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Article

30 May 2014

Author:
Robert Carmichael, Voice of America

Cambodia Court Convicts, Releases Labor Activists

A Cambodian court…convicted 23 garment workers and unionists who were arrested during violent protests in January - and then suspended their sentences and released them…“[I]t is not justice at all for them to get convicted because those people did nothing wrong - just only demand wage for their stomach…." stated Moeun Tola [of Community Legal Education Center]. "So even [though] we welcome the release of the 23, but we also condemn the charge against them.“…[A] delegation of representatives from international brands including H&M, Puma and The Gap told senior government officials that unless conditions for the sector’s 600,000 workers improved, they would look to source elsewhere…[T]he brands said, the government must also act: it must stop using violence and the courts against workers and unionists, it must implement a proper wage-setting program, and it must ensure that, should the court lock up the defendants in the current case, the evidence meets international standards…

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