Category: ASEAN

Human trafficking cases in Cambodia almost doubled in 2021 compared to 2020 because the government was preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic, a report issued Wednesday by the country’s National Committee for Counter Trafficking said. The report, which was released during a ceremony at the Ministry of Interior, the committee’s parent ministry, documented trafficking of laborers, organs, babies and surrogates, and sex workers. Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said human trafficking was on the rise amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He urged authorities not to let their guard down. “Criminals are choosing human trafficking as a career. They won’t let it go. They are taking advantage of us when we are facing a crisis,” he said.  The committee’s vice chairperson, Chou Bun Eng, said during an interview with a local radio station that traffickers used to move through Cambodia, but now the country has become a popular trafficking destination. She highlighted a particular case earlier this year to illustrate the point. “The trafficking suspects brought in victims to Cambodia. The suspects lured the victims to work in Cambodia due to the country’s development and political stability,” she said.  “There was huge increase compared to 2020, we found 359 cases in 2021 whereas in 2020, there were only 155 cases,” said Chou Bun Eng. Trafficking of surrogates is a rising problem. In the past it was common for Cambodian surrogate mothers to give birth inside Cambodia but now they are moved to other countries, she said. The surrogates are in danger of being trafficked even after they have given birth because traffickers can confiscate their passports and IDs. Chou Bun Eng said one surrogate mother was arrested by authorities in Vietnam. She said the traffickers are able to lure victims through sophisticated means, using online communication to evade police detection. Since 2020, about 200,000 Cambodians have illegally crossed the border to work overseas but were not paid what they were promised, she said.  “They don’t make any money. What are the benefits of the risk after spending years working and finally ending up receiving social welfare back home?” Chou Bun Eng said.  Many of the Cambodians trafficked into the sex industry are underage, Am Sam Ath of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights told RFA’s Khmer Service. He said the authorities didn’t pay attention to the problem even before the pandemic. “Violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking against minors continues to occur. We urge the government to increase measures to prevent human trafficking, especially of minors,” he said.  In its 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report, the U.S. State Department placed Cambodia on its Tier 2 Watchlist for the third consecutive year, meaning it does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. “Endemic corruption and lack of political will continued to severely limit progress in holding traffickers accountable; corruption continued to impede law enforcement operations, criminal proceedings and victim service provision,” the State Department said. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong. 

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is violating election laws by asking for votes during official appearances prior to the start of the country’s campaign season for local elections in June, an electoral watchdog said Wednesday. Though the general election is more than a year away, and the two-week campaigning period for this year’s June 5 communal elections begins on May 21, Hun Sen is regularly using official appearances to tell crowds why they should back him on the ballot in 2023. Stumping outside of the official campaign period and while performing state duties is against the country’s electoral law, Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia monitor Kang Savang told RFA’s Khmer Service. “What happens to the smaller parties that don’t have government positions? Are they able to compete?” he said. “If you are using your government positions to serve a party, that’s called political exploitation.” Cambodian law prevents government officials from using their positions to serve party interests. They are also prohibited from using the state’s budget, materials, transportation, or other assets to conduct campaigns. An official with Cambodia’s National Election Commission (NEC) told RFA the electoral body cannot stop Hun Sen from asking for votes outside of the official 14-day campaign period, which is the only time it can address campaign violations. The official did not address concerns related to the prime minister campaigning during official duties. Ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) spokesperson Sok Ey San confirmed to RFA that Hun Sen’s visits to public places were meant to cultivate votes for the ruling party, but he dismissed claims that doing so is a violation of election rules. “The CPP is the ruling party. We won’t exploit public appearances while on official government duty, but we are taking advantage of the opportunity because we have achieved results,” he said. “The CPP president is the prime minister, so presiding over certain ceremonies is a chance to show our achievements to the people.” Trial continues The issue of electoral violations also came up Wednesday during the treason trial of former opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) chief Kem Sokha, when prosecutors asked him to account for his party’s adherence to the law ahead of the 2018 ballot. Kem Sokha refused to answer the questions, saying that the NEC is responsible for deciding whether a party abides by electoral law, his lawyer told RFA. Kem Sokha’s case centers around an alleged plot backed by the United States to overthrow Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for