The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “The hazards of youth” plus 9 more

About 10 per cent of Cambodian children aged between five and 17 are "child labourers" – undertaking work deemed unsuitable or illegal for them – while almost 240,000 children are working in hazardous conditions, a report released yesterday says.

The Cambodia Child Labour 2012 report, compiled by the National Institute of Statistics (NIS), the Ministry of Planning and the International Labour Organisation, says the Kingdom has about 429,000 child labourers, 383,000 of whom live in rural areas.

According to the report, half of the total number of child labourers had either dropped out of school or never attended in the first place.

About 236,000 of those children were undertaking hazardous work, the majority of them in rural areas, it adds.

"Five of every nine child labourers were engaged in hazardous labour."

Speaking at the launch of the report yesterday, Bijoy Raychaudhuri, project director for an ILO child labour elimination program, said the study was the first of its kind in Cambodia since 2001.

"One thing we find … Cambodia being a rural economy, most of the child labour is in the agricultural sector and working in informal business," he said.

The total number of children aged five to 17 considered to be "working children" is 750,000 out of a nationwide population of about four million children in the age group.

And while many of them undertook employment that was permissible under the law, Raychaudhuri said, "about 57 per cent of the working children are in child labour that should be eliminated".

"This is one clear message that this report brings out," he said.

The definition of "child labour" used by the report's authors is broad. If a child aged 5 to 11 engages in just one hour of "economic activity" in one week, she or he is considered a child labourer. Children aged 12 to 14 must work more than 12 hours per week or any amount of time in hazardous conditions to fit the category. And children aged 15 to 17 – who are legally allowed to undertake non-hazardous work – are considered child labourers if they work more than 48 hours in one week or work at all in hazardous conditions.

By definition, hazardous tasks can include working at a construction site or factory, logging, operating heavy machinery and brick-making.

Despite perceptions that young children were being widely exploited, Raychaudhuri said, most of the "child labourers" are aged 12 to 17.

"So five to 11, the child population is very limited."

The child labour report was released simultaneously yesterday with the Cambodia Labour Force 2012 report.

In that report, it was revealed that the working-age population – people aged 15 and over – had increased to 10.7 million in 2012, up 1.9 million people from 2008. Sixty-nine per cent of those of working age are part of the labour force. Of that figure, only 2.7 per cent are unemployed.

Data in both reports was collected by surveying almost 10,000 households in every province.

Those conducting the surveys, however, did not have access to children who live at workplaces or those who have been exploited for sex- or drug-trafficking purposes.

"Children living outside the household are not captured by this survey.… That's a different survey," Raychaudhuri said.

Asked whether responses garnered from households reflected the true nature of how those within them were affected by child labour, he added that the survey assumed that parents answering questions knew how many hours per week their children worked.

"It could be that if they know it is illegal, they would not give the right answer. It is possible."

In a statement, Maurizio Bussi, officer-in-charge of the ILO's Cambodia office, said regular follow-up surveys were essential to working towards ending child labour in the country.

Heang Kanol, deputy director-general of the National Institute of Statistics at the Ministry of Planning, did not say at the launch how frequently the surveys would be repeated.

In the child labour report's foreword, Minister of Planning Chhay Than said he expected the report would be useful to "planners and policy-makers".

"Eliminating child labour in Cambodia is one of the most urgent challenges of the government," he says.

Despite some high-profile issues with underage workers in factories, incidents of child labour in garment factories are in the minority, the report says.

"That's been the case for the past 10 years," Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia secretary-general Ken Loo said yesterday.

Underage workers using fake identification to gain work, however, remained an issue. "But we have been advocating … to help factories identify that."

As for agricultural workers and construction workers in rural areas, Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at Community Legal Education Centre, said it was difficult to know the full extent of the child labour problem.

"We don't have concrete reports [on rural areas]. It's a concern."

An organisation made up of current and former elected representatives from across Southeast Asia has called on the United Nations to investigate the deaths of two people shot by police during protests over the past three months.

In a statement released yesterday, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) slammed the Cambodian government's failure to "properly investigate" the deaths of Mao Sok Chan and Eng Sokhom.

