VZCZCXRO4736
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHPF #0413/01 0610832
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 020832Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6156
INFO RUEHZS/ASEAN COLLECTIVE
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1332

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PHNOM PENH 000413 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR G/TIP, EAP/MLS; GENEVA FOR RMA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL KWMN CB
SUBJECT: HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN CAMBODIA'S NORTHWEST 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  A four-day trip to the northwestern 
provinces of Cambodia revealed a decline in human 
trafficking due to RGC-NGO cooperation and increased effort 
to combat the problem.  However, mistrust between NGOs and 
the police hampers anti-trafficking efforts in certain 
areas.  Poverty continues to push people into prostitution 
and blind migration, conditions that render people 
vulnerable to becoming victims of trafficking.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) Poloff and Pol/Econ FSNs traveled to Cambodia's 
northwestern regions of Battambang, Pailin, and Banteay 
Meanchey's Poipet from February 13-16 to assess the human 
trafficking situation in the area.  Emboffs met with 
provincial deputy governors and other government officials, 
law enforcement authorities, and NGO workers, and visited 
the shelters for vulnerable children and victims of 
trafficking.  Emboffs also conducted the night tour of the 
red light areas in the city of Battambang, along Pailin's 
border with Thailand, and in Poipet. 
 
Battambang 
----------- 
 
¶3.  (U) Human trafficking in the province is primarily for 
sexual exploitation.  Victims of trafficking are found in a 
variety of business establishments and sexual outlets, such 
as brothels, karaoke bars, or massage clubs, working as 
direct and indirect sex workers.  Some victims were sold 
directly by their parents due to the family's economic 
situation; others were deceived or lured with promises of 
employment.  In the latter case, victims accrued a 
significant debt and were forced to work as prostitutes to 
repay the debt.  Although no statistics are available, NGO 
workers believe that most sex workers started out as victims 
of trafficking and only become voluntary over time. 
 
¶4.  (U) Deputy Governor Sean Sothorng reported that human 
trafficking is not a serious problem in the province due to 
active police investigations and the cooperation from non- 
governmental organizations on law enforcement.  Available 
statistics, however, are too limited to support or reject 
any notion of trafficking trends.  The anti-trafficking 
police reported three cases during the year (in 2004 there 
were five cases).  ADHOC and LICADHO reported 10 cases of 
human trafficking, including cross-border trafficking to 
Malaysia and in-country trafficking for sexual exploitation, 
during 2005 (an increase compared to previous year, when the 
legal advocacy group, Protection for Juvenile Justice (PJJ), 
reportedly worked on only two cases). 
 
¶5.  (SBU) NGO workers who interface with police on anti- 
trafficking efforts characterized the situation as one of 
mistrust.  ADHOC, LICADHO, and PJJ staff members regard the 
anti-trafficking police with apprehension, claiming that 
some police inform pimps when they receive complaints from 
NGOs.  NGO workers say that they are able to rescue victims, 
but the police seldom arrest the traffickers, who manage to 
escape just before the police raid.  (Comment:  We have 
heard similar complaints about the police in Siem Reap.  End 
Comment.) 
 
¶6.  (U) Capacity building and training programs are not yet 
available to the majority of anti-TIP police in Battambang. 
According to Chan Nareth, Deputy Chief of the Battambang 
anti-TIP unit, there are 19 police officers in his unit but 
only a few officers have received training.  He added that 
it is difficult to tackle human trafficking, since most of 
those engaged in the sex industry are doing so voluntarily. 
 
Pailin 
------ 
 
¶7.  (U) Pailin is a source, transit and destination point 
for human trafficking.  Some victims are trafficked from 
other provinces into Pailin's sex industry, while others 
have been transported to Poipet's border via Pailin to 
circumvent law enforcement.  Despite the existence of the 
problem, there is general agreement among interlocutors that 
the situation is not serious.  According to the anti-TIP 
working group, which comprises NGOs, the Department of 
Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (DoSVY), 
and the Department of Women's Affairs (DoWA), there were 
five cases of trafficking during 2005.  However, the group 
believes that there likely are other cases that go 
unreported, or where anti-trafficking efforts were not done 
in a timely manner. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) At ADHOC's initiative, an anti-trafficking working 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000413  002 OF 003 
 
 
group, comprising NGOs such as ADHOC, AFESIP, and the human 
rights group VIGILENCE, and government agencies sQ as 
DoSVY and DoWA, was created and began operations in late 
2004 to combat human trafficking.  Respondents from both the 
NGO community and the government agree there exists good 
coordintion and cooperation to resolve cases as they arise. 
Unfortunately, the police are not part of this effort; and 
as in Battambang, mistrust of the police is a problem. 
Members of the working group agreed that getting a timely 
response from the police is difficult, and sometimes 
intervention from the municipal governor is necessary. 
 
