General claims victory in Thai border conflict

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 31 March 2010 15:06 Thet Sambath

A SENIOR military commander said Tuesday that Cambodia has prevailed on both the military and diplomatic fronts in its standoff with Thailand over disputed land near Preah Vihear temple.

“I am here to tell you all about our victory against the Thai soldiers on the battlefield. We are the winner, and we won both the battlefield and diplomatic fight under Samdech Hun Sen’s leadership,” said General Chea Dara, deputy commander in chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), in remarks before more than 1,000 students, teachers and officials at the National Institute of Education.

Chea Dara also hailed the construction of roads close to the temple, which he said had facilitated the movement of troops and allowed more Cambodians to settle in border areas.

“Fifty percent of the Thai soldiers were withdrawn recently to Bangkok to solve their internal issues, and they will not dare to attack Cambodian soldiers again,” he said.

Fighting near Preah Vihear has claimed at least seven lives from both sides since July 2008, when tensions over the temple’s listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site erupted. Chea Dara claimed last week, however, that 88 Thai troops had been killed in fighting since 2008.

Rath Huot, deputy director of the National Institute of Education, said after Tuesday’s speech that he was very glad to hear directly from Chea Dara about progress at Preah Vihear and the situation on the front line, adding, “It is useful for students and teachers here to learn it.”

Chea Dara also raised accusations that opposition leader Sam Rainsy had aided the Thai military during the recent standoff. “[Sam Rainsy] met Thai officials, and he passed the sword to Thai officials against Hun Sen,” he said. He did not add any other details about the alleged meetings.

Sam Rainsy Party spokesman Yim Sovann dismissed that claim outright. “We Cambodians do not contact any country to mistreat Cambodians and fight against Cambodians. Sam Rainsy was voted for by Cambodians; he has served Cambodians and does not serve foreigners.”

Local Human Rights Coalition Appreciates Cambodia’s Human Rights Progress

Chea Sophal
22 March 2010

Phnom Penh, 22 March 2010, Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC) welcomes the decisions made by Cambodian Government to accept all 91 recommendations made in the 13th U.N. Human Rights Council Session in Geneva. The statement expresses that the acceptance of all recommendations by the Cambodian Government is an important sign of good faith and CHRAC asks the Government to undertake credible steps to implement many of those recommendations within the next four years until the next Human Rights Council Review.

Contributions were made by the Cambodian civil society and CRAC in particular on the field of human rights through Working Group Session of the Human Rights Council on 1 December 2009. It is the first time for Cambodia to be under Universal Periodic Review which is a new human rights monitoring mechanism of the U.N. Human Rights Council which places UN member states under peer review every four years. The accepted recommendations are now serving as significant benchmarks to monitor the progress in the implementation of the Government’s commitments.

The statement also highlighted that the Cambodian Government should consider creating a workplan to start to work on the recommendations and make priorities in relations to land rights, legal and judicial reform and the freedom of expressions. CRAC and civil society organizations expressed willingness to support the implementation through active participation and watchful monitoring of the process.

CMDGs' Challenges Reflected in the Second Report on Status of MDGs in Cambodia

Cambodian Millennium Development Goals

Challenges Reflected in the Second Report on Status of MDGs in Cambodia

March 13, 2010

Chea Sophal

The United Nations Millennium Declaration was adopted in September 2009 by all 189 member states of the United Nations General Assembly. The leaders of the member states agreed to set of time-bound and measurable goals and targets for combating extreme poverty, hunger, diseases, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.

