( CNN ) -- Svay Pak is a poor fishing village on the outskirt of Cambodia 's capital , Phnom Penh , known globally as a destination for child sex . It 's a place where mothers sell their own daughters to child traffickers , who supply them to brothels locally and across the country . But how has such a perverse trade been able to take root , let alone flourish here ? Mark Capaldi , senior researcher for Ecpat International , an organization committed to combating the sexual exploitation of children , says several factors have made Cambodia a prime destination for child sex offenders . `` Insufficiently enforced laws , corruption , and the failure to address more overarching problems such as poverty and the negative side effects of globalization have made it a challenge for the country to shed the unenviable reputation as a destination for child sex , '' he says . The authors of a 2011 Ecpat International report identified a number of cultural and sociological factors that made Cambodian children `` particularly vulnerable to adult predators . '' `` It has been observed that Cambodian children are indeed expected to abide by rules set forth by adults , and saying 'no ' to an adult is not easily tolerated , '' reads the report . But what of the acceptance and willing participation of so many locals , including parents themselves , in the trade ? For Don Brewster -- head of Agape International Missions , which aids Cambodian child survivors of the sex trade -- part of the answer as to why so many adults in Svay Pak are able to abnegate their parental duty to protect may lie in Cambodia 's brutal recent past , which left behind a fractured society . `` What this country went through was unique in history , '' says Brewster , of the Khmer Rouge 's systematic destruction of religious , educational and social structures -- not least of which the family unit -- during its genocidal 1975-79 reign . When Pol Pot 's maniacal experiment ended , 2 million people were dead , and society 's institutions almost erased . `` You lost your educated people and the system of educating them ; you lost the moral compass that Buddhism provided , '' he says .
Corruption , poverty and a bloody past have made Cambodia a child sex trade hotspot . Khmer Rouge 's systematic destruction of society led to the death of 2 million in the 1970s . Report : Culture plays a part as `` saying 'no ' to an adult is not easily tolerated ''