It is the sad news to hear that more than 5,000 Cambodian women, who get married to Taiwanese, are living in Taiwan facing difficulties because they are abandoned by their husbands and have no money to return home. They asked for social welfare assistance from Taiwanese authorities but their request was rejected due to reasons of national security.
After getting letter from Taiwanese Minister of Interior, SRP lawmaker Son Chhay wrote on January 22 to Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation about the situation of the women in Taiwan to seek solution to help them. He added in his letter that “I have recently received an e-mail from an official of Taiwanese Ministry of Interior, telling me about the Khmer women who got married to Taiwanese men and are living with difficulties on the island.”
At the meantime, retired King Norodom Sihanouk issued the study on his site on January 27, 2007 to understand the condition of Khmer women migrant living abroad such as Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea and Southern Vietnam working as sex workers, beggars, home servants.
In response to appeal from Taiwanese officials to repatriate Khmer women who are faced with difficult conditions in Taiwan without money to return home, the retired King Norodom Sihanouk have offered to cover all expense for repatriating them to Cambodia with safe return.
It is the bitter lesson learnt for Cambodian women who live abroad suffering mistreatment, beatings, were sold to be prostitutes and so on. What happened to them is because they are poor; they have low education and lack of the information. Cambodian government should take strict measure to foreign men who want to marry Cambodian women.
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Taiwan doesn’t have a sizable Khmer population to support one another. The system and culture in Taiwan are also unfavorable to battered women.
I hope the former King Father Sihanouk will follow through and pay for plane tickets to help these otherwise, vulnerable women.