Officials in the Ministry of Social Affairs are planning to make a set of major changes to the infamous Prey Speu detention center, aimed at improving its healthcare services, educational options, and the quality of the housing it offers. But some critics say the changes will not address the center’s main problem – the arbitrary detention of sex workers and homeless people.

“I recognize that in Prey Speu we have made some mistakes,” said San Sophal, the director of the Department of Social Affairs at a conference yesterday. “We want to change it into a center that can be acceptable to everyone.” One of the changes is to the name – instead of a “vocational training center” it will be renamed as a “social drop-in center.” Mr. Sophal said the name is more than just a rebranding, and that the center will improve the services it offers.

These services are lacking at Prey Speu. Many of the homeless brought to the center suffer from mental disabilities, but the center lacks the personnel and equipment to treat them. Several NGOs have criticized the center for providing inadequate care to the vulnerable people it houses.

“There are not adequate processes or facilities in centers, and often the people in these centers have not been trained in how to interact with people in these situations,” said Kylie Johnson, Forensic Psychologist for the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization.

Chhit Sophal, the director of the Ministry of Health’s Department of Substance Abuse, added that Prey Speu’s lack of mental health treatment makes it unfit to house the mentally ill. “It’s careless to keep people in these centers without health care,” he said. “The Ministry of Health should have medical teams that can supervise these centers.”

The government will form a technical working group to plan improvements at the center, said San Sophal, director of the department of social affairs. Although these improvements are aimed at addressing some of the criticism, one of its most widely criticized aspects – the arbitrary roundups of homeless people and street workers who are temporarily held in the center – will likely continue, he said.

Several NGO leaders said these round-ups violate the rights of sex workers and people living on the street. They can have their possessions confiscated and be forced into the back of trucks to be sent to the center without warning.

“Their money and phones were seized, or sometimes their medications were seized during the arrest,” said Sam Sophal, a human rights advocate. “After the arrest they were sent to Prey Speu. I could see them waving to the UN workers nearby as they were driven away, saying, ‘Help me, help me!’”

But Mr. Sam Sophal insists that the round-ups are necessary. He said the government needs to gather sex workers at the center so that they are available to testify in human trafficking cases. “We need to house sex workers who will serve as witnesses in trials of suspected human traffickers,” he said. “When we collect sex workers ... it’s a kind of rescue.”

The round-ups also aim to maintain order on the streets during public festivals, Mr. Sophal said. “[The government] wants to ensure security during festivals,” he said, “when they need to maintain order. If we didn’t keep them here, these crazy people would wander around the city.” Without any psychiatric hospitals, there are few alternative places for mentally ill homeless people to stay.

Gabor Gombos, The UN Representative of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, said that “public order” is an inadequate justification. “Public order – I don’t want to live in a country that locks me up in the name of the public,” he said.

Mr. San Sophal said that – with improvements – social centers like Prey Spew could provide benefits to homeless people around the country. “We need to prepare more social affairs centers and rehabilitation centers to accommodate disabled or homeless people,” he said. “The centers will be convenient places to send them, with healthcare and food, where they can receive education.”

From Khmer Times