Cambodia on Tier 2 in 2008 human trafficking: U.S. report

By Puy Kea
PHNOM PENH , June 5 KYODO -- The United States released its annual report Thursday on 2008 trafficking in persons and placed Cambodia on the Tier 2 Watch List. The report, released by the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh , said Cambodia had made some improvements and increased engagement in combating the continued, serious problem of trafficking in persons.

The report recommends Cambodia continue implementation of anti-trafficking legislation and improve the number of prosecutions and convictions among others. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng said he welcomed the report and hoped Cambodia will not fall back in its classification to Tier 3 or Tier 4, instead, he said Cambodia will catch Tier 1 in the future.

In a separate 2008 TIP Report, released by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington on Wednesday, it said Cambodia is a source and destination country for trafficked persons. ''Women and girls are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation to Thailand and Malaysia . Some Cambodian women who migrated to Taiwan as the result of brokered international marriages were subsequently trafficked for prostitution,'' it said.

''Sex trafficking of women and girls, including ethnic Vietnamese, occurs within the country, from rural areas to the urban areas of Phnom Penh , Siem Reap, and Sihanoukville,'' the report added. '' Cambodia is a destination for Vietnamese women and girls trafficked for prostitution. Cambodia is also a destination country for foreign child sex tourists, with increasing reports of Asian men traveling to Cambodia in order to have sex with underage virgin girls,'' it said.

Countries determined to have a significant number of trafficking victims are assigned to one of three tiers. Countries assessed as meeting the ''minimum standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking'' are classified as Tier 1.

And countries assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards, but making significant efforts to meet those minimum standards, are classified as Tier 2, whereas countries assessed as neither complying with the minimum standards nor making significant efforts to do so are classified as Tier 3.

KyodoJune 05, 2008

Khieu Samphan released hospital, returns to court detention

PHNOM PENH, June 5 KYODO

After a two-week stay in hospital, ailing former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan was sent back to U.N.-Cambodia tribunal facilities, a tribunal official told Kyodo News on Thursday. Helen Jarvis, chief of public affairs of the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts in Cambodia , said he returned to the ECCC detention center at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

''His health condition allows him to return to the ECCC,'' she quoted doctors as saying. Khieu Maly, his daughter, confirmed her father was taken back to the ECCC on Thursday afternoon while she was together with her mother at the hospital.

On Wednesday, a senior doctor who is in charge of Khieu Samphan's health at Calmette Hospital told Kyodo News that Khieu Samphan's health has improved ''step by step.'' The 76-year-old was hospitalized after suffering high blood pressure on May 21. Khieu Samphan was nominal head of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in the late 1970s and has been charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes by the ECCC.

He is one of the Khmer Rouge's five prime suspects who have been charged and detained at the ECCC. The other four are: Nuon Chea, better known as the Khmer Rouge's Brother No. 2; Kaing Khek Ieu, alias Duch, head of the Tuol Sleng torture center in Phnom Penh ; Ieng Sary, deputy prime minister and foreign minister, and his wife Ieng Thirith, education and social affairs minister. The Khmer Rouge is blamed for the deaths of at least 1.7 million Cambodians during their rule from 1975 to 1979.

KyodoJune 05, 2008