Cambodia is planning to cap hefty recruitment fees imposed by labor brokers on people seeking jobs abroad in a bid to curb illegal migration and protect workers from modern-day slavery.
More than two million Cambodians are estimated to be living and working abroad – most of them in Thailand – where hundreds of thousands of migrant workers are undocumented due to the high costs and therefore vulnerable to labor abuses, activists say.
Cambodians who migrate to Thailand through official channels pay recruitment agencies about $650 to facilitate the move, while those who make their own way across the border spend as little as $30, said advocacy group the Mekong Migration Network.
