Cambodia Remains Source of Trafficking, US Says

Prum Vannak Anan, 34, spent three years aboard a fishing vessel after he was lured there with promises of work. Photo: by VOA Khmer

Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

“Cambodia is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children who are subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking.”

Cambodia remains a source of human trafficking, the US State Department said in an annual report, keeping the country as a “Tier 2” country that “does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.”

“However, it is making significant efforts to do so,” according to the annual Trafficking in Persons report, released Tuesday.

Cambodia continues to prosecute sex trafficking cases, the report said, citing the convictions of 20 trafficking offenders in 2011. But it has done so at a much slower pace, with 36 prosecutions the year before.

US Trafficking in Persons Report 2012: Cambodia

Source: http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2012/192366.htm

CAMBODIA (Tier 2)

Cambodia is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. Cambodian men, women, and children migrate to countries within the region – primarily Thailand and Malaysia – for work, and many are subsequently subjected to sex trafficking, domestic servitude, debt bondage, or forced labor within the fishing, construction, and agricultural industries. Vietnamese women and children, many of whom are victims of debt bondage, are transported to Cambodia and forced into commercial sex. The United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking reported that 149 Cambodian victims of human trafficking were repatriated from Thailand in 2011, and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation (MOSAVY) reported receiving 106 victims of trafficking from Thailand. During the year, more than 100 male Cambodian victims of forced labor on Thai-flagged fishing boats were repatriated after escaping from their traffickers, or being rescued during Indonesian raids. The men reported being deceived by Thai fishing boat owners about the expected length of service and the amount of their payment. Some Cambodian men also reported severe abuses by Thai captains and being forced to remain aboard the vessels for up to two years.

The inability to understand obligations, read contracts, or pay processing fees rendered some Cambodian migrant workers vulnerable to forced labor and debt bondage, especially in Malaysia. Such workers have reported employers in destination countries withholding copies of employment contracts and confiscating passports. Recruitment agencies have reportedly engaged in the falsification of legal identification and age verification documents to allow for the illegal recruitment of children. Within Cambodia, parents sometimes sell their children into conditions of forced labor, including domestic servitude, and send them to beg on the streets in Thailand. Cambodian children are also transported to Vietnam for the purpose of forced labor. The Svay Pak brothel area outside Phnom Penh, where children are exploited in the sex trade, continues to operate despite numerous attempts by police to close it down. According to the ILO, children are involved in other manifestations of the worst forms of child labor including work in agriculture, brick-making, street vending, and begging; these children are particularly vulnerable to trafficking.

Cambodia remains in US Tier 2 country due to lack of gov't progress in prosecuting human traffickers

2012-06-19
Excerpt from Radio Free Asia

Cambodia

Cambodia, meanwhile, remained a Tier 2 country, based on what the report described as a lack of government progress in prosecuting human traffickers and protecting trafficking victims.

“Endemic corruption at all levels continued to impede anti-trafficking endeavors and local observers believe it to be the cause of impunity afforded to firms engaging in illegal recruitment practices that contribute to trafficking,” the report said.

It also noted that the country’s “weak and corrupt” judicial and law enforcement systems, lengthy legal processes, credible fears of retaliation, and the lack of witness protection and access to resources continued to hinder victims’ willingness to cooperate in cases.

But the State Department acknowledged “significant progress” in the government’s efforts to combat the transnational labor trafficking of Cambodians.

Reported by Joshua Lipes.

Rally at the US Department of State in Washington DC

Slaves of the Phnom Penh regime

--

https://picasaweb.google.com/heng.soy/CambodianAmericansRallyAtTheUSDepartmentOfStateOn12June2012?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Cambodian-Americans protest against Ho 5 Hong's presence in Washington DC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN_4W9N-bRI

Demonstration in Washington, DC on June 12

Public Announcement:

Cambodians to demonstrate at US Department in Washington, DC

on June 12, 2012 in time for Hor Nam Hong's visit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5S0sC-03gk

Rally at the US Department of State in Washington DC on 12 June 2012

Message to Sec. Hillary Clinton

June 11, 2012 - Wellesley College
By Mu Sochua

MP, Mu Sochua appeals to Sec.Hillary Clinton on the following issues:

1. suspension of US military aid to Cambodia as soldiers protecting land grabbed shoot and kill villagers;
2. release of Beung Kak Lake 15;
3. return of leader of opposition MP,Sam Rainsy for free and fair elections in 2013.

Sec. Clinton's reply: "We know about the situation. We are working on it".

Sec. Clinton is scheduled to meet with Cambodia foreign minister tomorrow, 12 June.

Cambodian American have mobilized to protest in front of US State Department during the visit of the foreign minister.