more than 35 years. The opposition leader was arrested in September 2017 and spent a year in jail before being released under court supervision. After his arrest, Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in a move that allowed Hun Sen’s CPP to win all 125 seats in Parliament in the 2018 election. The action drew U.S. sanctions and the suspension of trade privileges with the European Union. “Kem Sokha was the party president. He cannot provide election process information in detail,” Peng Heng, a member of the defense team, told RFA after Wednesday’s session. During a previous session, government lawyers presented a list of names of foreign citizens who they said were involved in Kem Sokha’s alleged plot to topple Hun Sen. Peng Heng said the defense may request that the court invite the foreigners to the court to testify. “We know that during these circumstances, the key is in the CPP’s hands. Kem Sokha can’t initiate anything, but I think if the government, which is led by the CPP, has a will to resolve this political crisis, Kem Sokha would welcome a discussion,” he said. Soeng Sen Karuna of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Adhoc) told RFA that if the court is accusing Kem Sokha of colluding with foreign states, it should identify which ones, or move on to providing evidence of other charges against him. “These off-topic questions will delay the trial. I think we need a way to speed up the case,” he said of the proceedings, which are now in their 36th week. The case was held up for nearly two years at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Observers have suggested that Hun Sen is trying to force a delay in the trial to weaken the opposition party or cause it to fracture. Proceedings in the case are scheduled to resume April 20. Defamation case  Meanwhile, a provincial court in the western province of Pailin summoned Kem MonyKosal, leader of the opposition Candlelight Party, to appear before the court between April 8 and April 20 on charges of incitement and defamation. Kem MonyKosal told RFA that the case stems from an election dispute he had with a CPP official, so the court should step aside and let the NEC handle the case. He considers the summons to be a threat. “This is ridiculous. They are using the court as a pretext to make political intimidation,” he said. “I am afraid for my personal security.” The Candlelight Party, formerly known as the Sam Rainsy Party and the Khmer Nation Party, was founded in 1995 and merged with other opposition forces to form the CNRP in 2012. After the CNRP was banned, many former CNRP members joined the Candlelight party, which over the past year has gained steam as supporters believe it can pose a threat to the CPP in the upcoming elections. Kem MonyKosal only expressed his constitutionally protected vies and committed no crime, Yin Mengly, Adhoc’s coordinator for Pailin province, told RFA. “This is purely a politically motivated case,” said Yin Mengly. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

A prison in Myanmar’s Sagaing region is under lockdown Tuesday after authorities opened fire on an inmate protest over the weekend, killing one prisoner and injuring as many as nine others, according to sources. A source close to the prison on the outskirts of Sagaing’s Monywa city who spoke on condition of anonymity told RFA’s Myanmar Service that junta troops have assumed control of security at the site and that all trials and family visits have been suspended indefinitely. “The army is still guarding the prison with military vehicles,” the source said. “Lawyers who usually attend special court proceedings [on site] are still not allowed inside. As families cannot enter the prison [for inmate visits], all information has been cut off.” Residents told RFA on Monday that gunfire was heard emanating from inside Monywa Prison the previous night and that authorities had opened fire on a group of inmates who were chanting anti-junta slogans in a rare display of opposition to military rule, killing one and injuring nine others. One source with ties to inmates involved in the incident said they had been protesting harsh conditions at the prison, including the use of torture during interrogations. “During the daily inspection, as inmates were out of their cells, someone started shouting, ‘Do we, the people, unite?’ Then, the others responded, saying, ‘Yes, we do!’ A big crowd gathered, and the protest began,” said the source, who also declined to be named. The protest started at around 5 p.m. A half an hour later, two military trucks entered the compound, and the shooting began. “According to our sources inside, we can confirm one person was shot dead and five were injured,” the source said. “The one who died was shot in the chest. One of the injured is in serious condition after losing a lot of blood from his thigh. But as far as we know, they have not been taken for medical treatment and were forced to help each other in the prison.” A member of the Monywa People’s Strike Steering Committee, whose leader Wai Moe Naing is among several political prisoners being held at the prison, said emergency vehicles were diverted from patrols of the city prior to the shooting, including military trucks and ambulances. Other sources said that as many as nine inmates had been injured in the crackdown. RFA was unable to independently verify the number of casualties. Attempts to contact Khin Shwe, the junta’s deputy director of the Department of Prisons, went unanswered Tuesday. Bombing campaign Following the unrest, several prodemocracy People’s Defense Force (PDF) paramilitary groups issued a statement about the shooting and in retaliation carried out a joint bombing campaign against five junta targets in the city, according to Boh Dattha of the Monywa PDF. “We asked residents not to leave their houses beginning around 5:30 p.m.,” he said. “In response to what happened in Monywa