Defending the government’s announced blacklist system to ban suspected foreign sex offenders from Cambodia, Minister of Women’s Affairs Mu Sochua said Thursday the move is only the first of several planned measures necessary to combat sexual exploitation of women and children.
Responding to criticism of the sex offenders blacklist by some human rights workers who have labeled it discriminatory and open to abuse, Mu Sochua said the blacklist provision is similar to immigration restrictions upheld by many countries around the world.
The human rights implications for the small number of people the blacklist would affect cannot be compared to the human rights benefits of millions of Cambodian women and children, Mu Sochua said.
“This is a perfectly reasonable proposal….We must think about the dignity and protection of our women and children,” Mu Sochua said.
But one human rights worker blasted the proposed blacklist, saying it was a “quick fix” solution to deal with the problem of sex offenders walking free from the courts.
Blacklisting people, regardless of decisions reached by the courts, goes against all principles of due process and legal procedure, the rights worker said.
According to former Cambodian Interpol Police Chief Skadavy Mathly Roun, the blacklist system leaves unresolved the thorny issue of the Cambodian courts’ inability to properly prosecute foreign sex offenders.
“If there is enough evidence to put someone on a blacklist, there should be enough evidence to prosecute those people in the court,” Skadavy Mathly Roun maintained.
“Everyone must obey the law, including the court officials who prosecute [sex offenders],” Skadavy Mathly Roun said. He said not one of the five suspected foreign pedophiles arrested in his seven years of service with Interpol was properly convicted by a Cambodian court.
“There must be a meeting with court officials….They must change their practices,” Skadavy Mathly Roun said, adding that the law on human trafficking contains adequate provisions to prosecute cases.
Skadavy Mathly Roun also said Thursday the proposed blacklist of foreigners is an inadequate measure to totally stop sexual exploitation of children, as Cambodian men form a large percentage of the offenders.
“Just wait….We are not just thinking of foreigners,” Mu Sochua said, explaining that a range of new provisions to combat sex abuse will be unveiled shortly.
One of the measures being discussed to shore up Cambodia’s law on sexual exploitation is clearly defining the legal age of a minor in Cambodian, Mu Sochua said.
The current age of a minor as outlined in Cambodia’s law on human trafficking and sexual exploitation is anyone below the age of 15 years.
This will be changed to anyone below the age of 18 years, Mu Sochua said.
“I have received very strong and positive feedback from NGOs,” Mu Sochua said.
Chanthol Oung, director of the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center, said Thursday she supported the blacklist system because Cambodian courts could not be trusted to uphold the law.
“I support this strategy. If the courts were reliable we would not need it. [But] in the Cambodian situation I support this,” Chanthol Oung said.
The proposal also has the support of police officials.
Teng Borany, deputy director of the Interior Ministry’s Penal Police department, said this week that the blacklist would plug holes in laws which let sex offenders free.
The blacklist will make it harder for sex offenders to operate in Cambodia, Teng Borany said.
