Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Workforce Abuse Jeopardizes US Trade Status: Union
Uncle Sam WARNS you!If the government continues to ignore labor violations and fails to address working conditions, it risks its special trade access to lucrative US markets, a leading labor leader said in Washington last week.
Marking the 10-year anniversary of a preferential Cambodia-US trade agreement in Washington, Art Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, said unfair practices and poor working conditions will continue without the intervention of the international community.
“They exploit the workforce, and the employers fire factory union leaders or violate workers’ rights when the law isn’t well enforced,” he said at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.
“I think what has happened will continue to happen if the government and donor countries such as America do not help,” he said. “Our union is trying to work hard to solve the issues, but in reality our power is very limited. And if the leader of the country doesn’t help, then it will be impossible for us to do it alone.”
Cambodia’s economy is heavily dependent on the garment sector, a major earner of foreign currency, but observers warn that abusive practices and a lack of worker rights could drive buyers away.
The Freed Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the country’s largest union, has warned that factory employers regularly violate labor codes, denying time off and maternity leave, paying salaries irregularly or even declaring bankruptcy and failing to pay workers when they strike. Union leaders say they are routinely discriminated against in their efforts to organize workers.
However, Cambodian trade officials say they have a strong labor law they try to enforce, and they have worked in recent years to brand Cambodian garments under fair practices.
In an interview with VOA Khmer on a trip to Washington last week, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said the law is well written and to international standards. His ministry sends monitors to factories often, he said.
“Honestly, we respect our labor rights more than any other countries,” he said. “We have a good law, but sometimes we also have some slow practices and a lack of enforcement.”
Trina Tocco, a member of the International Labor Rights Forum, based in Washington, told VOA Khmer that if Cambodia does not focus on the rights of workers, they will face abuses in the workplace.
John Ritchotte, a specialist in labor relations at the International Labour Organization, based in Bangkok, told VOA Khmer the labor law may need updated.
“The Cambodian labor law is now 10 years old, and like any law it needs to be adjusted and adapted to the change of circumstances,” he said at the IFC in Washington. “And now that there is a growing economy, a more diverse economy, they need to adapt the law to that reality.”
Marking the 10-year anniversary of a preferential Cambodia-US trade agreement in Washington, Art Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, said unfair practices and poor working conditions will continue without the intervention of the international community.
“They exploit the workforce, and the employers fire factory union leaders or violate workers’ rights when the law isn’t well enforced,” he said at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.
“I think what has happened will continue to happen if the government and donor countries such as America do not help,” he said. “Our union is trying to work hard to solve the issues, but in reality our power is very limited. And if the leader of the country doesn’t help, then it will be impossible for us to do it alone.”
Cambodia’s economy is heavily dependent on the garment sector, a major earner of foreign currency, but observers warn that abusive practices and a lack of worker rights could drive buyers away.
The Freed Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the country’s largest union, has warned that factory employers regularly violate labor codes, denying time off and maternity leave, paying salaries irregularly or even declaring bankruptcy and failing to pay workers when they strike. Union leaders say they are routinely discriminated against in their efforts to organize workers.
However, Cambodian trade officials say they have a strong labor law they try to enforce, and they have worked in recent years to brand Cambodian garments under fair practices.
In an interview with VOA Khmer on a trip to Washington last week, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said the law is well written and to international standards. His ministry sends monitors to factories often, he said.
“Honestly, we respect our labor rights more than any other countries,” he said. “We have a good law, but sometimes we also have some slow practices and a lack of enforcement.”
Trina Tocco, a member of the International Labor Rights Forum, based in Washington, told VOA Khmer that if Cambodia does not focus on the rights of workers, they will face abuses in the workplace.
John Ritchotte, a specialist in labor relations at the International Labour Organization, based in Bangkok, told VOA Khmer the labor law may need updated.
“The Cambodian labor law is now 10 years old, and like any law it needs to be adjusted and adapted to the change of circumstances,” he said at the IFC in Washington. “And now that there is a growing economy, a more diverse economy, they need to adapt the law to that reality.”
H1N1 Virus Claims Fifth Cambodian
A fifth person in Cambodia has died from the H1N1 virus, sometimes called swine flu, health authorities said Thursday.
