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Successful Case of Assisting Women and Girl Victims of Trafficking

Press Release*

The Ministry of Women’s and Veterans’ Affairs (MoWVA), Cambodian Women Crisis Center (CWCC), Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility (CARAM) and United Nations Project on Human Trafficking in the Mekong Sub-Region (UNIAP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) will held a press conference at 3:00 p.m. on 15 January 2003 at the MoWVA’s in Cambodia conference room regarding the case of three trafficked women and one girl who were successfully assisted in returning from Malaysia.

The victims were taken from Banteay Meanchhey and Battambang province in early 2003; they were promised good jobs in Thailand, but were trafficked, sold and forced to work as sex workers in Malaysia. After escaping a brothel in Kuala Lumpur, they were arrested by the Malaysian authorities and put in a prison. They were then sent to Simnheis detention center in Silangor state of Malaysia. Around August 2003, the victims informed their families of their situations by telephone. The families then filed complaints with a non-governmental organization, which then cooperated with UNIAP, CARAM, MoWVA, the Cambodian Embassy in Malaysia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Malaysian Embassy in Cambodia. After intervention, the victims were treated as victims of trafficking and allowed to come back to Cambodia. Three of the four victims arrived in Cambodia on 12 January 2003, but one is staying in Malaysia for health concerns – she delivered a baby a few days before the repatriation. The three victims who have returned to Cambodia are now staying with CWCC.

The governments of the ASEAN region have shown their common concerns and commitment to combating exploitation of people and trafficking in persons as prescribed in regional documents, such as the ASEAN Tourism Agreement on 4th of November 2002, as well as the Work Programme to Implement the ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Organized Crime of Kuala Lumpur, 17 May 2002, and the Press Statement of the 18th Meeting of ASEAN Sub-Committee on Women on 10-12 September 1999 and Press Statement of 6th Meeting of the ASEAN Directors-General of Immigration Departments and Heads of Consular Affairs Division of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs on 4-6 September 2002.

NGOs currently working on the case are now urging the authorities and court of Banteay Meanchhey to arrest the perpetrators and bring them to justice.