Task of Obtaining Passport Is Adding To Illegal Migration Problem
Thousands of Cambodians cross the border via illegal checkpoints into Thailand every year. Some end up working in slave-like conditions on illegal fishing trawlers. Others work in factories while getting paid under the table. It is often a last resort fraught with danger and uncertainty and yet for many migrants, it is a more realistic option than traveling to Phnom Penh to navigate the long-winded and expensive process of acquiring a passport. Although the Ministry of Interior said earlier this month that a new passport office would open in Battambang in order to make it easier for people living in western Cambodia to obtain a passport, for the moment the country’s only passport office is situated in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district. “We do not want to risk our lives crossing the border illegally… but the price for paying for a passport should be reduced to a minimum,” said Mean Sam Aun, a villager from Banteay Meanchey province’s Preah Netr Preah district. He said that many villagers in his area had chosen to go to work in Thailand after being evicted from their land by a private agro-industry business. … In December, Prime Minister Hun Sen lambasted the Cambodian News Channel for interviewing a “stupid” NGO representative who argued that the large number of illegal migrants was due to the prohibitive cost of Cambodian passports. But while the government says just more than 100,000 Cambodians legally go to work in Thailand, labor experts say an estimated 600,000 illegal migrants are crossing Thailand from Cambodia each year. …
