By Sen David
Monday, 30 April 2012
Phnom Penh Post
Soung Sokden looks older than his 26 years, his skin black and
weather-beaten from six years of forced labour onboard a Thai fishing
boat – the latest trafficking tale recounted by returned fishermen on
Friday.
Eyes downcast, Soung Sokden, from Kampong Cham’s Chamkar Leu
district, said a broker had first led him overseas to a boat that
trawled the waters off Thailand, then Indonesia.
“I was there
for so many years, but did not get a salary – not even one riel … I was a
fool to work there,” he said.
Tok Ravvy, 18, a fisherman on the
same boat, said he had got the number of the Cambodian
Embassy in Indonesia from a repatriated friend and called its
emergency hotline.
They and two others were eventually
repatriated by the Cambodian and Indonesian authorities and the International Organisation
for Migration.
Tok Ravvy said there were still “hundreds” of
Cambodian fishermen stranded overseas.
Fellow returnee Ly Cheang
Long, 24, said he had been misled by promises of a high salary.
“I
was told I could get up to 10,000 baht [US$325] per month, but I worked
as a slave without money,” he said.
According to the Ministry of Interior,
12,000 migrant workers were repatriated in 2011.
Suos Sok Srey
Mom, research coordinator at IOM, said cases of fishermen being stuck
abroad for longer than three years were rare but did exist.
“They
do not have the chance to escape and have no contacts to ask for help,”
she said.
Ten Borany, deputy director of the Ministry of
Interior’s anti-human trafficking department, said investigations into
the case were under way and authorities were searching for the brokers.
Separately, three fishermen arrived in Kampot province on
Saturday after being rescued by a Vietnamese boat.
Toch Polak,
deputy chief of the sea border department in Kampot, said the trio had
jumped overboard when their employer tried to kill them, and were picked
up by the Vietnamese boat.
To contact the reporter on this story: Sen David at david.sen@phnompenhpost.com
1 comment:
If I got the power I'll go out the sea and destroy this fuckin Siamee vassle that kept Khmer as their slaves,no one deserve to be treated like slaves nowadays.Find out who those Siam sold their fishes to,if they sold it to American buyer boycotts the buyer or sue them for back pay...
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