be beaten
and raped.” 5

Goals and Objectives

Mam’s initial goals were modest; she knew from her own experience that girls in brothels had no
access to soap or condoms, which was leading to high rates of disease. She persuaded Doctors
Without Borders to provide her with condoms and information about HIV prevention, and
bought soap for the girls with her own money. 6 Though she hated returning to the environment
of brothels, she used them as distribution centers to supply the girls with the much needed
supplies. 7 Soon she began helping girls escape child prostitution for a new start elsewhere in the
country through a group that she founded in 1996 called Acting for Women in Distressing
Situations (AFESIP). 8

With the creation of AFESIP, Mam hoped to establish a center for victims of human sex
trafficking. The organization’s goals are threefold: “first and foremost the protection of victims;
second, the implementation of the victim-centered approach through holistic care and the
welcome of any persons who wish to leave sex slavery conditions to our residential centers; and
third, the achievement of the long-term goal of reintegration into society.” 9 Through her
connection to Pierre Legros, she was able to secure funding for AFESIP through several
European social action NGO’s that included Maison de Retraite, an organization for which Mam
had worked during a brief stay in France. Not only was Legros instrumental in fundraising, he
served as the co-founder of AFESIP alongside Mam and used his experience in international
development to help manage the organization. 10

The organization’s workers conduct investigations into brothels to find evidence of illegal sex
trafficking. 11 Once enough evidence has been amassed, they alert local police to the illegal
behavior. 12 If and when the police organize a raid on the brothel, members of AFESIP participate
in the raid and encourage victims to stay at AFESIP’s residential centers. 13 There, they receive
medical treatment, food and accommodation, education, and counseling. 14 Before they leave,
they receive vocational training so that they can achieve economic independence by finding
employment outside the sex industry. 15 When victims leave the center, AFESIP continues to
support them, following up on their progress for three years to ensure that they are successfully
reintegrated into their families and communities. 16

Leadership

Much of Mam’s success as a leader of AFESIP comes from her ability to transform her abusive
childhood experiences into inspiration and hope for others. Using her firsthand knowledge of
victim experiences, Mam was able to persuade members of the international community to pay
more attention to the horrors of the human sex trafficking industry. Mam devel’s self-confidence
and ability to lead others were abilities that she developed after leaving the brothel. 17 The horrors
that she suffered as a child, coupled with Cambodian society’s sexism, had eroded her self-
esteem and her ability to speak out in support of herself or others. 18

Mam points to her time spent in France, where she stayed for some years after escaping the
brothel, as a transformative experience in her journey towards activism. After working a number
of basic restaurant jobs, she eventually became the Director of Personnel of a Parisian restaurant,
a position in which she managed employees below her and was respected by those above her.
Working in a free market economy with top-rate labor laws gave Mam a new sense of self-
confidence: “I had learned to look people in the eye and communicate with them directly, as an
equal.” 19

Civic Environment

When Mam began her activism work, Cambodian society was so repressively closed that it was
completely void of local civic leadership. Though there is little rule of law in Cambodia, Mam
believes that the government has been of help to her organization, explaining that “although
many Cambodian officials are shockingly corrupt, and some of them are simply evil, I have also
at times received support for my work from certain people in the Cambodian government.
Without them none of what we do would be possible.” 20

Many participants in the sex trafficking industry, from pimps to customers, have attempted to
threaten and harass Mam into abandoning her cause. Mam has been held at gunpoint on more
than one occasion, her adoptive parents’ house has been burnt down, and she has received many
other threats against her family. 21 The most horrific of these attempts came in 2006, when Mam
initiated an investigation into a “mega-brothel.” To coerce her into stopping the investigation,
brothel owners kidnapped Mam’s daughter, who was at the time only 14 years old, and
proceeded to drug and rape her. 22

Message and Audience

During the initial stages of her efforts, Mam had to persuade brothel owners that it was in their
own best interests to allow sick girls to be treated at the Doctors Without Borders clinic, and to
receive basic education to avoid sexually transmitted diseases. By framing her message as an
offer of assistance to brothel owners, she was able to establish a symbiotic relationship in that
both parties perceived benefits from working together.

