Illegal labor

Even by his own admission, it is an extraordinary change in fortunes for Adam Whittington. Eight months ago, the so-called “child recovery agent” was languishing in a stark Lebanese jail facing kidnapping charges after a failed attempt to snatch two children from the streets of Beirut ...

Cambodian and Japanese authorities have rescued seven Cambodian women forced into sexual slavery after being lured to Japan with the promise of restaurant jobs. ...

Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng yesterday called on officials to take stricter action in preventing child labor and asked civil society organizations to help monitor and report abuses immediately, but without doing so publicly.The call was made during a ceremony at the Labor Ministry to ...

Interior Minister Sar Kheng blamed the country’s continual problems with trafficking on porous borders and local government officials, who he said during a speech yesterday were frequently ignoring edicts from the national government and even orders he personally delivered himself. ...

The Labor Ministry says that it is investigating fresh allegations of widespread child labor at the country’s brick-making factories, but claims to have found no evidence as of yet. The ministry made the announcement on Friday, hours after the release of a new report by local ...

The NGO Open Institute has launched a new online service that aims to help Cambodian unskilled labourers find jobs within the country as part of an effort to discourage worker migration in hopes of reducing human trafficking. ...

In the first nine months of the year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cambodian embassies abroad have helped nearly 600 Cambodians who went to live and work abroad, legally or illegally, to return home. Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said yesterday that the ministry and ...

An overwhelming majority of transgender women on Cambodia’s city streets are subject to “shocking” harassment and abuse, according to a new report from the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR). The report, released yesterday, also shines a light on a disturbing new practice that has allegedly ...

A report published last week by the UN Action for Cooperation Against Trafficking in Persons (UN-ACT) says the main cause of human trafficking from Cambodia to China was a lack of jobs and low wages, forcing many young women to look at opportunities abroad. ...

A new report detailing the experiences of 42 women trafficked from Cambodia as brides to China found that officials in both countries were largely unsupportive in helping women escape once they were caught in unwanted domestic captivity. ...

Since the start of the year, department authorities at the Ministry of Interior have arrested more than 10,000 illegal workers, with the bulk of them being construction workers. However, industry experts and investors are split on the opinions that the arrest will impinge on the ...

The number of Cambodian women now thought to be caught in Saudi Arabia’s sex industry after being trafficked in the past year has risen to more than 20, officials said on Wednesday. However, the government remained tight-lipped about its efforts to rescue the women, while two ...

A California judge has ordered lawyers representing two US seafood companies to appear in court for a scheduling conference following a lawsuit filed on behalf of seven Cambodians who claim they were duped into a life of servitude working in factories that supply the firms. ...

Nearly 26,000 undocumented Cambodian workers were deported by Thai authorities through border checkpoints, primarily Poipet and other secondary border crossings in Banteay Meanchey province, in the first six months of this year, an official said. ...

The Thai Labor Ministry yesterday said it would refuse to extend the July 29 deadline for migrant workers to register themselves, stating they will arrest workers who have not registered from next month. ...

Widespread corruption among government officials is thwarting Cambodia’s efforts to combat human trafficking, the U.S. State Department said in an annual assessment that upgraded the country’s ranking, but found that it still failed to meet minimum standards.   ...

Keo Rotha was sitting in his small brick house in a quiet village in Pursat province, surrounded by coconut trees and a bamboo fence, looking at his old phone while waiting for a call to tell him the results of the court case he and ...

Cambodia’s dependence on illegal child labor, despite its small population, is endemic compared to neighboring countries, according to Veng Heang, director of the Child Labor Department at the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training. ...

More than 150 Cambodian migrant workers were repatriated from Thailand through Battambang’s Kamrieng Sampov Loun districts on Tuesday, according to local media. ...

Malaysia and Cambodia are working to conclude negotiations for an agreement on tackling human trafficking.   ...

Twenty-eight Cambodian nationals were arrested last week by Thai authorities for illegally crossing the border into Khlong Yai district, according to a Bangkok Post story on Saturday. ...

Military police have identified the suspected leader of what they believe to be a sex trafficking ring masquerading as a masseuse-training agency as a 40-year-old businesswoman with Cambodian and Thai citizenship who owns karaoke parlors in both countries.   ...

Almost 100 Cambodian workers were prevented from crossing the border into Thailand in Banteay Meanchey province on Friday and Saturday, according to police. ...

A provincial official said that about 20 Cambodian laborers were stopped in Malai district in the south-west of Banteay Meanchey province while attempting to illegally enter Thailand to work. They were “educated” and sent home on Tuesday. ...