US urges Cambodia to support police action on human trafficking

December 15, 2004

The United States has urged Cambodia to praise and support, not punish, a policewoman who led the rescue of 84 female sex trafficking victims from a brothel.

State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, says Washington is deeply concerned that the head of Cambodia's Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department, General Un Sokunthea, was suspended on Monday.

"Obviously, any punitive measures against her would call into question Cambodia's commitment to fight human trafficking," he said.

"We fully believe that General Un should be commended for the courageous efforts to investigate this brothel and other brothels."

He called on Cambodia to "do the right thing and support these kinds of activities."

General Un's unit rescued 84 women and girls from a Phnom Penh brothel hotel on December 7.

A day later armed gunmen seized the victims and seven others from a shelter, according to the State Department and local police.

Reuters newsagency reports that General Heng Peov, the police chief of Phnom Penh, said the women had gone home or returned to the Chhay Hour 2 hotel

He said they were not sex workers, and "just worked as massage or karaoke girls."

The NGO which runs the shelter, Agir pour les Femmes En Situation Precaire (Acting for Women in Distressing Situations), disputed the official version of events.

The group, which gets US funding, closed its doors after its workers received death threats last week.

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