China, Cambodia urged to tackle forced marriage problem

By Lauren Crothers

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

Officials in Cambodia and China are being urged to step up efforts to assist women who escape from forced marriages, as the number of repatriated women has risen sharply over the past three years.

Cases of forced marriage between Cambodian women and Chinese men have been recorded as a result of a lack of opportunities for the women to find work at home, coupled with a significant gender imbalance in China.

The United Nations Action for Cooperation against Trafficking in Persons said in a new report Monday that imbalance accounts for about 124 males per 100 females for those born between 2000 and 2004 -- a result of the country’s restrictive one-child policy and a preference for male children.

According to the Chinese Academy for Social Sciences, 30 million to 40 million men are expected to reach a marriageable age by 2020, “with many concentrated in rural” areas.

Because it is generally cheaper to marry a foreign woman, “many” of these brides now come from Cambodia.

The report said that although there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that “many” Cambodian women are content with their marriages in China, “the possible downsides of marriage migration… [are] facilitated by sometimes unscrupulous agents operating in an irregular manner without transparency and oversight.”

As a result, a number of women have escaped and returned to Cambodia.

“In 2013, the Cambodian government reported having assisted the repatriation of 21 women from China, a number that increased to 58 in 2014 and further to 85 in 2015,” the report said.

Researchers spoke with 42 women -- nine of who were in China -- who said they had experienced forced marriage.

Women are typically approached in Cambodia by a “first-contact broker” who sells them on the idea that they can send more money home by finding work in China, with marriage “often deceptively introduced as a prerequisite for a job” there.

Second brokers then arrange the women’s documents and upon arrival in China, they are taken to rural areas where they are “informed that they either had to get married or repay the broker for the expenses incurred”.

For those who managed to escape, however, researchers found that “police officers, especially at the local level, at times seem ill-equipped for this task to date” when help is sought.

A key problem pertains to the issuance of marriage certificates, which lead officers to believe that there was no coercion.

Even though China requires both parties’ consent, some of the women said they had been threatened by brokers to answer correctly when being asked by marriage licence officials.

While some women received support from their consulates, in other cases, “Cambodian consulate and embassy staff also sometimes fail to identify indicators of forced marriage and as a result do not extend services to Cambodians in need of support”.

The report added that the countries should consider establishing a bilateral approach to assisting women who escape from forced marriages.

Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Chum Sounry could not be reached Monday.