Some women evicted from Phnom Penh’s Borei Keila slum have resorted to prostitution to support themselves after losing their homes and jobs in one of Cambodia’s bitterest land disputes.

The women are among some 150 families struggling to make ends meet since being moved to a barren plot of land an hour-and-a-half’s drive outside the city two years ago after property developer Phanimex reneged on an agreement to provide them with on-site housing in exchange for land in Borei Keila.

With no new jobs in the relocation area, some 50 women in the community have returned to the city to work in bars and karaoke parlors on the fringes of the city’s sex industry, with some of those women turning tricks for a living, according to a community leader.

One of the women, who asked to be identified as Bopha, said that since losing her job as a cleaner at a local market she has had no choice but to work as a prostitute.

Continue reading:In Desperation, Borei Keila Women Turn to Sex Work After Eviction