-------
Unresolved Land Issues Could ‘Explode,” Analysts Say

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOLQiu48Bu8

Lao Monghay is an independent analyst stopped by VOA Khmer, file photo. (Photo: VOA Khmer)

Friday, 08 June 2012
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

"Today’s leaders have failed to protect people’s livelihoods, their freedoms and their rights."

Land issues will continue to be a serious problem for Cambodia’s government, given the high number of continued crackdowns, arrests and violence, analysts say.

Click here to read more...

Letter from the US State Department to Sam Rainsy

MP Mu Sochua at Women in Public Service Summer Institute

Press Release

MP Mu Sochua Speaks at U.S. State Deparment’s Women in Public Service Institute

On June 11, 2012 Cambodian Member of Parliament of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, Mu Sochua, will be attending the U.S. State Department’s inaugural Women in Public Service Summer Institute hosted by Wellesley College as one of the event’s highlighted keynote speakers. The innovative program aims to train the next generation of women leaders and policy makers. This summer’s two-week institute will focus specifically on areas in the world currently undergoing political transformations and social changes including North Africa and the Middle East. Presenting to 50 promising women leaders from around the world, MP Mu Sochua will discuss the power of women’s voices, concentrating on the current situation of Cambodia and women struggling to be heard.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver the keynote speech at the opening of the conference. Sec. Clinton and the five of the seven sisters colleges launched the first-of-its-kind Women in Public Service Summer Institute in March 2011. Women hold a mere 17.5% of the world’s elected offices. This figure is even less in developing nations where women’s voices are often omitted entirely from decision making processes. The WPSP envisions a future where women constitute least 50% of the world’s political and civic leaderships by the year 2050.

The 2012 Women in Public Service Summer Institute will run from June 11 through June 22. Other distinguished speakers to attend this event include former U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright; Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde; and the President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga.

For more details regarding the institute, visit: http://womeninpublicservice.org/. Additional information about MP Mu Sochua is available at: sochua.wordpress.com.

MP Mu Sochua Appeals for Release of Boeung Kak Lake Women

US State Department - June 6, 2012
By Mu Sochua

At a meeting with Global Ambassador on Women's Affairs, Melanne Verveer.

MP, Mu Sochua appealed for:

1. immediate release of 14 women and 1 man from Prey Sar prison;
2. safe return of opposition leader, MP, Sam Rainsy;
3. temporary suspension of US aid to Ministry of Defense in Cambodia.

There are high hopes for appeal to be granted by Sec. Hillary Clinton before her visit in Cambodia in July, 2012.

MP Mu Sochua handed petition for the release of the prisoners, signed by 387 women.

Cambodia’s failed human rights record

May 24, 2012
Daphne Bramham
Think Tank

There’s little good in the U.S. government’s assessment of Cambodia’s human rights record. Here’s just a sampling of what it said in its annual report on human rights around the world which was released Thursday.

“A weak judiciary that sometimes failed to provide due process and a fair trial procedure was a leading human rights problem. The courts lacked human and financial resources and were subject to corruption and political influence.”

“The continued criminalization of defamation and disinformation and a broad interpretation of criminal incitement constrained freedom of expression.”

“Members of the security forces reportedly committed arbitrary killings. Detainees were abused, often to extract confessions, and prison conditions were harsh.”

“The government at time interfered with freedom of assembly.”

“Corruption remained pervasive, governmental human rights bodies reportedly were ineffective and discrimination and trafficking in women and children persisted.”

“Domestic violence and child abuse occurred and education of children was inadequate.”

Click here to read the full report on Cambodia.

Trafficking in Persons in East Asia and the Pacific

Testimony
Joe Yun
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Statement Before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights

Washington, DC
October 27, 2011

The UNODC report also indicated that the number of convictions against human traffickers is increasing in East Asian and Pacific countries, probably as a result of these new and updated laws. Let me give you some examples. In recent years, the Royal Government of Cambodia has given increased priority to TIP-related cases within its judicial system. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court (PPMC) reportedly tried 118 TIP cases in the first nine months of 2011, compared to 116 in all of 2010. In addition, Cambodia’s first case against an official accused of TIP-related corruption, Eam Rattana, is currently underway, with the trial expected to begin by the end of November. The ongoing case against a second official accused of TIP-related corruption is still under investigation.

Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Payne, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to testify on trafficking in persons (TIP) in East Asia and the Pacific. I would also like to thank the Committee for its leadership on advancing dialogue on this important issue.

The scourge of human trafficking and modern slavery reaches into every corner of the globe, but perhaps nowhere more so than in East Asia and the Pacific. According to the International Labor Organization, the incidence of forced labor and sex trafficking is higher in the Asia-Pacific region than anywhere else in the world. And according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), victims from Asia are trafficked to the widest range of destinations around the globe. In addition to being trafficked overseas, many victims are trafficked within their own countries. In fact, the UNODC reports that most trafficking is national (not international) and is carried out by traffickers whose nationality is the same as their victims’ and within national borders.