The Government of Cambodia expressed commitment to bridge the gap between global commitments and national progress, and between aggregate national and local development outcomes. The Millennium Development Goals set for Cambodia are as follows:

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;

Goal 2: Achieve universal nine-year basic education;

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women;

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality;

Goal 5: Improve maternal health;

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases;

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability;

Goal 8: Forge a Global Partnership for Development; and

Goal 9: De-mining, UXO and Victim Assistance;

Cambodia still has several challenges to overcome on the road to the MDGs. There are indications that poverty has not declined significantly despite rapid economic growth in the last decade. Rural growth has barely kept pace with population growth and unemployment is a considerable challenge. At the current pace of job creation, Cambodia will not have the capacity to compensate for the increasing numbers of young people entering the workforce annually (currently 300,000 per year, projected to increase to 400,000 per year by 2040)[1].

Health and sanitary conditions of a significant share of the population are still a matter of concern. Under-five mortality rate has likely increased slightly over the last decade and progress in reducing maternal mortality has been limited. The Millennium Development Goal pertaining to maternal mortality originally called for the rate to be lowered to 140 by 2015, though Health Ministry officials have since requested that the target be raised to 240[2].

The second report on the status of MDGs in Cambodia highlighted the major strategic orientations to reduce extreme poverty and hunger under three main theme: Macroeconomic environment, Microeconomic Environment, and Social Protection and Risk Reduction.

Under Social Protection and Risk Reduction, the report states that there are many sources of vulnerability, which require a more integrated policy response. The government will reinforce its measures designed to combat vulnerability in the following ways:

· Establishing a food insecurity, vulnerability, and information mapping system;

· Developing strategic plans and expanding the national special program for food security which is both cost-effective and uses appropriate technology;

· Strengthening non-court resolution mechanism through cadastral committees. Without land title the poor faces with land grabbing and dispute. Once the mechanism is strengthened the people especially the poor possessor will have access to use it for their land dispute resolution with low cost and less time.

· Increasing social protection to economically active groups through community-based rehabilitation services, vocational training and job placement;

· Strengthening social assistance for those enable to participate in the economy such as certain categories of the elderly and the disabled and to assist orphans and street children;

· Enforcing measures to increase child protection in the workplace through the implementation and monitoring of the child labour protection program, which includes measures of nutrition support, legal support, awareness raising, education, monitoring of child labour and provision of alternative livelihoods;

· Improving disaster management through enhanced coordination among key stakeholders and heightened preparedness for future calamities; and

· Promoting enforcement of social land concession program for those who have no residential and family agricultural production lands which account for 12 percent of the total population. Poverty links directly with landlessness. Thus, land distribution will lead to poverty reduction by providing the poor productive asset and favourable conditions.

Goal 4 of CMDGs aims at reducing under-five mortality and infant-mortality rate, and increasing the proportion of infants immunized against measles and breastfed practice. The second report pointed out the key challenges for meeting CMDG4 targets by 2015 as follows:

· Reducing the very high rate of malnutrition which is a significant contributor to infant and child mortality;

· Improving sanitation, access to safe water and hygienic conditions which contribute to mortality through water borne diseases and unsanitary practices;

· Improving immunization coverage as well as preventative and curative health care services for diseases closely related to child and infant mortality such as diarrhea and acute respiratory infections;

· Strengthening family planning services to increase birth spacing and delay the age of first pregnancy;

· Increasing awareness of proper childcare practices at family level including child feeding and diet, and proper sanitation and hygiene;

· Improving quality of health care delivery by changing attitudes and practices among health care providers; and

· Addressing inequalities in health care access with emphasis on poor and remote communities.

According to Cambodian Demographic Health Survey (CDHS 2005), approximately 8 per cent of Cambodian women aged 15-19 have become mothers or are currently pregnant with their first child. About 23 per cent of young married women have already given birth by the age of 19. Early childbearing is far more common in rural areas, where 8.3 per cent of 15-19 year-olds had given birth, compared to only 6.0 per cent in urban areas (CDHS 2005)[3].

