On Thailand’s border with Cambodia, I met a dozen Cambodian children who had been trafficked into Bangkok a few months earlier and were being sent home by the IOM (International Organisation for Migration). The children knew each other well: they had ived on the streets of Bangkok together, selling noodles, flowers and sweets for a local racketeer. All had made the journey home at least twice already, having been resold to traffickers by family members on their return. This time they were to be taken into care.

The UN believes 1.2 million children are trafficked annually, across or within borders, the majority being sold by a close friend or family member. In Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, an organisation called AFESIP (Action for Women in Distressed Situations) is running three homes for victims of trafficking, training women and young girls in skills that they should later be able to earn a living from, and setting up a fair trade silk factory where they can be employed.

Yet Ben Svasti, programme coordinator for Trafcord, an organisation tackling human trafficking on the Thai borders, admits: ‘I haven’t come across a happily-ever-after case. As time passes, poverty pushes the child or young woman to go out and work again. Success depends where you end your story.’