The victim, a 20-year-old man from Phnom Penh, succumbed late last week after a stay at Calmette hospital, Sok Touch, director of the Ministry of Health’s communicable disease department, told reporters.
The total number of cases of the disease, which is considered a global epidemic, rose to 472, up from 444 cases last week.
The disease has spread across 13 provinces and cities so far: Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Kandal, Takeo, Kampong Speu, Battambang, Kampong Chnang, Svay Rieng, Kampong Cham, Mondolkiri, Kampot, Prey Veng and Banteay Meanchey.
The Ministry of Health will receive 300,000 doses of flu vaccine from the World Health Organization, to combat the spread of the virus at the end of this month, officials said.
Health experts continue to warn people to avoid crowded places if they have flu-like symptoms, including fever of 38 degrees Celsius, a sore throat, headaches, muscle aches and lethargy.
Only patients with severe cases of H1N1 will be hospitalized.
The victim, a 20-year-old man from Phnom Penh, succumbed late last week after a stay at Calmette hospital, Sok Touch, director of the Ministry of Health’s communicable disease department, told reporters.
The total number of cases of the disease, which is considered a global epidemic, rose to 472, up from 444 cases last week.
The disease has spread across 13 provinces and cities so far: Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Kandal, Takeo, Kampong Speu, Battambang, Kampong Chnang, Svay Rieng, Kampong Cham, Mondolkiri, Kampot, Prey Veng and Banteay Meanchey.
The Ministry of Health will receive 300,000 doses of flu vaccine from the World Health Organization, to combat the spread of the virus at the end of this month, officials said.
Health experts continue to warn people to avoid crowded places if they have flu-like symptoms, including fever of 38 degrees Celsius, a sore throat, headaches, muscle aches and lethargy.
Only patients with severe cases of H1N1 will be hospitalized.
Duch Team at Odds in Final Remarks
The French defense attorney for Kaing Kek Iev told Khmer Rouge tribunal judges Thursday he was in disagreement with his Cambodian colleague over whether the court should drop two atrocity crimes charges against the former prison chief know better as Duch.Instead, Francois Roux, in his final arguments to the UN-backed court, said he would rather see a prison sentence shortened for Duch, who is accused of killing more than 12,000 people as administrator for one of the Khmer Rouge’s most notorious prisons, Tuol Sleng.
International prosecutors have called for at least 40 years of imprisonment for war crimes, crimes against humanity, murder and torture.
Roux’s statement Thursday was at odds with arguments from Duch’s Cambodian attorney, Kar Savuth, who said Wednesday the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his client should be dropped.
Kar Savuth told the court the prison chief, now 67, had been trapped under a revolutionary hierarchy led by Pol Pot, security chief Son Sen and Nuon Chea. (Nuon Chea, the regime’s chief ideologue, is currently awaiting his own trial at the UN-backed court, along with three other senior leaders of the regime, under whom as many as 2 million Cambodians died in less than four years.)
“Duch did not commit crimes against humanity or war crimes,” Kar Savuth told the court. “Please, Trial Chamber, drop these charges.”
There were 195 other prison chiefs like Duch, he said.
“The disaster within and without [the Khmer Rouge cadre] was really the sole responsibility of the Cambodian communist party,” Duch told the court in his own concluding remarks. “I promise in any case in the future, I will do everything for the need of my people. Please the court, take this under consideration and decide on this matter.”
Prosecutors, meanwhile, have urged the court to hand down heavy punishment, due to the scale of the crimes.
“The crime for which he is being sentenced is a grave crime, which was against numerous people,” Cambodian prosecutor Chea Leang told the court Tuesday. “It is simply understood that nothing can replace the sentencing of him for a very long time in jail.”
Tuol Sleng prison, known to the Khmer Rouge as S-21, was the most serious of all the regime’s detention centers, and as its head, Duch intentionally tortured prisoners and sentenced them to inhumane deaths, she said.
The week brought to a close the first-ever trial for the hybrid tribunal, which has struggled since its inception in 2006 and is now facing a second, more complicated trial, for Noun Chea and other leaders.
The Trial Chamber will now begin consideration of a verdict in Duch’s case, though that decision is not expected until early 2010.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
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