The main challenges in meeting CMDG5 (Improve Maternal Health) include:

· Improving access to public health services among poor women. The lack of physical access as well as the inability to afford health care costs act limit effective access to health care for many poor women;

· Increasing the health budget and ensuring regular flows of funds to sub-national levels for essential obstetric care including safe abortions;

· Increasing the number of skilled personnel and ensure their placement in under serviced areas. The lack of skilled personnel in remote and isolated areas limits access to safe delivery for many women;

· Expanding knowledge on the importance of reproductive health care among poor women, as well as the effectiveness of contraception and other means of family planning, especially among those living in isolated areas where traditional beliefs still dominate; and

· Empowering women on issues of reproductive choice including contraceptive use.

The key challenges in meeting other Cambodian Millennium Development Goals can be consulted by referring to the Second Report on the Status of Millennium Development Goals in Cambodia.

---

[1] UNCT (2009): Situation Analysis of Youth in Cambodia

[2] The Phnom Penh Post (2010): Ministry reports rise in births attended by trained staff in 2009

[3] UNCT (2009): Situation Analysis of Youth in Cambodia

Labour Ministry’s Annual Conference

By Chea Sophal
12 March 2010

Phnom Penh (Cambodia): Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MOLVT) is holding its annual two-day Ministry’s retreat from 11 to 12 March 2010 at Chaktomok Threat. The Ministry will spend these two days to review the achievements made in 2009 and set its targets for 2010. The conference was presided over by Minister Vong Sauth who marked the opening of the conference and by H.E. Men Sam An, Deputy Prime Minister, in the closing ceremony.

H.E. Kan Man, Secretary of State, MOLVT, highlighted the performances made in 2009 as follows:

• There were 45,464 workers losing jobs as a result of closures of 106 factories and there were other 66 factories which suspended their operations. The suspensions of work in the factories also made additional 38,124 workers (24,462 females) lose their jobs. There were 48 new enterprises opening which employ 16,886 employees (15,186 females) in 2009. The Ministry’s report pointed out that most of the factories were bankrupt and there were no enough orders which were caused by the impact of financial crisis in the United States and Europe. The two places have been the main market places of Cambodia. Based on 2008 report, The Ministry noticed that 207 garment and footwear enterprises employing around 75,000 workers closed completely and 236 new with approximately 62,000 employees opened in 2008.

• While inspecting the labour compliance, the Labour Inspectors would make the minutes in order to fine or to file the complaints to the court if the enterprises were found not in compliance with the limitations. Throughout 2009, there were limitations issues for 854 enterprises/institutions.

• 186 cases of disputes were settled under the Labor Dispute Resolution Department, 75 of which were healed and 111 cases unhealed. 181 cases were sent to the Arbitration Council and one case was considered as null and void.

• There were 167 professional organizations registered in 2009. Up to now, there have been 1,740 professional organizations.

• The Department of Occupational and Health inspected the hygiene and safety conditions for 1,225 times among 682 enterprises.

• The Department of Child Labour withdrawn and protected 4,086 children from working the agricultural sector, including 2,247 girls and 1,839 boys. In cooperation with WINROK’s Cambodia, the Department had publicized with the Garment Manufacturers’ Association of Cambodia and union confederations for 2 times, with the intention to strengthen the procedures to recruit the employees at the age of 15 to under 18, and the procedures for serving as workers in the enterprises/establishments and in the informal economy in line with the context of decent works.

• The National Social Security Fund secretariat has accommodated 983 enterprises by the end of 2009 with 397,046 (343, 291 females) registered workers. Among these workers, 351,980 (316,842 females) worked in the garment and footwear industries. There were 884 enterprises that had paid the contributions, equal to 98.9%. 2,652 cases of the occupational risks have been reported and based on the results of the survey, there were 2,,423 occupational injuries, 2,223 were minor injuries, 176 were serious and 16 were fatal. There were 163 non-occupational injuries.

