Rights issue

The rights group Adhoc has filed a complaint with Ratanakkiri provincial court accusing two people of taking an 18-year-old ethnic Tampuon woman to a labour-training programme in Phnom Penh without informing her family.

Chhay Thy, provincial investigator for the group, said he had submitted the complaint to the court last Friday, but chief court clerk Prak Soeun said yesterday afternoon that he had not yet received it.

According to the complaint, Ta Keng, 50, and his 18-year-old daughter, Keng Bun, enrolled Leith Dauth in a programme run by the Champa Manpower Group, in Russey Keo district. The employment firm was the target of a raid last week in which officials discovered 232 women and girls living in squalid conditions.

Despite a call from Deputy District Governor Ly Rosami for the firm to be investigated, officials announced that it would be allowed to expand in order to better accommodate its clients. Ta Heng denied any wrongdoing, saying Leith Dauth enrolled in the programme of her own accord.