PHNOM PENH (UCAN): Savong Duong, a member of the Interfaith Commission representing the Catholic community in Cambodia, said that the 2022 Trafficking in Persons report on human trafficking, released in the third week of July, was more likely to be politically biased and that its verification process was unknown.
The report downgraded Cambodia to Tier 3 status, listing it among countries with the worst record of human trafficking. It also accused the administration of corruption and an unwillingness to bring human traffickers before the law.
Duong insisted that the Cambodian government has made giant steps and is working with Church groups to create awareness among people to fight trafficking.
“The Cambodian government has urged religions in the country to unite against trafficking. We have had several interfaith meetings with the government on human trafficking,” he said, adding that the Interior Ministry “has done a lot of work” with the countries involved.
“In my opinion, the report is more of a political issue than about what the Kingdom of Cambodia had done” to check trafficking, he added.
The Cambodian government has urged religions in the country to unite against trafficking. We have had several interfaith meetings with the government on human trafficking
Cambodia is among 21 countries including China and Russia on the Tier 3 list. They are accused of not fully meeting the international minimum standards and not making significant efforts to do so.
Other Asian nations on the worst performing list are Afghanistan, Brunei, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, North Korea and Vietnam.
Last year, Cambodia was on the Tier 2 Watchlist that includes countries that do not meet international standards but are “making significant efforts” to meet them, according to the report.
Bun Eng Chou, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior and a top official in the state body countering trafficking, told media on July 21 that the government was hoping to improve its ranking this year.
“We expected to get a good ranking. We have had the cooperation of the US embassy and worked closely with it. Even the FBI office collaborated with the General Commissariat of the National Police. We also had their reporters work with us,” she said.
We are starting to fight, especially we are teaching people to understand what human trafficking is
“Everyone involved said it was very positive. But on the contrary, when the report came out, we were ranked at the lowest level. It means we did nothing,” she said.
Monsarith Nou, assistant director of Caritas Cambodia, said that the organisation “worked hard with other religious institutions to fight human trafficking.”
He said Caritas Cambodia has made great efforts to spread awareness about this in the community and in the region, especially on its projects in each province.
“We are starting to fight, especially we are teaching people to understand what human trafficking is,” Monsarith said by teaching targeted villagers and farmers to differentiate between safe migration and unsafe migration which leads to trafficking.
He said some people whom they have trained have migrated.
“They migrated safely, although their number is small. They flew to China, Thailand and Malaysia,” he said.
