The village has been renowned as a destination for adult and child prostitution , and while the latter has been cracked down upon, its prevalence as of [update] was disputed. Svay Pak is located eleven or twelve kilometres 6.
The afternoon of 20 August saw a fire sweep through Svay Pak. Non-governmental organizations Concern and MSF committed to helping residents the latter promised to rebuild its clinic alongside local philanthropists. While some locals accused the fire brigade of extorting them for firefighting services, local official Hou Samon said that the village roads were too narrow to accommodate the fire engine ; Samon said that the local government planned "to discuss letting the home and brothel -owners resettle in the same area, but first all the roads would have to be widened.
In , the only industry in Svay Pak other than prostitution and the support thereof was fishing. Prostitution has been prevalent in Svay Pak since at least , [6] and was once "one of the most notorious places in the world for sex slavery. After the Cambodian—Vietnamese War , Svay Pak's political corruption and instability led to local authorities extorting brothel owners, while the sex workers themselves "experienced raids, arrests, and rape from armed military and civil police forces operating under loose governmental control.
Though prostitution in Cambodia was not illegal in , other factors contributed to " de facto criminalization" of the industry.
In May , there were 24 brothels employing approximately women on two main Svay Pak streets. By March , as a result of decreasing demand, there were only 17 brothels and around sex workers. Servicing 14 clients per week, workers could repay this debt in 6—24 months, resulting in high turnover —half of Svay Pak's sex workers had been there for six months of less.