Mam’s work with the police goes far beyond supplying intelligence on sex trafficking, in many
cases she has to persuade police that a brothel is worth raiding. Mam recalls that the first raid did
not happen easily; “We made so much fuss about it that the police agreed to raid the brothel. I
think they didn’t want to lose face. In those days few policemen supported our work. Too many
of them were involved in the sex trade themselves.” 23 Over time, as the legitimacy and
popularity of AFESIP’s programming has grown, it has become easier to persuade police officers
to act. 24

Most importantly, Mam and AFESIP hope to reach as many of the victims as possible, giving
them hope for a new life outside of sexual servitude. By giving them a welcoming, non-
judgmental environment, providing them with education and training to become self-sufficient,
and following up to ensure that the communities they eventually settle into are receiving them
properly, Mam hopes to send the message to women and girls who are victims of trafficking that
they are worthy of dignity and respect, capable of living fulfilling and independent lives. 25

Outreach Activities

Through AFESIP, Mam strives to communicate the dangers of human sex trafficking, both in the
countries in which it works and around the world, to change attitudes and to secure support and
funding for her mission. Often the group tries to show outsiders what a brothel looks like first-
hand, giving tours to international journalists and public figures. Mam’s efforts have caught the
attention of international organizations and garnered her awards such as the Prince of Asturias
Award for International Cooperation, the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child,
and The Roland Berger Human Dignity Award.

Her success with AFESIP spawned a more global effort in 2007 with the establishment of the
Somaly Mam Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting the sex trafficking
industry around the world. Linking up with American philanthropists Jared Greenberg and
Nicholas Lumpp, Mam’s new foundation has enabled her to take her life’s passion to the next
level. 26 The Somaly Mam Foundation runs global awareness programs to encourage
governments and the international community to become involved in the fight against the multi-
billion dollar human trafficking industry through the media, entertainment industry, celebrity
voices, speaking engagements, internet communities, and by encouraging university and high
school involvement. 27 Thus far, with 155 social workers operating in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos
and Vietnam, Mam says that the organization has saved more than 5,000 girls, and is working
with regional and international NGO’s to legally tackle the issue of human trafficking in
Southeast Asia. 28

Learn More

News and Analysis

Das, Sudavip and Supatra Chowdhury. “Cambodia’s Child Sex Trade.” Global
Politician. 5 April 2005.

“Home Page.” AFESIP Cambodia. 23 April 2009.

“Home Page.” Somaly Mam Foundation. 2007.

Jolie, Angelina. “The 2009 TIME 100: Somaly Mam.” Time Magazine. 30 April 2009.

Mam, Somaly. “A Life in the Day: Somaly Mam.” The Times Online 4 Dec 2005.

Pearl, Mariane. “Global Diary: Cambodia.” Glamour Magazine. 1 Aug 2006.

Videos

“Interview with Author/Activist Somaly Mam.” YouTube. 6 Oct 2008.

“Somaly Mam at UCLA: ‘We Have to Save Them.” YouTube. 19 Oct 2009.

“Somaly Mam on the Tyra Banks Show.” YouTube. 18 March 2008.

1
Das, Sudavip and Supatra Chowdhury. “Cambodia’s Child Sex Trade.” Global Politician. 5 April
2005.
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid.
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid, 107.
6
Mam, Somaly. The Road of Lost Innocence. Great Britain: Virago Press, 2007.
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.
9
“Our Approach.” AFESIP Cambodia.
10
“Somaly Mam.” Somaly Mam Foundation. 2009.
11
“Legal and Investigation Teams.” AFESIP Cambodia.
12
Ibid.
13
Ibid.
14
“Rehabilitation and Vocational Skills Training Centers.” AFESIP Cambodia.
15
“Vocational Skills Training.” AFESIP Cambodia.
16
“AFESIP Cambodia Reintegration.” AFESIP Cambodia.
17
Mam, Somaly. The Road of Lost Innocence. Great Britain: Virago Press, 2007.
18
Ibid.
19
Ibid, 102.
20
Mam, Somaly. The Road of Lost Innocence. Great Britain: Virago Press, 2007, 133.
21
Mam, Somaly. The Road of Lost Innocence. Great Britain: Virago Press, 2007.
22
Jolie, Angelina. “The 2009 TIME 100: Somaly Mam.” Time. 30 April 2009.
23
Mam, Somaly. The Road of Lost Innocence. Great Britain: Virago Press, 2007, 119.
24
Mam, Somaly. The Road of Lost Innocence. Great Britain: Virago Press, 2007.
25
Mam, Somaly. The Road of Lost Innocence. Great Britain: Virago Press, 2007.
26
Ibid.
27
“Global Awareness.” The Somaly Mam Foundation. 2009.
28
“Somaly Mam.” The Women’s Conference. 2010.