Mekong Migration Network

PHNOM Penh Municipal Court yesterday sentenced a Vietnamese man and woman were jailed after being found guilty of procuring prostitution for a brothel they ran out of a coffee shop in Daun Penh district.

Un Samnang, 23, and Chang Ty Hok, 53, were arrested at their coffee shop in Chaktomuk commune in October last year, where police discovered 25 Vietnamese prostitutes.

Presiding Judge Sous Sam Ath sentenced Un Samnang to 10 years in prison and Chang Ty Hok to five years.

Defence Lawyer Nach Try declined to comment after yesterday’s hearing, but Kim Ly La, a lawyer who represented six of the Vietnamese prostitutes, applauded the decision.

“It is acceptable and just for my clients, who did not ask for any compensation from the two accused because they voluntarily worked as prostitutes, and have agreed to return to Vietnam,” she said.

Both defendants denied the allegations in a hearing held August 2. Un Samnang, who also holds a Cambodian identification card, told the court that although he had accepted US$80 to allow the coffee shop’s proprietors to rent the facility under his name, he was not involved in the sale of sex. An elderly Khmer Krom woman named Ky Nang was responsible for the criminal activity, he said.

But Sous Sam Ath rejected the testimony, saying that investigators could not find anyone by that name.

Chang Ty Hok testified during the hearing that she had worked only as a cleaner at the coffee shop, a claim that the judge said was “not credible”.

‘Illegal’ migrant
In a separate case yesterday, the Municipal Court sentenced a Nigerian man to a total of six years in prison after finding him guilty of robbery, drug possession, damaging police property and living in Cambodia illegally.

Charles Uy, 27, was arrested from his rented house in Meanchey district in March after a complaint was filed against him by three other Nigerian men. Uy said during his trial on August 2 that the complaint had been filed in revenge after he warned the men about fighting in his house the previous evening.

Judge Sous Sam Ath also ordered Uy to pay 1.5 million riels (US$358) in compensation to the three men, and ordered him to be deported following his release from prison.

Friday, 13 August 2010 15:02 Chrann Chamroeun

KASIKORNBANK Kasikornbank has added a Burmese language option to about 100 ATMs in different provinces to serve the growing number of Burmese living and working in Thailand.

A Kasikornbank ATM in Samut Sakhon displays text in Burmese to serve the needs of migrant workers. PAWAT LAOPAISARNTAKSIN

Eighty percent of the ATMs with the Burmese language are in Samut Sakhon’s Muang district where there is a large Burmese population involved in the fishing industry. The rest are in Phetchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Ranong and Trat, KBank senior vice-president Wirawat Panthawangkun said yesterday.

Business operators who hire Burmese staff asked for the language option to help foreign workers use ATMs.

KBank first introduced Burmese language options to ATMs in Samut Sakhon in February.

“[Burmese customer] financial transactions have increased by about 20% per ATM after [the introduction] mainly [involving] money deposits, withdrawals and cash transfers,” Mr Wirawat said.

“The bank can target the segment directly with marketing campaigns, as well.” KBank plans to provide services in other neighbouring languages, especially Cambodian and Lao in select areas, according to customer demand.

The bank would maintain its main focus on its core customer base of Thai people before making any decisions, he said. Too many languages on ATM screens could cause confusion or lead to dissatisfaction among Thai customers.

The bank has no plans to expand its loan services to Burmese borrowers because of the low demand and risk factor, Mr Wirawat said.

KBank offers four standard languages at about 7,500 ATMs nationwide: Thai, English, Chinese and Japanese.

Published: 10/08/2010 at 12:00 AM

HIGH JOB PLACEMENT FEES AND POOR LANGUAGE ABILITY CRIPPLING THAI WORKERS’ CHANCES ABROAD, SAY AUTHORITIES

Thailand must reduce its fees for overseas job placements and improve the language skills of workers, labour authorities have warned.

Labour Minister Chalermchai Sri-on said that Israeli ambassador to Thailand Itzhak Shoham had told him that the job placement fees for Thai workers seeking work in Israel were too high. As a result, Israel was considering reducing its quota for imported Thai labourers.

Mr Chalermchai said other countries shared a similar sentiment and were rejecting Thai workers because they viewed Thai labourers as victims of human trafficking. The high fees they pay to go abroad means Thai workers must work very hard and live in poor conditions to repay the debt incurred by the placement.

Israel had earlier suggested that Thailand send its workers through the International Organisation for Migration to reduce the cost of job placement overseas. The proposal was made a few years ago, but Israel has yet to receive a response from the Thai government.

Mr Chalermchai said his subordinates are studying the proposal, but for now he advises Thai workers to apply for membership with the Israeli labour organisation Histadrut.

Membership in the organisation cuts job placement expenses by 20,000 baht, he said.

