By Lauren Crothers
PHNOM PENH
Years of enslavement and forced labour on Thai-captained fishing boats was set to come to an end for 59 Cambodian nationals Monday.
The men were due to be repatriated after being rescued from an Indonesian island where they were discovered in slave-like conditions.
According to a May 8 situation report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a joint search operation was carried out on Benjina Island in the second week of May to identify more trafficked fishermen and interrogate boat captains.
An earlier investigation had revealed that many working on the island were being retained against their will.
On Monday, The Cambodia Daily cited a Foreign Ministry statement as saying that outside of the 59 officials from the Cambodian Embassy in Indonesia, as well as representatives from the IOM, would interview 36 other men identified as Cambodian nationals on Tuesday, in order to secure their repatriation.
It added that there are another 32 men from Cambodia who are also set to be repatriated, but did not make clear if they are part of the same group of enslaved fishermen from the island.
On Monday, The Myanmar Times reported that 15 Burmese fishermen were safely repatriated and reunited with their families, eight of whom had been on Benjina.
One of the returnees has told the Times that about 1,000 Myanmar fishermen had worked in slave-like conditions on the fishing boats.
In interviews with The Daily over the past week, fishermen had told of being approached by brokers in their home provinces, who would promise well-paid fishing jobs in Thailand, before being sent to work on the ships.
Some were smuggled to Thailand and told of being forced to board the boats at gunpoint.
In reality, most laboured in slave-like conditions with little sleep and food and no pay. For some these ordeals would last for years on end, their families unaware of their wellbeing.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan and opposition CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann could not be reached.
