Five Cambodian women repatriated from Taiwan by NGO [-The curse of arranged marriage]

14 Jan 2009
By Leang Delux
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Tola Ek
Click here to read the article in French

Forced to work on the Chinese island, their several years of plight finally ended.

Since the beginning of the month, they have returned back to the kingdom one after another, following several years spent in Taiwan. The five women, between their 20s and 40s, have known the same misfortune. Their repatriation was organized by the CARAM (Coordination of Action Resarch on Aids and Mobility) NGO led by Ya Navuth.

The women’s stories were all sad. Send to Taiwan though arranged marriage, they were instead put on sale there and sustained physical abuse.

Sophea, a 34-year-old native of Kratie, spent 3-1/2 years away from home, working at a plastic cup manufacturing company. During a police raid at the factory, she was able to explain her situation to the cops who released her.

Two other women are about to return back also, but their family issue, linked to children they borne to Taiwanese citizens, make their cases more complicated.

Between 2000 and 2008, CARAM Cambodia had repatriated 200 women who fell prey to trafficking and were sent to Malaysia, Thailand, etc…

Immigrant women describe plights

At a press conference hosted by the Taiwan International Family Association yesterday, Ruan Fan Chiu-hsiang from Vietnam tearfully reveals her hardships as a foreign worker in Taiwan, saying that she has helped her Taiwanese husband to recycle metal since the day she arrived in Taiwan, but often made mistakes and got laughed at by others. (CNA)

Monday, April 28, 2008
The China Post news staff (Taiwan)

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Most working women who have immigrated from Southeast Asia are plagued by five major plights, including job discrimination, having to work multiple jobs, no labor insurance, no overtime pay and low wages, according to findings of a survey conducted by the Taiwan International Family Association (TIFA).

The TIFA conducted one-on-one interviews with 75 Southeast Asian women married to Taiwanese residents, between February and April.

Although Southeast Asian spouses of Taiwanese citizens do not require a work permit, TIFA found that local employers often refuse to hire immigrant women as they lack a work permit or national ID card, or that they speak poor Chinese.

"We speak Chinese with an accent, but we deserve an opportunity to demonstrate our working ability," said Yeh Pei-chi, a Thai woman who married a Taiwanese citizen 13 years ago.

"If we are proven incapable, then don't hire us, but don't refuse to hire us simply because we are foreigners," Yeh said.

She recalled that she was once rejected by a factory employer who told her that "we don't hire foreign spouses," a common example of job discrimination experienced by many female immigrant workers in Taiwan.

The TIFA also found that 72 percent of the women interviewed do not have the labor insurance to which they are entitled, while 68 percent work overtime without overtime pay, said Wang Shu-chuan, executive secretary of the association.

The association also observed that half of the immigrant women in the southern port city of Kaohsiung need to have multiple jobs to support their families, many of them working in restaurants or breakfast shops, she noted.

Wang called for greater attention to job discrimination and the predicaments faced by immigrant women in Taiwan, saying hat the Council of Labor Affairs and local governments should raise the awareness of immigrants' working rights and related rules among local employers and immigrants.

Chang Yu-hua, executive director of TIFA, described female immigrants in Taiwan as "new low-level workers," as many of them work as restaurant staff, household maids, or small factory workers.

Immigrant women need to learn local languages and adapt to a new environment but do not have strong emotional support as they do not have many family members and friends in Taiwan, Chang added, urging the public to offer care and help. Taiwan has more than 123,000 foreign spouses from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Cambodia, as well as over 270,000 from China, Japan and South Korea.

Taiwan: 4,500 Cambodian women naturalized Taiwanese

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a communiqué dated 24 March, claiming that 4,500 Cambodian women are living legally in Taiwan and they all received full protection from the Taiwanese authority. The Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper quoted the Taiwanese communiqué stating that these Cambodian women living in Taiwan received full protection and are living there legally. This is a new claim by the Taiwanese authority, nevertheless, in the past, there were criticisms of human trafficking from Cambodia to Taiwan through wedding, and some the women who were victims and who were saved also made this report. The Taiwanese authority issued this communiqué after Hun Sen criticized Taiwan on 13 March saying that Taiwan wanted to use Cambodian women who were brought to be sold in Taiwan, to pressure the Cambodian government in exchange for opening its trade office in Phnom Penh.

Taiwan criticizes Hun Sen for making unfounded accusations, for pandering to China, and for neglecting Cambodian citizens overseas

Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticizes remarks by Cambodian prime minister

Tuesday, Mar 25, 2008
By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Taipei Times

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday strongly protested claims by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen that Cambodian women living in Taiwan were ill-treated.

During a visit to China last month, Hun was quoted saying that more than half of the 2,500 Cambodian women living in Taiwan do not possess legal identity papers or official approval, after they were misled into going to Taiwan for work or to marry a Taiwanese man.

Hun Sen said some of the women had been sold to brothels and forced to work as prostitutes.

He said he had refused Taipei's offer to open up a representative office in Phnom Penh because of the mistreatment of Cambodian women by Taiwanese, not because Phnom Penh wanted to pander to China.

"The prime minister's claim could not farther from the truth," ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh said, criticizing Cambodian leaders for making unfounded accusations.

In a press release, the ministry said the 4,500 Cambodianss residing in Taiwan had received equal and adequate care.

A minor percentage of them, the statement said, are ineligible for legal resident status in Taiwan because the Cambodian government did not provide them with the proper documentation, which showed that the Cambodian government has long neglected to take care of its citizens while they are overseas.

The ministry also protested Hun's comments that Taiwan has no right to join the UN because of its non-state status.

Taiwan was an independent sovereign nation with every right to be part of the global body and people of Taiwan are entitled to hold a referendum on the issue to decide for themselves, the ministry said in the statement.