The government will establish an Inter-Ministerial Task Force Committee to fight online scam operations, an effort which seems to come on the heels of widespread criticism of alleged large-scale cyber-scams in Cambodia.
The setting up of the committee was announced by Prime Minister Hun Manet during the ruling Cambodian People’s Party’s (CPP) 45th Central Committee meeting, Chou Bun Eng, Vice President of the National Committee for Counter Trafficking, said after attending the two-day event on the weekend.
“Not all fraud cases [online] involve human trafficking as the offenses are complicated now; victims can turn to suspects,” Bun Eng said.
“Online scam issues are new in Cambodia,” she remarked, adding that the task force committee will not only crack down on crime but also rescue victims and carry out legal procedures.
Bun Eng said Cambodia is an “impacted country” as online scam has spread to other countries and regions, noting that the crimes are linked to foreigners.
Casinos or resorts in Cambodia and the region with alleged links to large-scale illicit cybercrime “trafficked victims” and “forced” them to participate in criminal activities in scam compounds, according to international organizations such as the United States Institute of Peace and UN Office of Drug and Crime. In September 2023, UN Human Rights revealed that criminal networks in Cambodia allegedly trafficked over 100,000 people.
“We congratulate the task force committee but we want to see real effective action, especially where big places were busted in relation to illicit business [cybercrime],” said Ny Sokha, President of NGO rights group Adhoc.
Despite CPP’s conference results, which noted the progress of the general situation in 2024 especially economic and social development, people’s livelihoods, stability of democracy and rule of law, including safeguarding people’s freedom, it faced challenges.
The challenges arose from an imbalance between the need to improve living standards and the government’s limited capacity under the national economy. It also stems from “unrelenting” acts of extremist groups “backed” by ill-willed external circles who attempt to destabilize the CPP.
Opposition Candlelight Party secretary-general Ly Sothearayuth expressed a different view of the CPP results, calling on the government to consider restoring democracy, release political, social and party activists, and drop the lawsuits against their party leader Teav Vannol.
“As a non-ruling party, we see that democracy is moving backwards because of narrow political space,” he said. “Our stance is to repeatedly ask the government and court to reconsider dropping the lawsuits against our officials and social activists, as well as release them without conditions.”
He said their party accounted for nearly two million of the popular vote in the 2022 commune council election but was banned completely in the 2023 national election.
NGO rights group Adhoc president Ny Sokha echoed that the rule of law, democracy and human rights issues were restricted along with the freedom of speech, right to assembly, including the arrest of social activists, human rights defenders.
“We have not seen any improvement in the government’s effort to promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law,” he said, citing dozens who were arrested in relation to the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Area and Funan Techo canal issues.