CAMBODIA CHILD LABOR REPORT UPDATE 2006

UNCLAS PHNOM PENH 002241

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/ILCSR
LABOR FOR TINA MCCARTER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB CB
SUBJECT: CAMBODIA CHILD LABOR REPORT UPDATE 2006

REF: STATE 184972


1. Please find below post's update of the child labor report for
Cambodia. An electronic version of the report, including updated
footnotes listing sources, will be emailed to Tina McCarter.

Begin Text:

Cambodia

Incidence and Nature of Child Labor

Forty-five percent of children ages 5 to 14 years were counted as
working in Cambodia in 2001. The majority of working children were
found in the agricultural sector (76.5 percent),followed by
services (17.7 percent),manufacturing (4.9 percent) and other
sectors (0.9 percent). Children work in hazardous conditions on
commercial rubber plantations, in salt production, in fish
processing, portering, brick-making, and as garbage pickers. Street
children engage in scavenging, begging, and shoe polishing.
Children, primarily girls, also work as domestic servants. Most of
these child domestics are girls ages 14 to 17, though it is not
uncommon to find them as young as 8 or 9; they typically work 12 to
16 hours a day, 7 days a week. Child labor is one of many problems
associated with poverty. In 2004, 19 percent of the Cambodian
population was living on less than USD 1 a day.

Cambodia is reported to be a country of origin, transit, and
destination for trafficking in children for the purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and various other forms of work,
including forced labor and begging. Cambodian children are
trafficked to Thailand and Malaysia, and Vietnamese children are
trafficked to Cambodia, for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation or forced labor. Children are also exploited in
pornography.

Article 68 of the Constitution guarantees the right to 9 years of
free, non-compulsory education to all citizens. However, costs
such as uniforms, books, fees, and teacher demands for unofficial
fees make schools unaffordable for many families. In 2005, the
gross primary enrollment rate was 124 percent and the net primary
enrollment rate was 83 percent. Gross and net enrollment ratios are
based on the number of students formally registered in primary
school and therefore do not necessarily reflect actual school
attendance. In 2004, 47% of children were able to complete grade
six from a net enrollment rate of 91% at grade one. Twenty-one
percent of children completed their basic education at grade nine.
Education is often inaccessible to minority groups who do not speak
Khmer, as classes are conducted only in that language. While girls
legally have equal access to schooling, many families with limited
income choose to send male children rather than females, and the
distance some must travel to school is a deterrent for families who
fear for the safety of female children.

Child Labor Laws and Enforcement

The worst forms of child labor may be prosecuted under different
statutes in Cambodia. The Labor Law sets the minimum age for
employment at 15 years, although a later 1999 ministerial decree set
the minimum age at 14 years. The Labor Law allows children ages 12
to 15 years to perform light work that is not hazardous and does not
affect regular school attendance or participation in other training
programs. The Labor Advisory Committee has been tasked with
defining the criteria for "light" and "hazardous" work, but has not
completed this task. Employers who violate the law may be fined 31
to 60 days of the base daily wage. Night work is generally
prohibited for children. The Labor Law prohibits work that is
hazardous to the mental and physical development of children under
the age of 18 and prohibits all forced or compulsory labor,
including in agriculture and domestic work. A Prakas (Ministerial
Order) on the Prohibition of Hazardous Child Labor lists 38 types of
hazardous work such as tanning, logging, chemical use in textile
production, etc., in which children under age 18 are not permitted
to work. The Prakas separately identifies domestic work as
hazardous, states children under age 12 shall not carry out domestic
work, and sets guidelines for children ages 12 to 14 undertaking
domestic work. Additionally it states no one under age 18 shall
work in underground mines or quarries, or work during the hours of
10:00 pm and 5:00 am. Lists of working children must be kept by
employers and submitted to labor inspectors, and children who have
parents or guardians must have their consent in order to work.

The Cambodian Constitution prohibits prostitution and the
trafficking of human beings. The 1996 Law on the Suppression of the
Kidnapping, Trafficking and Exploitation of Human Beings penalizes
brothel owners, operators, and individuals who prostitute others
with prison terms of between 10 to 20 years, depending on the age of
the victim. The Law outlaws acts of debauchery, though it is
unclear if the legal definition of debauchery includes pornography.
However, the courts have prosecuted several cases of child
pornography under this law. The minimum age for conscription into
military service is 18 years.

Since 1999, the Government of Cambodia has submitted to the ILO a
list or an equivalent document identifying hazardous forms of work
prohibited to minors under Convention 138.

The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MOLVT) is responsible
for enforcing child provisions of the Cambodian Labor Law. Since
2000, questions on child labor have been incorporated into routine
labor inspections. However, the Labor Law applies only to the
formal sector and the most serious child labor problems are in the
informal sector. No employer has ever been prosecuted for violating
child labor laws. Local police are responsible for enforcing laws
against child trafficking and prostitution; however, the U.S.
Department of State reports that counter-trafficking efforts are
hampered by corruption, a weak judiciary system, lack of
transparency, inadequate resources, and staffing shortages. Some
improvement was indicated in prosecution and conviction rates in

2004. In September 2005, the President determined that due to
Cambodia's continued failure to meet standards established in the
U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act, it would be subject to
restrictions on certain non-humanitarian and non-trade assistance.
Due to progress shown in 2005 in combating trafficking-in-persons,
these restrictions were lifted in July 2006.