Sok Chan, 29, was shot in the forehead on September 15 when security forces began firing into a crowd near a police barricade at Phnom Penh's Kbal Thnal overpass. Uninvolved in the protest, he had been attempting to return to his home after finishing his day's work as a newspaper binder.

On November 12, 49-year-old Sokhom was shot dead by police when garment workers from SL Garment Processing factory clashed with riot police near her food stand in the capital's Stung Meanchey district.

Vice president of APHR and former Thai Senator Kraisak Choonhaven pointed the finger squarely at the Cambodian government yesterday, accusing them of not meeting international human rights standards.

"The United Nations and the international community must take a stand on these blatant miscarriages of justice. It has been over two months since security forces shot dead Mao Sok Chan.… The state is clearly not following through with a genuine investigation," he said.

Kraisak criticised Cambodia's criminal justice system, saying it "fails to deliver" when allegations are made against state-owned bodies such as the police.

Indonesian lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari backed the former senator's calls amid fears inaction could set a dangerous precedent and lead to further politically motivated violence.

"I am deeply concerned that the common trend of state violence and impunity in ASEAN member states will only worsen if this serious problem is continually brushed under the carpet to ensure a blinkered focus on economics and trade." Robert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva, urged the Cambodian government to investigate the deaths.

"We are following up with the concerned authorities and urging them to launch a prompt and thorough investigation into these clashes and to ensure full accountability for members of security forces found to have used disproportionate and excessive force."

Cambodia's OHCHR representative Wan-Hea Leefurther also condemned the violence, saying there was no excuse for excessive force from either side.

"All use of force should be investigated, particularly when they lead to fatalities or injuries," she said.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan yesterday responded to those calls, saying any move by a non-government body to interfere in the case would be seen as a direct insult to Cambodia's sovereignty.

"The government has employed a 'special committee' to investigate the deaths, but have not yet found anything.… Cambodia is a sovereign state and any NGO that interferes must have respect for that," Siphan told the Post. The spokesman added that police and security forces had been cooperating with the so-far-fruitless investigation.

Military police spokesman Kheng Tito said that while the matter was for the National Police to deal with, he welcomed the idea of a UN investigation into the shootings.

"I welcome a UN investigation in order to find the truth and to have a true report from the incident and for the sake of transparency," he said.

National Police spokesman Kirt Chantharith could not be reached.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BUTH REAKSMEY KONGKEA

About 300 villagers in Preah Vihear's Rovieng district gathered in front of Romdoh commune hall yesterday to protest against a mining company drilling on their land and what they characterised as a broken promise by the company and commune officials to return to the negotiating table.

Demonstrators said that authorities and company representatives had failed to meet them yesterday as promised, but commune chief Som Virak maintained yesterday that he had told villagers on Wednesday that the meeting would have to be postponed.

Villagers, however, were unconvinced.

"They should have informed us in advance if they were not coming, and they let us wait for them all morning for nothing," said Sreung Simphorn, 60. "It is a trick and a lie [from the authorities] to their own people."

Simphorn added that his family had bought 25 hectares of land in Romdoh in 2004, but risked losing it to the company for what he thought was an unfair price of $1,000 per hectare.

TPB-TV Development was granted licenses to drill for marble, but was told in the grants that drilling must stop if it affected locals, villagers say.

Lor Chann, a provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said he had visited the mining site yesterday, and saw workers there – armed with an air-powered homemade rifle – drilling on the disputed land to depths of 25 to 30 metres.

However Virak, the commune chief, said yesterday that officials would inspect the works, and that most villagers' claims were not legitimate.

"There are only 63 affected families," he said. "Among those, there are only three to four old families. Besides them, all of them are new settlers who have just cleared state land to own and sell without listening to authorities."

TPB-TV representative Kim Nhor, meanwhile, denied affecting villagers' lands, and said villagers had not been constructively negotiating.

"They have not even said how much they want" for the land, he said. "If they did, it would be easy for us to suggest it to our superiors for … resolution."

Scores of people in Preah Sihanouk province's Kompong Seila district have asked the provincial court to delay proceedings in a case filed against them by three local businesspeople in September.

