Interior minister Sar Kheng greets UN special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia Vitit Muntarbhorn on August 24. SAR KHENG FACEBOOK
Minister of Interior Sar Kheng told UN special rapporteur Vitit Muntarbhorn that authorities are working to crack down on criminal cartels that have capitalised on loopholes in the Kingdom’s laws and some law enforcement shortcomings to commit human trafficking crimes.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Cambodia met Sar Kheng for talks on August 24 as part of his 11-day visit, scheduled to conclude on August 26, to collect information before submitting a report to the Human Rights Council in October.
“With regard to combating human trafficking, forced labour and labour exploitation, [Sar Kheng] told Vitit that Cambodia has been a victim of this crime because criminal gangs take advantage of some [of Cambodia’s] shortcomings and used the country as a place to commit fraud and human smuggling,” Sar Kheng’s social media post said.
“[Sar Kheng] informed [Vitit] about the government’s commitment as well as that of the interior ministry to take many actions to clamp down on these crimes and rescue its many victims. These actions have been and are being carried out continuously,” it added.
The minister also suggested that he would issue an action plan to combat these sorts of crimes as well as mobilise support from relevant sides to apprehend the ringleaders of the crimes and bring them to justice.
The meeting also touched on several other categories of human rights-related issues such as civic and political rights, the management of prisons and the justice system, rehabilitation of drug addicts and other issues under the authority of the interior ministry.
Regarding civic and political rights, Sar Kheng told Vitit that Cambodia respects what is stated in the Constitution by holding regular national elections, commune council elections and senate elections, as well as district and town council elections.
He said Cambodia currently has 45 active political parties registered with the ministry, while scores of non-governmental organisations are carrying out their activities freely even though some of them are anti-government.
Regarding the criminal justice system in Cambodia, Sar Kheng said Cambodia still has challenges in this area but the relevant ministries are working to improve things. Citing an example, he said the ministry is currently improving prison infrastructure to solve the overcrowding situation.
As part of efforts to address the issue, Sar Kheng said the interior and justice ministries have implemented procedures to release prisoners guilty of less-serious crimes and place them under court supervision, as well as looking into the implementation of community sentence serving instead of keeping everyone imprisoned, though he noted that sentences for community service must be introduced carefully.
He noted that more than 50 per cent of prisoners in Cambodia are incarcerated for drug crimes. The interior ministry is working to solve this problem by expanding the number of drug rehabilitation centres and has envisioned that there should be such a centre built for the capital and in each province. He called for contributions from the private sector and help from the UN agencies with this effort.
Sar Kheng also urged that the UN have more discussions with Cambodia on providing technical assistance to Cambodia which the country actually most needs.
During the meeting, Vitit thanked Sar Kheng for elaborating on the overall situation of human rights in Cambodia, especially the issues of concern he had brought up.
The special rapporteur said he plans to hold a press conference on the afternoon of August 26 on the results of his 11-day visit to Cambodia after meeting with more representatives from ministries and institutions as well as civil society representatives.
Am Sam Ath, deputy director of rights group LICADHO, opined that Vitit met with Sar Kheng to collect more information on human rights to push for improvements and more timely intervention by the authorities in areas of concern.
“He raised these issues with the authorities in charge in order to find solutions or to suggest mechanisms to prevent them from occurring and to make improvements to offer more protections [of people’s rights],” he said.
Vitit also met with Preah Sihanouk provincial governor Kuoch Chamroeun last week, primarily to discuss issues related to human trafficking and illegal confinement of workers that reportedly took place in this province. Chamroeun told him that some of the issues had in part been wrongly reported by the media.
Nevertheless, the provincial administration on August 24 issued a press statement reiterating that the authorities there will take strict measures against labour exploitation and human rights abuses in the coastal province in order to maintain public order and safety.
The provincial administration said Chamroeun led a meeting on August 24 to discuss how to tackle any cases of labour exploitation, human trafficking or forced labour and confinement in the province.
The statement said the provincial authorities have taken two measures. Firstly, to investigate and take action against all perpetrators who are “buying and selling” human labour, engaging in human trafficking, or using forced confinement on their workers in order to bring those criminals to justice, in participation and coordination with the provincial court prosecutor.
Secondly, all locations where the perpetrators who are doing business related to buying and selling labour, trafficking or confinement that are discovered shall be closed permanently and the perpetrators and location owners who conspire to commit these crimes shall be brought to justice, without exception.
“Relevant authorities shall investigate these cases in the province in the most thorough way to bring the masterminds behind the crimes to justice under our laws,” the press release added.
Provincial hall spokesman Kheang Phearom told The Post on August 25 that authorities are strongly committed to taking action against these types of crimes in the province.
Phearom said this announcement should also serve as a warning to any criminal groups who intend to commit such crimes in Preah Sihanouk that they should instead leave the province immediately and never return.
“Anyone who still has plans to commit such crimes here will face the laws of Cambodia, without exception,” Phearom said.
Cheap Sotheary, provincial coordinator for rights group ADHOC, supported the announcement and the clampdown on these sorts of crimes as it would serve to strengthen law enforcement and better ensure public order and safety.
She said such crimes happen not only in Cambodia but also in most other countries where casinos are being operated. She said criminals have fraudulently advertised jobs to workers with promises of high pay and this leads to many people getting cheated by brokers and trapped in a bad situation.
“Those who were scammed and forced to work in Preah Sihanouk or other provinces are foreigners. For Cambodian people, we asked some youths working at casinos and they did not have such problems themselves,” she said.
Sotheary added that when labour exploitation, human trafficking and illegal confinement are reported as having taken place in Preah Sihanouk, it affects the reputation of Cambodia on the international stage. Therefore, she said, the commitment by the government to take action against these crimes shows that the authorities are being pro-active about solving the problem and are taking their responsibilities seriously.
