"Nearly 8000 Cambodian Trafficking Victims Rescued from Abroad in 2022", 31 March 2023

Cambodia rescued almost 8,000 Cambodian victims of human trafficking from eight countries last year, according to recently issued government figures, with labor rights groups urging better protections to prevent trafficking.

Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ouch Borith, … said that in 2022 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rescued 7,953 Cambodian victims of human trafficking and rights abuses from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Singapore.

But rights advocates say the government could be doing much more to prevent trafficking in the first place, both by going after illegal brokers within Cambodia who move laborers abroad through unsafe channels and by providing more livelihood opportunities at home.

“The report cites many cases of human trafficking offenses, especially during the past three years,” said Moeun Tola, executive director of CENTRAL, which works with victims of labor rights abuses in Cambodia and abroad. “I think the number is actually higher than the government’s annual report… Many Cambodian victims abroad called for help, but [the embassy response] was late and there was no answer sometimes.”

… Sokheang, who lives in Memut’s Rumchek commune in Tboung Khmum province, returned earlier this year after three years in China.

Like many other trafficking victims, she went willingly, after being promised a vendor job abroad.

… “I was rescued from China by CENTRAL this year after my parents filed a complaint to this NGO. And I was 100 percent rescued from China as the victim of human trafficking,” she said…