Cambodian Woman Jailed for Trafficking Niece to China

KT

A Cambodian woman has been jailed for trafficking her niece into forced marriage and sexual exploitation in China, following a years-long investigation and a court conviction in absentia.

Touch Youn, 53, was arrested on 5 November in Kratie province by anti-human trafficking police, after evading authorities for over a year. She had been sentenced in July 2024 to seven years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $3,750 in compensation to her niece, who filed a lawsuit upon returning to Cambodia.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Van Kosal of the Tboung Khmum Provincial Police, Youn persuaded her 21-year-old niece to travel to China in 2017 under the pretext of marriage. Assisted by two accomplices—a Cambodian woman and a Chinese man, both still at large—Youn arranged the victim’s passport, visa and travel expenses.

Once in China, the young woman was handed over to a trafficker who sold her into a brief marriage. She was later resold to other men and subjected to sexual slavery. Her ordeal lasted several years before she was rescued and repatriated in March 2022, with support from Chinese authorities, the Cambodian Embassy in Beijing, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The case highlights the persistent dangers of cross-border trafficking in Southeast Asia, where vulnerable women are often lured with false promises of marriage or employment. Cambodia’s Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation criminalises such acts under Articles 8 and 10, which formed the basis of Youn’s conviction.

Youn is now serving her sentence in Tboung Khmum Provincial Prison. Authorities continue to search for the two remaining suspects involved in the trafficking network.

The victim’s courage in pursuing justice has drawn praise from rights advocates, who say more support is needed for survivors of trafficking. Her case underscores the importance of international cooperation in dismantling trafficking rings and protecting vulnerable individuals from exploitation.

-2025-11-13