Prison, we, and three allied groups, carried out bombings against the military regime.” The other groups involved in the bombings were Monywa Generation Tiger, Monywa Special Date Date Kyei, and “a third new group,” Boh Dattha said. He provided no further details about the targets of the bombings or whether they resulted in any casualties. A resident of the city confirmed to RFA that multiple explosions were heard in Monywa after the shooting on Sunday night. “We heard gunshots. Later, there were a lot of explosions in the city — in no less than 10 places,” the resident said. The junta has yet to issue a statement about the shooting incident or the explosions in Monywa, but sources described an increased presence of police and military troops since the weekend and said authorities have been conducting checks throughout the city. Since seizing power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup, junta troops have killed at least 1,730 civilians and detained more than 10,000 political prisoners, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Last month, authorities in Sagaing’s Kalay township killed seven inmates and injured a dozen others after using live ammunition to quell what junta officials described as a prison “riot.” Sources told RFA the deaths were likely the result of a violent crackdown on a protest over ill-treatment at the facility.  According to the military, guards at the prison tried to disable the inmates by aiming below their waists. But residents noted that photos published by the junta on its online “Viber Group” platform to accompany its statement on the incident showed that at least some of those killed had been shot in the head and chest. Authorities have responded to earlier protests over ill-treatment by political prisoners in Yangon’s Insein Prison and Mandalay’s Obo Prison by beating protesters, denying them medical treatment, and putting them in solitary confinement.   Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Bangladesh authorities were holding more than 300 Rohingya in transit camps after police caught them working outside their refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, or while leaving their shelters for other purposes, officials said Tuesday. Human Rights Watch meanwhile renewed its call for the government to ease movement restrictions on Rohingya, saying that barring refugees from leaving the camps for work or shutting down their shops within the camps only compounds their misery. During raids in the Ukhia sub-district of Cox’s Bazar on Monday and Tuesday, police arrested 216 Rohingya refuges who had left the camps or were in the process of leaving them to go outside, Ahmed Sanjur Morhsed, officer-in-charge of the Ukhia police station, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. “The Rohingya people are not permitted to go out of the camps, but very often they get out of the camps [by] adopting different tactics,” he said. “Acting on a tip off, we conducted raids on Monday and Tuesday at different bazaars and detained Rohingya. We caught many Rohingya while they were heading out for various places [outside the refugee camps],” he said, adding that the operation was a “special drive.” He claimed that those arrested had admitted that they worked locally outside their refugee camps. After detaining them, police sent them to transit camps run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Police in neighboring Teknaf, another sub-district of Cox’s Bazar, similarly arrested more than 100 Rohingya during the special drive on Monday and Tuesday. “The target of the special raids is to stop the Rohingya from getting out of the camps and to bar them from working in the local market,” Md. Hafizur Rahman, the officer-in-charge of the Teknaf sub-district police station, told BenarNews. All those Rohingya detained have been sent to the UNHCR transit camps ahead of their return to their respective refugee camps, he said. Separately, Ukhia police also arrested 48 Rohingya who were preparing to be trafficked to Malaysia illegally, by sea. Job competition Nur Amin, a resident of Kutupalong camp, was one of the Rohingya refugees rounded up by police on Tuesday from a bazar in Ukhia. “We were warned not to go out for work. I was passing my time idle,” Amin said. “So last month I took a job at a tea stall in return for 200 taka (U.S. $2.4) a day. The police arrested me from the stall,” he added. UNHCR has yet to confirm that the arrested Rohingya were handed over to the transit camp. “This is sort of incident would put stress on the Rohingya refugees. So the issue should be dealt with humanely,” Ziaur Karim, a Rohingya leader at Kutupalong camp, told BenarNews. Local Bangladeshis have voiced concerns about Rohingya refugees taking up jobs in Cox’s Bazar. “The local Bangladeshi workers have been losing their job opportunities while the Rohingya people have been offering menial work with cheap wages,” M. Gafur Uddin, chairman of Palongkhali union council, told BenarNews. Meanwhile, in a statement issued Monday, Human Rights Watch pointed to how Bangladeshi authorities, in recent months, had intensified their restrictions on Rohingya refugees’ livelihoods, movement, and education. “Bangladesh is understandably burdened with hosting nearly one million Rohingya refugees, but cutting them off from opportunities to work and study is only compounding their vulnerability and dependence on aid,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Bangladesh government should formalize and expand employment opportunities to bolster the Rohingya’s self-reliance and enable them to support their families and communities.” Local humanitarian groups are aware of the issues raised by New York-based HRW. Nur Khan Liton, a human rights activist, told BenarNews: “I don’t think there’s an easy solution to many of these issues until Bangladesh officially recognizes these Rohingya as refugees.”