CAMBODIA: QUARTERLY REPORT ON HUMAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 000912

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

FOR G/TIP, EAP/MLS and EAP/RSP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PREL KWMN CB
SUBJECT: CAMBODIA: QUARTERLY REPORT ON HUMAN
TRAFFICKING FOR JANUARY-MARCH, 2006



1. (U) Summary: In the first quarter, there were ten
police operations and verdicts rendered in five court
cases. Fifteen women and girls were either identified
as victims of trafficking or removed from brothels; and
eight human traffickers arrested. Among the five court
cases, 11 human traffickers and pimps were convicted
with penalties ranging from five to 17 years. Due in
part to the changes in the police structure, not many
police operations took place in January and February.
However, on the plus side, improved court performance
in trafficking cases was noted. End Summary.

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Police Action
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2. (U) On January 6, a woman was arrested and sent to
the Anti-TIP Department by the father of a four-year-
old child who had been missing for one year. A year
ago in Sihanoukville, a woman approached the father,
befriended him and offered to look after his child,
after which the child went missing along with the
woman. In January 2006, an acquaintance of the father
spotted the woman begging in a Phnom Penh pagoda, and
reported the news to the father. Upon receiving the
news, the father came to the reported place, had the
woman arrested and sent to the Anti-TIP Department.
The woman confessed to stealing the child and selling
her to an unknown person. The child's whereabouts are
still unknown. The woman is under pretrial detention.


3. (U) On January 18, the police of the Phnom Penh
Anti-TIP Unit arrested two men in Phnom Penh while they
were making plans to take two women across the border
to work in the Malaysian sex industry. After the
arrest, the two women, aged 20 and 21, returned to
their families. The two suspects were charged with
human trafficking and sent to Prey Sar prison for
pretrial detention. Police claimed that this arrest
came after six months of police investigation.
However, the conversation with Mr. Keo Thea, Deputy
Chief of the Phnom Penh Anti-Trafficking Unit, suggests
that the women were aware that they were going to
Malaysia for sex work and willing to do so.


4. (U) On January 20, the Phnom Penh Anti-TIP unit
arrested a Cambodian man who had a sexual relationship
with a 14-year-old girl over an extended period of
time. Around six months ago, after receiving a
complaint from the girl's mother, police submitted a
complaint to the Phnom Penh municipal court accusing
the man of debauchery and sexual exploitation of a
minor. After months of investigation, the Phnom Penh
court issued an arrest warrant, upon which the police
made the arrest. The man was charged with debauchery
and is in pretrial detention.


5. (U) On January 14, a 20-year-old women escaped
from a Thailand-based brothel along the Koh Kong border
with the help of a Cambodian client. The victim is
from Pursat province; she went to Thailand in 2005 with
two perpetrators to look for jobs. She was placed in a
brothel in Thailand, and forced to have sex with
customers for seven months. The perpetrator remains at
large; the victim was referred to the Department of
Women's Affairs. The Anti-Trafficking police in Koh
Kong are pursuing the case.


6. (U) Also in late January, a victim of labor
trafficking was returned to Cambodia after her family
borrowed money from relatives to pay back the debt. She
went to Thailand in mid-January with a broker and
placed in debt bondage. She could not return unless
she or her family paid off her debt.


7. (SBU) On February 24, the Department raided a
brothel in Kampong Cham, removing three voluntary sex
workers and arresting a male pimp. This raid is based
on AFESIP's complaint; however, discrepancies exist
between AFESIP's report and the police investigation.
In the complaint, AFESIP stated that 18 women and girls
(some of whom reportedly were underage) were housed in
the brothel. The police investigation found only four
individuals, all adults. Police alleged that the small
size of the facility would not allow it to be a large-
scale brothel.


PHNOM PENH 00000912 002 OF 003



8. (U) On March 15, The Anti-Trafficking Department
cooperated with the police of Takeo police commissariat
to arrest a man for trafficking two victims for sexual
exploitation. The man was charged with human
trafficking and is now in pretrial detention. The
victims were returned to the family. The women were
deceived into going to Phnom Penh by the suspect, who
is running a karaoke parlor in Phnom Penh. Three days
after arriving in Phnom Penh, the man forced them to
provide sexual services to customers. They then tried
to find way to get out of the place and call the
hotline number for rescue. Police reported that the
court has issued a search warrant for the parlor, which
has been shut down.


9. (U) Also on March 15, the Anti-TIP police
cooperated with the Banteay Meanchy TIP unit to rescue
a 20-year-old Vietnamese trafficking victim. The raid
was conducted after police received a complaint from
the victim's mother. The brothel was once raided in
2004, resulting in the removal of 11 sex workers, one
of whom was a minor, and the arrest of the pimps. The
pimp was charged and detained at the time. But later,
she was reportedly let out of jail for health reasons.
Her trial related to the previous case is expected to
take place soon. In the current case, police did not
arrest the pimp this time, anticipating that she will
to go to trial under the old charges. The victims were
referred to the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center (CWCC).


