On Thursday the Federal Government launched a smart volunteering campaign, working alongside universities and state authorities to ensure students are not unintentionally visiting or volunteering in programs that exploit young children.
A UNICEF report released last year found that most orphans living in Cambodia were neither orphans nor abandoned and were at risk of being exploited to attract funding and donations from tourists, including being forced to beg, interact and play with visitors.
The new campaign, launched by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Education Minister Simon Birmingham, discourages any form of short-term, unskilled volunteering in overseas orphanages and provides guidelines on how to be a child-safe volunteer.