Frustrations are running deep among international law enforcement agencies and regional governments over their limited abilities to cope with human trafficking and organized crime rings. These crime rings have revolutionised an industry that turns ordinary citizens into slaves. Trillion-dollar industry Interpol says human trafficking and scam compounds in Southeast Asia are worth more than US$3 Read more
There is “no chance” one of Cambodia’s last independent media outlets will be allowed to reopen, leader Hun Sen said Tuesday, after officials hit back at Western governments’ concerns over press freedoms ahead of national elections. Online Khmer- and English-language outlet Voice of Democracy (VOD) stopped broadcasting on Monday. Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered Read more
The baby was not hers, not really. Hun Daneth felt that, counted on that. When she gave birth to the boy, who didn’t look like her, she knew it even more. But four years after acting as a surrogate for a Chinese businessman, who said he had used a Russian egg donor, Ms Hun Daneth Read more
According to a World Bank Poverty Assessment Report, the Covid pandemic has forced around 460,000 Cambodians into poverty. It followed a decade of unprecedented economic growth and poverty reduction in Cambodia. At that time, the global economy was experiencing strong growth rates. The report “Toward A More Inclusive and Resilient Cambodia” notes Cambodia’s poverty rate Read more
The Catholic Church in Cambodia is emerging from the dark period of Khmer Rouge oppression and is now enjoying religious freedom, one of its three bishops says. “We are in golden times at this moment. The government is helping us. We have the freedom to work and also enjoy the freedom of belief. We face Read more
The Cambodian government has rejected allegations made in Hong Kong and Taiwan that human traffickers had lured victims into this country for “organ harvesting” and the sale of body parts for transplants on the black market. “Up until now, there has not been a single case of a human trafficking organisation harvesting organs from their Read more
Cambodia’s government has been using the coronavirus pandemic as a cover to make arbitrary arrests of opposition political leaders and its critics, says a US-based human rights organization. The government has detained at least 30 people for spreading “fake news” since the start of the outbreak in the country in January, New York-based Human Rights Read more
Bishop Enrique Figaredo addressed the Assembly of Catholic Professionals in Brisbane last week, during an Australian tour that included his attendance at Proclaim 2018. Born in Gijon, Spain in 1959, he joined the Society of Jesus he was stationed at refugee camps near the Thai border from 1984-1988. Since 2000 he has been the Apostolic Prefect Read more
Three years ago, worried that his earnings as a builder were barely enough to feed his family, Seuy San began to contemplate his prospects over the border in Thailand. Like the hundreds of thousands of his fellow Cambodians who migrate in search of work each year, he had a simple but powerful motivation: “I heard Read more