The Ministry of Interior’s anti-human trafficking officers are drafting a five-year work plan to fight human trafficking at the national level, which they hope will soon be sent to the Council of Ministers for final approval, government officials said yesterday.
Officials from the recently-formed National Commission to Combat Human Trafficking, Labor Exploitation and Women and Child Sex Trafficking gathered in Phnom Penh on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the draft, said Chou Bun Eng, undersecretary of state at the Interior Ministry and chief the commission’s secretariat, though she declined to release the draft.
The document will serve as the main policy in the fight against the human trafficking if approved, she said.
“In this national work plan of anti-human trafficking task, combating and preventing via education are important,” said Ms Bun Eng. “We want the public to be part of this work. The public awareness plays an important role to fight against this issue.”
Ms Bun Eng declined to provide more details on what the draft contains or when it might be completed. She said some contents are being discussed and finalized by the working group.
Prime Minister Hun Sen formed the 18-member Commission, led by Interior Minister Sar Kheng, in a sub-decree signed on Sept 25, 2009, according to a copy obtained Thursday. Fourteen ministries including the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications are members of the commission.
Following the signing of the sub-decree, Mr Sar Kheng formed a secretariat that consists of 57 government officials from 14 ministries as members to work on six task forces which will focus on prevention, rehabilitation, re-integration and repatriation, law enforcement, justice, international cooperation, and child affairs.
Heads of two local NGOs, Action Pour Les Enfants and Legal Support for Children and Women, have been named as members to the secretariat formed by Mr Sar Kheng.
“We want to gather all relevant NGOs to join hand with us to fight against human trafficking,” said Ten Borany, deputy director of Interior Ministry’s anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection department.
