Boom built on ‘slavery’

Kong Sophat (right) works in a kiln in a Kandal province brick factory last month. Sophat lost his arm in a workplace accident a few years ago. Pha Lina

The use of debt bondage to trap workers in “modern day slavery” is widespread in many of Cambodia’s brick-making factories, indicates research by rights group Licadho, whose findings suggest the Kingdom’s recent building boom is built on the illegal practice.

In a report released today titled Built on Slavery: Debt Bondage and Child Labour in Cambodia’s Brick Factories, the organisation documents the exploitation of both adults and children at factories in Tbong Khmum, Kandal and Phnom Penh, which every day funnel tens of thousands of bricks to construction sites around the capital.

Industrial rail project gathers steam with government push

A worker approaches a freight train as it prepares for departure from a railway station in Phnom Penh in April. Cambodia’s transport minister has announced plans to extend the domestic rail network into the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone. Hong Menea

Transport Minister Sun Chanthol has vowed to reinvigorate a long-dormant project to connect the Kingdom’s sole operating railway line to the capital’s biggest industrial park – a move that would boost rail traffic ahead of the completion of a rail link to northwestern Cambodia and Thailand.

Chanthol said during the opening of a workshop for the National Logistics Council on Monday that his ministry was pushing Royal Railway, which owns a 30-year concession to operate the Kingdom’s railway network, to build a spur into the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (Phnom Penh SEZ).

“There are a lot of factories there and workers that need to travel to the zone,” he said.

“This will benefit the railway and help the zone get goods to and from factories.”