Current Government Policies and Programs to Eliminate the Worst
Forms of Child Labor

The Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation
(MOSAVY) Action Program 2004-2008 places strong emphasis on child
welfare and protection. Specific issues include combating child
labor and trafficking, development of national plans, and improving
enforcement mechanisms for violators of child labor and trafficking
laws. The Government of Cambodia is undertaking a final assessment
of its first 5-year plan against trafficking and sexual exploitation
of children in order to finalize and implement its second 5-year
plan (2005-2009). The 2005-2009 Plan would expand the scope of the
initial plan to include trafficking for both sexual and labor
exploitation purposes. The 2003-2005 National Poverty Reduction
Strategy (NPRS) identifies combating child labor, trafficking and
prostitution as a strategic objective and defines measures to
address these problems.

The Government of Cambodia has signed a memorandum of understanding
(MOU) with the Government of Thailand on Bilateral Cooperation for
Eliminating Trafficking in Children and Women. The Government of
Cambodia also signed a similar MOU with the Government of Vietnam in
October 2005. Additionally, Cambodia is signatory to a multilateral
MOU pledging cooperation on trafficking. Other signatories to this
"Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking
(COMMIT)" include Burma, Laos, Peoples Republic of China, Thailand,
and Vietnam. The members held their first meeting in March 2005 to
draft their Sub-regional Plan of Action. This plan was subsequently
adopted, and in May 2006 the members held a meeting in Phnom Penh
concerning its implementation.

The Government of Cambodia is participating in a USD 4.75 million
USDOL-funded Timebound Program supported by ILO-IPEC to eliminate
child labor in specified worst forms, and to create a platform for
eliminating all forms of child labor. The program targets children
involved in the brick-making, portering, rubber-making, domestic
work, salt production, fish processing, and services. USDOL has
also launched a USD 3 million project that focuses on providing
education opportunities to those children who have been or have the
potential to be trafficked.

There are several governmental agencies that have on-going programs
to address the needs of children vulnerable to exploitation in the
worst forms of child labor. The Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA)
and the Ministry of Tourism (MOT),in collaboration with NGOs, work
to combat sex tourism. In September 2005, the MOT teamed with the
ILO to promote "Child Safe" tourism policies to prevent trafficking
of women and children for labor and sexual exploitation. The
Ministry of Interior operates an anti-trafficking hotline. MOSAVY
works with UNICEF and IOM to return trafficked children to their
homes. In 2006, 1273 victims of trafficking, beggar, porters, the
majority (more than 70%) of whom are children, were returned to
Cambodia and reinterated into their community. MOWA and MOLVT, in
conjunction with UNICEF's Community-Based Child Protection Network,
work to teach children and community members about the hazards of
trafficking, and train individuals to identify potential victims and
take action to protect them. MOWA and IOM also collaborate on a
public information campaign to raise awareness of trafficking. The
Cambodian National Council for Children oversees adherence to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child, and is working with Save the
Children to promote a national mechanism for coordinating all
organizations working against child sexual exploitation and
trafficking.
Cambodia is included in a regional ILO-IPEC anti-trafficking project
with funding from the Government of Japan and the UK. In addition
to ongoing anti-trafficking funding from the U.S. Embassy in
Cambodia, the U.S. Presidential Anti-Trafficking in Persons
Initiative allocated USD 5.6 million to support programs to combat
trafficking in Cambodia through 2006. Cambodia also participates in
a project between ASEAN and AusAID on the elimination of trafficking
in women and children in 4 Southeast Asian countries and China's
Yunnan Province.

The Government of Cambodia is implementing its Education Strategic
Plan (ESP) 2006-2010. The plan prioritizes expanding access to
quality education, non-formal education skills training and re-entry
and equivalency programs for young people, and expanded upper
secondary and post-secondary education opportunities. The ESP is
carried out in conjunction with the Education Sector Support Program
(ESSP) 2006-2010. The ESSP is a companion document to the ESP, and
translates ESP targets into phased operational programs to achieve
Education for All by 2015. The Ministry of Education, Youth and
Sport (MOEYS) is implementing Priority Action Programs through 2006
that operate nationwide and identify priority sub-sectors in
education on which to focus resources and implementation strategies
such as HIV/AIDS education, non-formal education expansion, higher
education expansion and program monitoring and capacity building.
The Non-Formal Education Department within MOEYS focuses on
improving the reach, quality and impact of non-formal education to
meet the needs of people of all ages, including working children.


The government also works with various donors and NGOs on education
issues, focusing on improving the quality of education and access to
primary school. The ADB is providing support to MOEYS' efforts to
implement its ESP 2006-2010, which includes technical assistance for
nationwide policy reforms, community-based skills training for
out-of-school youth, and an initiative to increase equitable access
to education. ADB supports two other education projects. The first
focuses on educational assistance to girls and indigenous
populations through awareness raising and the development of
scholarship programs for lower secondary schooling. The second aims
to improve primary school access in disadvantaged communities
through community mobilization, capacity building, and facilities
improvements. The World Bank launched a Basic Education Project in
support of the government's ESSP, addressing equitable access and
education quality improvement issues and targeting the most
disadvantaged. The World Bank also signed a grant in September
2005, funded through the Japan Social Development Fund, which will
support the government's efforts to provide basic education services
to girls, disabled children, and other marginalized groups through a
scholarship program. USAID has an ongoing basic education program
focused on improving the quality and proficiency of the education
system.

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