ILO and Labour Ministry call for Improved Health and Safety at Work

For immediate release: 30 April 2012 

(ILO Cambodia) Monday, April 30^th will see a large-scale event take place in Kampong Som city, Sihanoukville Province to mark this year’s National Day for Occupational Safety and Health (OSH). The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MoLVT) with the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO) will organize the event on the theme of Promoting Safety and Health in Small and Medium Enterprises as an effective measure to promote safe and healthy workplaces.

Occupational Safety and Health is a serious issue in Cambodia. More than 1,500 persons in the Kingdom die each year as a result of work-related accidents, equivalent to four persons a day. Another 3,000 people contract work-related diseases every year. This is the seventh year that Cambodia has observed OSH Day and this year’s event is set to be the largest observation that the country has had to date. It has been designed to highlight the human and economic cost of preventable workplaces accidents, injuries and illnesses, both in the Kingdom and across the globe.

Some 600 representatives of government, employers, trade unions and hundreds of workers will take part in the morning-long activities which will start with a march. Participants will carry specially-printed flags with the campaign theme, placards and banners with hundreds of posters and flags brandished to the ceremony venue where there will be a keynote address on the by H.E Dr. Vong Sauth, Minister of Labour and Vocational Training and will encompass speeches by esteemed guests such as H.E Mr. Sbong Sarath, Governor of Preah Sihanoukville Province, Mr. Jiyuan Wang, Director, ILO Country Office for Thailand, Cambodia and Lao PDR, Dr. Leng Tong, Director of OSH Department, MoLVT, in addition to representatives from Cambodian Trade Unions and the employers’ organization. The day’s events will also see a safety show put forward vital messages directed at workers and employers on how to ensure the utmost safety in the workplace, this will touch on the key OSH issues faced by Cambodia such as hazardous work. The OSH Day proceedings will come to a close with a release of balloons.

“World Day Occupational Safety and Health plays an important role in reminding employers and workers of the need

to prioritise health and safety in order to have a healthy and productive workplace. The Royal Government of Cambodia has been working to educate and train working Cambodians across the country’s industries, especially high risk occupations on how to ensure they take every available safety precaution to keep injury and illness free while at work. At the same we are conducting inspections and creating standards to give incentive to employers to fully invest in OSH” said Dr. Leng Tong, Director of OSH Department, MoLVT.

“It is vital that we take heed of the fact that insufficient occupational safety and health mechanisms can have a devastating impact in human and economic terms. It is the poorest and least protected- women, children and other vulnerable groups who are often among the most affected by work-related accidents and diseases” said Mr Jiyuan Wang Director, ILO Country Office for Thailand, Cambodia and Lao PDR.

He continued: “We at the ILO have long encouraged employers to ensure a preventive safety and health culture at the workplace stressing that Decent Work is safe work. Ignorance of and incompliance with OSH regulations are not only bad for workers but also bad for business.”

The Cambodian theme of promoting OSH in small enterprises compliments the global theme which is Green jobs: promoting safety and health in a green economy. This looks at the close relationship between a safe and healthy working environment and the protection of the general environment. The celebration also comes in conjunction with the International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers on April 28 to honour the memory of victims of occupational accidents and diseases and International Labour Day which marks the economic and social achievements of workers worldwide.

For more information please contact:

Mr Tun Sophorn, ILO Joint Projects Office tun@ilo.org, Tel: (855) 23 220 817

Dr Leng Tong, Director, Occupational Health Department, MoLVT lengtongpachem@gmail.com, Tel (855) 023 883170; 883180

Below are some photos on the preparation of Cambodia National Day for Safety and Health at Work

Officials from Preah Sihanouk Province, Ministry of Labur, and Sihanouk Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) are preparing and posting banners and posters at the event venue for celebrating OSH Day in Cambodian seaside town on 29 April 2012. Photo by CSP/2012

Posters on Promoting Health and Safety in a Green Economy, OSH Management: A Tool for Continuous Improvement, and Together We Can Make Maternity Protection at the Workplace a Reality, were posted on the way to SSEZ. Photo by CSP/2012

Celebrating National Day for Safety and Health Poster Posted at the Entrance of SSEZ. Photo by CSP/2012

Labour Official Holding Poster Before Placing on the Wall Behind Him.

