First hand knowledge: voices across the Mekong: community action against trafficking of children and women

This paper is an account of the stories of children and women, and the communities to which they belong, who explain their engagement in a program designed to help prevent trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation. The accounts are drawn from communities in the five participating countries: Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, and China. The respondents recount the most positive results of the project to date, and how their shared experiences (consultation and participation) have made a difference in their lives. They speak of learning about their rights and ways to take action to protect themselves through a range of community efforts designed to raise awareness about trafficking, to promote gender equality, and to organize self-help groups.

The paper also documents the impact of a rights-based, participatory programme to engage with these individuals. The impats of this approach suggest that:

• children are seeing changes in their relationships within the family, in school, and in the community
• communities are more caring and supportive of children, women, and families at risk of trafficking
• young people are becoming their own advocates and exercising the responsibilities that come with their rights
• women are finding strength in organization
• District and provincial authorities are creating enabling and participatory environment for local action
• national governments are thinking more about their poor and vulnerable groups