Organizations Highlight Plight of Child Laborers
One and a half million children still toil as laborers in Cambodia’s fisheries, brick factories, agricultural plantations and construction sites, government officials said yesterday at an event held at Phnom Penh’s Wat Botum ahead of World Day Against Child Labor on Tuesday. The government has set a goal of eradicating the worst forms of child labor by 2016, and in the last 10 years it has rescued and rehabilitated more than 36,000 child laborers from around the country who had been engaging in dangerous work, according to officials from the Ministry of Labor. “The worst provinces for child labor in the country are Kompong Cham, Pursat, Siem Reap, and Prey Veng, as well as Kep and Kampot provinces, where children toil in the salt fields and fisheries,” said Vann Ratana, head of inspection of child labor at the ministry. …
