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Cambodia lifts ban on foreign marriages
01-DEC-2008 Intellasia | AFP |
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Dec 1, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM |
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Cambodia has lifted a ban on marriages between foreigners and its citisens after new laws were introduced to prevent women becoming mail-order brides, officials said Thursday.
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| A Cambodian women prepare roses for sale along a street in Phnom Penh on Frebruary 14, 2008. (AFP/Getty Images) |
"The ban has been lifted because we have a new regulation on foreign marriage now," interior ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak told AFP.
He said a new ruling on foreign marriages signed by prime minister Hun Sen earlier this month specified that any foreigner wishing to wed a Cambodian had to have spent time the kingdom.
Foreigners must also now apply at the foreign ministry for permission to marry Cambodians.
"We absolutely ban marriage agencies now," said Major general Bith Kimhong, director of the interior ministry's anti-trafficking department.
He said foreigners would have to follow Cambodian tradition and present themselves to their fiance's parents.
Cambodia in March imposed a ban on foreign marriage, which aimed at preventing human trafficking amid concerns over an explosion in the number of brokered unions involving South Korean men and poor Cambodian women.
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