A mother from Kampong Chhnang’s Rolea Ba’ier district filed a complaint with the rights group Adhoc yesterday, claiming her daughter, a maid in Malaysia, was being forced to take drugs and work without enough food.

Im Meoun, 52, said her daughter Phon Sophea, 20, had been in Malaysia since the MALCAM company sent her there for work in 2009.

Phon Sophea was a maid at three different residences and worked from 4am until 10pm, but was given only one meal a day, her mother told the Post. “They [her employers] force her to use drugs,” Im Meoun said.

“When she swallows [the drugs], she has more power to work until night. She said it is very difficult and like hell.”

Im Meoun said her daughter’s contract expired last month, but her employers would not allow her to return home and had forced her to sign another contract to continue working.

“They threaten my daughter, so she cannot come back. She panicked and wanted to escape, but I begged her not   to because it was dangerous,” she said.

Adhoc provincial co-ordinator Sam Chankea, who planned to file a complaint with the Ministry of Interior, said the case could be classified as torture if the details were correct about the  lack of food and forced drug use.

“This is not the first case [of torture],” he said.

“There are so many families of Cambodian maids who panic and file complaints.”

Adhoc reported there were 102 complaints of labour abuse abroad filed last year.

MALCAM could not be reached by the Post for comment yesterday.