VZCZCXRO0774
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHPF #0912/01 1310710
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 110710Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6652
INFO RUEHZS/ASEAN COLLECTIVE
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1439

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. 
 
------------- 
Police Action 
------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
----------- 
Court Cases 
----------- 
 
¶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