Photo by CSP/2012

Photo by CSP/2012

Workers Walking Through the New Star Shoe Factory in the Rain during their lunch break

Photo by CSP/2012

Complementary feeding campaign launched in Cambodia

Press release

Complementary feeding campaign launched in Cambodia

Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA, 27 April 2012 - The Royal Government of Cambodia in collaboration with UNICEF, USAID, WHO and other development partners, launched a nationwide campaign today on complementary feeding for children aged  6 – 24 months to ensure they receive adequate nutrition from the combination of complementary food and breast milk.

In Cambodia, malnutrition affects the majority of children under the age of five. It is caused by the inability to afford nutritious food, high rates of infectious diseases and inappropriate feeding practices. The consequences of malnutrition are severe. It is one of the top underlying causes of child mortality and morbidity in Cambodia and its lasting repercussions continue into adulthood, impairing both mental and physical development that results in poor performance in school and limited opportunities for work in later life.
“By seeking to improve complementary feeding for children 6 to 24 months we are addressing one of the major barriers to Cambodia reaching its full potential in the future – the healthy development of its children,” said UNICEF Deputy Representative, Sunah Kim at the launch.

The impact of malnutrition can be clearly seen across Cambodia and roughly 40 per cent of children age five and under are too small for their age and another 28 per cent are underweight. A smaller, though troubling 11 per cent of children are wasted (thin). Cambodian women are equally susceptible to malnutrition, with 19 per cent of women aged between 15 and 49 considered too thin – a situation that increases risk for complications during birth and leads to low birth weight of their babies. 

“Although, there is a success in promotion of breastfeeding the appropriate complementary feeding practice is still the main factor contributing to high rate of malnutrition in the country,” said Professor Eng Huot, Secretary of State, Ministry of Health. “Mothers and caregivers have an important role to ensure children receive appropriate and quality complementary food.”

The campaign, financially supported by Spain through the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-F) and USAID, will encourage mothers and caregivers through home visits and group meetings, to adopt and maintain improved complementary feeding by ensuring that the right food is given to young children in the right way and at the right time.

As part of the campaign to help promote the adoption of good practices in relation to appropriate complementary feeding, messages will be effectively conveyed through the use of television and radio. Several print materials have been developed and a Child Health Fair will also be organised using a training video to show mothers and caregivers how to prepare nutritious complementary food.

Ultimately, the campaign will contribute to improving the nutritional status of Cambodian children; contribute to the reduction of child malnutrition and accelerate achievement of the Millennium Development Goals 1 and 4: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; and reduce child mortality respectively.

About UNICEFUNICEF works in 190 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook

For further information, please contact:
Ms. Angelique Reid, Communication Officer, UNICEF Cambodia 
Tel:  +855 23 426 214/5, 077 899 501
Email: areid@unicef.org

Cambodia must solve two big problems for takeoff

Reuters, 23 April 2012
By Martin Hutchinson
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
Cambodia must solve two big problems to achieve the kind of rapid, sustained growth Asia’s tiger economies have delivered. Opening its stock exchange on April 18 is a good start – it shows the country is relatively friendly to foreign investors and markets. But meeting the needs of a rapidly growing population will be expensive, and Cambodia’s corruption is both dreadful and pervasive.

Cambodia’s economic performance, at first glance, looks decent. It is expected by the Asian Development Bank to grow at 6.5 percent in 2012, around the same rate as in 2011. But with Cambodia’s population growing 1.7 percent annually, GDP per capita is increasing at less than 5 percent. That means living standards are increasing more slowly than in richer Asian countries like Vietnam, India and China.

Feeding, educating and housing ever more Cambodians will be a challenge. Cambodia’s population is increasing faster than the 1.1 percent annual growth in Vietnam and 1.3 percent in India, and will require large additional investments in infrastructure and services before growth can take off. The new stock market might assist at the margins by bringing in more foreign capital; more reliable pension provisions, making large families less of a necessity, would help too.

Corruption is the real enemy. Even for Asia, the country’s property rights are poor, and it ranks with the worst global slums on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. The World Bank has ranked Cambodia one of the most difficult countries in which to start a small business, in terms of both time and cost. Solving the problem requires action at the top as well as a clean-up campaign throughout the various layers of state bureaucracy.