The Ministry of Labour also placed outline for its targets in 2010 through this annual retreat in order to implement the workplan of the Rectangular Strategy, Phase II 2009-2010. Some of crucial tasks to be performed in 2010 by MOLVT include:

a. Continuing job creations, establishing the public system for overseas employment and protecting migrant workers, participating in creating employment, improving the decent work in the informal economy, establishing the labour institutes and setting up the research committee and disseminating the information of the enterprises.

b. Paying close attention to the improvement of labour conditions for workers in all sectors, maintaining good conditions in workplaces, improving and promoting the procedures to exercise the freedom of professional organizations by making efforts to draft the union laws, strengthening the harmonization between employees and employers, strengthening the national health and safety network, pushing for the activities for health and occupational safety, and trying to re-set up the minimum wage for the workers based on the national and international economic situation.

c. Pushing for the development of technical and vocational training for the people intending to alleviate the poverty, developing the national standard qualification framework, developing the labour market information system, and continuing to establish the National Employment Agency (NEA) and the job centers in some more institutions.

d. Paying attention to carry out the strategic plan of gender mainstreaming in the sectors that the Ministry has set out in Rectangular Strategy, Phase II 2009-2010, and

e. Strengthening the effectiveness and safety of administration and management of social works and development of human resources, increasing the staff framework, monitoring and evaluating the implementation of action plans.

In her closing remarks on 12 March 2010, H.E. Men Sam An, recalled the recommendations made by Prime Minister Hun Sen on readiness to cope with unexpected crisis that may happen due to the global climate change, as having seen the examples from the global financial crisis and the impact of workers as a result of factories’ closures and suspensions. There should be officials and resources ready to divert and solve these impacts by providing vocational training and other support until those workers can go back to work or other sectors can absorb those workers.

H.E. Men Sam An and H.E. Vong Sauth marked the closing of Ministry’s annual conference by providing the award medals to the key Ministry’s officials and other international organizations’ representatives who had brought great achievement for the Ministry as well as for Cambodian society. Mr. Tuomo Poutiainent, Chief Technical Advisor, ILO Better Factories Cambodia, and Mr. Joseph Menacherry, Chief Technical Advisor, ILO IPEC, were awarded the medals.

NB: I had the opportunity to attend this annual conference and this is what I can share for any further information on the other aspects, you may contact the Ministry’s official directly since this short note is not a full report on achievements made in 2009 by MOLVT. Contact me if you have any questions.

Haiti: A Smart Sourcing For Manufacturers

New offshore opportunities are growing from more than just baseballs, apparel and textile manufacturing which has served as the number one job source for Haitians pre-earthquake.

Source: Industrial Week
By Andy English, Director of Sourcing, Blackthorn International
March 8, 2010


When the earthquake ravaged this beautiful Caribbean country it gave it back a relevancy it hasn't seen in decades. The Haiti relief efforts by individuals and neighboring countries are so enormous that direct assist with their economy is a natural second act. New offshore opportunities are growing from more than just baseballs, apparel and textile manufacturing which has served as the number one job source for Haitians pre-earthquake.

Local Advantage

One of the most proven successful ways to step into capacity contracting in Haiti or, setting up one's own brick-and-mortar there, is to cash in on current success and not re-invent the wheel. No one knows the paths to follow more than the local shop owner in Haiti. Why blaze a new trail when the old ones are so well traveled. The primary Haiti skill set is the eagerness and ability to learn.

HOPE for Duty Free Exports

HOPE II has the most generous market access provisions, and the longest duration (10 years), of all the U.S. trade preference programs. The rules of HOPE II are simple, flexible and generous for manufacturers and importers. The program includes a variety of different preference options for apparel, including a capped value-added content rule, capped trade preference levels (TPL)s, and an uncapped single-transformation list of products.

HOPE II also includes a world-class labor standards compliance provision. The program provided for in HOPE II is built upon the Cambodian Better Factories program, which helped Cambodia establish a widely-accepted labor compliance framework for its apparel industry despite the challenge of inadequate governmental capacity.