Mixed messages on trafficking [by Uncle Sam]

Domestic migrant workers, some of whom are suspected of being under age, are processed in Phnom Penh this month. (Photo by: Will Baxter)

Monday, 31 October 2011
Kristin Lynch
The Phnom Penh Post

Less than a month after a United States congressman blasted the Cambodian government for its “egregious human trafficking record” and “rampant corruption”, a State Department official has promoted the Kingdom as an example of improved governmental efforts to combat human trafficking in the East Asia region.

Speaking last Thursday before a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs sub-committee, Joe Yun, deputy assistant secretary of state within the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said Cambodia was an example of increased human trafficking convictions and prosecutions in the region.

“The Royal Government of Cambodia has given increased priority to TIP [trafficking in persons]-related cases within its judicial system,” he said, explaining that the Phnom Penh Municipal Court had “reportedly” tried 118 trafficking-in- persons cases during the first nine months of 2011, compared with 116 in all of 2010.

Trafficking in Persons in East Asia and the Pacific

Source: US Department of State

Testimony

Joe Yun
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Statement Before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights
Washington, DC
October 27, 2011
------------------------------------

The UNODC report also indicated that the number of convictions against human traffickers is increasing in East Asian and Pacific countries, probably as a result of these new and updated laws. Let me give you some examples. In recent years, the Royal Government of Cambodia has given increased priority to TIP-related cases within its judicial system. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court (PPMC) reportedly tried 118 TIP cases in the first nine months of 2011, compared to 116 in all of 2010. In addition, Cambodia’s first case against an official accused of TIP-related corruption, Eam Rattana, is currently underway, with the trial expected to begin by the end of November. The ongoing case against a second official accused of TIP-related corruption is still under investigation.

Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Payne, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to testify on trafficking in persons (TIP) in East Asia and the Pacific. I would also like to thank the Committee for its leadership on advancing dialogue on this important issue.

The scourge of human trafficking and modern slavery reaches into every corner of the globe, but perhaps nowhere more so than in East Asia and the Pacific. According to the International Labor Organization, the incidence of forced labor and sex trafficking is higher in the Asia-Pacific region than anywhere else in the world. And according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), victims from Asia are trafficked to the widest range of destinations around the globe. In addition to being trafficked overseas, many victims are trafficked within their own countries. In fact, the UNODC reports that most trafficking is national (not international) and is carried out by traffickers whose nationality is the same as their victims’ and within national borders.

US department defends human trafficking report

April 15, 2011
ABC Radio Australia

CDEBACA: One of the problems that we have in the entire region, whether it's in Cambodia or in other countries is that the good work of police forces, prosecutors, national coordinators who work with the non-government organisations to come up with ways to attack human trafficking are then undercut by official corruption. We have a high ranking police official who owns the bar where the women are being held as slaves, when you have a government official who owns the plantation where the people are being made to cut down the palm oil and things like that. It totally undercuts what we're trying to accomplish, so not just in Cambodia, but in other areas of the region we see corruption as being an anchor that drags behind the effort.

Each year the US State Department puts out a report detailing the human trafficking situation around the world and grading countries on how well they are addressing the problem.

The report separates nations into categories or tiers, and the rankings can cause diplomatic friction. For example Singapore was furious last year when it was placed on the Tier Two Watch List for countries that don't meet the standards of a US law, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and are not doing enough in the eyes of the State Department to reform.

US Senator Jim Webb has recently criticised the rankings, saying the method for compiling it lacked clarity and that it caused "confusion and resentment" among Asian nations. Tier One lists countries that meet the standards of US legislation called the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Tier Two is for countries that don't meet the US standards but are trying. The Tier Two Watch List is for those that aren't considered to be trying hard enough. In Asia that includes Bangladesh, China, India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka plus newcomers Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. And Tier Three, the worst perfomers on combating human trafficking, includes Papua New Guinea, North Korea and Burma.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane

Speaker: Luis CdeBaca, Ambassador-at-Large, State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking In Persons

CDEBACA: Well the United States has been issuing the anti-trafficking report now for ten years, the passage of how anti-trafficking law in the year 2000. Our anti-trafficking law passed about a month before the United Nations acted in Palermo in the modern updating of the slavery conventions and what that did was it focused not on the movement of people around the world, but rather on the slavery and exploitation. And so the United States rather than waiting for the United Nations or any other multilateral organisations to an assessment or an evaluation, again 200 taken evaluation. It guides our diplomacy, it guides our programs and it guides the training and technical assistance that we're able to give countries around the world to fight modern slavery.

COCHRANE: And that diplomacy is ruffled at times with the release of the report and the various tiers of the list. Do you think that the trafficking report should be balanced against wider diplomatic sensitivities?

