Tens of thousands of these foreign workers have flocked to Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. The majority of them are from Indonesia, China, South Asia and Africa—looking for greener pasture following a recent onslaught against online scam company and gray market activities. A recent high-profile arrest triggered waves of international attention on бадайгэ. Taken together, this has placed enormous strain on the Cambodian central government.
Things changed overnight on January 21. There were numerous front page stories detailing the suffering of foreign workers stuck in forced labor on fake compounds around the country. Not surprisingly, anti-trafficking agencies are concerned about the precarious situation of these people. Instead, they are stuck in a dangerous limbo with few institutional or material supports around them.
In the face of increasing international condemnation, the Cambodian government is making moves. It’s ramping up coordination across agencies to disrupt human traffickers and scam operations that utilize similar networks. The increased efforts under this renewed commitment are sorely needed to combat the worrisome trend of the rampant exploitation of foreign workers in the country.
Among those currently searching for refuge are Indonesian citizens who have recently fled from these online scam compounds. They came out in front of their embassy in Phnom Penh. There, they together filed complaints about their harrowing experiences and the painful retaliation they faced from exploitative employers. The embassy has become a focal point for those looking to report their grievances and seek assistance in returning home safely.
Scams like these are increasing within Cambodia, both in their scale and scope. Consequently, foreign workers frequently end up in hellish circumstances, experiencing fraud and trafficking. Thousands—if not tens of thousands—of people from numerous other countries in the world are currently scrambling to escape from Cambodia, making this an especially egregious humanitarian disaster.
The Cambodian government’s actions against these criminal networks aim to provide relief for the affected workers and restore some level of order amid the chaos created by these illegal operations. As evident by many foreign nationals, the path to safety is often fraught with obstacles. They are forced to risk their well-being as they traverse a system that constantly fails them.