Illegal labor

The government on Friday finalized guidelines aimed at reducing the number of children who work in the fisheries sector and do not attend school, the Min­istry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the NGO World Vision said in a statement. World Vision said the guidelines, which it ...

Two unions that called for a stay-at-home strike by garment factory employees Wednesday had little success in mobilizing workers after six other unions, under pressure from the government and factory owners, pulled out of the planned industrial action on Tuesday. Union leaders who pushed ahead with ...

Hundreds of trucks hauling sugarcane queue up along the dusty roads that cut a path through a plantation in Kampong Speu province. Their destination: Cambodia’s most advanced sugar refinery. Its owners say the landmark project, run by the Phnom Penh Sugar Company and its president, ruling ...

Cambodia has provided examples of “best practices” in the fight against human trafficking for a forthcoming Asean convention against the trafficking of people, experts said Friday at the close of a two-day conference in Phnom Penh on irregular migration and human trafficking. The Asean region is ...

The Ministry of Labor said Wednesday that the government has agreed on a final draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia regarding sending Cambodian maids to work there, but that no timeframe for the signing of the agreement has been set. Following reports of ...

Although human-trafficking cases dealt with by the Ministry of Interior decreased significantly in 2013, suggesting progress was being made in tackling the crime, trafficking in persons continues to be a major challenge for the government, the ministry said in its annual report on Tuesday. According to ...

Anti-human trafficking police in Phnom Penh arrested three Cambodians and two Chinese nationals after the group tried to traffic two young women—who had been promised wealthy husbands—to work as prostitutes in China, police said Monday. Keo Thea, chief of the municipal anti-human trafficking police, said the ...

Rights groups yesterday called on ANZ bank to help address alleged labour and environmental violations at Phnom Penh Sugar Company instead of walking away from the problem. A joint statement released yesterday by Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive Development International said it would be wrong for the ...

Many Cambodian women arrive in South Korea or China for marriage, only to find themselves being chosen as mistresses, say labour rights activists. While young Cambodian men, who travel to Thailand to work on fishing boats, often fall prey to drug abuse. Loss of land, debt, ...

Shareholders will want answers from ANZ bank after it was revealed this week that the banking giant’s joint venture in Cambodia financed ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat’s controversial sugar plantation, the Responsible Investment Association Australia (RIAA) said yesterday. Environmental audit documents obtained by the Post on Tuesday ...

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia—In this quiet beach town, Lim Loeung says she spends up to 80 hours a week gluing soles onto shoes at a factory that does work for companies including Japanese sneaker-maker Asics Corp. 7936.TO +0.95% The factory believes Ms. Lim is at least 18 ...

A representative of the Zongtex Garment Manufacturing company in Phnom Penh on Tuesday denied employing workers as young as 15 to make U.S. government clothing, following an exposé by The New York Times on poor standards in factories producing U.S. government attire. On Sunday, The Times ...

Local human rights group Adhoc has called on the government to investigate the alleged detention and torture of a Cambodian woman at a Bangkok casino where she was employed. In a statement released Friday, Adhoc said the government must push for a “full investigation” into the ...

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday gave a talk to some 200 Cambodian youths in Phnom Penh, describing criminal investigation, especially in human trafficking and child prostitution. Various youth from across nine provinces attended the discussion, where they learned how they can participate in ...

More than 10 percent of children in the country aged between 5 and 17 work as laborers, with more than 5 percent engaged in “hazardous labor,” a situation that must be addressed by the government, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said in a report released ...

A 7-month-old baby, a woman and two men en route to Malaysia were rescued from two alleged traffickers near the Cambodia-Thai border in Banteay Meanchey’s Poipet town, police said yesterday. Heng Chhun, 48, and Som Na, 38, will face charges related to human trafficking, Prum Sonthor, ...

Seven Vietnamese nationals arrested during simultaneous raids on a pair of massage parlors in central Phnom Penh on Thursday night have been sent to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court for their role in the alleged trafficking of minors, police and a child-protection NGO said Sunday. “We ...

In one corner of the cavernous training centre, a woman patiently strips the baby blue sheets off a queen-size bed, removing the flower-patterned pillowcases and folding them neatly to one side. Under the watchful eye of an instructor, she then remakes the bed, carefully fluffing the ...

A new set of prakases tacked onto a law that regulates overseas employment recruitment agencies is a “step in the right direction” towards protecting some of Cambodia’s most vulnerable citizens from scams and abuse, local and international NGOs said yesterday. But some remain unconvinced that the ...

Only one of the 241 Cambodians questioned for the largest survey of the notoriously abusive Thai fishing industry’s workforce to date said he was forced into the job, according to a new report by the International Labor Organization (ILO). Though some of the findings are in ...

Far stricter monitoring of the recruitment and employment of Cambodians and other migrant labourers is needed to ensure the future of the Thai fishing industry, a new study by the International Labour Organization warns. Two and a half per cent of the 241 Cambodians interviewed ...

U.K. sugar firm Tate & Lyle on Wednesday said it was looking into recent allegations of child labor on two plantations in Koh Kong province it has been buying sugar from since 2010, but rebuked NGOs for not bringing the claims to its attention sooner. The ...

Staff at eight factories producing footwear for Japanese sportswear brand ASICS were trained Tuesday in how to make sure they are not employing child laborers, a company representative said. ASICS corporate staff have been in Cambodia this week in a bid to overcome the negative publicity ...

Rem Vannak remains in poor health after enduring about two years of 21-hour days working for no pay on a fishing boat in Fiji, where he was beaten when he complained. Lin Yu Shin, who owns Giant Ocean – the company Vannak worked for that allegedly ...