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Cambodia – Recruitment agencies operating without oversight

01 August 2014

An estimated 250,000 Cambodian migrant workers fled from Thailand as a result of the military junta’s crackdown on illegal labour. In order to facilitate their legal return, the Cambodian government announced that it had slashed the cost of emigration and would only charge workers USD 49 to return to Thailand.

As one of its measures to ease the return of workers to Thailand, the government lowered the cost of passports from migrant labourers from USD 124 to USD 4. The remainder of the USD 49 fee is intended to be used for visas, letters of certification, and transportation to Thailand.

The Ministry of Labour outsourced the implementations of the policy to 47 private recruitment agencies and advised that there are no plans in place to ensure the firms are adhering to the prices and procedures laid out by the government.     

However, it has been revealed that at least one recruitment agency is charging workers up to USD 600 to help them find work in Thailand, according to the Cambodia Daily.

When asked how the Labour Ministry is ensuring compliance with the policy, a spokesman commented: “I don’t know how you can come up with such a stupid question. [Only if the recruitment agencies] do something wrong can you catch [them]. The agencies are operating under the Ministry. As of now, no agency has violated the agreement. If you know of one, please tell us.”

Last week, a group of 50 migrant workers paid USD 200 each to one of the government approved recruitment agencies to travel to Thailand. They expected to receive passports, visas, and legal employment. Instead, representatives of the recruitment agency were arrested and charged with human trafficking.

At least eight recruitment agencies approved by the government are reportedly no longer in operation. A number of the agencies still in operation said they are not implementing the government’s policy because they either do not know how it works or because it is too time-consuming.

More than 15,500 illegal migrant workers were caught sneaking across the Thai-Cambodian border in July, according to Kousoum Saroeuth, Governor of northwest Banteay Meanchey province, where the majority of illegal migrant workers returned from Thailand.

Mr Kosem, whose own firm is among the 47 tasked with returning workers to Thailand, said the Labour Ministry’s policy is too complicated and he has yet to process a single subsidised passport application.

The subsidised emigration policy requires workers to provide the Ministry of Labour with a letter of employment from a recruitment agency or a Thai employer. The Ministry then issues its own certification letter and both letters must be presented to the passport department to receive a USD 4 passport. The process takes a minimum of 20 days.

Mao Chan Dara, the Director of the Ministry of Interior’s passport department, said that passports take 15 days to turn around, and denied that extra money could speed up the process: “I am not denying that there are a few tricky officials. We are correcting it.”

Mr Chan Dara said his department has only received about 500 requests for the USD4 passports since the policy was announced on 24 June: “I would like to appeal to the people that if they want to have a passport processed, they should come to the [passport office] themselves. If they go through a company, they will charge you as they want.”

Following the announcement of the policy in June, Naly Pilorge, Director of local rights group Licadho, questioned the government’s decision to give recruitment agencies, many of which have poor human rights records and have been accused of sending workers into abusive situations, broad control over the process of migrating to Thailand.

“Given the government’s inability at regulating this sector in the past and dealing with gross abuses committed by recruiting agencies, it’s a very worrying move,” she said.