Human trafficking and forced labour in Cambodia, Spain and South Korea

In recent years, Cambodia has transformed from a source of people to a major recipient in Southeast Asian human trafficking. Traffickers, many of whom are linked to organised crime gangs, deceive foreigners through apps, social media and dating sites by offering well-paid jobs and accommodation. Foreigners, victims of the Internet fraud, end up in Cambodia, where they are, for example, forced to work for criminal syndicates in casinos and other businesses. Some of them are tortured and some of them are killed.

In Spain, a bill supported by the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) has been tabled proposing to extend the definition of pimping as a commercial relationship without the need to prove to a third party the financial benefit of prostitution. The Act is also introducing provisions to punish clients, owners of erotic clubs and pimps with a sentence of up to four years in prison. According to the police, 491 victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation were rescued in Spain in 2021.

The South Korean Supreme Court is to examine and announce a ruling under which the assets of certain Japanese companies can be sold to compensate for the wrongs suffered by Korean war workers when Japan colonised the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945. Workers of the time demand compensation for forced labour and sexual slavery in Japanese military brothels during World War II.