The 88 people received summonses in September, but yesterday asked the court to postpone a hearing scheduled for today. Local business owners Chan Heng Kanha, So Sou Hwang and Lim Chou have alleged that 148 families have been illegally living on their land in the district for years.

But Chen Sophal, an O'Bakrotes commune representative who lives on the land, said they had been there since the early 1990s.

"I have lived in the area since it was a minefield and some people and animals were killed by mines. So why do they have land certificates? How did they [the businesspeople] get the titles in 1995 before integration?

"The land certificates are not real," he said. "There is complicity and corruption between businesspeople and the court to threaten and seize people's land. We request the Anti-Corruption Unit investigate."

The three complainants could not be reached yesterday.

Following the announcement of recent reforms to Cambodia's customs department and Commerce Ministry, a revision of the country's investment law is planned for next year, according to the secretary-general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC).

Speaking to reporters at a workshop at the Raffles Hotel Le Royal in Phnom Penh yesterday, Sok Chenda said Cambodia's investment climate needed a revamp.

"We must clean up, improve and adjust to the new circumstances," Chenda said, referring to a new regional competitive environment.

Previously Myanmar was not considered an attractive place for foreign investors, Chenda said. But now, after government reforms, it is opening up and becoming easier to do business.

"We have a new competitor," he said.

Cambodia's investment law was initially implemented in 1994. It was revised in 2003, but has since remained unchanged.

This is one of a series of economic changes announced in the past month.

In October the government set a 60-day deadline for the customs department to clean up corruption, while earlier this week the minister of commerce announced reforms that would reduce red tape for exporters in Cambodia.

A panel discussion including private sector representatives also voiced their reform priorities at yesterday's workshop.

"For us . . . the chief challenge is human resources," Martin McCarthy, managing director of Total Cambodia, said, referring to a lack of skilled labour in the local market.

Being able to find "very, very good young engineers, civil, mechanical, even construction engineers, is quite a challenge."

Rami Sharaf, CEO of RMA Cambodia, agreed, saying "the number one problem is actually people."

"What is needed here is to build the right task force of the relevant ministries in addition to the contribution and the presentation of the private sector, so all together can have a proper road map," he said, referring to a plan for human resource development as the economy grows.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ANNE RENZENBRINK

As Cambodia's youth is set to carry on the country's economic development, there are worrying signs for the future workforce with high drop out rates from school, new data released yesterday show.

The Labour Force 2012 report compiled by the National Institute of Statistics, the Ministry of Planning and the UN's International Labour Organisation, shows that some 3.8 per cent of Cambodia's 2.1 million 15- to 24-year-olds are unemployed. This figure is well above the national rate of 2.7 per cent.

Just 46.6 per cent of Cambodia's employed youths finished secondary school, while 41.5 per cent have only completed primary school, the report revealed.

"If you combine the high drop out rates, there is a big challenge for the future of the skilled workforce," Makiko Matsumoto, employment specialist at the ILO said yesterday at a conference to release the survey results at the Cambodiana Hotel in Phnom Penh.

Data was collated from a survey of almost 10,000 Cambodian households.

A country emerging from a history of conflict and poverty can make the balance between education and work a challenging one, according to Mey Kalyan, a senior adviser on the Supreme National Economic Council.

"[But] this country is in the process of building up its human resources," he said, making reference to the government's rectangular strategy.

Kalyan said initiatives such as enhancing technical training options and understanding industry workforce demand were under way, but reducing poverty was also needed to keep kids at school.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers' Association, also links drop out rates to poverty.

"It costs them [parents] a lot to invest in their child's education, and they worry that after graduation, their children will [only] find a low salary jobs," he said.

Hong Cheun, director at the government's national employment agency, said yesterday that as Cambodia's economy grows, so to does the demand for greater skills, though the education system was struggling to keep up.

"Skill shortage is growing, not only for the lower- or medium-skilled but also the higher-skilled, because of the kind of rapid changes in the structure of the current labour market," he said.

Cheun added that the government plans to encourage greater vocational training that would help to diversify the workforce and meet industry demands over the next five to 10 years.