With a new stock exchange, Cambodia is at least showing its willingness to modernize – though in truth it might get better results from bunking up with a nearby major exchange such as Singapore’s. Even this may not bring in the capital needed to deliver rapid growth for a steadily rising number of Cambodians. If 20-year ruler Hun Sen wants to secure that sort of legacy, getting rid of graft must be the top priority.

Australia: Lead the Human Rights Movement in Asia

William Gomes Salem-News.com

Open letter from Salem-News.com Human Rights Ambassador William Gomes.

 Apr-17-2012

(HONG KONG) - Australia has expanded its human rights advocacy at the international level for the last five years, this includes its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council.

 

 This commitment of Australia to engage constructively in human rights dialog with individual countries, in particular within Australia’s region, leaves the country in an ideal position to lead other nations in the protection and promotion of human rights.

In his letter to Senator Bob Carr, Minister for Foreign Affairs in Canberra, Salem-News Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes, offers a number of recommendations that can help Australia continue to successfully integrate as part of the Asia-Pacific region, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries, which are important friends and trading partners for Australia.

April 17, 2012

Senator Bob Carr
Minister for Foreign Affairs
PO Box 6100
Senate
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

Re: Australia: Lead the Human Rights Movement in Asia

Dear Senator Bob Carr,

Congratulations on your recent appointment as Foreign Minister of Australia.

I am William Nicholas Gomes, Salem-News Human Rights Ambassador. I look forward to working with you and the Gillard government to help Australia realize its commitments to protecting and promoting human rights.

Since 2007 the Australian government has expanded its human rights advocacy at the international level, including through its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council. We welcome Australia’s commitment to engaging constructively in human rights dialogues and exchanges with individual countries, in particular within Australia’s region.

Australia is now well integrated as part of the Asia-Pacific region and, as you have mentioned, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries are important friends and trading partners for Australia. On your recent trip to Cambodia, Singapore, and Vietnam you highlighted the importance of Southeast Asia to Australia’s foreign policy and identified the ASEAN bloc, taken as a whole, as Australia’s second largest trading partner.

I write to you to outline human rights concerns in several countries where we work and where I believe the right mix of pressure and engagement from Australia may make all the difference to protecting human rights. These countries include Burma, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Trade, as you acknowledged, is an important means by which to improve the living standards of people in the Asia-Pacific region. However, trade alone will not bring the necessary improvements to people in the region who are denied their basic freedoms.

Australia is uniquely a long-standing successful democracy in the Asian region, as well as the 13^th largest economy in the world. Australia’s close ties to countries in Southeast Asia create an opportunity for constructive dialogue on improving not just living standards of people in the region, but also their human rights. Australia should leverage this position in the region and use every opportunity to raise human rights concerns, sensitively and constructively, as part of its bilateral and multilateral relations, as well as showing by example that it fully respects the human rights of all, including migrants and indigenous people in Australia.

Treaty Ratification and the Bali Process

I understand that through the Bali Process, Australia has tried to lift regional standards and cooperation to counter people-smuggling. However, we are concerned that punitive crackdowns on people-smuggling, without a corresponding regional framework in place to protect refugees and asylum seekers, could exacerbate the harm to people who are fleeing persecution. Currently, only two ASEAN member states, Cambodia and the Philippines, have ratified the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention) and its 1967 Protocol. The absence of ratifications has serious consequences in terms of the protection of asylum seekers through regional cooperation frameworks, such as the Bali Process.

I recommend that Australia:

• Use its position in the region to encourage ASEAN member countries to ratify the Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.
• Exercise Australia’s leadership as co-chair of the Bali Process to ensure that the humane treatment of migrants, the ability of asylum seekers to access asylum processing systems and the principle of non-refoulement (non-return) are core objectives of the Bali Process, including any discussions or agreements on a regional offshore processing center for migrants.
• Make the Bali Process more transparent and accountable by ensuring that civil society groups are provided an opportunity to meaningfully participate in the process.
• Ensure that financial or technical assistance to other states for the purpose of strengthening border control and combating people-smuggling includes assistance and training in refugee law and refugee protection. Urge other states to ensure that any proposed people-smuggling legislation does not criminalize those acting with humanitarian, rather than financial, intentions, in accordance with international standards.

Burma

The Australian government has long taken a calibrated approach of targeted sanctions, principled engagement, and humanitarian aid to press for human rights and genuine democratic reform in Burma.

