ASEAN

Almost 95 per cent of human trafficking claims in Cambodia true

PHNOM PENH: The Cambodian government has found that almost 95 per cent of human trafficking claims in the country were true and authorities were trying rescue them.

Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Kheng said that between Aug 18 and Sept 18, authorities received 289 human trafficking complaints from relatives of purported trafficking victims, foreign embassies and international organisations.

He said Preah Sihanouk province alone had received 212 complaints, followed by Kandal and Svay Rieng with 18 each, and Phnom Penh and Oddar Meanchey with 14 each.

"At first, we did not completely believe the information provided in these complaints, but after going through the actual process of investigation, we have unfortunately discovered that the complaints are about 95 per cent true," he said. according to the Phnom Penh Post.

Citing 85 cases that were investigated, he said authorities found 176 apparent victims comprising eight nationalities.

Preah Sihanouk province had the most such cases with many of the victims working in illegal online gambling businesses.

Following the rise of such complaints, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a nationwide crackdown last Saturday to stamp out all illegal gambling activities and warned that officers who failed to do so would face repercussions.

In order to combat human trafficking, labour exploitation and sex trafficking, Sar Kheng advised Cambodians to take a united position on the matter and that it will be accomplished by adherence to the rule of law.

He emphasised that despite having to confront certain challenges, everyone should understand that human trafficking and illegal online gambling were serious crimes, totally immoral in nature and it only served a small number of individuals or their groups at the expense of the public interest.

According to the Post, he said the government had spent more than US$200 million to build infrastructure in Preah Sihanouk province to attract investment and increase tax revenues.

Sar Kheng said they cannot let it slide into a morass of illegal gambling and other crimes, and wanted law enforcement without exception.

He said the government had also invested some US$2 billion to build the Phnom Penh-Preah Sihanouk expressway and revamp the National Road 4.

"This is not meant to serve as some sort of haven for illegal gambling," he said.

He added that the construction was to attract legal investments and tourist dollars in order to generate tax income to build up the entire country, not just for the province.

"There's no amount of legal investment possible that would make it acceptable for us to permit widespread illegal gambling. Illegal gambling goes untaxed and robs income from the state, unlike legal investments."

He said this also prevented legal investments from succeeding and it will eventually cause the loss of investment capital.

He explained that investors looked into every aspect of society including the influx of people, either for the workforce or tourism, before deciding whether to invest.

Sar Kheng also instructed all authorities to focus their attention on the government's priority goals for crackdown, which is to rescue victims in a timely manner.

They also need to look for all ringleaders and anyone else involved to bring them to justice without exception while shutting down illegal businesses and unravelling money laundering syndicates.

Meanwhile, Vietnam News daily reports that 1,000 Vietnamese citizens who have been tricked into forced labour in Cambodia have been rescued so far.

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, many Vietnamese nationals have been scammed and illegally brought to Cambodia via brokers. .

Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang said the ministry and Vietnamese agencies in Cambodia were paying close attention to citizen protection measures to curb the problem.

He said that they were working with Cambodian authorities to encourage the review and expand investigations and identification, as well as rescue Vietnamese nationals who have been scammed into illegal labour by brokers.

He added that they were working with local authorities such as the border guards and the Immigration Department, as well as Vietnamese localities bordering Cambodia.

Provinces such Kien Giang, An Giang, Tay Ninh and Long An are now involved in creating better conditions for the identification and repatriation of Vietnamese nationals.

As of Sept 21, more than 1,000 Vietnamese nationals have been rescued and thousands of others have received legal support, according to the spokesperson.

Hang noted that Cambodian authorities have also been very cooperative and supported Vietnamese representative agencies in rescuing Vietnamese nationals.

"Most notably since the beginning of September, when Cambodia launched its campaign against criminal organisations that have been illegally receiving and coercing labourers, the total number of Vietnamese nationals that were rescued has reached 400 people," he said.

Most Popular
Related Article
Says Stories