Abuses prevalent for Cambodia’s transgender women: study

An overwhelming majority of transgender women on Cambodia’s city streets are subject to “shocking” harassment and abuse, according to a new report from the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights. The report, released on September 21, also shines a light on a disturbing new practice that has allegedly taken root among Siem Reap police in which transgender sex workers are targeted and forced to bathe in the “dirty, stagnant river”. A total of 135 trans women in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Battambang and Sihanoukville were surveyed for the Discrimination Against Transgender Women in Cambodia’s Urban Centres report, which found 92 percent had experienced verbal abuse in public spaces. More disturbingly, a quarter of women surveyed were raped in public, while about 43 percent were subjected to physical abuse.

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