Twenty Cambodian fishermen forced to work on a trawler in Indonesia have been rescued, while a pair of Cambodian brides extricated from abusive relationships in China have been repatriated, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.
The fishermen were rescued in an operation conducted by Indonesian authorities and the Cambodian Embassy in Jakarta, Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong says in the statement.
The 20 men are currently at the International Organization for Migration office in Jakarta and will be sent back to Cambodia, according to the statement, which does not say when they were rescued.
The statement also says two Cambodian women were sent home from Guangzhou, China, after Chinese authorities freed them from abusive relationships with Chinese men.
Am Sam Ath, technical supervisor for rights group Licadho, said he did not know when the women returned to Cambodia.
“I think both of them were cheated because they had no education,” he said.
China’s one-child policy and a cultural preference for males has led to a gender imbalance, leading many Chinese men to search for wives abroad.
