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USAID-funded National Workshop on Labor Migration and Trafficking

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The National Workshop on Labor and Migration and Trafficking
USAID Acting Mission Director Laurie de Freese (left), Secretary of State of the Ministry of Interior H.E. Chou Bun Eng (middle) and others presided over the National Workshop on Labor Migration and Trafficking.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Over 100 representatives from government, private sector, and civil society organizations attended a National Workshop on Labor Migration and Trafficking on August 15-16, 2011. This was the first workshop to bring recruiters together with government and civil society organizations to discuss joint strategies to prevent trafficking, protect migrant workers, and regulate recruitment agencies. The event was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through The Asia Foundation in partnership with the National Committee Secretariat to Lead the Suppression of Human Trafficking, Smuggling, Labor and Sexual Exploitation of Women and Children.

Cambodians primarily migrate to Thailand and Malaysia, but migration to Korea, Japan and the Arab states is slowly increasing. The recent increased media coverage of cases of labor exploitation, particularly for Cambodians migrating to Thailand and Malaysia, has generated interest among government and NGO partners to identify practical solutions toward a non-exploitative labor migration process.
USAID Acting Mission Director Laurie de Freese joined the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Interior H.E. Chou Bun Eng and others to provide inaugural remarks.
 
“Better economic opportunities are why many people choose to work abroad,” Ms. de Freese said. “This is the first workshop to bring together government, private sector and NGOs to discuss practical approaches to address labor migration and exploitation.”

USAID’s counter-trafficking in person program is committed to improving coordination and collection of data among anti-trafficking actors; enhancing victim care through development and implementation of national standards; and improving access to justice for victims of trafficking.