Following the Khmer Rouge regimen in the 1970s, Cambodia was left in an extremely precarious state, characterized by the dismantling of infrastructures and basic services and a population immersed in poverty. This in part explains the current situation of the country, where a weak productive fabric is coupled with an insufficient education system. The rural population almost completely lacks access to public services.

Moreover, Cambodia is a country of origin, transit and destination for human trafficking, especially women and children, who are exploited in the agricultural, domestic labor, and sexual work industries.