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Advocacy

The Somaly Mam Foundation believes the Rule of Law is crucial in the fight against trafficking, and the Foundation is dedicated to supporting and promoting the Rule of Law in regions where the concept is threatened or non-existent. With that in mind, SMF has established a powerful network of domestic and international partners.

We have been engaging global and local legal communities to apply pressure on Southeast Asian governments and justice systems to aggressively combat corruption and complicity on the part of public officials. We work with local groups to demand that the government enact or amend legislation to effectively address the issue and to allocate more resources towards enforcement of these laws. Our advocacy goals are to make it more difficult and costly to engage in the crime, to increase the likelihood of apprehending criminals, and to make prosecution faster, safer, and more efficient.

To that end, SMF has established public-private partnerships designed to be effective alliances against trafficking. Governmental agencies work closely with SMF across Southeast Asia. In Cambodia these include the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Interior and Justice, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. SMF engages legal experts from around the world to conduct legal training seminars to ensure these governmental agencies are well-informed on the issue.