"New Report Shows Garment Workers Eating Less, Selling Land to Repay Debt", 30 June 2020

Almost all the respondents to a garment worker survey said they were indebted and had to eat less food, take another loan, or sell their land to repay their debts, according to findings released by a local union and two rights groups.

…The survey focused on three factories affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, where operations were either fully or partially suspended.

… The civil society groups said this was forcing workers to take the extreme steps of curtailing their family’s food needs, selling their assets or land – an issue already highlighted by Licadho in prior reports – or in some cases taking their children out of school or sending them to work…

But, the government and financial institutions have denied any allegations of human rights infringements or impropriety in the past…

… Phat Phuong, a 24-year-old garment worker at Bowker Garment Factory in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district, who said she has been suspended from work recently. She had so far received only $30 from her employer and $20 from the government because factory operations had been halted…

Kaing Tongngy, a spokesperson for the Cambodian Microfinance Association, alleged that human rights groups were not looking at the bigger picture and were agenda-driven, claiming that MFIs have done a lot to help their victims.

Khun Tharo, a program coordinator at labor rights group Central, said the impending onset of European Union sanctions, in the form of a partial suspension of the ‘Everything But Arms’ trade privileges, would further exasperate garment workers’ situations…