The chief executive of SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) yesterday said the factory has agreed to reinstate 19 dismissed union leaders and activists, a sticking point which could end a strike that has lasted more than three months.

Hours after the Ministry of Labour announced the garment factory had agreed to rehire the workers, SL chief executive Wong Hon Ming confirmed by phone that the employees in question would be allowed to return to work.

The move came three days after SL rejected a government order – given the same week a strike involving workers in Meanchey district left one woman dead – to rehire the workers.

"The ball is now in the court of the union," said Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers' Association in Cambodia.

Labour Ministry secretary of state Sat Sakmoth told a Post reporter earlier in the day that SL had retracted its agreement to allow the 19 workers back, but his account could not be confirmed.

Ek Sopheakdey, secretary general of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union (C.CAWDU), which represents a large majority of SL's workforce, last night said he was aware of the Labour Ministry's announcement, but remained sceptical that SL would actually allow the 19 workers back.

"I don't yet believe it 100 per cent," Sopheakdey said last night. "But if they agree, they have to sign a contract and specify a date when [the 19] workers can return."

Reached by phone yesterday, SL's general manager, who declined to give his name, said the government order to reinstate the workers – an order approved by Prime Minister Hun Sen – played a role in SL's reversal. SL officials hope the compromise ends the strike.

"If it's ordered by the government, I guess we need to follow," he said. "I think everything is already finished."

SL workers initially walked off the job on August 12, demanding the dismissal of shareholder Meas Sotha, who hired military police to stand guard inside the factory. C.CAWDU members called the move an intimidation tactic, meant to flush the union out of SL.

Since the strike began, officials from the Labour Ministry, the Ministry of Social Affairs and City Hall have all mediated several fruitless talks between union and factory leaders.

The strike turned deadly on November 12, when 49-year-old food vendor Eng Sokhom died from a gunshot wound to the chest after police opened fire on hundreds of SL demonstrators. At least nine others suffered gunshot wounds.

Two teens – aged 14 and 17 – are the only two people who remain in custody in connection with the riots, said Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Community Legal Education Centre, which is providing them with pro bono legal representation. Phnom Penh Municipal Court is now processing a bail request.

Although not speaking on C.CAWDU's behalf, Dave Welsh, country director of labour rights group Solidarity Center, said the union will likely have to look at where SL now stands on other demands it has made before ending the strike. However, he added, the move will likely go a long way toward ending the stalemate.

"It's huge, enormous," said Welsh, who noted the 19 workers in question include all C.CAWDU leadership within the factory. "The reinstatement of the unions was really non-negotiable."

Primary school students playing outside their school in Oddar Meanchey province discovered an exposed landmine in the school yard on Wednesday.

Students at Hun Sen Anlong Veng Primary School found the mine poking out of the ground "like a custard apple" while they were playing near a tree in front of their school and reported it to their teachers, according to the principal.

School officials called authorities to come remove the mine.

"We surrounded more than two metres around the mine compound and did not allow students to go through. We do not know whether there are some more mines in the school compound until CMAC [Cambodian Mine Action Centre] comes and checks it," said Sou Nov, a deputy police chief of Anlong Veng district.

What the students stumbled upon was the core of a mine made in the US, according to Nov.

"My staff went to demine it, but it was only a shell without ammunition, which could not explode," said Leng Saren, an executive director at Halo Trust.

The prices of imported goods are up and Cambodia's low-income households are feeling the pinch. President of the Cambodian Institute for Development Study, Kang Chandararot, told the Post's Chan Muy Hong that while there will be impacts in the short term, tax reforms are a positive sign for long term economic growth of the nation.

The government set a deadline for the customs department to stamp down on corruption. It has led to a price increase for goods on the market. What is your view about the move?
I think it is the right thing to do now, because Cambodia owes a lot of money to other countries. I congratulate the move and it is a good start for anti-corruption in the state's financial offices. We have, so far, depended on foreign aid and funding. And the deadline for returning the debt is near. We need to find sources of income to support development and to set a foundation for he economy. AEC 2015 is approaching; Cambodia will be required to do a lot more from the region with regards to the implementation of economic law and policy.

