News

Cambodia does not have enough productive or high-quality jobs available and most employment is informal, which will prevent Cambodians from rising out of poverty, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said Monday at a workshop in Phnom Penh. To help solve the issues affecting the labor market, ...

Labour legislation in Cambodia is so weak and so often ignored that half the Kingdom’s children between the ages of seven and 14 participate in the workforce, the world’s largest federation of unions has told the World Trade Organisation General Council in Geneva. Children, women and ...

The Cambodian Embassy in Malaysia returned abused Cambodian maids, including women who were raped by their employers, to work at maid recruitment agencies in that country, a new report by Human Rights Watch claims. The New York-based rights group also said Cambodian police colluded with labor ...

Workers at a garment factory that was temporarily shut after more than 200 women collapsed in two mass fainting incidents last week gathered yesterday at the facility in Kampong Speu province for a Buddhist ceremony intended to rid the factory of evil spirits. Pheng Songoun, a ...

As reports continue to flood in detailing rampant abuse of Cambodian migrant workers abroad, the Cambodian Migrant Workers’ Association (CMWA) said it would be registering with the Ministry of Interior today as the country’s first migrant workers representative organisation, according to its director. “The idea is ...

Two new claims of abuse of Cambodian maids employed in Malaysia have emerged since Friday, including one case of a woman who returned home with severe mental trauma following alleged mistreatment by her Malaysian employer, the victims’ families said. Iy Thar, a villager from Kompong Thom ...

Overseas labor recruitment agencies that send maids to Malaysia are planning to lay off about 1,000 staff members as they prepare to close down many pre-departure training centers following a growing scandal around abuses and criminal activity during the recruitment, training and sending of maids. An ...

Police said they freed one recruit from a Phnom Penh recruitment agency this weekend and were seeking to prosecute its director, adding that they were doing the same for the director of the SKMM recruitment agency, where 78 recruits were freed last week. The court ...

Job recruitment agencies that send workers overseas often deceive young women through misleading job advertisements by using brokers that have “a position of authority” within the community, according to a new report by the Asia Foundation. According to the report, agencies also inflate migration costs that ...

A group of independent trade unions yesterday put forth a list of demands for changes to Cambodia’s first trade union law, which will be finalised by the government in the coming months. Unionists said the revisions were necessary, as the current draft law would undermine unions ...

Hybrid rice producer SL Agritech Corp. plans to set up a plantation in Cambodia via a joint venture instead of shipping out produce from its Philippine farms, a ranking official said last week. “We are looking at starting the shipment of seeds to Cambodia and to ...

Southeast Asia needs to push ahead with a regional free trade bloc and policies to cope with global financial crises, Indonesia’s government said yesterday. Indonesia’s Vice President Boediono, addressing trade ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said it was evident since the ...

Cambodia’s garment sector is in danger of losing its reputation for adherence to international labor standards because of the widespread use of “abusive temporary labor contracts,” according to a report released by Yale Law School on Wednesday. “Cambodian garment manufacturers have adopted the practice of ...

Construction approvals granted by government authorities have increased 93 percent in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period last year, figures show. Some 1,079 potential projects worth US$637.7 million were given the go-ahead in the January to June period, compared with ...

An expected 4,500 Cambodians are expected to be working in South Korea by the end of the year, up from the estimated 2,915 according to the Ministry of Labour. The strong economy in Korea combined with a Buddhist background is a big draw for the ...

June Textile Factory will compensation the more than 4,000 workers in accordance with an Arbitration Council ruling, granting the workers severance pay after the Phnom Penh factory burned down. According to Albert Teoh, administration director of June Textile Factory, all workers would receive the full ...

Factory workers from the burnt down June Textile Company have returned to the streets in protest after due to an objection by the factory officials. Last month the Arbitration Council ruled in favor of the workers providing them with a favorable severance payment, which the ...