"Workers from Thailand may soon receive aid from gov’t", 22 April 2020

Minister of Interior Sar Kheng held a consultative meeting … to discuss the possibility of providing short-, medium- and long-term assistance for the more than 85,000 Cambodian migrant workers who have returned home amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sar Kheng said the workers need help while waiting for migrant-receiving countries to re-open their borders.

“So far 85,000 migrant workers have returned from various countries, especially Thailand, and they are scattered across the Kingdom. Some of them can’t support their livelihoods for too long…

UN officials who also attended the meeting, Sar Kheng said, had offered to support and join hands with the government to address the issue.

“The government has put forth principles and measures with the Ministry of Health taking the lead in preventing the spread of Covid-19,” he said.

… “The meeting focused on certain challenges in managing risks to vulnerable Cambodian people, especially migrant workers who have returned to their families and communities.

“The meeting also helped us develop measures to prevent a possible outbreak of Covid-19 in communities,” it said.

The ministry’s secretary of state Chou Bun Eng, who is also the permanent vice-chair of the National Committee for Counter Trafficking (NCCT), said migrant workers have generally become a burden to their families as they would not be able to return to their host countries until the Covid-19 crisis is over.

… Pauline Tamesis, the UN resident coordinator for Cambodia, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) has and will continue to support the Kingdom in the fight against Covid-19…