Slaves To Poverty

by Nick Rain

I was sent by the International Labour Organizations (ILO) Mekong Sub-Regional Project to Combat Trafficking in Children and Women to photograph the problems women and children endure on a daily basis. The assignment covered Thailand, Cambodia, Lao, and China. On other assignments, I had travelled to Bangladesh and Indonesia to cover the same issue. The ILO wanted me to come back with images to be used in a UN exhibition called The Future? Hope or Despair.

As I photographed these issues I was surprised by the attitude of the pimps and brothel owners- most let me photograph what I wanted, in exchange for a few cans of soft drinks for the girls or a beer for the man. Sometimes, I was forced to act like a customer and pay money to enter a room in a brothel and photograph the girls without permission from the pimp, but I don’t think he cared as long as he had the cash. It was not something I felt good about, but it was the only way to get the picture.

Most girls went along with this. I think in some way they thought it might help them.
The worst was photographing a girl in China with razor-blade scars and cigarette burns; she had a feeling of desperation about her. I felt sick leaving her in that room.

The question of who is exploiting who is a conundrum that has caused me to do some serious soul-searching. The pimps make money off these girls, their parents are making money from them, the customers are exploiting them and I make a living by photographing the girls and kids. So we are all gaining from their suffering, which is hard to justify. However, without information and pictures this form of slavery will continue unnoticed. Work has to be done to stop the suffering of millions of women and children around the world, and like all the other problems and issues it all comes back to money.

Nick Rain On behalf of The International Labor Organization