There have been encouraging signs of change in Burma in the past year, including easing of official censorship, a new law on the right to strike, and amendments to electoral laws that permitted the opposition National League for Democracy to register and contest April by-elections in which it won almost all the seats it contested.

However, the overall human rights situation remains poor. Despite the release of many political prisoners, several hundred political prisoners remain. Laws promulgated in recent months, including on the right to peaceful assembly, fall short of international standards. The newly created National Human Rights Commission also does not fulfill the Paris Principles on national human rights bodies, and the commission has not seriously investigated complaints of human rights abuses.

Now more than ever, countries like Australia should support democratic forces inside the country to push for real reform and the release of all political prisoners. I support your view that the peeling back of sanctions should only be done once further progress is made and recognized as authentic by the opposition. Blindly pursuing engagement for humanitarian assistance and foreign investment in the absence of a functioning legal framework could derail the fragile gains of the past year. Given the small number of seats involved, these by-elections were not a serious test of Burma’s commitment to democratic reform. The real test will be when people exert their basic rights, whether by acting under new laws or expressing views contrary to those of the military, which continues to be the controlling force in the country.

Burma has the world’s longest running civil war, with the Burmese army engaged in armed conflicts with armed groups of various ethnic minorities around the country. The government has embarked on ceasefire negotiations with a number of armed ethnic rebel groups. However, serious abuses by the army against ethnic minority populations continue.

For instance, fighting has been ongoing since June 2011 in Kachin State, with 75,000 people displaced as a result. The Burmese military continues to violate international humanitarian law through the use of extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual violence, abusive forced labor, antipersonnel landmines, and pillaging of property. The Kachin Independence Army has unlawfully used child soldiers and landmines.

I support Australia’s decision in January to remove some names from the list of individuals subject to targeted travel and financial sanctions. On April 6 you said, “We will continue to ease our sanctions in ways that acknowledge the progress made to date, while also encouraging further steps toward reform.” I fully share the view that it is important to ease sanctions, in a way that favors the forces of progress towards human rights and rule of law in the country, while continuing to disadvantage those holding progress back—which include military leaders implicated in human rights abuses in conflict areas and those with ties to with abusive military-owned companies. In light of this, Australia should now consider additional positive steps— for example, further easing of visa bans and asset freezes for select individuals, and the establishment of parliamentary exchanges.

I also support Australia’s significant increase in humanitarian aid to assist the Burmese people, up to Au$47.6 million in 2011-2012. As discussions begin on the return of an approximately 140,000 refugees from camps along the Thailand-Burma border, Australia should maintain support for those in refugee camps, ensure there is no premature push to refugees and that any repatriation will be voluntary, safe and dignified. To date, Australia has not supported efforts at cross-border assistance from Thailand to Burma to aid displaced communities in eastern Burma, but should reconsider that stance in light of Burmese government ceasefire talks with ethnic armed groups, and discussions on repatriating refugees and IDPs over the coming years.

I also appreciate Australia’s commitment to advocating greater assistance to Burma through international financial institutions and others but urge that such engagement take Burma’s challenging context into consideration.

I recommend that Australia:

• Support an independent international mechanism to investigate alleged violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed by all parties to the conflicts in Burma, as well as to investigate and publicly report on the whereabouts and conditions of remaining political prisoners.
• Support the establishment of a United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights office in Burma with a standard protection, promotion, and technical assistance mandate.
• Continue to publicly press for the release of all remaining political prisoners in Burma.
• Potentially lift visa bans and asset freezes against named individuals in Burma that are not high-ranking military officials or their close associates, subject to a careful review to determine that they do not bear responsibility for abuses, while sanctions against key uniformed leaders of the armed forces should be maintained.
• Coordinate with other governments—particularly those that have sanctions in place on Burma—to develop new rules setting out core requirements for responsible, rights-respecting trade and investment in the country that will take effect as sanctions are selectively removed. In preparation, begin now to consult with civil society to develop strong accountability and transparency measures for businesses active in Burma.
• Maintain Australia’s arms embargo on Burma, as the government has pledged to do.
• Work with the government of Burma to institute sufficient legal, human rights, anti-corruption, and environmental safeguards to ensure that Burma’s governance reforms are sustainable in the long term.
• Similarly, design and pursue development efforts with due regard for the challenges of engagement in country that has been misruled for decades. Donor governments and institutions should consult with civil society and press Burma’s government to increase transparency and accountability, make urgent social needs a priority, and carry out systemic reforms necessary for meaningful development. Meaningful anti-corruption measures are needed so that Burma’s own considerable resources and outside assistance benefit the people of Burma and are not squandered or stolen.
• Increase assistance to IDPs and refugees and play a role in crucial human rights monitoring to ensure any eventual returns are voluntary, safe and dignified.
• Ensure that post-conflict development initiatives include a strong human rights protection component.

