VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPF #2241/01 3620626
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 280626Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7759
INFO RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC

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. 
 
End Text.