Labor Ministry Clarifies: Confining (foreign) Workers Is Illegal

Both Cambodian and foreign workers must be allowed to leave their workplaces after work, the Labor Ministry clarified during a press conference on Wednesday, while deflecting a question about the nature of global scams being perpetrated out of Cambodia.

During a review of the ministry’s work over the last five years, Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Sour was asked about Cambodia’s spate of human trafficking in which thousands of foreign workers have been trapped in criminal scam compounds and forced to cheat people online.

One of the centers of the trafficking and scams has been the coastal city of Sihanoukville, where authorities have now raided 10 compounds and found over 2,000 workers. Sour said on Wednesday that the city had a total of 60,000 foreign workers with work permits, and estimated that there were a further 10,000 to 12,000 without.