Tuesday, 4 November 2008

US rockers The Click Five to play Cambodia's Angkor Wat

The Click Five lead singer Eric Dill performing in New York City in 2005. The American rock band plans to play a concert at Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple next month as part of a campaign to fight human trafficking, organiser MTV music channel said Monday.(AFP/Getty Images/Brad Barket)

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – American rock band The Click Five plans to play a concert at Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple next month as part of a campaign to fight human trafficking, organiser MTV music channel said Monday.

The December 7 concert by the group, who are popular in Southeast Asia, is part of a series of music shows in Cambodia organised by MTV and the US Agency for International Development to raise awareness in young people about human trafficking in the region.

"What we have is the chance to reach out and create a lot of interest about human trafficking," Matt Love, spokesman for the MTV Europe Foundation, said of the concert.

Cambodia has struggled to shed its reputation as soft on human trafficking, and earlier this year suspended marriages between foreigners and Cambodians amid concerns they were being used to traffic poor, uneducated women.

The US State Department refused a visa to Cambodia's police chief Hok Lundy in 2006 due to allegations he was involved in trafficking prostitutes.

The previous international recording artist to perform at Angkor Wat, built in the 12th century and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was tenor Jose Carreras who sang for a charity gala dinner there in 2002.

No comments: