Illegal labor

Thai police on Monday repatriated 23 Cambodian men who were tricked into traveling to Thailand to log rosewood, according to an official. ...

Experts say migrant laborers lack basic information about threats to them abroad, making them vulnerable to exploitation. However, Chou Bun Eng, secretary of state for the Ministry Interior and vice chairman of the National Committee To Combat Human Trafficking, says the government does disseminate information ...

Anti-human trafficking police yesterday arrested six suspected traffickers who were in the process of arranging for three Cambodian women to be flown to China to marry local men, a court official said yesterday. ...

It wasn’t until she was en route to the Ho Chi Minh airport that Sok Srey Touch knew she was in trouble. ...

Promises of well-paying jobs in Malaysia turned into a nightmare for four young men repatriated from the country last week with help from rights group Adhoc. The four – who range from 18 to 24 years old – had been sold to a plantation ...

National Police Commissioner Neth Savoeun called a high-level meeting in Phnom Penh on Monday to instruct relevant police units to increase their surveillance of establishments known to deal in human trafficking. ...

Men who are trafficked into forced labor can have difficulty reintegrating into their lives once they return. The report, by Hagar International, says assistance for such integration remains underfunded, while many victims of trafficking are forgotten once they find their way home. ...

Four male maids will return to Cambodia today after escaping from their employers and seeking assistance from the Cambodian Embassy in Malaysia, where they say they were forced to work overtime and were not paid, an official said Monday. ...

The Department of Immigration conducted a raid yesterday on a construction site in the capital near Wat Phnom. In all, officials checked 61 workers for valid permits. ...

Five suspected human traffickers were tried yesterday at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for allegedly attempting to send five Cambodian women and two minors to China for marriage. ...

Twenty undocumented Vietnamese laborers are being held for deportation after they were arrested Friday during a raid on a construction site for a new Acleda Bank branch in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district, an immigration official said. ...

Less than a month after Cambodia was handed the second-lowest rating in the United States’ annual Trafficking in Persons report, a senior official is “optimistic” the Kingdom can eventually move up the ranking. ...

With the end of its four-year program to fight human trafficking approaching, USAID, partner organization Winrock International and the government’s National Committee to Combat Trafficking are taking stock of their progress. ...

Six Cambodian domestic workers were repatriated yesterday after spending three months in Malaysia where they were promised work by a broker but given only tourist visas. ...

Eight young girls were placed in the care of the Social Affairs Ministry on Thursday after Thai authorities found them begging and selling flowers in Thailand and sent them back to Cambodia, according to the ministry. ...

A suspected bride broker was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly tricking three Cambodian women into marrying men in China, according to a report filed by Phnom Penh police. ...

Human rights NGO Amnesty International on Tuesday voted to adopt a policy to “protect the human rights of sex workers”, notably putting forward suggestions to decriminalise the consensual sex trade while safeguarding sex workers from possible exploitation. ...

Six Cambodian women rescued from allegedly abusive conditions in China and Malaysia were returned home yesterday after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs intervened in their cases, officials said. ...

About 200 people gathered in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district on Sunday demanding the release of two women who were arrested last week for allegedly chaining up their 13-year-old niece and selling her for sex. ...

Fear of social reprisal may be causing Phnom Penh’s sex workers to seek abortions in the privacy of unregistered private clinics or at home. ...

Cambodia remains on a watch list at the US State Department, for failing to do enough to combat human trafficking. In its annual Trafficking in Persons report, the State Department kept Cambodia a “tier 2” country. ...

Cambodian human trafficking authorities charged a Chinese national on Thursday with attempting to illegally transport 18 men to work in China in what one government official said was the first such case of trafficking Cambodian men to the country. ...

More than 50 illegal Vietnamese migrant workers were arrested Wednesday while working on the construction site of luxury estates in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district, police said. ...

Another group of 33 Cambodian laborers, who were trafficked to work as illegal fishermen on fishing boats in Indonesia, returned home on Tuesday afternoon, Xinhua quoted Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said. ...