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View all search resultsRights abuses flourish in Cambodian scamming compounds: Amnesty
The latest report from human rights group Amnesty International has revealed damning evidence of human rights abuses in Cambodia’s scamming industry on a massive scale, with victims coming from several Asian countries, including Indonesia.
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Spam calls, scam (Shutterstock/Artur Szczybylo)
T
he latest report from human rights group Amnesty International has revealed damning evidence of human rights abuses in Cambodia’s scamming industry on a massive scale, with victims coming from several Asian countries, including Indonesia.
From September of 2023 to May of this year, Amnesty probed Cambodia's scamming compounds run by criminal gangs, which are infamous for their cases of trafficking and forced labor by foreign nationals. The rights group identified at least 53 such compounds across Cambodia.
In its 242-page document titled “I was someone else’s property” released on Thursday, Amnesty found that abuse of thousands of jobseekers took the form of “human trafficking, torture and other ill-treatment, forced labor, child labor, deprivation of liberty and slavery”.
The rights group came to the conclusion after interviewing 58 survivors of scamming compounds across Cambodia during its 18-month-long research, most of whom were fortunate to be rescued by local authorities. Amnesty also collected data on 365 victims recorded by other organizations.
“Deceived, trafficked and enslaved, the survivors of these scamming compounds describe being trapped in a living nightmare -- enlisted in criminal enterprises that are operating with the apparent consent of the Cambodian government,” Amnesty International’s secretary-general Agnes Callamard said in a statement.
The group’s interviews with the victims further found a concerning pattern of the state’s “complicity” through the Cambodian government’s “woefully ineffective response” toward the cases, allowing the rights abuses to flourish.
Read also: Indonesian Embassy in Cambodia sees surge in online scam victims, fatalities