Do you think the move will encourage local producers in gaining greater market share?
Logically, once tax policy is implemented, the price of imported goods will rise. What will happen when imports price rise? Firstly there will be changes in the investment sector. Secondly, the will be more opportunity for local business to grow. In one or two years time the country will see some change in the economy's structure. The policy will increase local production. There will be more local products to replace imported products. Right now, I believe we will not see anything come in the big picture just yet, but in one year's time the picture will become clearer to you.

The policy has caused prices in the markets to increase. Who do you think are the most vulnerable?
Everyone is affected by the rising price of products in the local market now. Tax will increase the price. The thing is we have to accept the impact now. Once the market adjusts to the tax policy, things will be better for everyone when there are local products to substitute the imported ones. Then the price becomes more stable for consumers, suppliers and the whole market. First reaction from the policy will see consumers as the victims of high prices. More importantly, the policy should encourage investment in local products rather than investment in imported products.

I think the high price of products will come down by next year. Meanwhile, there should be more local investment opportunity created, so that local products will come to substitute the higher priced products now.

Will there be further action taken by the government on this issue?
The government should start thinking about cutting ineffective spending. More policy should be created to attract both local and foreign investors to invest in the local production chain. By now, there should be a reform in investment law. The government should pay more attention toward energy resources that drives local production and investment. One year is a short time. It will reduce the inflation impact on consumers. Long term inflation for products in the market will cause problems for economic growth.

The ministry of commerce announced reforms for import and export processes to ease the flow. How effective do you expect it to be?
It is part of what attracts more investors to Cambodia. If the process of getting the products in and outside the country requires too much time and money, they will not want to come here. It is a step that encourages more investment. What the government is doing now is a very good response to the private sector. They are giving more space to the private sector to expand their business.

What is your projection for the Cambodian economy?
Economic growth in 2014 is disturbed by political crisis. There will be growth, but will not exceed what we have in 2013.
The thing is Cambodia's economy next year will grow in terms of quality comparatively to previous years. The growth will no longer depend on trading, tourism or by selling service anymore. It will be growing according to the increase of local production.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Despite making some gains, Cambodian women continue to fall well short of their male counterparts when it comes to education and position in the labour market, a study released yesterday by the International Labor Organization reports.

Men account for just five per cent more of Cambodia's approximately 7.4 million-person workforce, but earn about $25 per month more than women, the study says.

That disparity is likely linked to inequality in education received, said Ros Sopheap, executive director of NGO Gender and Development for Cambodia.

"There are some changes if you compare to 10 years before, but the changes have not come as far as we want," Sopheap said yesterday. "In Cambodia, they believe men have an important role in the family to study higher education.… Girls are encouraged to stop studying, to contribute to the household income."

The ILO's Labour Force Report, which surveyed Cambodia's labour market and child labour last year, says that more than 1.14 million women reported never having attended school. That figure is more than double that of men surveyed.

Reasons the women provided to surveyors for never attending school fall closely in line with Sopheap's hypothesis: 12.7 per cent said their parents would not allow it, the study reported. Other reasons included the inability to pay for schooling and living too far from a school.

Although more women than men have completed primary school (by a margin of more than 525,000), they account for only 43 per cent of the Kingdom's secondary school graduates and 32 per cent of those who completed university.

A decreasing ratio of women to men attending school from primary education to higher levels places them in a more vulnerable position when they enter the workforce, Sopheap said.

"When you get higher education, you're not subject to exploitation," Sopheap said. Cambodia's garment industry provides an example of women's precarious position in the labour market, she added.

More than 80 per cent of Cambodia's unionised garment workers are women, according to ILO's report. But factories are known country-wide to offer poor working conditions where fainting is endemic and the $75 per month minimum salary falls well below the Asia Floor Wage Alliance of $281 per month.

But despite the numbers, women who never attend or drop out of school are largely aware that education begets more opportunities, and want to further their education, Sopheap said.

A rising literacy rate among working-age (15 years or older) Cambodians, may reflect this desire. The Kingdom saw a two per cent increase of literate workers according to the report, but the largest increase in this category came from rural women.