Frequently Asked Questions

APLE primarily helps those affected by child sexual abuse and exploitation. This includes victims, witnesses, vulnerable children, and family members. In addition to this, APLE provides awareness to communities to prevent abuse and trains stakeholders to recognise and report suspicious behaviour. Some recipients of training include police, tuk-tuk drivers, NGO personnel, and youth.

Street-based exploitation occurs through a process called grooming. Offenders meet potential victims in the street, maybe when the child is begging or selling bracelets.

A grooming process begins whereby the offender builds a relationship of trust with the child(ren), their family, and possibly even their community; the ultimate goal of the offender is to identify, isolate, and abuse a vulnerable child, and also to ensure the child’s silence.

It is rare that a child who has been groomed will disclose abuse; the child may feel guilty, ashamed, fearful or dependent on the offender. In addition, there is often little evidence of abuse outside of victim testimony

There is no such thing. A child sex offender can be anyone: young, old; male, female; foreigner, local. Sometimes the most unlikely person is a child sex offender.

However, child sex offenders can be broadly divided into two categories, based on certain characteristics: preferential and situational.

• Preferential offenders find arousal and gratification through fantasising about and engaging in sexual activity that is atypical and extreme – most often, this means sexual activity with children.
• Situational offenders commit sexual offences against children despite the fact that their arousal and gratification does not depend on fantasising about and engaging in atypical and extreme sexual activity.

In general, preferential offenders commit street- and institution-based abuse while situational commit establishment-based; as a result, most of APLE’s investigations are into preferential child sex offenders.

The goal of the hotline is to provide people an anonymous and confidential way to report child sexual abuse from anywhere, allowing our staff to act immediately. People who report abuse are not required to provide any information to APLE or participate in the legal proceeding if they choose not to. We simply thank you for helping us protect children in Cambodia!

For more info about the hotline, please click here to visit the hotline website.