On December 4, 2017, Agape International Missions received the Royal Order of Sahametrei award for AIM SWAT’s work in Cambodia. This is a tremendous honor for AIM, as this award is part of Cambodia’s official honor system through which the country’s sovereign awards its citizens and inhabitants for actions or deeds that benefit the nation.
The Royal Order of Sahametrei award specifically is a chivalric order conferred by the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia, on those who have rendered distinguished services to the King and to the people. Don Brewster, AIM’s Founder and Eric Meldrum, Director of AIM SWAT both received Commander Medals as part of the award. In addition, Pharath of AIM SWAT Team also received a Knight Medal at an official ceremony.
The event was reported on by the Khmer Times in December. General Pol Pithey, Director of the Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Police (AHTJPP) in Phnom Penh named AIM, along with 4 other organizations, for the award for exemplary cooperation in the fight against trafficking in Cambodia. As reported by the Khmer Times, Deputy National Police Chief Thong Lim shared, “Human trafficking and sex crimes are complicated cases to investigate that need all police, authorities and NGOs to work together to give justice to victims, especially women and children.”
AIM is deeply honored and grateful to serve the Cambodian people in the ongoing fight against human and sex trafficking.
“Cambodia continues to make progress combating human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children through prevention, rescue and rehabilitation of victims and the arrest and prosecution of offenders. This has been reflected in Cambodia’s improved ranking of tier 2 from the tier 2 watch list in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons yearly report since 2015 until now. This progress would not have been possible without the cooperation of local and international partner organizations, in particular AIM SWAT whose partnership with the Department of the Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Police has been instrumental in our success.
Presently, there continue to be offenses of child sex trafficking and cross border human trafficking in Cambodia. The partnership of AIM SWAT with the Cambodian Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Police is indispensable and critical in our fight against not only child sex trafficking, but all forms of human trafficking in order for us to continue our good progress in protecting the rights of women and children in particular.”
-General Pol Pithey
Director of the Cambodian National Police’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department
