VZCZCXRO6565
OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #0449/01 1871044
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061044Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0895
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PHNOM PENH 000449 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, G/TIP, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL KWMN KTIP SOCI CB
SUBJECT: POSITIVE SIGNS ON TIP FROM CAMBODIA'S MINISTRY OF 
JUSTICE 
 
REF: PHNOM PENH 419 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Ambassador Rodley met with Minister of 
Justice Ang Vong Vathana to review the 2009 Trafficking in 
Persons (TIP) Report and discuss the next steps in Cambodia's 
efforts to combat human trafficking.  The Ambassador 
emphasized the Ministry of Justice's (MOJ) direct 
responsibility for action on some of the Report's 
recommendations, in particular the need for increased 
prosecutions and convictions under the Royal Government of 
Cambodia's (RGC) anti-TIP law and improved efforts to 
identify, prosecute, and convict public officials complicit 
in TIP.  The Minister was receptive during the discussion, 
and while very careful in his responses, gave some positive 
signs of increasing involvement from the MOJ on TIP issues. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
----------------------- 
Positive Signs from the MOJ 
----------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) During the June 30 meeting with the Ambassador, 
Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vathana revealed some new RGC 
initiatives in combating TIP issues.  The Minister indicated 
he had spoken directly with Deputy Prime Minister and 
Minister of Interior (DPM) Sar Kheng about the TIP Report a 
number of times since the release of the 2009 Report.  He 
said the MOJ was working to respond to the DPM's request for 
a report on the status of cases sent by police for 
prosecution.  Ang Vong Vathana also acknowledged problems 
with prosecutors and judges misinterpreting the 2008 anti-TIP 
law, noted that the MOJ provided recent training to a group 
of judicial officials on interpretation of the law, and said 
such training would continue. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The Minister also mentioned his recent letter to 
all provincial and municipal courts instructing them to focus 
firmly on TIP cases.  The letter, dated May 18, instructs the 
Presidents and Prosecutors of all provincial and municipal 
courts to file statistics on TIP cases promptly, to increase 
prosecution and investigation of TIP cases as quickly as 
possible, and to increase the number of TIP-related trials to 
the maximum capacity.  The letter notes concerns raised by 
the Ministry of Interior that police arrested 132 TIP 
perpetrators in 98 cases in calendar year 2008, but there 
were only 32 trials in the same period. 
 
-------------------------- 
Complicit Public Officials 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Ambassador Rodley repeatedly brought up the issue 
of potentially corrupt public officials, mentioning the 2009 
Report recommendations, reports received from NGOs about 
brothels owned or protected by police, and concerns about 
weak charges or sentences applied in some cases by judges and 
prosecutors.  The Ambassador pointed out that the 
concentration of convictions in Phnom Penh, while known 
hot-spots such as Sihanoukville and Siem Reap did not have 
any, opened up the RGC to significant criticism regarding 
complicity. (NOTE: 11 of the 12 confirmed convictions 
reported in the 2009 TIP report were from the Phnom Penh 
Municipal Court.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The Minister was very careful in his response to 
these points, stating a number of times that he did not want 
to accuse anyone of improper action, or to imply that certain 
actions were done deliberately rather than out of 
misunderstanding of the anti-TIP law.  He asked the 
Ambassador to let him know about concerns when the Embassy 
hears of them.  He avoided mentioning the controversy around 
former President of the Appeals Court Ly Vouch Leng, which 
was a major topic of conversation during the Ambassador's 
June 16 discussion with DPM Sar Kheng (Reftel). 
 
----------------------------- 
Justice Documentation Project 
----------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The TIP conversation took place on the heels of a 
launch ceremony for a new USAID-funded Justice Documentation 
Project.  The Project includes new computers, development of 
a new software program for tracking statistics for the MOJ, 
and a 4-month training program for MOJ officials that began 
the same day.  Both the Ambassador and the Minister noted in 
their TIP dialogue that the new system could be useful in 
helping the MOJ engage more fully on TIP issues.  The 
 
PHNOM PENH 00000449  002 OF 002 
 
 
Minister expressed the hope that the system will help resolve 
discrepancies between statistics provided by the Ministry of 
Interior and those kept by the MOJ.  The MOJ will eventually 
be able to log all incoming court cases into the new system 
and easily learn the status of a given case. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The Minister also said that easier access to 
information would allow him to follow-up on cases with 
police, and even initiate cases with police when information 
on offenders comes directly to the MOJ from NGOs (which he 
said sometimes happens).  Earlier involvement in a case would 
allow the MOJ to assist police in gathering information to 
build stronger cases for prosecution.  He indicated that 
courts dismissed as many as 30 cases last year due to 
incomplete or weak evidence.  The Minister suggested this may 
also be a cause of lax charging and sentencing, in that case 
evidence could not support the additional charges or maximum 
sentences available to prosecutors and judges. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) The positive signs from the Minister of Justice 
signified the potential for increased leadership and action 
by the MOJ on TIP issues.  The indications that the Minister 
has been cooperating with and seriously discussing TIP issues 
with the DPM Sar Kheng is an improvement over the past. 
Additionally, his recent letter of instruction is also a sign 
that the Minister is taking greater interest in TIP cases. 
The caution displayed about complicit officials, however, 
signifies an unwillingness to tackle issues of corruption 
publicly.  The TIP Report, while providing impetus for the 
RGC to focus more effort and resources to combat TIP, may not 
have as strong an effect on corruption in Cambodia.  It will 
take the passage of the Penal Code, a law on anti-corruption, 
and strong government will to address fully the issue of 
complicity by public officials in TIP. 
RODLEY