Preah Sihnouk provincial governor Kuch Chamroeun on August 19 met with Vitit Muntarbhorn, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, during the latter visit to the province to understand issues related to human rights protection and human trafficking as well as cyber crimes and online scams.
During the meeting, Chamroeun told Muntarbhorn that the provincial authorities had cooperated to crack down on crime. He also called for more support from the embassies of foreign countries to investigate and stop crime more effectively.
Muntarbhorn’s visit to Preah Sihanouk province is a part of his 11-day trip to Cambodia which will end on August 26.
“The authorities at all levels in Preah Sihanouk province have never shied away from taking responsibility. We join hands to enforce the law and combat crimes relentlessly,” Chamroeun said.
Chamroeun said that the situation in his province had been wrongly reported on by some media. He urged the special rapporteur to record just the truth as evidenced by his visit.
He raised an example recently when some media reported that there had been a confinement case, but through an investigation the authorities found there was no confinement like what had been reported. It was just a case where company staff wanted to quit and look for other jobs and an anonymous person had complained to the police.
His province has tried hard to combat all crimes. Recently the authorities busted a drug trafficking case, seizing 871 kgs and arresting some foreign nationals.
Chamroeun said that Cambodia has laws and a constitution to protect human rights and combat all crimes and that the government is highly committed to combating all crimes based on Cambodia law and other international legal provisions.
Muntarbhorn said that his visit to Preah Sihanouk province was to get to know more about the situation on the ground and he was happy to have been briefed about it. He urged the authorities to take action in a timely manner against all crimes, especially those related to human trafficking, cyber crimes and online scams. He said he would write what he had been informed about in a report which will be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council later this year.
Muntarbhorn thanked the provincial authorities for hosting the meeting and sharing their concerns and challenges in order to find a suitable solution, especially on human trafficking, extortion, internet crimes, online scamming and their efforts to help victims.
