Ambassadors Urged to Monitor PM’s Facebook

Cambodia Daily | 1 February 2016

Cambodia’s ambassadors stationed around the world flew in for a meeting on Saturday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Phnom Penh to receive instruction on how best to deal with the “new situation” of Cambodian migration, ministry spokesman Chum Sounry said on Sunday.

The 26 ambassadors and eight consular officials met with Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong, whose ministry also issued a statement after the meeting reminding them to check Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook page every day.

Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong addresses ambassadors and consular officials during a meeting on Saturdåay at his ministry in Phnom Penh. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation)

Mr. Sounry cited “the increase in Cambodian labor overseas” as presenting embassies with increasing challenges.

 

“Cases of abuse suffered by Cambodian maids working in Malaysia, the cases of Khmer women who became victims of human trafficking in China and cases of Khmer people who have been cheated while working as laborers on Thai or Malaysian fishing boats in Indonesia” were all cause for concern, Mr. Sounry said, also noting reports of labor violations in Thailand and South Korea.

“The meeting was to advise them about the new work that needs to be done,” he said, declining to elaborate on what this work entailed. Mr. Sounry said that similar meetings had taken place in the past, and that there was no particular event that caused the government to convene its top diplomats.

In a statement released after the meeting, the ministry instructs ambassadors to pay close attention to domestic Cambodia affairs while they are away—especially by checking Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook page and website.

“Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong advised all ambassadors and counsellors to pay attention in properly implementing some work, such as…following the situation in Cambodia, especially on the Facebook and website of Samdech Decho Prime Minister and of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs every day,” the statement says.