Cambodia Prisons 13 Pregnant Women From The Philippines Involved In Buying And Selling Children After Birth

Illustration of pregnant women. (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Cambodian court sentenced 13 pregnant women from the Philippines to four years in prison on charges of selling their children after birth.

Citing AFP, Tuesday, December 3, the Cambodian constitution prohibits the practice also referred to as the surrogate mother.

The 13 Filipinos were among the 24 foreign women who were arrested by the Cambodian Police in September 2024.

Based on the Kandal Court's statement, they were charged with cross-border human trafficking experiments.

The court also said that the prison sentences handed down to the 13 Filipinos were based on strong evidence that the defendants had the intention of getting pregnant and then selling them to a third person in exchange for money, in other words, human trafficking actions.

However, the Kandal Court did not provide details about the guarantees and conditions later of the 13 defendant's babies after being born in prison.

In this case, a Cambodian woman, who became a cook for 13 pregnant women from the Philippines, was also sentenced to prison for two months and one day on charges of being an accomplice.