VZCZCXRO6860
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #1385/01 2131101
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 011101Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7099
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 001385 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR G/TIP, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM ELAB PREL KWMN CB
SUBJECT: G/TIP VISIT PRESSES CAMBODIAN GOVERNMENT FOR MORE 
ANTI-TIP ACTION 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  G/TIP Senior Coordinator Mark Taylor,s 
July 25-26 visit to Cambodia provided an opportunity to press 
the Cambodian government to take additional anti-TIP 
measures.  USG recommendations to RGC officials focused 
primarily on quicker action by police authorities, greater 
cooperation with NGOs, and cracking down on corruption.  NGOs 
discussed labor exploitation and a need to monitor aftercare 
facilities.  Judicial reform has improved over the year, but 
progress in the Ministry of Interior on investigations and 
arrests remains largely stagnant.  Cambodia's draft 
anti-trafficking law is expected to pass by year's end.  End 
Summary. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
NGO CONCERNS WITH LABOR AND GOVERNMENT 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  During G/TIP Senior Coordinator Mark Taylor's 
visit to Cambodia, NGO interlocutors voiced concerns over 
labor trafficking/exploitation and victim protection.  They 
claim that 90% of labor exploitation is invisible and 
laborers lack essential protections.  Currently, 63 licensed, 
labor exporting companies operate in Cambodia and mainly send 
migrant workers to Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia.  The 
Cambodian Women's Crisis Center (CWCC) told Taylor that the 
Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth (MOSAVY) 
verbally agreed that labor companies could confiscate 
workers' travel documents upon arrival to Malaysia -- leaving 
workers more vulnerable to exploitation.  Without the passage 
of the anti-trafficking draft law, aftercare shelters lack 
legal authority to help victims and depend heavily on court 
authorization.  NGOs criticized the draft law's definition of 
trafficking as too narrowly focused on trafficking for sex 
purposes.  Moreover, the NGO Coalition to Address Sexual 
Exploitation of Children in Cambodia (COSECAM) has proposed 
minimal standards for shelters, but they have not yet been 
approved by MOSAVY and will be adopted by aftercare shelters 
on a voluntary basis.  Organizations like CWCC also would 
like the government to implement measures to provide security 
for aftercare shelters. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Police inactivity is the most significant factor 
in contributing to fewer TIP-related arrests in 2006 to date, 
says the International Justice Mission (IJM).  The anti-TIP 
police unit has grown in size but has done little in the past 
six months.  During the past year, a lengthy approval process 
held up many cases which could have resulted in a greater 
number of arrests.  A MOU between IJM and the Ministry of 
Interior (MOI) is nearing approval; this will speed up the 
approval process as well as allow IJM to freely conduct 
undercover investigations.  AFESIP agreed with IJM that the 
lack of police cooperation has hindered investigations. 
Somaly Mam noted that AFESIP preferred to work with the 
MOI,s anti-TIP police because of AFESIP's distrust of 
provincial authorities.  Hok Lundy has been more cooperative 
with AFESIP lately and has granted almost all of their 
requests for police action, say NGO reps. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
MOST OF THE GOVERNMENT IS IMPROVING, THE MOI HAS NOT 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶4.  (U)  Since initiating reforms nine months ago, the Phnom 
Penh Municipal Court has made strides with TIP prosecutions 
and convictions.  In 2005, the new president of the court, 
Chiv Keng, filed 49 cases of trafficking and held trials for 
¶43.  Additionally, charges were filed against two police 
officers of the anti-TIP unit.  Keng and one of the Court's 
prosecutors blamed the lack of judicial officers as a 
limitation to new prosecutions.  Currently, there are only 
six prosecutors and eleven judges, while in the past there 
were seven prosecutors and 16 judges.  The prosecutor 
attributed the failed prosecutions to a lack of legal 
understanding by police as well as inattention to the 
importance of evidence collection.  Keng desires greater 
modernization of the court, including recording machines and 
computer database systems. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Touch Samon of MOSAVY greeted Taylor and 
immediately started to highlight progress in 2006.  The MOI, 
the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), MOSAVY, the Ministry of Health 
(MOH), Ministry of Education (MOE), together with the NGOs 
have been drafting an MOU which will determine the roles of 
the government and victim support agencies.  A conference in 
Siem Reap implementing the Cambodian-Thai MOU shaped 
agreements on 1) procedure for repatriation and reintegration 
of victims and 2) procedure for the prosecution of TIP 
offenders.  Also, the Thai government has agreed to fund 
construction of a shelter along the border to care for 
 
PHNOM PENH 00001385  002 OF 002 
 
 
Cambodian victims repatriated from Thailand.  The Minister of 
Women's Affairs, Ing Kantha Phavi, criticized government 
corruption for ineffectiveness in combating trafficking. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  During Taylor,s meeting with General Un 
Sokunthea, head of the MOI's Anti-Trafficking Department, 
Sokunthea praised her department's growth from seven anti-TIP 
units to 17 units and an increase in female officers; this 
was in contrast to comments made by an advisor to the MOI who 
told Taylor that the anti-TIP unit has grown too big and 
bloated like the entire Cambodian police force.  She also 
addressed an NGO concern that the anti-TIP unit lacks power 
in the provinces by noting that her department does have the 
authority to order provincial police to take action. 
Although her unit does not have judicial police, the unit 
functions along the lines of the judicial police per General 
Hok Lundy,s approval.  Taylor gave General Sokunthea three 
recommendations: 1) address TIP-related corruption among 
police officers 2) facilitate quicker approval for police 
action 3) establish a point person for all TIP actions. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  MOJ officials took great interest in the U.S. 
Department of Justice's upcoming judicial training regarding 
trafficking cases and were open to any other opportunities 
G/TIP could provide.  In line with best practices, the 
judiciary is moving forward with the appointment of special 
judges and prosecutors for trafficking cases.  Some courts 
have already nominated specific judges; others, like the 
Phnom Penh court, have not.  MOJ reps told Taylor that phase 
1 of a joint Asia Regional Cooperation to Prevent People 
Trafficking (ARCPPT) project focusing on police training has 
just ended, and phase 2 involving the court system will 
commence in August.  MOJ officials mentioned that the child 
exploitation database, developed with UNICEF help, is 
operational, and the MOJ hopes to expand it to incorporate 
trafficking cases.  The MOJ reps complained that the police 
have not forwarded all TIP cases to them.  MOJ 
representatives predicted that the draft trafficking law will 
be passed by the end of the year or early next year. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Comment:  NGOs provided a fresh perspective by 
focusing at length on labor migration issues, as opposed to 
the normal dialogue centering on trafficking for sexual 
exploitation.  Court changes, especially with some 
appointments of specific judges and prosecutors to handle 
trafficking cases, signaled a vast improvement with the 
judiciary.  On the other hand, the MOI was the subject of 
separate NGO complaints and has shown little initiative in 
2006 to carry out investigations brought to police attention 
by various NGOs.  In those instances where investigations are 
initiated, NGOs note that sometimes it is too late and they 
suspect the police have tipped off the establishment.  When 
the Ambassador carries out the demarche associated with the 
Tier 2 Watchlist Action Plan for Cambodia, we will ensure 
that these issues are highlighted to RGC officials.  End 
comment. 
MUSSOMELI