Cambodia, U.S. joining hands in migration, trafficking issues

Cambodian Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong on Thursday met with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Ellen Sauerbrey to discuss migration, human trafficking and other cooperation issues, local press reported Friday.

During the meeting, the two sides agreed that Cambodia and the United States have enjoyed good cooperation over the past several years, the Rasmei Kampuchea quoted Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Long Visalo as saying.

In the meeting, Ellen Sauerbrey praised Cambodia for its handling of the central Vietnamese tribal Montagnard issues under the cooperation of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

According to Long Visalo, following Cambodia, Vietnam and the UNHCR signing a memorandum of understanding in January 2005, Cambodia arranged for the resettlement of 648 Montagnards, said the newspaper.

The Montagnards were mainly re-located in the United States.
There still remain 239 Vietnamese tribesmen in refugee camps in Cambodia, said the newspaper.

The discussion also covered issues about the rights of indigenous Khmers in Kampuchea Krom, an area of southwestern Vietnam that once formed the lower reaches of the Khmer empire.
Many Cambodians also migrated there during the Democratic Kampuchea era and want repatriation to their homeland.

"Then Khmer Kampuchea Krom come to live in Cambodia. We provide them with citizen rights as other Cambodians, which means they are not refugees on Cambodian land because they are Cambodians, and we recognize they are Cambodian citizens," Hor Namhong told the newspaper.
During the meeting, the United States asked for a continuous cooperation between the two nations to tackle these issues.
Meanwhile, the U.S. official said in a press conference at the U.S. Embassy on Thursday that Washington ranks Cambodia second among Asian countries in its efforts to combat human trafficking, reported the Koh Santepheap.
Ellen R. Sauerbrey urged Cambodia to draft a law on human trafficking, the Rasmei Kampuchea reported.
"We pay attention to human trafficking in all forms," Hor Namhong was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
Cambodia is writing the law and human trafficking, which occurs both internally and internationally, is a very complicated issue, said the Koh Santepheap.

Source: Xinhua