| Somaly Mam | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1970 or 1971 (?)[Note 1] Mondulkiri , Cambodia |
| Nationality | Cambodian |
| Occupation | Human rights activist |
| Known for | Anti-Sex trafficking, Philanthropy |
Somaly Mam (b. 1970 or 1971) is a Cambodian author and human rights advocate, focusing primarily on needs of victims of human sex trafficking, and has garnered official and media acclaim for her efforts.
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Born to a tribal minority family in the Mondulkiri province of Cambodia, Somaly Mam began life in extreme poverty. With limited options as part of a severely marginalized ethnic group, and living in unimaginable despair, her family often resorted to desperate means to survive. This confluence of dire circumstances led to the unspeakable horrors that would mark Somaly's early years.
Somaly Mam does not have any birth records showing when she was born or who her parents were. In her memoir, The Road of Lost Innocence, she states that she was born in either 1970 or 1971.[1]:2 In the mid-1970s, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge terrorized Cambodia and drove thousands of people into the country side. Essentially orphaned, Mam lived in a small Phnong village until a man picked her up and promised to find her father.[1] She became his indentured servant or slave. Mam was instructed to call him "grandfather" because it's a sign of respect to the elderly.[1]:7
Mam was abused by her "grandfather" until she was approximately 14, when she was sold to a brothel and forced into prostitution. She was also forced to marry a stranger.[2] Her husband was a fighter in the Khmer Rouge. Mam experienced violent beatings from her husband.[1]:34 She had five or six clients per day.[3] When Mam wouldn't have sex with a client, she would be taken to a cellar and forced to stay with snakes and scorpions. Mam would be subsequently tortured and raped.[1]:42-45 She was forced to prostitute herself on the streets.
Somaly was brutally tortured and raped on a daily basis. One night, she was made to watch as her best friend was viciously murdered. Fearing she would meet that same fate, Somaly heroically escaped her captors and set about building a new life for herself.[4] She vowed never to forget those left behind and has since dedicated her life to saving victims and empowering survivors.
In 1993, an aid worker from France found Mam and helped her escape Cambodia.[5] After Mam escaped the brothels, she went to Paris and got married. While in Paris, she came to the shocking realization that many other women and girls were ensnared in the same sexual slavery that she had been. She went home to Cambodia.
Mam served as a nurse from Médecins Sans Frontières and, in her spare time, handed out condoms, soap, and information to women in the brothels. These items were never otherwise provided or available to the women that Somaly visited. In 1996, she founded AFESIP (Agir pour les Femmes en Situation Precaire or Acting for Women in Distressing Situations), a Cambodian non-governmental organization dedicated to rescuing, housing and rehabilitating women and children in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam who have been sexually exploited.[6] AFESIP conducts outreach work to try helping the women still enslaved. The organization also works with law enforcement to raid the brothels. Mam has saved over 4,000 women from sexual slavery.[5] Her sanctuaries are in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.[6]
In June 2007, Mam co-founded the Somaly Mam Foundation, which officially launched in September 2007. The Somaly Mam Foundation is a non profit organization formed in the United States that supports anti-trafficking groups and helps women and girls who have been forced into sexual slavery.[7]
Glamour magazine named Somaly Mam “Woman of the Year” in 2006. They decided to do a feature story and the perfect woman for the job was Mariane Pearl, a columnist for Glamour. Pearl visited Cambodia to meet with Somaly and see the destruction caused to young girls that are forced into prostitution and brothels.[13]