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WEEK of November 8, 2004 |
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Human Rights Activist Christina Lem Visits Upper School by Jeffrey Stanley Last week’s Upper School assembly speaker was young human-rights worker Christina Lem. A former researcher for The New York Times, Lem achieved prominence earlier this year when she accompanied award-winning columnist Nicholas Kristoff to Cambodia to cover a story on teen prostitution. As Lem explained it, they stopped being reporters and “crossed a line,” when they purchased two teenage prostitutes from their brothel owners and returned them to their home villages. Why single out Cambodia? During the Q&A session after her talk, Lem explained that Cambodia has one of the worst records of any country in allowing trafficking in child prostitution. She said that purchasing two prostitutes and returning them to their homes had been Kristoff’s intention all along, and was his way of bringing notice to this widespread form of human rights abuse. The fact that they made the trip with such a clear agenda in mind pushed the story out of the realm of objective journalism, which is why it was not front page news at the Times. Instead, the resultant series of articles ran in Kristoff’s op-ed column last January. Lem began the assembly by projecting a slideshow entitled “Freeing Sex Slaves,” which summarized those articles. The slideshow contained Kristoff’s narration and Lem’s voiceover translations of the two freed prostitutes’ interviews. Lem described the extreme poverty that is a fact of life for most Cambodians. For young people living in remote villages—as well as their families—prostitution in the cities can seem like the only way out. “Sometimes it’s the promise of a job. Sometimes the families do sell them,” Lem told her audience. She said that most of these young prostitutes “feel bad about themselves” but see little other opportunity for income. Most of them, she said, die of AIDS by their early thirties and are fatalistic about their chosen careers. She believes, however, that the situation is improving, thanks in part to international pressure from the United States and other countries. “Gradually,” she said, “the governments of Cambodia and other countries known historically to turn a blind eye to child prostitution are making moves to stop it.” Lem left The New York Times several months ago and now works as a development consultant for the United Nations World Food Programme, where she focuses on efforts to bring nationalized health care to Africa as part of the fight against AIDS. At the end of her talk, a number students surrounded Lem to learn more about how they can get involved in the specific human rights issues she highlighted. “I really liked what she had to say,” said student Sascha Roker. To learn more about how to get involved in human rights issues
in Cambodia and elsewhere around the world, Lem recommended visiting
the following websites: |
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