Population and censuses

Since a nationwide census of foreigners began in August, fines totalling nearly $200,000 have been paid into government coffers, an immigration official told the Post yesterday. “According to the law, the immigration police can fine them 200,000 riel [about $49] to 500,000 riel and this ...

The manager of a recruitment firm in Kampong Speu province was arrested this week for allegedly duping 50 workers out of $150 each on the unfulfilled promise of getting them work in Thailand. ...

Three Cambodian men arrested in Thailand last week were returned to Preah Vihear province on Monday and claim they were tortured by the Thai military before being released, according to a military colonel in the area who provided a video of the men’s accounts. According ...

Dissatisfied by wages at home, thousands of Cambodians have been lured to Malaysia by the promise of bigger pay cheques, but while many have found themselves subjected to long hours, unpaid wages, unsafe working conditions and even physical abuse, they have – until now – ...

Cambodian migrant worker hopefuls have heard murmurs about the poor work conditions in South Korea. However, they remain unfazed – even the recent reports of long hours and abusive employers are doing little to deter their quest to secure better wages abroad. ...

Twenty Cambodian fishermen forced to work on a trawler in Indonesia have been rescued, while a pair of Cambodian brides extricated from abusive relationships in China have been repatriated, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday heard the case of a woman charged with defrauding 24 would-be migrant workers of more than $30,000. ...

Long considered the friendlier and less exploitative option for overseas Cambodian migrants, South Korea is now being slammed by Amnesty International for a number of abuses afflicting its migrant-dominated agriculture sector. The 20,000 foreign workers fuelling South Korea’s farming industry regularly encounter intimidation, violence, excessive working ...

A Thai court on Thursday ordered the release of 33 Cambodians who had been held in prison since they were arrested seven weeks ago after crossing the border in Banteay Meanchey province to log valuable rosewood, officials said. ...

Fuelled by poverty and debt, more than a quarter of Cambodian adults migrate, and, in the process, many are leaving behind their children, a new report finds. Part of a four-year research project on child labour, the Cambodian Independent Research Institute’s The Impacts of Adult Migration ...

The Ministry of Interior has deported more than 200 foreign nationals over the past two months as part of its ongoing nationwide census, according to Sok Phal, director of the ministry’s immigration department. The Interior Ministry’s census was launched last month, at the same time ...

The Cambodian Interior ministry is carrying out a census to identify how many foreigners – legal and illegal – are living in the country. ...

Police in Ratanakkiri deported two more Vietnamese nationals living illegally in the northern province last week, bringing the number of expulsions to 14 as the Ministry of Interior’s census of foreigners continues, police said. This year’s census—which is now complete in Ratanakkiri, according to officials ...

A plan floated in Thailand to cut state educational support to migrant workers’ children has drawn the ire of rights groups, which say thousands of Cambodian youths could be denied their basic right to education. According to Thai media, Kamol Rodklai, secretary-general of the Office of ...

The government this weekend hit back at criticism of its embassies in China, Malaysia and Thailand, insisting that they are helping migrants in need. ...

Cambodian embassies rescued 13 Cambodian workers in Thailand and three maids in Malaysia, Koy Kuong, spokesman for Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said Saturday. ...

A day after the first results of the countrywide census of foreigners were revealed, Interior Minister Sar Kheng yesterday called on politicians to reserve judgement. ...

The government’s countrywide census of foreigners resulted in the first deportations, as six undocumented Vietnamese workers were sent back across the border from Ratanakkiri province last week, officials said yesterday. The move prompted one provincial NGO worker to call for more deportations as part of a ...

Immigration officials from the Interior Ministry and Pursat province today are to begin a census of all foreigners living in the Kingdom, though it is expected to focus primarily on those of Vietnamese descent. Following a meeting in Pursat yesterday afternoon, Major General Khun Sambor, chief ...

A group of 50 migrant workers on Wednesday protested outside a branch of a recruitment agency in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district that they say duped them out of $260 they paid for a guarantee of employment in Thailand. ...

Australia’s plan to resettle refugees in Cambodia may be a win-win opportunity for the two countries but is also short-sighted, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. In a commentary posted Tuesday, the center’s Asian program said Australian prime minister Tony Abbott was ...

Sok Hieng* is concerned about a government census of foreigners that some observers believe will focus primarily on those of Vietnamese descent. “I am afraid that I will be forced to leave Cambodia because I do not have ID yet,” said Hieng, a 33-year-old construction worker ...

The Interior Ministry’s general department of immigration began its “census” of ethnic Vietnamese people living in Cambodia on Sunday, with Sok Phal, the department chief, touring Pursat province villages along the Tonle Sap lake. Pursat provincial police chief Sarun Chanthy said that General Phal and a ...

The Ministry of Labour plans to delay signing off on a controversial agreement to reopen a pipeline of Cambodian maids to Malaysia until a deal is reached on a second agreement regarding other migrant workers, a ministry official said yesterday. Labour Ministry spokesman Heng Sour told ...