Cambodia - IOM Cambodia took part in a US-led high-level roundtable on victim protection and prosecution aspects of human trafficking during US President Obama’s visit to Cambodia for the ASEAN Summit last week.

IOM Cambodia Chief of Mission a.i. Bruno Maltoni joined local and international NGOs at the event, which was chaired by the US Ambassador to Cambodia William F. Todd.  Valerie B. Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and Samantha Power, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights National Security Council also attended.

Participants presented on the successes and constraints related to the implementation of counter-trafficking activities in Cambodia. They also discussed the limitations of the legal framework, the lack of proper implementation of existing legislation and possible steps forward.

“The roundtable was an opportunity for IOM to make the case for better protection of trafficking victims. We stressed the need to increase accountability with regard to implementation of counter-trafficking activities, especially regarding corruption and malpractices, and to improve inter-ministerial cooperation,” said Maltoni.

According to Maltoni, trafficking in Cambodia has changed considerably in the last few years, moving from what was predominantly internal sexual exploitation of women and children to include more cases of labor exploitation of male and female migrant workers at regional and global level.

“The main vulnerable groups are male migrant workers employed in the fishing sector in the region and beyond. Cambodian fishermen have been repatriated by IOM Cambodia from Senegal, Mauritius, South Africa as well as from Indonesia, Malaysia and India,” he notes.

“The number of victims among female regular migrant workers employed as domestic workers in Malaysia, and women and child victims of sexual and labour exploitation in Cambodia, is also rising,” he adds.

For more information please contact  

Bruno Maltoni
IOM Cambodia
Email: bmaltoni@iom.int
Tel. +855.12258286