letters to Cambodian Minister of Social Affairs # 15

Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and

Youth Rehabilitation

788B Monivong

Phnom Penh                                                                                    31^st   July 2012

To Minister of Social Affairs

I am assisting  C obtain some information from your Ministry regarding her daughters R and SM who are currently living in the Citipointe ‘She’ refuge in Phnom Penh.

C wants her daughters to come and live with her in her family home. She wants to know what she must do to be reunited with her daughters in a way that satisfies the requirements of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation.

I have enclosed a document, signed by C and her husband with their thump prints requesting that the children be returned to their parent’s care.

Citipoint church claims that the girls residing in its ‘She’ refuge are victims of sexual abuse and trafficking. This is not true. The girls in the ‘She’ rescue home are the daughters of poor families. I believe it is wrong for Citipointe to present itself to the Cambodian government as being involved in rescuing from the sex trade when it does not do so.

I have enclosed a copy of a letter that I wrote to Leigh Ramsay of Citipointe church this morning requesting that the church return R and SM to the care of their parents today.

best wishes

James Ricketson

Ministry of Social Affairs

788B Monivong

Phnom Penh                                                                                    1^st August 2012

To Minister of Social Affairs

R and SM, the daughters of  C, have lived at the Citipointe church ‘She’ refuge for four years now. In four years the church has not presented C with one document relating to a plan to enable R and SM to be re-integrated back into their family. In four years Citipointe church has not even commenced the re-integration process. There is no contractual arrangement between  C and Citipointe and  C has made it clear that she wants her daughters returned to her care. If Citipointe church maintains that a re-integration program exists and that it has been provided to  Chanty could you please ask the church when it was provided to her? Could you also ask the church to please provide both C and myself with copies of it. Does the Ministry of Social Affairs have a copy of this plan? If so, could  C and myself be provided with a copy if Citipoine church refuses to do so?

Citipointe says that it has a contractual arrangement with the Ministry of Social Affairs that gives the church the right to take care of R and SM regardless of the mother  Chanty’s wishes. Could you please supply  C and myself (as her advocate) with a copy of this document?

R and SM are not the victims of sexual abuse or of sex trafficking. They are simply the children of a poor mother. The mother,  C, now has a home, its rent paid by myself. Please see receipt for rent paid up until 1^st. Nov 2012. I have also bought a substantial amount of rice for the family and am providing it with $100 a month allowance to help pay bills. In addition to this,  C’s husband, CH, drives a tuk tuk to earn money to support the family. And  C sells books, silk scarves and other items to tourists to help pay the family bills also. When R and SM return to their family it is important that they continue with their schooling. I will pay for their school fees and school uniforms; their medical and dental bills.

Like many thousands of other families in Phnom Penh,  C’s family will remain poor – even with the financial assistance I am able to provide. A family’s poverty should not be a reason for any NGO from a wealthy country like Australia to take control of the family’s children and force them to adopt the religious beliefs of the NGO. The children should remain with their families unless there is some clearly identifiable risk to them.  C, her husband and her mother ,V, love R and SM and wish to take care of them. I have witnessed them over the years since the children were born and can vouch for the fact that  C and CH are good parents and V a good grandmother. V does, at times, suffer from bouts of mental illness but never behaves in a way that would result in the children coming to harm.

Since R and SM are not orphans and they are not the victims of sexual abuse or trafficking why does their welfare fall under the jurisdiction of the ‘Trafficking’ section of your Ministry? There is something very wrong here!

One final point. Citipointe claims that Ministry of Social Affairs social workers have deemed that the home in which  C is currently residing is not safe. I have spent a lot of time in this community and cannot see any evidence that it is not safe. Which aspects of the community did Ministry of Social Affairs social workers find to be unsafe? How long did they spend in the community and on what dates? I would like to check with the community to see if anyone in it has a recollection of the visit of these social workers. Could the Ministry of Social Affairs please provide both myself and  C with a copy of the report they wrote regarding the community and why they believe it to be unsafe?

After 16 years of coming to Cambodia it is my belief, based on what I have seen, that it is time to close all of the so-called orphanages that are run by NGOs. Cambodia has very few genuine orphans. The children that wind up in ‘orphanages’ have families who could care for them. If NGOs wish to help poor families, let them do so within the communities in which the children live.

best wishes

James Ricketson