Following a previous warning of violent incidents involving scam operations in Cambodia, the Chinese Embassy called for further caution against fraud syndicates and said it had successfully rescued some victims from the operations.
The Chinese Embassy this week warned its nationals of violent incidents and recruitment traps and asked citizens to report such crimes.
Amid U.S. reports alleging Cambodia is giving space to the Chinese military at the Ream Naval Base, Defense Minister Tea Banh on Wednesday inaugurated construction on a major ship-maintenance facility there.
The Global Initiative report, based on interviews with survivors, families and civil society groups, said such trafficking had been on the rise due to the livelihood impacts of Covid-19 and heightened prevention measures in Vietnam that shifted more of the trade to Cambodia.
“We’ve solved it and now it has completely vanished,” Kheng said of the blood slave story, as well as a second case that surfaced in Thailand.
Major action is needed to address a crisis of forced labor, slavery and torture in Cambodia, says a collective of 35 civil society groups.
Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered the military to inventory all U.S.-origin weapons currently in use and to either store or destroy them, a quick reaction to the U.S. placing an arms embargo on Cambodia.
The United States imposed an arms embargo on Cambodia for alleged rights violations and increasing Chinese military influence in the country, specifically targeting a military intelligence unit run by the prime minister’s son.
A remote, city-like compound owned by U.S.-blacklisted tycoon Try Pheap is housing online scam operations of thousands of workers rife with forced labor, detention and unexplained deaths, trafficking victims and rescuers allege.
Over the past week, increasing pressure on Cambodia coincided with the suddenly approved release of at least a dozen political prisoners.
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