Cambodia

Australia has long been committed to Cambodia’s development. In 2011-2012 Cambodia will receive AU$77.4 million in Australian aid.

While we support Australia’s provision of aid to Cambodia, the donor relationship provides an important opportunity for Australia to assist Cambodia to overcome some of its serious human rights problems. In making your first state visit to Cambodia, you said, “It’s been a great honor for me to make my first visit as Australia’s Foreign Minister to Cambodia… Australia is a close and outstanding friend of Cambodia.” While Australia clearly values its relationship with Cambodia, as a “friend” it should be prepared to speak more frankly about the serious human rights violations being committed against the Cambodian people in an environment of total impunity.

Freedom of expression, assembly and association remain under threat in Cambodia. The government is using criminal defamation and incitement laws to intimidate and imprison critics. Nongovernmental organizations have identified at least 12 persons imprisoned under these laws for peaceful expression of views since December 2010. The government also continues to systematically use a 2009 law to deny permission for public assemblies in Phnom Penh outside isolated “freedom parks.”

Arbitrary detention and torture are routinely used by the police and the military police to extract confessions, which are then used to obtain convictions. Cambodia’s prisons continue to be overcrowded and lack sufficient food, water, sanitation, and health care. Other facilities, such as the Prey Speu Social Affairs Center, are also used to arbitrarily detain people against their will, including homeless people, drug users, and sex workers rounded up from the streets. International Human Rights organization Human Rights Watch has found detainees there have been subjected to abuses including suspicious deaths, rape, torture, and beatings.

During your recent Phnom Penh visit, you recently announced an additional contribution of Au$1.61 million to fund the work of the Khmer Rouge trials, taking the total to more than Au$18 million donated by Australia since 2006. Australia is the second largest donor to the trials. After five years and more than AU$144 million, the court has prosecuted just one defendant, Kaing Guek Eav (alias Duch), while only three others are currently on trial.

In Phnom Penh, you stated that “the independence of the judiciary is paramount and the ECCC [Khmer Rouge tribunal] must be allowed to operate free from any external interference.” However, given recent events in Cambodia, a stronger statement supporting the importance of additional cases to proceed is warranted. Cases 003 and 004 are two cases comprising five suspects that were submitted by the international co-prosecutor to the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges in 2009. Two international co-investigating judges recently resigned, citing political interference from the Cambodian government. Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian Peoples’ Party (CPP) have used their power over Cambodian appointed judges to systematically undermine the independence of the tribunal in pursuit of their demand that the tribunal only consider cases they would like to see prosecuted, flaunting the law and breaching the government agreement with the UN establishing the court.

Now more than ever, principled UN participation, asserting fair procedures and thorough investigations of all cases, is essential to ensuring that the Khmer Rouge tribunal is able to complete its mission to hold those “most responsible” for Khmer Rouge atrocities to account, as provided by law.

I recommend that Australia:

• Play a leadership role in pressing the United Nations to protect the integrity of the Khmer Rouge tribunal by nominating qualified international co-investigating and reserve co-investigating judges, and defending the legal authority and independence of the international co-investigating judge to investigate any cases of persons suspected of being most responsible for serious international crimes in Cambodia coming to their attention.
• Publicly call for the need for genuine, impartial, independent, and effective investigations into Khmer Rouge tribunal cases 003 and 004.
• Condemn the ongoing political interference by the Cambodian government, which undermines the judicial independence of the Khmer Rouge tribunal.
• Support the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly by publicly calling for the release of all persons who are in prison for peacefully expressing their views and conducting peaceful protests.
• Demand the closure of the Prey Speu Social Affairs Center and other centers used to arbitrarily detain persons against their will.
• Urge improvements in conditions of detention in Cambodian prisons, in line with international standards.

