1 | How did you first learn about the ChildSafe Movement?

We came in touch with Friends International because we wanted to feature an NGO in our online payment page and we had heard of their good work in Cambodia. When we were discussing with them, they introduced us to ChildSafe  and we were immediately engaged by the initiative.

2 | Why is it important for you to be ChildSafe?

It is important to be ChildSafe for us because we have Cambodia in our name, in our roots and in our values as a business.  We are proudly Cambodian, and as such, we are committed to putting our “grain of sand” to help out the people who are able to do good development work and make a difference. It is important to realise that development work can be done by anyone: from tourists, to private companies and to NGOs. This is how we see ChildSafe: it helps to involve more people in the process of fighting against child poverty and marginalisation. As a travel start-up, we felt the need to use our position to help out in this respect and educate our customers and our partners on what ChildSafe is what each of us can do to help.

3 | In what ways do you implement ChildSafe protection as an individual or within your business or organization?

CamboTicket raises awareness about ChildSafe all throughout our communication: website, newsletters, tickets… The goal is to educate travellers on the dos and don’ts when they arrive in Cambodia. For most of them it is the first time in the region and they have not heard about how to deal with situations like begging children at tourist sites or crossroads. Also, and even though we joined ChildSafe only recently, we also have a lot of work to do with our partners. Our operator partners go beyond the Cambodian border and span all over the country. This big transport network gives us a privileged position to enforce ChildSafe with Cambodian businesses and will ensure we continue to do so in the near future.

4 | What experiences have you faced personally which have demonstrated the need to be a ChildSafe advocate?

You don’t need to go to Angkor to find begging children in the streets. The sense of helplessness when you encounter one of these situations is what motivated me to personally push our involvement in ChildSafe. We’re giving people the first and most important step in this fight: information.

5 | Do you have any examples you can share of ways you have enforced ChildSafe protection which led to a positive outcome?

Since our involvement in ChildSafe is fairly recent, we do not specific information about the outcomes our effort has had just yet. We hope its giving travellers the tools to react positively when they encounter children at risk. I am sure we will know more about our impact due to this project in the near future.

How did you first learn about the ChildSafe Movement?

I became aware of Childafe through The Friends restaurant in Phnom Penh nearly 8 years ago and also through seeing tuk tuk drivers wearing childsafe t shirts.

Why is it important for you to be ChildSafe?

Construction sites are dangerous places and Cambodia has a culture of allowing families to stay on construction sites. We absolutely do not allow under 18’s on our sites. We provide accommodation off site for our workers, to ensure they don’t need to bring their families along with them and their children can stay at home and continue to attend school. Our over 18’s only policy ensure we are not supporting child labour. We do not even allow client’s children on site. Our policies and procedures reflect the childsafe principles.

In what ways do you implement ChildSafe protection as an individual or within your business or organization?

In many of our company policies there are references to child protection.  We only employ staff of 18 years and above they must have ID cards or family books to prove this. There is zero tolerance of any employee being involved in any offences related to children. This is grounds for immediate dismissal and contacting the police. We make all our employees aware of our childsafe principles on their employment by thoroughly explaining our company policies. We vet any NGO we are involved with for CSR to ensure they are ChildSafe. Where we can we use chilsdafe accommodation and transport. Full time employees must provide a police check from their home province. For some projects we also require this from casual  labour. Our full time staff are all ChildSafe certified agents. Our staff are not permitted to volunteer with an organization that is not ChildSafe. We display ChildSafe leaflets in our office. We update our childsafe training yearly.

What experiences have you faced personally which have demonstrated the need to be a ChildSafe advocate?

I have seen underage girls with older men at hotels being groomed. I have seen children playing on building sites. I have been approached by begging children. I have seen children abusing substances in the street. I have seen drugged children being used by adults/older children to beg. I have seen child labour on building sites and in brick factories.

Do you have any examples you can share of ways you have enforced ChildSafe protection which led to a positive outcome?

By accommodating our workers on site – children are left at home to be able to attend school. By not employing under 18’s we prevent child labour. I personally have phoned the ChildSafe hotline when I was worried for the safety of a child.