Foreign Illegal Surrogate Group Exposed in Cambodia... 24 Arrested

Filipino and Vietnamese... 13 Pregnant Women
Surrogates Recruited Online in Thailand

An organization that illegally operated as surrogate mothers by housing dozens of foreign women in Cambodia and receiving money to give birth on their behalf has been uncovered.

On the 13th, AP News and others reported this citing the announcement made the previous day by the Cambodian Ministry of Interior. According to the Ministry of Interior's announcement, Cambodian police recently raided a villa in the Kandal area near the capital Phnom Penh and arrested 24 women, including 20 Filipinas and 4 Vietnamese. Among them, 13 Filipino women are pregnant.

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The police are investigating on the grounds that a Thailand-based company recruited surrogate mothers online and then provided lodging and meals in Cambodia. The 13 pregnant women among those arrested have been charged with violating the Anti-Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Law, and the Ministry of Interior explained that they could face up to five years in prison after giving birth. Authorities believe that these women were not victims but voluntarily colluded with the company to act as surrogate mothers, receiving money and handing over the babies, thus participating in the crime. The 7 non-pregnant Filipino women and 4 Vietnamese women are expected to be deported.

At one time, Cambodia was popular as a surrogacy destination for foreigners, but in 2016, the Cambodian government banned commercial surrogacy. However, the illegal surrogacy market in Cambodia has not been eradicated since then. In 2017, an Australian nurse was sentenced to one year and six months in prison for recruiting 23 local women in Cambodia to serve as surrogates for 18 Australian couples and 5 American couples and performing artificial insemination.

In the following year, 2018, cases of large-scale surrogacy brokerage organizations and surrogate mothers employing dozens of local women were repeatedly uncovered. In November of that year, police raided a house in Sen Sok district, Phnom Penh, and arrested 11 surrogate mothers and 4 managers. These surrogate mothers were garment factory workers who joined after hearing they could earn up to USD 10,000 (about 13 million KRW) upon giving birth. It is known that they received USD 200 (about 260,000 KRW) at the time of sperm injection and USD 10 per day during pregnancy as meal expenses. Most of them, 10 women, were pregnant at the time of arrest. Earlier, in June of the same year, 32 Cambodian surrogate mothers who were pregnant and employed by Chinese clients were charged with human trafficking but were released after promising to raise the babies themselves.