Cambodia: A rising star with a falling reputation?

Cambodia’s reputation as a standard-bearer for apparel workers’ rights is wearing thin – and yet the country is a rising star when it comes to attracting foreign investment and increasing exports. There are many reasons to deter brands and retailers from sourcing clothing in Cambodia. The Kingdom has no local textile supply chain. Corporate social responsibility is more a question of paperwork than of really caring for workers’ well-being and for the environment. And general education and productivity of workers is low, with primary school drop-out rates of 45.5%. Reports of illegal strikes and mass faintings of exhausted girls abound – more than 2,100 faintings in 29 factories in 2012, and over 500 in five factories in the first quarter of 2013. And in the last week alone there have been two partial collapses at factories that have resulted in at least two deaths. … And yet…Cambodia is a rising star when it comes to garment exports. In 2012, the country’s garment exports to the EU reached US$1.217bn (+32.4%), putting it in 9th position among the EU’s principal garment suppliers. With US$2.534bn in garment exports to the US in 2012, Cambodia is the US’s number 7 supplier. Investors are rushing in. According to the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), 82 garment factories with a capital investment of US$499m were approved in 2012, as were two sock factories supported with US$25m, four textile manufacturers with US$9m and two glove factories with US$10m invested. In comparison, in 2011, investments in 45 garment factories were worth US$205m. …

http://www.just-style.com/analysis/a-rising-star-with-a-falling-reputation_id117944.aspx