A woman who worked as a maid in Malaysia was repatriated to Cambodia late last week after years of abuse at the hands of her employers, including a forced marriage.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Chum Sounry confirmed Oun Boi, 26, had returned on Friday with her 1-year-old son. He said her other child had remained in Malaysia.
Boi travelled to Malaysia in 2010 through the government-approved GPGC International recruitment agency, but fled her employers in 2014. She then worked for another couple, who reportedly forced her to marry an Indonesian man with whom she had two children.
Boi claimed her husband had forced her to work on construction sites, and said she had attempted several times to flee from him.
Adhoc women’s rights representative Ron Srey Moch said Boi had returned to her home province of Kampong Speu.
“She had problems with her husband, and her elder child has been kept with her husband,” Moch said.
The ministry’s Sounry appealed to Cambodian workers abroad to “be careful”.
“If they want to work in Malaysia, they should travel there legally,” he said. “For legal workers it is easier for the embassy to intervene with the company as well.”
The news comes two months after Prime Minister Hun Sen entreated his Malaysian counterpart to accept more Cambodian workers. A ban on maids migrating to Malaysia was lifted late last year.
In related news, two Cambodians were repatriated from China on Saturday.
