Cambodia GA

The Kingdom of Cambodia Position Paper


Madame/Mr. President, Delegates, and Distinguished Guests,
The Kingdom of Cambodia is honored to participate in the 2010 United Nations General Assembly. We are privileged to be representing our country and we thank you for considering our opinions. We hope that this session will bring to light current issues and generate lasting and stable solutions to the problems we face.
The Kingdom of Cambodia would first like to recognize the global issue of human trafficking and foreign workers rights. On the balance of human trafficking and foreign workers rights the Kingdom of Cambodia struggles. The importation of women starts in Vietnam where girls are smuggled into the Cambodian capital city of Phnom Phen. These girls are forced into prostitution, many of them under contract, and due to the social enigma, they have no way to return home or regain their former lives. The exportation of Cambodian women has also become a major contention, with high numbers being smuggled to countries such as Thailand and China.
We, the Kingdom of Cambodia advocate prohibition but would also like safety measures set in place to aid and protect women currently in the sex industry. At this time HIV prevalence in Cambodia has decreased due to a condom-use program. Past measures within the country have been taken to stop brothels, but this has only proven to increase the dangers girls face and complicate the prevention of harmful diseases. We also encourage educational opportunities to be given to women who were previously enslaved so they can advance economic stability and live decent lives.
We would also like to recognize the issue of kidnapping for ransom. The Kingdom of Cambodia prohibits any form of kidnapping, but stresses the problem of kidnapping for ransom. Kidnapping for ransom in the Kingdom of Cambodia leads to varying prison sentences depending on the severity of the kidnapping. The amount of time can differentiate from several years to a lifetime sentence.
On January 16th, 1996 the National Assembly President, Chea Sim, passed the article one law stating: “The purpose of this law is to suppress the kidnapping of human persons for trafficking, and the exploitation of human persons in order to rehabilitate and to enhance the good tradition of the nation, the protection of human value and the protection of health and well being of the people.”
Regarding immigration and guest workers, the Kingdom of Cambodia has laws set into place when it comes to the management of immigration. As an immigrant all persons wishing to stay in Cambodia must contact the Ministry of the Interior in order to adhere to all regulations. Persons who wish to seek residency in Cambodia, or who wish to hold jobs, after filing for the appropriate visas, can receive a residency card for up to two years that must be renewed after the allotted time period.
The Kingdom of Cambodia would like to thank all countries present today for allowing us to speak on behalf of our citizens. We welcome debate that sponsors solutions to the problems currently facing our countries. We hope that the solutions discovered here today will generate long lasting prosperity and will be beneficial to all. From the Kingdom of Cambodia, thank you.