For men's or boy's dress (CVS fabric) pants, that's nearly 30%. For some products, the duty savings alone can be equal to the cut/make costs of making in a neighboring country. Or, perhaps even though a finishing operation isn't available in Haiti, the garments can be shipped to the Dominican Republic, finished there, and then export back to the U.S. as a duty-free product.
This levels and may tilt the playing field in favor of Haiti exports and production, even when compared to Asian producers. For with all other factors being equal, none have duty free, and are in such proximity to the U.S. for 3 day transit time to Miami by ship.

Haiti's apparel manufacturing past has been filled with customers who focused on products that were generally considered low-dollar, high-volume, and low-skill. The cost formula for these clients was usually one that looked for labor prices that were comparable to the component costs of their commodity products. While famous for t-shirts, Haitian apparel manufacturing has grown in areas that include tailored jackets and tuxedoes, wool top coats, women's coats, men's outlet pants, or fashionable men's and ladies' camp shirt duos.
Medical uniform production has increased since the passage of HOPE, but so has men's and boys' casual pant capacity, with wrinkle-free finishing capacity also available at some facilities. This evolution will continue toward higher-end products, as those customers who are positioning in Haiti, begin to prosper and re-invest time, energy and efforts.

And now there is another reason to position in Haiti. As another humanitarian and supportive gesture, there is now the proposal to U.S. retailers to source as much as 1% of their products in Haiti called Plus One For Haiti. The ramifications of this are tremendous in terms of short-term and long-term efforts to increase employment and the manufacturing capability base of the industry in all of Haiti. Currently 25,000 employees in the industry in Haiti support only about 12 direct customers producing there. By reaching out and increasing that customer number by 3 or 4 times, the industry has a real chance of a true revival and long-term security intended to take the recovery to the next generation and beyond.

Of course, the hope is that Plus One For Haiti will serve as a catalyst for growth by attracting peripheral service businesses such as shipping services, suppliers of trim, machines and parts, banking services to support full-package products, which in turn will support the growth of current operations or new ventures. This is exactly how the Dominican Republic's apparel industry grew in bounds during the late 80's and 90's. Getting in early ensures one positioning of the short and long-term growth of these burgeoning enterprises as well as providing PR cover for the consumers who are determined to do their part by spending on goods that have helped the country.

Sourcing vs. Manufacturing

But how does one go about finding a contractor in Haiti? You must seek contractors who have full capacity and are creative with the terms of venture. It may mean developing a partnership with a Haitian contractor on a new operation by bringing in equipment or management advisors. It may mean allowing their managers to visit your factory to see how to set up a line, or study methods and operations. Or it may include introducing them to your already-established manufacturing partner from another country whose business is at risk due to the pressures of Asia, Haiti or elsewhere, and giving them both an opportunity to create a partnership for you. They might see that having a piece of the pie is better than not having any pie at all. It also provides a higher level of confidence in the developing operation for customers than having to take that ethereal leap of faith with every variable being absolutely new.

There is no substitute for knowing your own business, including knowing your own sewing and cutting methods. Being able to pass those methods onto your Haitian contractor will demonstrate and promote a higher level of trust and long term commitment between contractor and customer than just bringing product and waiting for the fruit to fall. One example of this, might be to find that it's possible to break into pieces, either the garment or the process to manufacture the garment, concentrating the efforts in Haiti on sewing, while sourcing the cutting, wash or other finishing process in the DR or elsewhere regionally. Haiti doesn't possess all of the facilities for every type of garment, but after 30+ years of apparel manufacturing history, their neighbor to the east most likely does. If one can learn to use the entire island's resources, as some already have learned -- the Haiti is a winning formula.

Andy English is Director of Sourcing for Blackthorn International. He has been sourcing production in the western hemisphere, including Haiti, since 1996. His past employers include Levi Strauss, VF, the Bayer Group, Kalikow Brothers, and Fishman & Tobin. He is a second generation apparel manufacturing engineer, manager and sourcing advisor.

andy.english@blackthorn-intl.com