11 Comments

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  anderstungtwist at 10:52 AM JST - 5th April

  This may seem incredible, but even in the U.S., as late as 1999 or so, South Carolina banned mixed-race marriages.

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  rjd_jr at 11:46 AM JST - 5th April

  Anderstungtwist, I think in 1998 South Carolina 'officially' removed the anti miscegenation laws from its book, but I don't think they particularly enforced it in the years following the 1967 supreme court ruling that anti miscegenation laws were unconstitutional.

  This is a completely different situation. I believe Mr. Kheng is doing what is necessary. He didn't mention anything about the moral aspect of foreigners and Cambodians marrying, nor stopping such marriages permanently. In fact it is stated that this is a temporary halt in such marriages for the time being. And he has every right to do so, considering that despicable "human beings" do prey on Cambodians and others for sick purposes. This is the perfect time to weed out these disgusting "agencies" that prey on Cambodian people. Once things are cleaned up I'm sure marriages will be allowed to continue.

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  skipthesong at 12:16 PM JST - 5th April

  rjd_ir: if they really wanted to tackle the issue of human trafficking don't you think they should also be looking internally? Usually these girls are first exploited by their own kind.

  I spoke with a work friend of mine who was originally from Burma/Myanmar. According to him, it is still legal in South East Asia for parents to sell their kids and in most cases are sold to not-so-desirable people..

  I would respect their efforts better if they at least made an effort to quell that as that is how most end up being forced into slavery..

  Additionally, if one was to profile foreigners, you would find it is always over-weight white men in mid life.... They should just ban them, don't you think??

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  rjd_jr at 02:11 PM JST - 5th April

  skipthesong, this move by the government was prompted not by caucasians, but by several Cambodian women who migrated to South Korea and reported abusive relationships. It's only in place until they can clarify and strengthen regulations and laws related to marriage to foreigners.

  http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Cambodiasuspendsforeignmarriages04032008.html

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  sabiwabi at 06:50 PM JST - 5th April

  Doesn't Israel have something a little like it (Jews cannot marry non-Jews?), but for very different reasons though.

  Moderator: Stay on topic please.

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  kinniku at 08:45 PM JST - 5th April

  Ummm...No, wrong again...Israel does not bar Jews from marrying non-Jewish people.

  Moderator: Back on topic please.

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  Cos at 09:28 PM JST - 5th April

  I don't know what the situation in Cambodia is now. When my friends left, getting married to become a prostitute abroad was seen as improving dramatically one's life. I guess most of the population is back to a more normal situation, but obviously not everybody. Women marry unknown foreigners only when they are desesperate to escape from abuse or hunger. Changing laws for marriages won't change the situation so much. If they cannot get their fake marriage, the girls that feel they need to leave will buy false passports to the same brokers.

  I've heard China still had a legal text forbidding sexual relations between citizens and foreigners, but they seem to enforce it very irregularly.

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  kinniku at 09:54 PM JST - 5th April

  Cos,

  Yes, the Cambodian government needs to protect its citizens, but that shouldn't mean assuming every non-Cambodia is a potential threat to "their women" In addition, as skipthesong correctly pointed out it is still very common in South East Asian countries like Cambodia for parents to sell their kids to what usually ends up amounting to slavery. What the government of Cambodia needs to do is take each petition for marriage on a case by case basis and do the serious background checks neccessary to see if the marriage is related to any black market brokers or not. The article says that the measure is temporary, but I would question how long "temporary" will really be and if things won't just go back to the way they have been if serious changes are not made.

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  kinniku at 09:56 PM JST - 5th April

  BTW, I know some countries such as Laos have laws against socializing with Laotians. Though, it seems the poliburo people only take this law seriously during the daylight hours.

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  Sarge at 10:11 PM JST - 5th April

  Is this law supported by a majority of Cambodians?

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  Nessie at 12:25 PM JST - 6th April

  Thank goodness Japanese women will no longer be trafficked to Cambodia for exploitation.

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