10. (U) Also on March 15, the Phnom Penh Anti-TIP unit
conducted an operation on a Street 63 brothel,
resulting in the rescue of four victims and arrest of
two perpetrators. The perpetrators are under pretrial
detention. The four victims were referred to an NGO
for care. The raid was based on intelligence collected
by the International Justice Mission (IJM).


11. (U) Police rescued a victim of trafficking of a
Pailin brothel on March 16, after another victim
escaped and went to the police. Police of Anti-TIP
department then went to the province and cooperated
with the Anti-TIP Unit in Pailin to remove the victim.
Mr. Thong Kim Heng, Chief of the Anti-TIP Unit of the
Department, told Emboff that for this case, the Pailin
Police commissariat contacted the pimp to secure the
release of the victim, but no one was arrested nor has
the brothel been closed.

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Court Cases
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12. (SBU) On January 24, the Phnom Penh Municipal
Court sentenced a woman to seven years for attempting
to sell two Cambodian virgins. Chum Srey Pov was
arrested on October 8, 2004, while attempting to sell
two women, ages 20 and 23, for USD 1,000 to a
foreigner. After the arrest, the two women were
returned to their families. During the hearing, one of
the victims testified that Srey Pov had not tried to
sell her. IJM, however, maintained that IJM's
investigation found Srey Pov to be an established
trafficker.


13. (U) On January 25, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court
conducted the trial of two suspected traffickers who
were arrested in July 2004 while attempting to sell two
underage girls to a foreigner for sexual services. Two
victims, aged 16 and 17, who are under AFESIP's care,
testified at the trial. Both victims acknowledged that
the accused had been their pimps in Svay Rieng, and
brought them to Phnom Penh to sell their virginity.
The trial judge read out the verdict on February 1,
ordering the case transferred to the jurisdiction of
Svay Rieng Court. IJM had been concerned that the
judge would use this tactic. The IJM source mentioned
the arrested pimp allegedly has connections with
government officials, who may have helped have the case
transferred to a provincial court where it could more
easily be dismissed.


14. (U) On February 15, the Phnom Penh Court
conducted a trial of a pimping case, sentencing the
female pimp to 5 years imprisonment. The pimp was
arrested in September 2005, at which time two sex
workers were removed from the brothel. AFESIP's

PHNOM PENH 00000912 003 OF 003


International Director, Aarti Kapoor, could not provide
further details as to what led to the raid in the first
place, and if the two women are victims of trafficking.
(Note: Citing AFESIP's victim-centered approach, Aarti
explained that victims of trafficking or not, the
women/girls would need the same services. Therefore,
AFESIP does not make a distinction between victims of
trafficking and victims of sexual exploitation, which
include voluntary prostitutes. End Note.)


15. (U) On February 20, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court
conducted the hearing of a trafficking case, involving
five perpetrators (the two women who initially
approached the victim and her mother, the two men who
helped them cross the border into Thailand, and the
owner who forced the victim to serve as a prostitute to
clients in Thailand) and one 15-year-old victim. The
traffickers were convicted and sentenced to 10 years
each in prison, and ordered to pay compensation of USD
1,500 to the victim. The victim went to Thailand in
June last year, believing she would get a well-paying
job in Koh Kong, but instead was forced to work in a
brothel.


16. (SBU) On February 27, the Banteay Meanchey
Provincial court tried a trafficking case involving a
female trafficker and three victims, one of whom was 15
years old. The verdict is pending, as the traffickers
requested that the court provide a defense attorney.
The three victims are sisters, having gone to Malaysia
in March 2005 to work in a karaoke parlor. They were
later forced to provide sexual services to pay the debt
incurred in trafficking them to Malaysia. In April
2005, they managed to make their way out with the
arrangement of CWCC in Cambodia and NGOs in Malaysia.
Ung Chanthol, Director of CWCC, told Emboff that in
April 2005, two suspects, a Singaporean husband and
Cambodian wife, were arrested and sent to provincial
court and the Department of Foreigners in Phnom Penh,
respectively. However, the husband was later released
under circumstances that are not clear.


17. (U) On March 23, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court
heard a trafficking case involving two perpetrators, a
trafficker who tricked a victim sold her into
prostitution and the Stung Treng-based brothel owner.
The traffickers received 12-year prison sentence; and
the pimp, found guilty on two counts of trafficking and
pimping, received 17 years. IJM commented that
sentencing the pimp on both trafficking and pimping
counts, and ordering the sentence to be served
consecutively is an unprecedented practice. In the
past, the judge would press only for the most serious
count. Moreover, the judge's informing the victim of
her right to decide if she wants the public to be
included in the trial given the sensitive nature of
this case is also noteworthy.

STORELLA