US hits out on rights issues

A protester speaks in October of the eviction of residents of Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak lake. (Photo by: Uy Nousereimony)

Monday, 11 April 2011
James O'Toole
The Phnom Penh Post

The United States has registered sharp criticism of the Cambodian government in its annual human rights report, raising long-standing concerns about land rights, corruption and judicial independence.

Released on Friday in Washington, the US report covers 194 countries and spans more than 7,000 pages. The section on Cambodia stretches 42 pages and paints a grim picture of human rights in the Kingdom, calling rule of law weak and corruption “endemic”.

“Members of security forces committed arbitrary killings and acted with impunity. Detainees were abused, often to extract confessions, and prison conditions were harsh,” the report states.

“Human rights monitors reported arbitrary arrests and prolonged pretrial detention, underscoring a weak judiciary and denial of the right to a fair trial. Land disputes and forced evictions, sometimes violent, continued.”

2010 Human Rights Report: Cambodia: US Department of State

2010 Human Rights Report: Cambodia

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor

2010 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

April 8, 2011
Source: US Department of State

Click here to download the report in PDF format

Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy with an elected government and a population of approximately 14 million. In the most recent national elections, held in 2008, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, won 90 of 123 National Assembly seats. Most observers assessed that the election process improved over previous elections but did not fully meet international standards. The CPP consolidated control of the three branches of government and other national institutions, with most power concentrated in the hands of the prime minister. Although civilian authorities nominally controlled the security forces, in many instances security forces acted under directives of CPP leadership.

Members of security forces committed arbitrary killings and acted with impunity. Detainees were abused, often to extract confessions, and prison conditions were harsh. Human rights monitors reported arbitrary arrests and prolonged pretrial detention, underscoring a weak judiciary and denial of the right to a fair trial. Land disputes and forced evictions, sometimes violent, continued. The government restricted freedom of speech and of the press through defamation and disinformation lawsuits and at times interfered with freedom of assembly. Corruption was endemic. Civil society expressed significant concern that the draft Law on Associations and Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) could seriously constrain the ability of NGOs to operate. Domestic violence and child abuse occurred, education of children was inadequate, and trafficking in women and children persisted. The government offered little assistance to persons with disabilities. Antiunion activity by employers and weak enforcement of labor laws continued, and child labor in the informal sector remained a problem.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life

There were no reports that the government or its agents committed politically motivated killings; however, security forces reportedly committed arbitrary killings, although fewer than in previous years.

The NGO Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) reported 12 arbitrary killings, four of which were allegedly committed by police, three by military police officers, and five by soldiers. Police arrested suspects in three cases.

U.S. Report Sees ‘Explosive’ Growth in Demand for Democracy

Apr 8, 2011
By Nicole Gaouette
Bloomberg

Cambodian Abuses

Cambodia was singled out for arbitrary arrests, child labor, restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression, and the use of defamation lawsuits to target opposition voices.

A new law in Cambodia is “emblematic” of international efforts to squash pro-democracy and public advocacy groups, the report said. The law would bar groups with fewer than 11 members from getting legal status, create barriers to registration for foreign non-governmental groups and then require them to collaborate with the government.

Ukraine, which began the year with free and fair presidential elections, saw an negative trend due to problematic local elections, media intimidation, and perceived selective prosecution of opposition figures, the report said.

Middle Eastern protesters calling for greater freedom, economic opportunity and meaningful political participation have the potential to improve human rights in that region and beyond, according to a State Department report released today.

“These citizens seek to build sustainable democracies in their countries with governments that respect the universal human rights of their own people,” the report noted. “If they succeed, the Middle East region, and with it the whole world, will be improved.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at the State Department, said the U.S. is “particularly disturbed” by crackdowns on democracy activists. She cited arrests of dissidents in such countries as China and Venezuela.

The 35th annual report examined 194 countries, singling out Colombia, Guinea and Indonesia for improvements in human rights in 2010. Ukraine, China and Cambodia, where “security forces, acting with impunity, committed arbitrary killings,” were among countries censured for their abuses.

US Warns of 'Freedom' Concerns in NGO Draft Law

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer 
Phnom Penh Thursday, 13 January 2011

“We strongly urge the Royal Government of Cambodia to reconsider whether the draft NGO law is in fact necessary ..."

The US Embassy in Phnom Penh says it is concerned a new NGO law under consideration by the government will restrict freedoms within the public and should be reconsidered.

“We strongly urge the Royal Government of Cambodia to reconsider whether the draft NGO law is in fact necessary and, if so, to adopt and implement a law consistent with a commitment to expand, rather than restrict, the freedom for civil society organizations to operate,” embassy spokesman Mark Wenig told VOA Khmer Thursday.

The law, which was examined by NGOs and government officials in meetings this week, seeks to tighten regulations on non-governmental agencies through stricter registration and reporting processes and high bars for organization.

Some NGOs say they fear the law will be used as a tool of repression against anti-government groups.