(Bangkok) The Cambodian government-affiliated labor union has announced that it will hold a joint press conference with the labor rights group, the Center for Labor and Human Rights Alliance (Central) and its leadership are report Violation of freedom of association Human Rights Watch today released a report on the terrorist attacks in Cambodia. The report was compiled by Better Factories Cambodia.England) is part of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Better Work programme, which operates in 13 countries, including Cambodia.
ILO and BFC’s global brand and retail partners include: include Adidas, C&A, Gap Inc., H&M, Inditex, and Nike should urge Cambodian authorities to stop intimidating and censoring CENTRAL and its leaders, and to follow the report’s recommendations to improve the program.
“CENTRAL’s denigration and judicial harassment of workers and trade unions’ work on freedom of association is a grave violation of not only workers’ rights, but also of the freedom of association of workers and trade unions. Civil Society “In Cambodia, the ILO, Better Factories Cambodia, and the brands that rely on their reporting should condemn efforts to impede their work,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
The Central reportBarriers to Representation: Freedom of Association in Cambodia – Evaluating Better Factories Cambodia’s FOA Compliance Monitoring“The Current Situation and Challenges of Labour and Trade Unions in Cambodia,” published on June 4, 2024, contains the results of a series of focus group discussions with 78 union representatives from 24 factory-level unions in 22 factories in December 2022. These discussions were conducted with union representatives affiliated with the Cambodian Trade Union Alliance and the Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union Alliance. In June 2023, the researchers also conducted a smaller survey with local union representatives in 14 factories. Enrolled in the ILO-BFC Programme.
The report provides significant “shadow data,” documenting obstructions to freedom of association, including verbal intimidation, threats, harassment and blacklisting, which it says have a “severe” impact on the functioning of independent unions. It also includes workers’ knowledge of BFC compliance data, including the digital literacy of factory-level union representatives and workers, their ability to find summary findings of the monitoring program online, the inability of unions to purchase the program’s full findings (at $1,500 per report), and the barriers factory-level unions face in constructively engaging with them. Performance Improvement Advisory Board.
CENTRAL makes specific recommendations on how the ILO-BFC can improve its program, including providing more thorough disclosure, making full reports available to workers, and introducing a specialized grievance mechanism for ILO-BFC factories regarding inaccurate monitoring data. These measures are important to better protect workers’ freedom of association and ensure a constructive dialogue to improve the ILO-BFC program, including a transparency database that reports information on a range of compliance issues, including freedom of association.
BFC is a joint programme of the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank Group that promotes the private sector in developing countries, and the ILO. Public Documents A report from this year’s International Labour Conference, held in Geneva from June 3 to 14, indicates that the ILO is concerned about the serious problems facing workers and trade unions in Cambodia, including “serious violations of fundamental civil liberties essential to the exercise of freedom of association… violence, intimidation, arrest and imprisonment of trade unionists engaged in peaceful labour disputes.”
Following the report’s release, a number of trade unions widely seen as pro-government launched a concerted effort to lobby Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior. investigate CENTRAL operations and finances; protest The protests took place outside Central’s offices on June 14 and 20. They called Central “tarnish the country’s international reputation” and “At the request of foreign donors, affecting the national economy and the welfare of workers..”
Three government-aligned trade unions have also called for an investigation into CENTRAL and its leadership and filed a complaint of injustice with the Ministry of Interior.
On June 27, the government-aligned Cambodian Federation for the Protection of Workers’ Rights filed a complaint with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. This is the first of three complaints against CENTRAL. The group claims that CENTRAL’s program manager, Taro Khun, publicly defamed the group and accused it of incitement to discrimination, a crime punishable by one to three years in prison. The complaint about Taro’s comments does not meet the definition of incitement to discrimination in Article 496 of the Cambodian Penal Code. Cambodia’s incitement laws are problematic and have been found unlawful by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Contrary to international human rights standardsAt the 2022 UN Human Rights Commission Dialogue, Committee experts also expressed concerns The number of people imprisoned for criminal offences of sedition, insult and defamation in the past five years.
On June 27, 44 civil society and community organizations Joint statement It condemned the Home Ministry’s decision to investigate Central as “clear retaliation and an attempt to intimidate NGOs.” [nongovernmental organization] “We are committed to improving freedom of association for all workers and unions in Cambodia,” the statement said, calling on the ILO, the International Finance Corporation and the BFC to “publicly acknowledge the value of their important research in improving program management and implementation.”
On June 28, Interior Minister Sar Sokha wrote to CENTRAL’s Secretary-General Moung Tra, demanding that he provide information on all of the company’s bank accounts in Cambodia within 30 days. Arbitrary investigations into CENTRAL activities There are also issues with compliance with regulations under Cambodia’s much-criticized law on associations and NGOs. The consequences for CENTRAL could be dire, including the possibility of it being deregistered, Human Rights Watch said.
On June 30, the government-aligned Cambodian National Labor Confederation also submitted the second of the three complaints in the form of a petition to the Minister of Interior, calling for a swift investigation and legal action against CENTRAL, which the confederation reportedly said it would consider if CENTRAL did not retract the report despite “demands from numerous union leaders.” Take legal action.
On July 2, the government-affiliated labor union, the National Confederation of Labor Unions, 3rd of 3 complaints They called on the Ministry of Interior to investigate CENTRAL’s June 4 report and the organization’s activities, arguing that the report lacks clear sources and evidence, has not been scientifically investigated, and is an smear against trade union freedom in Cambodia.
While CENTRAL has faced direct and indirect threats before, this smear campaign is unique in that it is a coordinated attack designed to force the publication to change its reporting or risk legal action or closure.
In May 2024, UN member states will Recommendations At the UN Human Rights Council, it called on Cambodia to ensure an enabling environment for civil society, labour organisations and freedom of association, including by improving working conditions and labour standards.
“The Cambodian Ministry of Interior should make it clear that reporting on freedom of association is not an illegal act and is not grounds for punitive investigations into the work of labor rights groups,” Lau said. “The government, embassies and global brands with investments in Cambodia’s garment, footwear and travel goods sectors should oppose the government’s harassment of CENTRAL and promote freedom of association, independent labor rights advocacy and the safety of Cambodian rights defenders.”