National Police Commissioner Neth Savoeun on Wednesday handed Yok Sokha, the deputy chief, responsibility for overseeing the department of anti-human trafficking under a new policy aimed at improving what even Savoeun himself acknowledged were the country’s weak procedures to combat the crime.
Savoeun announced the new policy during an annual meeting on human trafficking, where he also said that only tourist-heavy areas – Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Preah Sihanouk province – have tackled the issue well.
Other provinces, he added, have done little or nothing. “Sometimes our men do not even know what a human-trafficking crime is,” Savoeun said
Sokha will also be required to meet with provincial officials once a month and report back to Savoeun. Provincial police, military police chiefs, provincial prosecutors and provincial court directors will also be required to meet once a month.
Cambodia received the second-lowest rating in the US’s 2015 Trafficking in Persons report. The dismal rating was due to the government’s failure to fulfil minimum anti-human trafficking standards.