Friday, 6 February 2009

Marriage 'agency' explained

The Phnom Penh Post

Thursday, 05 February 2009
May Titthara and Robbie Corey-Boulet

Ministry of Foreign Affairs says agencies cannot charge

THE Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement Tuesday to explain the role of the newly established Association of People Protection (APP) in facilitating marriages between Cambodians and foreigners, stating that foreigners need not become members of the association or pay any money “in order to be eligible for marriage with Cambodian citizens”.

The statement, addressed to accredited diplomatic missions, does not name APP explicitly but states that any intermediary agency accepting money in exchange for processing foreign marriage applications would be in violation of government regulations.

Koy Kuong, an undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said ministry officials sent the release to foreign embassies to clear up any confusion stemming from the actions of APP. He said that late last year, after the lifting of a seven-month ban on foreign marriages, APP falsely advertised itself as the only association through which foreign marriage applications could be processed.

But Ha Tai Jun, adviser to the APP, said the association’s original licence from the Ministry of Interior, issued December 12, 2008, stipulated that it actually was the only association that could process foreign marriage applications and that any foreigner looking to marry a Cambodian needed to join.

In an interview with the Post Wednesday, he said Minister of Interior Sar Kheng issued APP a “corrected” license on January 15 stipulating that joining the association was not a prerequisite for processing a foreign marriage application and that it could not charge for its services.

Ha Tai Jun said he believed the licences were changed after South Korea’s embassy in Cambodia took issue with the original arrangement. No one at the embassy was available for comment Wednesday.

In a letter Friday to the Post, a Ministry of Interior official cited an article of the subdecree dealing with foreign marriages that prohibits any marriage arranged through an agency, broker or commercial enterprise.

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