¶9.  (U) Situated to the west of Battambang province and 
along the Thai border, Pailin is one of the entry points to 
Thailand.  Two casinos have recently been built to the serve 
Thai clients who cross the border to gamble.  A number of 
karaoke parlors and brothels exist in Pailin town and along 
the border, leading to some respondents' concerns that these 
establishments will serve as a hub for trafficking, given 
Pailin's geographic location and economic conditions. 
 
Banteay Meanchey and Poipet 
--------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (U) Trafficking for labor purposes is the most 
prominent form of trafficking in Banteay Meanchey and 
Poipet, the major crossing point to Thailand.  Sex 
trafficking is also an issue, albeit a declining problem, 
according to local authorities. 
 
¶11.  (U) A mobile team, consisting of NGOs, provincial 
police, DoSVY and the Border Relations Office (comprised of 
border police and the Cambodian military), was set up in 
Poipet in 2001 to monitor the deportation of Cambodian 
illegal migrants from Thailand, as well as identify victims 
of trafficking.  The group patrols the border area, 
interviews possible victims of trafficking, and refers them 
to appropriate care.  The Cambodian Children and Handicap 
Development Organization (CCHDO), a member of the mobile 
team, reported the deportation of approximately 90,000 
Cambodian migrants from Thailand in 2005. 
 
¶12.  (U) The Transit Center, managed by staff of the DoSVY 
and financed by IOM, accepts victims identified and 
repatriated by the Thai authorities, as well as those 
deported from Thailand and identified by the mobile team. 
The TC manager reported that 98 trafficked victims were 
identified and repatriated by Thai authorities, and 88 were 
identified and referred by the mobile team in 2005.  Most of 
the identified victims of trafficking were children under 
the age of 18 years who went to Thailand to beg, sell 
flowers, and work as baby-sitters.  A number of shelters are 
available in the province to provide protective care to 
child victims of trafficking. 
 
¶13.  (U) Most victims of sex trafficking become victimized 
through deception and debt bondage.  Mr. Kouch Theam, Deputy 
Chief of the Banteay Meanchey anti-TIP police unit, believes 
that roughly 70 percent of sex workers are either underage 
or in debt bondage to the pimps, which makes them victims of 
trafficking.  However, there were only three cases of 
domestic trafficking for sexual exploitation that were 
recorded in 2005.  The unit also reported six cases of cross- 
border trafficking to Thailand.  Kouch Theam added that 
human trafficking incidences had largely decreased, from 60 
cases a year to only nine cases in 2005. 
 
Night Observation of Red-Light Districts 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶14.  (SBU) Emboffs visited the red-light areas in the 
northwestern provinces, posing as customers looking for 
young girls.  Emboffs visited several brothels in 
Battambang, two (the only ones) in Pailin's border area, and 
about 15 in Poipet.  These brothels are small-scale 
businesses, with only several women on the premises who 
provide service.  There were no obviously underage 
prostitutes, although it is difficult to speak to the issue 
of debt bondage for these workers. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶15.  (U) Our meetings and conversations with government 
officials and NGO workers suggest that trafficking is a less 
worrisome issue than expected.  Poverty remains the main 
factor fueling human trafficking.  In spite of NGO 
prevention programs to raise people's awareness of the 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000413  003 OF 003 
 
 
dangers of trafficking, people often find themselves with no 
choice but to sell their daughter to pay off family debts, 
or risk blind migration to search for better economic 
opportunity.  The creation of the anti-trafficking working 
group in Pailin comprised of NGOs and government officials 
is a useful model to fight trafficking, but needs to include 
law enforcement if it is truly to be effective. 
 
MUSSOMELI