IOM, in cooperation with the Cambodian Ministry of Interior, will
host a two-day workshop aimed at enhancing the South East Asian
nation's capacity to combat migrant smuggling this week.

The training, which is funded by the Government of Canada and
begins on Thursday, 25 August 2011, will target senior officials
from the Ministry of Interior, namely the Immigration Department,
Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department, Land
Border Police Department and the Maritime Police Department.

Other participants will include representatives from the
Secretariat of the National Committee to Lead the Suppression of
Human Trafficking, Smuggling, Labor Exploitation and Sexual
Exploitation in Women and Children (STSLS), the Canadian embassy in
Thailand, the Australian embassies in Thailand and Cambodia,
Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police (RCMP), the Australian Department of Immigration and
Citizenship (DIAC), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Migrant smuggling is a relatively new phenomenon in Cambodia,
which has land borders with Laos, Thailand and Viet Nam, and a 443
km coastline along the Gulf of Thailand. Public awareness of the
issue is limited and law enforcement capacity to prevent, detect,
investigate and prosecute people smugglers is relatively weak.

In the past, migrants from the Middle East and China were
smuggled into Cambodia from Thailand, Laos or Viet Nam and boarded
vessels destined for Hong Kong or Australia. More recently there
have been reports of migrants smuggled through Thailand leaving on
boats to Canada. Other migrants have been detected transiting
Cambodia en route to Australia via Indonesia.

The workshop aims to enhance Cambodian officials' knowledge and
skills to identify and handle cases of migrant smuggling under
Cambodian law. It will also help the Ministry of the Interior to
identify the main challenges it faces, with a view to designing
future interventions.

Topics under discussion will include differences between
smuggling and human trafficking, identifying and investigating
cases of migrant smuggling, perspectives on migrant smuggling from
Canadian and Australian counterparts, an overview of international
and domestic law linked to migrant smuggling, and human rights and
refugee considerations.

A table-top exercise will also be conducted in which
participants will analyze key decisions and actions to undertake in
the interception of a boat suspected of smuggling migrants through
Cambodian waters.

For more information, please contact:

Nicole Hoagland

IOM Phnom Penh

Tel: +855 23 21 65 32

E-mail: "mailto:nhoagland@iom.int">nhoagland@iom.int