Indonesia

Australia has significantly deepened its bilateral relationship with Indonesia in the past two years, elevating it to the status of a “comprehensive strategic partnership” in March 2010. Indonesia is now also the largest recipient of Australian aid funding, totaling A$558 million in 2011-2012. These factors create a unique opportunity for Australia to use its clout to seek better human rights outcomes in Indonesia.

Australia provides extensive support and training to Indonesian security forces. Impunity for members of Indonesia’s security forces remains a serious concern, with no civilian jurisdiction over soldiers who commit serious human rights abuses. Military tribunals are rarely held, lack transparency, and the charges frequently fail to reflect the seriousness of the abuses committed. Many of these abuses take place in Papua—however, access to Papua remains tightly controlled by the Indonesian government, and few foreign journalists or human rights researchers are able to visit without close monitoring of their activity.

For instance, in October 2012 Indonesian security forces used excessive force to break up a pro-independence demonstration in Jayapura, Papua. The security forces then used batons and in some instances firearms against the demonstrators, and as a result at least three people were killed and more than 90 others injured. As best I can determine, police and military officials involved have only received disciplinary infractions—no one has been charged with criminal offenses. To the contrary, the Jayapura police chief, Imam Setiawan, has subsequently been promoted.

Meanwhile, five of the activists who testified how security forces beat them during the crackdown have been tried and sentenced to three years in prison for makar (treason) because of pro-independence statements they made at the Congress. I believe that a clear and firm public statement on Australia’s position on respecting free expression and condemning impunity by security forces is critical, especially since there is a real risk that Australian Ambassador Greg Moriarty’s reference to the actions of Papuan People’s Congress leaders as “illegal, provocative, and counterproductive” may otherwise be interpreted as supporting further government crackdowns on the Congress.

The Lombok Treaty between Indonesia and Australia affirms the “sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity of both Parties” but it also requires respect for obligations under international law, including international human rights law.

Despite Indonesia’s progress as an emerging democracy, the country now has scores of political prisoners from Papua and the Moluccas, primarily individuals put behind bars for making statements or raising flags or displaying symbols that the Indonesian authorities interpreted as local calls for independence. Indonesian officials continue to enforce a number of laws that criminalize the peaceful expression of political, religious, and other views. These include offenses in Indonesia’s criminal code such as treason or rebellion (makar), “inciting hatred” (haatzai artikelen), and blasphemy.

Violence against religious minorities in Indonesia is on the rise. Islamist militants have mobilized mobs to attack religious minorities with impunity; short prison terms for a handful of offenders have done little to dissuade mob violence. The government has failed to revoke several decrees that discriminate against minority religions, fostering public intolerance.

I recommend that Australia:

• Urge Indonesia to lift all restrictions on access of foreign media and human rights organizations to Papua.
• Unequivocally condemn excessive use of force and the suppression of peaceful protests, and call on the Indonesian government to ensure that Indonesian security forces are properly held accountable for any alleged abuses. In particular, call for an investigation into alleged excessive use of force by the authorities at the Papuan Peace Congress last October.
• Call for Indonesia to amend or repeal laws that criminalize peaceful political expression and to free all prisoners held for peacefully expressing their political views.
• Condemn incidents of violence against religions in Indonesia, and call on the Indonesian government to repeal its decrees that discriminate against minority religions and ensure accountability for harm that is caused.

Malaysia

Malaysia is Australia’s third-largest trading partner in ASEAN. Despite Malaysian government promises of reform and relaxation of controls, the country in 2011 fell far short in meeting Prime Minister Najib Razak’s pledges to “uphold civil liberties” and build a “functional and inclusive democracy.” Last year, the government arbitrarily detained outspoken critics, used tear gas and water cannon against thousands who peacefully marched in support of clean and fair elections, and replaced long-existing restrictions on free assembly with even more draconian controls.

