The Eyewitness Project

EWP CALLS FOR URGENT CLARIFICATION ON THE VISA STATUS AND LEGAL PROTECTIONS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING SURVIVORS IN CAMBODIA.

Representative of several diplomatic missions have informed The Eyewitness Project (EWP) that Cambodia’s visa overstay waiver, currently offered to nationals of high-risk countries for forced online criminality, will end on Monday 15 June 2026. This waiver removed a barrier to repatriation for victims of trafficking into scam compounds,ensuring they would not be liable for overstay penalties accrued while they were held against their will.

Ending the waiver would mean that trafficking survivors face substantial overstay fines that accrue daily and are far beyond their means. They also face a heightened risk of arrest and criminalisation for non-compliance. We are deeply concerned that vulnerable individuals who lack funds to cover airfare and immigration penalties will face arrest and prolonged detention. This includes thousands who are actively seeking help to leave. 

This comes amid an enforcement campaign targeting accommodation providers whose guests/tenants lack valid visas, including trafficking survivors covered by the visa waiver awaiting support to return home. Survivors sheltering in NGO-run safehouses or whose accommodation is funded by charitable donations are heavily impacted. Few locations now accept them, and raids have seen large numbers detained for immigration violations. These people presented as victims and witnesses of crimes but are treated as criminals.

This appears to contradict Cambodia’s Policy on the Protection of the Rights of Victims of Human Trafficking (2009), which protects victims’ rights to minimum standards of safety and protection. Cambodian authorities are obliged to prioritise identification of victims and suspected victims, to assume that the person is a victim if the evidence is inconclusively, and to provide victims/suspected victims with shelter and support.

The policy stipulates that authorities provide care and support through dedicated government and NGO-run shelters or allow victims to be cared for in the community. Those in shelters must have access to social workers, counsellors, medical care, and external services, and interviewed sensitively to avoid re-traumatisation. Despite this, many survivors appear to have been given no opportunity to provide statements/ evidence that to identify them as trafficking victims and are held in unsanitary and overcrowded immigration prisons.

There has been no official announcement the 15 June deadline. EWP is calling for clarity on:

• Whether the visa waiver is set to expire on 15 June;
• What this means for trafficking survivors stranded in Cambodia;
• What process trafficking survivors should follow to be correctly identified (if they have already left a compound);
• What options are available to those stranded in Cambodia who want to return home;
• Where government-run shelters are located and how to access them;
• Whether NGOs/guesthouses/third parties are legally permitted to provide shelter;
• What trafficking victims can do if they have already been transferred to prions/immigration detention centres without any victim identification efforts.

Background/Context: UN figures suggest that over the past 5-6 years, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have been trafficked into Cambodia tow work in online scam operations. Many have been subjected to torture, sexual violence, physical abuse, psychological coercion, debt bondage, and conditions amounting to modern slavery.

Amid Cambodia’s nationwide crackdown on scams, increasing numbers of people have been able to exit compounds, only to find themselves homeless, lacking resources, and unable to return to their home countries. EWP has documented cases of trafficking survivors sleeping in car parks, stairwells, alleyways, and outside embassies and INGO offices in the hope of accessing support. Some have remained in these conditions for months.

Many are women who survived rape, sexual exploitation, and severe abuse. Others are suffering from medical conditions, including malaria and untreated injuries. Many continue to experience significant psychological trauma from prolonged confinement, violence, and exploitation.

For many survivors, visa overstays occurred as a direct consequence of their exploitation. Victims were often trafficked into Cambodia, confined inside compounds, deprived of their passports, and prevented from renewing visas or accessing immigration services. The Cambodian government’s visa waiver process provided an essential humanitarian safeguard, allowing victims to leave without being penalised for circumstances beyond their control.

Much of the support available is provided by a small number of NGOs, independent journalists, volunteers, and civil society organisations, often using their own limited resources. What is unfolding is no longer simply an anti-scam operation. It is a humanitarian crisis involving large numbers of trafficking victims from across Africa, Asia, and other regions who have been left without adequate support, shelter, or pathways home.

Treatment of trafficking victims held in detention facilities is a growing concern.

On 2 June 2026, 18 nationals of African countries were detained outside a shelter for trafficking victims that had reached capacity. The individuals were subsequently held at Kandal Provincial Police Commissariat. EWP visited detainees to deliver food, medicine and hygiene supplies. 

During these visits, EWP observed extremely cramped conditions. Detainees reported limited access to food and water and were confined to a single cell for extended periods without meaningful access to outdoor space. For more than twenty-four hours, a blocked toilet caused sewage to flow through the detention area. Detainees reported using plastic bags and other improvised barriers to prevent wastewater from reaching where they were sitting and sleeping. The sanitary conditions were deeply concerning.

On 8 June, these individuals were transferred in handcuffs to an immigration detention facility. Several detainees described being treated as criminals despite being victims of human trafficking. They described limited food and water provisions and reported that many essential items could only be obtained through additional payments that they could not afford.

This immigration detention facility is a former scam compound where victims of trafficking were previously held and forced to conduct online scams. For survivors who have already endured prolonged confinement and abuse inside scam compounds being detained in a similar environment risks causing significant psychological distress and re-traumatisation.

These circumstances raise serious concerns regarding the internationally recognised non-punishment principle for victims of trafficking. ASEAN member states have committed to ensuring that victims of trafficking are not punished for offences they were compelled to commit, or which occurred as a direct consequence of their exploitation. International anti-trafficking standards emphasise that trafficking victims should be identified, protected, assisted, and treated with dignity rather than subjected to punitive measures arising from their victimisation. Cambodia’s own guidance on implementing its 2008 Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation also instruct that victims of trafficking are protected, not criminalised. Articles 6 and 7 of the UN Palermo Protocol, which Cambodia ratified in 2007, also oblige host states to endeavour to protect trafficking victims from further physical harm.

EWP continues to call for:

• Immediate clarification from the Cambodian government regarding visa waiver policies and overstay fee exemptions for victims of human trafficking.
• The humane treatment of all trafficking victims in accordance with international human rights and anti-trafficking standards.
• Full compliance with the non-punishment principle and recognition that trafficking victims should not be penalised for immigration violations arising directly from their exploitation.
• Adequate access to shelter, food, clean water, healthcare, psychological support, and consular services for all trafficking victims awaiting repatriation.
• Increased support from foreign governments, international organisations, and donors to assist trafficking survivors stranded in Cambodia.
• The development of emergency repatriation mechanisms capable of returning vulnerable trafficking victims safely to their home countries.
• The international community has rightly recognised the importance of dismantling scam compounds and combating transnational organised crime. However, the victims who were exploited within these compounds must not be forgotten. They deserve protection, dignity, and the opportunity to rebuild their lives.

Human trafficking victims should be treated as survivors of crime, not as offenders.

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EWP has assisted dozens of victims of human trafficking stranded in Cambodia over recent months. Our team provides emergency support including food, accommodation, transport, medical assistance, logistics, and, where possible, airfare. We liaise with diplomatic representatives, Cambodian authorities, police, embassies, and humanitarian organisations to help vulnerable individuals return safely to their home countries.

For further information please contact Nathan Southern: nathan@theeyewitnessproject.org