Before he retired from the RCMP, Brian McConaghy saw something that changed the course of his life.

He was asked to help with an investigation that ultimately led to the conviction of Donald Bakker in 2005, in the first test of Canada's sex tourism law.

Bakker pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting young girls in Cambodia, as well as abusing women in Vancouver.

But before that day came, McConaghy was asked by investigators to view videos of the overseas abuse to try and move the case forward.

"I had done years of working homicides, et cetera, but nothing prepared me for those tapes," McConaghy said.

He was already doing charitable work in Cambodia at the time, but the horrors he witnessed prompted him to expand his efforts to tackle human trafficking.

"That just opened up a whole new world, I was compelled," McConaghy said. "The area that scared me most in life, has become the richest area of my life, in terms of serving these people."

McConaghy is now the founding director of Ratanak International, a Christian charity headquartered in Burnaby, which now operates a centre purpose-built for survivors of human trafficking in Cambodia.

McConaghy said the centre was funded by just over $2 million from Canadian donors. It opened in October, and is able to take in up to 25 people at a time.

McConaghy said the design is secure, but also open, keeping in mind how the people recovering there have just escaped being trapped in sexual and domestic servitude.

'We worked for a long time to get a dedicated building for human trafficking victims, primarily young women from Cambodia that have been trafficked and sold into China," McConaghy said.

Human trafficking into China is also the focus of a report recently released by the UK-based non-profit Korea Future Initiative, which has been making international headlines.

The report explores the trafficking of North Korean women and young girls into what it describes as "China's multi-million-dollar sex trade", and said many are forced into some form of sexual slavery including prostitution, cybersex, and forced marriages.

The report said women are coerced, sold and even abducted, and also includes excerpts of stories from survivors.

One woman who was quoted in the report said she had seen a girl who had been so brutally abused she could hardly stand.

McConaghy said 80 per cent of his charity's work involves young women coming from China, but added they also see women who have fled abusive situations in other countries including Malaysia.

He says the woman are "sold" as a domestic worker and then imprisoned and never paid. The new centre, he says, is a safe arrival point for survivors to start their new lives.

"We have many young lives going through that building when they arrive from other countries, completely traumatized, terrified," McConaghy said. "It's ramped up very quickly, there are huge needs."

McConaghy said they've also started up a program for young men who were imprisoned and abused. He said some are lured with the promise of a job in the fishing industry, but then end up trapped on board, working constantly without shore leave, and suffering physical and sexual abuse.

"Anytime we delve into the international world of human trafficking, it is depressing, it is overwhelming," McConaghy said. "We need to function from a position of hope."

Fuelling that hope are the stories of incredible resilience McConaghy has witnessed amongst victims, including some of the women abused by pedophiles like Bakker as young children.

He told CTV News Vancouver he remains in touch with some of them, and said they are now thriving.

"If we keep going, we can see lives change."