Three Cambodian women were repatriated this weekend after being duped by brokers and sent to into inhumane circumstances abroad, including forced marriage and unpaid labour, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

One woman returned to her home in Kampong Cham’s Chamkar Leu district on Saturday after spending two years in a forced marriage to a Chinese man in Fujian who was reportedly mentally ill, said the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chum Sonry, in a press release about the incident.

The woman was able to contact the Cambodian consulate, which persuaded the Chinese family to pay for the bride to fly back to Cambodia.

“Most of the women want to go to China because they think they will marry a good husband and rich man,” said Thim Narin, a coordinator for Adhoc in Kampong Cham province.

“In fact, the brokers bring them to marry a poor man, with mental illness. They live abroad without happiness and no freedom.”

Adhoc filed a complaint to China reporting 15 cases in which families said their daughters had been mistreated when they arrived in the country.

Two other women were repatriated to Cambodia from Malaysia yesterday after they were sent abroad by a broker for jobs as domestic workers two years ago but were never paid for their labour.

“The Cambodian Embassy gave them a place to stay and released legal document allowing them to come back home,” the ministry statement said.