A particular concern regarding the Australia-Malaysia relationship is the treatment of asylum seekers in Malaysia. Despite the High Court’s ruling that Malaysia does not have appropriate legal frameworks for protection of asylum seekers, there are currently two bills before the Australian Parliament seeking to revive the asylum swap deal. Despite a reduction of forced repatriation at the Malaysia-Thai border, the Malaysian government still fails to protect asylum seekers and refugees. Malaysia has not ratified the Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol and has no refugee law or procedure. Malaysian authorities still commit refoulement. In February 2012 they deported blogger Hamza Kashgari back to Saudi Arabia where he faces a possible death penalty for expression of his religious views. At no time were his lawyers or United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representatives permitted access to him. Neither the Australian government’s bill (the Migration Legislation Amendment (Offshore Processing and other Measures) Bill 2011) nor the Hon. Rob Oakeshott MP’s bill (Migration Legislation Amendment (The Bali Process) Bill 2012) provide any legally binding Refugee Convention-related protection for persons removed from Australia under the proposed amendments. Each bill would send Australia’s asylum seekers to a precarious and uncertain future in Malaysia, and each raises serious concerns about Australia’s discharge of its obligations under the Refugee Convention.

I recommend that Australia:

• Stop pursuing any asylum swap arrangement with Malaysia given the absence in Malaysia of legal and practical protections required under the Refugee Convention.
• Raise concerns with Malaysia about its unwillingness to provide protection to asylum seekers and its attacks on free expression and assembly.

Vietnam

Australia’s bilateral relationship with Vietnam reached a significant milestone when the two countries signed the “Australia-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership” in September 2009. The provisions of the agreement were supplemented by a bilateral Plan of Action signed in October 2010. Australia’s development assistance for Vietnam in 2011-12 is budgeted at AU$137.9 million, which makes Vietnam the sixth largest recipient of Australian funding. Australia is also Vietnam’s fifth largest export market and among the top 10 trade partners. In addition, Vietnam and Australia are negotiating the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement. Next year, 2013, will mark the 40^th year since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Australia should use its access and influence to urge Vietnam to improve its abysmal human rights record.

In Vietnam, many political detainees and prisoners have been charged under vaguely worded articles in Vietnam’s penal code that criminalize peaceful dissent. These crimes include “subversion of the people’s administration,” “undermining the unity policy,” “conducting propaganda against the state,” and “abusing democratic freedoms” to “infringe upon the interests of the State.”

Throughout 2011 and the first three months of 2012, there has been a steady stream of political trials and arrests in Vietnam. Bloggers, writers, human rights defenders, land rights activists, anti-corruption campaigners, and religious and democracy advocates faced harassment, intimidation, arbitrary arrest, torture, and imprisonment.

Police have prevented public celebration of religious events, intimidated and detained participants, and placed prominent leaders of these groups under house arrest. Even registered religious organizations such as the Redemptorist churches in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City were harassed repeatedly, including a mob attack against the Thai Ha Catholic church in Hanoi.

Vietnamese law authorizes arbitrary detention without trial. Peaceful dissidents and others deemed to threaten national security or public order may be involuntarily committed to mental institutions, placed under house arrest, or detained in state-run “rehabilitation” or “education” centers. Drug users can be held up to four years in government-run rehabilitation centers where they receive very little treatment but are subjected abuse including beatings, torture, forced labor (in the guise of so-called “labor therapy”), and solitary confinement. An assessment in early 2011 found that 123 drug detention centers across the country held 40,000 people, including children as young as 12.

Those held in drug detention centers reported being forced to work in cashew processing and other forms of agricultural production, and garment manufacturing and other forms of manufacturing, such as making bamboo and rattan products. Under Vietnamese law, companies that handle products from these centers are eligible for tax exemptions. Some products produced as a result of this forced labor made their way into the supply chain of companies that sell goods abroad, including to Australia.

During your March 27-29 visit to Vietnam, you stated that Australia considers Vietnam as one of its key partners in the Asia-Pacific and that the Australian government will continue to give “priority to Vietnam in official development assistance. I urge that Vietnam’s concrete human rights improvement be an integral part of Australia’s official engagement in Vietnam.

I recommend that Australia:

• Call on Vietnam to immediately release all political and religious prisoners and urge Vietnam to amend or repeal provisions that criminalize peaceful dissent and certain religious activities on the basis of imprecisely defined “national security” crimes to bring Vietnam’s laws and regulations into full compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Vietnam has ratified.
• Urge Vietnam to repeal Ordinance 44, which authorizes administrative detention, house arrest, and detention in Social Protection Centers and psychiatric facilities for two-year renewable periods, without trial, for individuals deemed to have violated national security laws.
• Urge Vietnam to recognize independent labor unions and to ratify and implement International Labor Organization Conventions No. 87 (Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize), No. 98 (Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining) and No. 105 (Abolition of Forced Labor).
• Ensure that no funding, programming, and activities directed to assisting Vietnam’s drug detention centers are supporting policies or programs that violate international human rights law, including prohibitions on arbitrary detention, forced labor, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Vetting procedure for security force cooperation

