Anti-Human Trafficking and Migration

Unit Objective: Cambodian migrant workers’ rights and benefits are better protected and responded to in a timely manner from relevant stakeholders.   

Key Interventions: Anti-Human Trafficking and Migration Unit (AHMU) implements 3 main activities which focus on “3P”: Prevention, Protection and Promoting the rights of migrant workers.   

     Prevention: Contribute to the prevention of labor exploitation and human trafficking through awareness raising, information dissemination on safe and unsafe migration to at-risk population, conduct village forum, training, and workshop, as well as advocate through media platforms including Website, Facebook, Telegram.   

     Protection: Provide legal consultation and other appropriate services including legal assistance, referral, file a complaint, repatriation, and reintegration to survivors of human trafficking and labor exploitation.  

    Promotion:  Empower Cambodian migrant workers to understand, organize as networks and exercise their rights and benefits, in order to get protected and appropriate response from key stakeholders in a timely manner. 

There are no less than 3 million Cambodian migrant workers - documented and undocumented - currently working abroad in Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and other countries. The majority of Cambodian migrant workers work in 3D (“Difficult, Dirty, and Dangerous”) jobs. 

Migration for work is an individual’s right and choice without force or threat which allows them to find work, increase remittances, and develop skills. But in reality, the majority of Cambodian migrant workers have been left with leave no options but to go abroad due to lack of decent jobs, low incomes in the home country, debt, and the lack of, or inability to access markets to sell their products, etc. These factors push many Cambodians to migrate through irregular channels such as brokers, and relatives rather than under government MOUs as they need to find work and to support their livelihoods and repay debts.   

According to the study that CENTRAL has conducted with many migrant workers found that workers who go through the MOU process need to pay an extensive fee between 450 to 650 USD to cover documents such as passport, work visa, work permit, medical examination and employment fees to private recruitment agencies. Migrant workers also shared that the process is complicated and time consuming as they need to travel back and forth, which is also costly. Many migrant workers are unable to afford the fee, thus they borrow from relatives, take private bank or microfinance institution loans. The alternative of border-crossing through unofficial means potentially increases workers’, especially women migrants and children, vulnerability to being cheated by brokers, to labor exploitation, labor rights violations and human trafficking.