Mr Chalermchai said job placement fees for a worker seeking employment in Israel should be 150,000 baht but agencies charge as much as 300,000 baht.

Upgrading the skills of Thai labourers working abroad is another matter that must be addressed, said Samarn Laodamrongchai, a researcher at the Institute of Asian Studies of Chulalongkorn University.

He said that the number of Thai workers leaving for overseas jobs has dropped from over 100,000 per year to 70,000-80,000 due to a lack of improvement in labour and language skills.

He said workers from Vietnam and the Philippines were more competitive in this respect.

Supat Kukhun, deputy director-general of the Employment Department, said that Thais used to be the most prevalent foreign workers in South Korea through the country’s Employment Permit System for foreign workers, but it has since been surpassed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Nepal.

He said only one in 10 Thai workers looking for work in South Korea are able to pass language tests. Fewer than 1,000 Vietnamese job seekers passed language tests in the first year of South Korea’s foreign employment system examinations, but today 85% of applicants from that country successfully complete the tests.

Vietnamese and Filipino workers with language skills work in medium-sized businesses in low-risk roles.

Thais work in small businesses and often take on dangerous jobs due to their limited language skills.

Published: 8/08/2010 at 04:32 AM

A POLICE raid on a recruitment firm in Kandal province found 35 girls being trained to work as domestic assistants in Malaysia, officials said
yesterday.

Pa Sam Eth, the police chief in Kien Svay district, said the Sunday raid was triggered after villagers in Prek Eng commune’s Robors Angkanh village reported seeing several girls detained in a building.

“Leaving people like this is an illegal action,” Pa Sam Eth said. “This is an illegal human detention.”

Pa Sam Eth said many of the girls told police they were at least 18 years old. But he said they lacked any proper documentation to prove it.

At the moment, the firm’s owner, a 51-year-old man, has not been charged, Pa Sam Eth said, and police could not say yesterday whether the firm was licensed to train and send workers abroad.

Kien Svay district governor Heng Theam said four people were arrested as part of Sunday’s raid, including the owner.

He suggested that the suspects could be accused of holding an illegal gathering.

“The gathering of crowds like this is illegal because they have not informed the authorities,” Heng Theam said.

Ouk Kimsith, the provincial court prosecutor in Kandal, said the court had yet to charge anyone involved because it was waiting for a police report.
Under the 1995 sub-decree that permits authorised companies to train and send workers abroad, all prospective workers must be at least 18.

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 15:03 Meas Sokchea

THE director of a recruitment agency accused of illegally detaining trainees has defended his business practices two weeks after Labour Ministry officials began an investigation of the firm.

Sen Ly, the director of VC Manpower Co, said yesterday that the firm treats clients well.

“They came here because they need us to help them find a job, so when we accept them we have to take care of them because their parents come to meet us and ask us to look after their children,” Sen Ly said in an interview at the company’s Sen Sok district training centre.

The firm, one of at least 28 licensed by the Ministry of Labour to train and send workers abroad, was thrust into the public spotlight last month after a 24-year-old woman leaped from the second storey of the centre. She later said that she and other women had been corralled into tiny rooms and prevented from leaving.

Days later, authorities said that they had discovered 24 underage girls at the centre, along with seven at a separate facility operated by a different company. However, VC Manpower Co insisted that the girls had used false identification to claim they were at least 18.

Though the Ministry of Labour temporarily barred the company from recruiting new clients that week, those restrictions were lifted within days.

On Monday, roughly 400 women were still being trained in the centre. Clients who spoke with the Post yesterday reported good conditions at the centre.

“There are no problems with this company,” said Sum Phanna, who has stayed at the centre for more than two months in hopes of finding work as a domestic assistant in Malaysia. The company, she said, offers food, accommodation and English lessons. Yeoun Phalla said she felt well cared-for by the company staff. She acknowledged that the company barred her and others from leaving the compound, but said she did not mind.
“They are afraid we will have problems,” she said.

Meas Beoun said she had gone to the training centre on Monday to visit her daughter, who was preparing to leave for Malaysia. She said she had never heard her daughter complain about conditions at the company.

“I hope that my daughter can earn more money to send me to help our family because we are poor,” she said.

But Leng Sokleap, the woman who escaped the training centre in July, insisted yesterday that she and other women had been mistreated.

“I used to stay there,” she said. “The room is small with many people, and I was not allowed to go out and visit my family.”

In the meantime, allegations are still surfacing about conditions at the centre.

In a story Sunday, local news website Deum Ampil alleged that more than 100 workers had run out of the training centre, and that some had fainted.

Sen Ly, the VC Manpower director, denied the report. Keo Thea, director of the municipal anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection bureau, said officers visited the centre Sunday night and found no evidence to support the report.

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 15:03 Mom Kunthear and Kim Samath