Newspaper threatened over child labour story
A Thai-owned sugar company has threatened legal action against a newspaper that ran a story and video depicting the use of child labour at its Koh Kong province plantation, but advocates on the ground there say the children are indeed used as employees.
The Bangkok Post yesterday reported that Chalush Chinthammit, assistant vice-president for business development and production techniques at Khon Kaen Sugar Industry Plc (KSL), said the company took issue with a July 9 story in the London-based newspaper The Guardian.
Chinthammit told the Bangkok Post that KSL – which supplies London-based sugar giant Tate & Lyle – does not use child labour and that the video posted on The Guardian’s website was staged. He threatened to sue if the issue escalates, the Bangkok Post reported. …
Peng Kao, a community representative in Koh Kong’s Sre Ambel district has witnessed children working on KSL plantations, he told the Post yesterday. Children between the ages of 12 and 15 usually earn between 4,000 and 5,000 riel ($1 to $1.25) per day. …
Sean Teehan and Cheang Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/newspaper-threatened-over-child-labour-story
