News

The Cambodian government was strengthening its capacity to combat human trafficking by focusing on poverty reduction and was eager to work with other groups tackling the crime, Interior Ministry Secretary of State Chou Bun Eng said yesterday. “The issues of human trafficking and migrating workers are ...

The negotiations between Cambodia and Malaysia over a bilateral agreement on improved working conditions for Cambodian migrant maids are slowly progressing as both governments are exchanging draft agreements, according to officials from both countries. Ministry of Labor Secretary of State Othsman Hassan said that Cambodia recently ...

The number of families claiming to have lost contact with relatives working overseas has seen a significant increase in recent months, three human rights groups said Thursday. Local rights groups Adhoc and Licadho and the legal aid association Cambodian Legal Education Center (CLEC), said that ...

One garment worker was killed and 30 others seriously injured on Wednesday when the truck in which they were travelling crashed in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district, a police official said yesterday. Free Trade Union (FTU) President Chea Mony said all 58 women were workers ...

The number of migrant workers abused by their foreign employers abroad more than doubled in 2011, rights group Adhoc announced yesterday before calling on the government to improve its efforts to protect both migrant and repatriated workers. “It’s a dangerous sign,” said Adhoc president Thun Saray ...

Almost 120,000 Cambodians who illegally crossed into neighbouring countries in search of work were repatriated during 2011, new figures from the Ministry of Interior have revealed, prompting a senior ministry official to call for a re-evaluation of how Cambodian workers are treated abroad. Chou Bun Eng, ...

A Cambodian migrant worker in Thailand has said that a recruitment firm in Phnom Penh that sent him and about 1,000 others to work at an “exploitative” factory is threatening him because he spoke to the press. Keo Ratha, 37, said yesterday he received a threatening ...

Thailand has appealed to Cambodia to send more migrant workers to the country due to a high demand for labor following last year’s devastating floods, while Cambodia has in turn asked that Thailand render the migration process safer, speedier and cheaper, Choub Narth, deputy director ...

After a year of mounting concern over the treatment of migrant workers both within and outside Cambodia, the Ministry of Labor, NGOs and recruitment agencies yesterday reached an agreement on standardized contracts aimed at minimizing the possibility for exploitation. The groups agreed on a contract between ...

About 177,000 Cambodian men and women were working abroad as of the end of 2010, and about $180 million was remitted to Cambodia from 126,000 migrant workers in Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea last year, according to a letter written by Prime Minister Hun ...

Another 30 Cambodian men among 65 rescued in Indonesia after being trafficked into work on fishing boats in Thailand were repatriated to the Kingdom yesterday, following the return of 30 such workers last week. The remaining five workers are set to be repatriated next month, Chiv ...

At least 20 Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand have had their passports confiscated by a Thai recruitment agency, while another 10 have gone missing after they fled the same agency fearing they would be trafficked to work on Thai fishing vessels, Human Rights Watch and ...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it was cooperating with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to repatriate 30 men – part of a group of 65 Cambodians who are in Indonesia after enduring months of abuse and exploitation while working aboard Thai fishing ...

The Philippine government on October 28 issued a ban on its country’s citizens working in Cambodia only to suspend the ban a week later after Filipinos employed here complained, Philippine Ambassador Noe Wong said yesterday. Cambodia was listed by the Philippines Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) as ...

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 ...

Amid mounting concerns over labor recruitment agencies’ treatment of migrant workers, new links were discovered yesterday between agencies and the officials that regulate them, as a daughter of a senior Labor Ministry official was found to be running a major recruitment firm. Nhem Chakrya, deputy director ...

Police and a human rights group said they rescued a 15-year-old girl from the training center of an overseas job recruitment agency in Kompong Chhnang province on Saturday. A rights worker said two more underage girls had been saved from being sent abroad to work ...

The Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA) has delayed in sending 2,000 Cambodians to Qatar due to a lack of information about safety. The Ministry of Labour of Qatar has provided insufficient information regarding worker safety according to An Bunhak, the ACRA director. ACREA intends ...