Informal labor

Twenty undocumented Vietnamese laborers are being held for deportation after they were arrested Friday during a raid on a construction site for a new Acleda Bank branch in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district, an immigration official said. ...

Sixteen undocumented Vietnamese migrants were arrested yesterday at a construction site in Preah Vihear, the latest in a spate of arrests of workers without papers. This summer has seen a spike in arrests, fines, and deportations of expat workers – with police saying that more ...

More than 50 illegal Vietnamese migrant workers were arrested Wednesday while working on the construction site of luxury estates in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district, police said. ...

Amid numerous reports of Cambodian women being trafficked to China and men being used as forced labor on fishing boats, the U.S.’ latest Trafficking in Persons report again said Cambodia is not doing enough to combat human trafficking. ...

In their continuing effort to stop illegal fishing in Cambodian waters, the Kingdom’s Immigration Police impounded 11 Vietnamese fishing boats last week caught in Cambodian territorial waters off Koh Kong province and ordered their 39 crew members deported. ...

Cambodia’s campaign against illegal Vietnamese workers continues with 26 Vietnamese arrested in two days of raids on furniture factories in central and southern Phnom Penh. ...

Nearly 100 Vietnamese laborers were detained for deportation Tuesday after they were found to be working in the country illegally during a sweep of construction sites on Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich island as part of the Interior Ministry’s seemingly arbitrary enforcement of the immigration law. ...

The Moldovan manager of an Italian pizzeria and wine shop in Phnom Penh was on Monday charged with the “unlawful removal” of a 19-year-old girl from her home country whom she allegedly forced to work without pay and subjected to sexual exploitation, according to officials ...

A long-expected crackdown on foreign nationals lacking valid visas and work permits has arrived in the coastal region with a jolt that includes late-night raids on guesthouses, followed by arrests of those found overstaying their visas. ...

More than 200 Cambodian fishermen trapped in Indonesia were scheduled to be returned home Thursday morning on a charter Boeing 737 airliner following the intervention of Indonesia’s Fisheries Ministry and Cambodian diplomats in Jakarta. ...

Seventeen Vietnamese construction workers were arrested and the passports of 142 Chinese construction workers confiscated when immigration officers raided a building site in Phnom Penh on Tuesday afternoon. ...

A group of 38 fishermen returned to Cambodia on Tuesday after being rescued from forced labor in Indonesia. ...

When Roeun Hen would try to take a break from his 20-hour shift trawling Indonesian waters for fish, his Thai captain would pummel him, kicking and punching the 29-year-old until he returned to work. ...

Their ranks are small but growing, and they want their government to join an international labor treaty. “If we organize, we can help each other,” says a 25-year-old housekeeper who started working when she was 10 and earns $75 a month. ...

Recruitment agencies are pressing for an MoU on Cambodian domestic maids to be approved, saying it had been stuck at the Malaysian side for several months. They said the Cambodian government was ready to lift the ban imposed in 2011, but lamented that Malaysian authorities were ...

On a dusty highway on the edge of this port city, thousands of young women and a few hundred young men block evening traffic as they stream out of the New Star Shoes factory. ...

Cambodia has signed off on a draft agreement that would lift a moratorium on sending maids to Malaysia, imposed four years ago amid widespread reports of abuse, and is waiting for the Malaysian government’s approval, a Labor Ministry official said Tuesday. ...

Phnom Penh Sugar, among the most high-profile companies accused of using child labor in an industry beset by the practice, attempted to polish its image Thursday by hosting its third annual anti-child labor seminar here. ...

Three Cambodian men who were arrested in Thailand more than a year ago after venturing across the border to illegally log rosewood were on Monday released from prison and sent back home, border officials said. You Sothearith, chief of the immigration police at the checkpoint, ...

Cambodian workers are migrating back to Thailand en-masse following a mass exodus last month in the wake of the coup. This movement has sparked safety concerns for young children travelling alongside their parents, says World Vision, one of the world’s largest aid agencies. “Our staff working ...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday called on all undocumented Cambodians in Thailand to register for a legal work permit at one of that country’s newly opened one-stop service centres. Thailand’s junta began piloting the latest temporary registration centres at the end of June and ...

A large group of Cambodian migrants were rounded up and detained in a Bangkok prison at the end of May, where many still remain, Thai officials told the Post yesterday. Separate unconfirmed reports that at least 130 Cambodians had been in detention for more than a month emerged ...

Before dawn yesterday, Thai military officials raided a house not far from the border, finding dozens of undocumented Cambodian workers crammed into a room awaiting transportation deeper into the country. The 84 workers were woken, taken into military custody and deported, but the brokers who had ...

Thai authorities have found five Cambodians employed illegally at a clothing store in Phuket after they were allegedly sold into slave-like conditions by a human-trafficking network, according to Thai media. ...