APPLYING THE CONCEPT OF DECENT WORK TO CAMBODIA’S TEXTILE INDUSTRY: THE ILO’S ROLE IN ENSURING STATE COMPLIANCE TO INTERNATIONAL LABOR LAW
Keywords:
Cambodia. International Labor Law. Decent Work.Abstract
The objective of this paper is to give an overview on the situation of workers in the textile industry of Cambodia. These persons, young girls and women in their majority, deal not only with very low salaries and extremely demanding journeys, but also sexual harassment, unlawful firings of pregnant women, forced overtime and unattainable production targets, among others. What can be done by the international community (encompassing States, International Organizations, NGOs and multinationals alike) to tackle these issues, and to ensure that the decent work standards put forth by the International Labor Organization are respected in Cambodia’s garment factories? The answer to this question is multifaceted, but certainly involves cooperation between different actors ”“ and, most importantly, actual interest in improving the working conditions of these women, something that has arguably been lacking from the analyzed actor’s side.
Downloads
References
Cambodia (2010). Fast Track Initiative Road Map for Reducing Maternal and Newborn Mortality (2010-2015). Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia. Available at: http://www.unfpa.org/sowmy/resources/docs/library/R123_MOHCambodia_2010_Fast_TrackInitiativeRoadMapforReducingMaternalandNewbornMortality.pdf
Cheang, S. (2013). Cambodia Building Collapse: Shoe Factory Accident Kills 2, Injures 7 In Phnom Penh. The Huffington Post. May 15th, 2013. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/cambodia-buildingcollapse_n_3283555.html
Human Rights Watch - HRW (2015). Work Faster or Get Out: Labor Rights Abuses in Cambodia’s Garment Industry. United States of America: March 2015. Available at: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/cambodia0315_ForUpload.pdf.
International Labor Organization (2012) “Practical challenges for maternity protection in Cambodia”. Available at: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---asia/---ro-bangkok/---srobangkok/documents/publication/wcms_203802.pdf
Kourabas, M. (2014). In Wake of New Protests, H&M and Others Commit to Living Wages in Cambodia. Triple Pundit. September 26th, 2014. Available at: http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/09/hm-others-commit-living-wages-cambodia-wakenew-
protests/.
Kuo, L (2015). What three Norwegian fashionistas learned after a month in a Cambodian textile Factory. Quartz. January 27th, 2015. Available at: http://qz.com/333940/what-three-norwegian-fashionistas-learned-after-a-month-in-acambodian-
textile-factory/.
Oliver, J (2015). Fashion. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. United States of America: HBO (Production). April 26th, 2015. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdLf4fihP78
Pheap, A.; Consiglio, A. (2015). Head-On Crash Kills 17 Factory Workers, Driver. The Cambodia Daily. May 20th, 2015. Available at:
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/head-on-crash-kills-17-factory-workers-driver-83963/.
Sweatshop - Deadly Fashion (2015). Documentary Series. Norway: AftenPostenTV - APTV (Production). Available at: http://www.aftenposten.no/webtv/#!/video/21032/sweatshop-ep-1-how-many-will-diehere-every-year
Unknown Author (2013). Second Cambodian factory collapse injures 23 workers who produce clothes for H&M. News.Com.Au. May 20th, 2013. Available at: http://www.news.com.au/world/cambodia-factory-accident-injures-23-workers-whoproduce-
clothes-for-hm/story-fndir2ev-1226647249456.
* All links were last visited on June 8th, 2015.
