Source: Amnesty International –
- Amnesty research contradicts state narrative on mass scamming crackdown
- Collusion between police and gangs help compounds avoid raids
- 73 survivors interviewed; none screened or recognized as victims of trafficking
The Cambodian government’s high-profile crackdown on scamming compounds has failed to dismantle the vast majority of sites in the country or protect and support thousands of people subjected to human trafficking, torture and slavery, Amnesty International said in a new report released today.
Falling Through the Cracks: Cambodia’s “Crackdown” on Scamming Compounds documents how authorities have largely failed to identify trafficking victims or hold perpetrators to account. Amnesty’s research reveals how several compounds are moving location to escape the crackdown and details multiple accounts of rape inside compounds.
“The Cambodian government has carefully managed the optics of its scamming crackdown, but behind every headline about a compound raid or arrest are survivors of slavery, torture and rape left with almost no support,” Amnesty International’s Co-Regional Director Montse Ferrer said.
“This much-vaunted crime offensive has not done enough to end the suffering of those trapped inside scamming compounds. More than 70 per cent of the compounds identified by Amnesty appear to have been bypassed by the crackdown, while ineffective police interventions at other compounds have missed victims and left them facing horrific abuses – all as the government applauds its own work.”