The USAID is reducing funding for anti-human trafficking NGOs in Cambodia over the next 20 months from 4.5 million U.S. dollars to 2 million U.S. dollars, the Cambodia Daily said on Tuesday.

The USAID will now focus less directly on combating human trafficking and more on government issues, anti-corruption, and strengthening the rule of law, the paper quoted U.S. Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle as saying.

The decision was made in Washington, and was related to "budget constraints", Daigle said, adding that the funding cut does not indicate the USAID is unhappy with the way its funds have been used.

"The root causes of (human trafficking) are poverty and poverty is linked directly to poor governance," he wrote in a recent e- mail.

"The USAID programs focusing on anti-corruption and more engagement with the judiciary will address these governance problems, and thus, to some extent, trafficking issues," he said.

The USAID has no plans to directly fund the Cambodian government to combat trafficking, he added.

The NGOs who had been set to receive the USAID funding between Jan. 2007 and Oct. 2008 include World Vision Cambodia, Catholic Relief Services, International Justice Mission, Hagar and World Hope.

Source: Xinhua