Friday, June 24, 2011

Minister Lashes Out at Wasted Anti-Trafficking Efforts

Sar Kheng: All talk no action?
The US lists Cambodia among those countries that need to do more to combat trafficking—which generally means Cambodians being trafficked abroad.

Thursday, 23 June 2011
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
“In the past, activity has been conducted at a distance, with no clear goals or strategies and no compromises, which has caused overlaps in work.”
Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Thursday upbraided government agencies and non-government groups for failing to cooperate against human trafficking, saying the lack of a clear strategy was adding to the problem.

Sar Kheng, whose ministry oversees a special anti-trafficking unit, said the lack of cohesion meant a a waste of resources. He spoke at an anti-trafficking workshop in Phnom Penh to about 80 participants from the government and NGOs, including provincial authorities.

“In the past, activity has been conducted at a distance, with no clear goals or strategies and no compromises, which has caused overlaps in work,” he said.


Government and non-government units need to combine their resources and expertise with law enforcement officials and other to better curb human trafficking, he said.

Last year, the government interceded in 160 cases of human trafficking, smuggling or labor exploitation, according to official figures. Those cases involved nearly 700 victims of trafficking, including nearly 300 juveniles.

Chou Bun Eng, who chairs a government committee to suppress trafficking, said the government is working with a plan that improves awareness of trafficking and provides legal support and alternative
choices.

“We think that the three-point strategy can help Cambodians be free from more danger,” she said.

However, Lim Mony, head of the women’s unit for the rights group Adhoc, said that while she supports the strategy in principle, it is not moving forward in reality.

“If there is no will in the implementation of this strategy, with strength and fairness, it’s still useless and won’t provide a positive result for our society,” she said.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You chance of getting your limbs blown off from a landmine in Cambodia these days is relatively slim. However, your risk of having your limbs and head injured in a traffic accident in Cambodia is exponentially high.

mismanagement, no management, life-worth crab management??? ...Go figure!!!

Anonymous said...

One could have a heart attack by just watching the traffics on video....

Anonymous said...

Cambodian government themselves couldn't understand the word Human trafficking and themselves have trafficked people to Malaysia for so-called Home maid.At present about 200,000 cambodian are working as slaves workers in Thailand, and thousands as home maids in Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan. The government must understand this word first. They shouldn't give license to any company to traffic people to oversea to be exploited. Inside the country they shouldn't allow any company to take over people lands and allow their owners to work as workers.

Areak Prey

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't Hun Sen talk about the treaties from 1979-1985 that result over 30 000 km2 of Cambodia to Vietnam ? Why does Hun Sen only using 4.6 km2 as an excuse in order to redirect attention from Vietnam invasion and it is not just small invasion but over 30 000 km2 of cambodia.

In Hun Sen political career 4.6km2 is much begger than over 30 000km2. He gave over 30 000km2 of Cambodia to Vietnam with his two hands.

Anonymous said...

Traffic in Cambodia?

All those CPP were former Khmer rouge who never saw the cars let a lone drive one. Now is that they are in city...30+ yrs, they still don't know how to drive.

I don't think any countries in the world has more accident death like Cambodia.

Anonymous said...

11:44am! What????????????????

Anonymous said...

this minister selling human long time ago, but he acts like know nothing about...