A common issue in many countries where Human Rights Watch works is a lack of accountability for crimes committed by security forces, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture. I believe impunity will be addressed only by raising the stakes for committing such crimes, which requires concerted international pressure for abusive personnel to be brought to justice. Knowing that Australia plays a vital role in training security forces and helping to promote human rights in many of these countries, we also call on your administration to establish and make publicly available a procedure by which appropriate Australian officials will systematically vet the human rights records of security forces that Australia seeks to train.

This procedure should:

• Conduct vetting at the individual, unit, and force levels.
• Require that countries provide complete deployment histories of the individuals and units that Australia seeks to train.
• Consult with civil society groups about the human rights performance of individuals, units, and forces that Australia seeks to train before agreeing to provide such training.
• Require that countries provide information about police investigations and military tribunal proceedings involving members of the security forces affiliated with the units that Australia seeks to train.
• State the consequences that will result if the vetting procedure outlined above reveals that members or units of the security forces that Australia seeks to train have been credibly accused of past human rights violations and have not been effectively investigated and prosecuted by local authorities.
• Make this protocol publicly available, and it in turn should provide that until credible investigations and appropriate prosecutions are conducted and the results made public, the individual or unit implicated will be ineligible for Australian support.

I urge you, as Foreign Minister, to sponsor an initiative to develop such a protocol. Thiscould be developed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, or as a joint initiative with the Ministry of Defense.

I look forward to discussing these matters with you further.

Sincerely,
William Nicholas Gomes
Salem News, Human Rights Ambassador
William’s Desk
www.williamgomes.org

CC:

1. The Hon Julia Gillard MP, Prime Minister
2. Nicola Roxon MP, Attorney-General
3. Chris Bowen MP, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
4. Richard Marles MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs
5. Stephen Smith MP, Defence Minister

Cambodia’s Growth May Lure Samsung Asset to Newest Stock

Source: Bloomberg News

By Weiyi Lim and Anuchit Nguyen 

April 18, 2012

Cambodia opened its stock market today as the government seeks to lure foreign capital by selling shares in state-owned companies to bolster the economy.

While only one stock -- Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority - - started trading today, Samsung Asset Management Co., South Korea’s largest money manager, said it would consider buying Cambodian stocks after about a year. Cambodia, along with Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, are poised to emerge as “new frontier growth markets” that will start catching Southeast Asia’s biggest economies, Samsung Asset’s Alan Richardson, who helps oversee $89.5 billion, said by phone from Singapore yesterday.

“The Indochina markets are all interesting because there is so much opportunity,” Richardson said. His Samsung ASEAN Securities Master Investment Trust (5670800) has risen 12.1 percent this year, beating 72 percent of its rivals, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Economic growth in Cambodia, with a population of 14.3 million, may reach 6.5 percent this year, the Asian Development Bank estimates. While that’s less than the average of 8 percent between 2001 to 2010, it’s more than the ADB’s prediction of 6.4 percent growth for Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, and 5.5 percent for Thailand, the second biggest.

Cambodia’s stock market opened at 9:09 a.m. with Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon presiding over the start, the Cambodia Securities Exchange said in a statement on its website. From tomorrow, stocks will trade between 8 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. in Phnom Penh with prices being quoted twice a day, according to the bourse.

More Share Sales

Phnom Penh Water jumped 48 percent to 9,300 riel ($2.33) with volume of 879,426 shares on its debut, according to data on the exchange’s website. The utility, which has 86.97 million shares being traded on the bourse, sold shares at 6,300 riel in its initial public offering, according to the exchange.

Cambodia may be able to lure five-to-10 IPOs a year, said Kim Bong Soo, chairman of Korea Exchange Inc., the Cambodian government’s partner in the bourse. Telecom Cambodia and Sihanoukville Autonomous Port are preparing to sell shares, he said in an April 9 interview.

The Cambodian government has said it wants to spur economic development by privatizing its state-owned companies and encouraging private enterprises to expand with new funding. There are no restrictions on foreign investors, according to the Securities & Exchange Commission of Cambodia’s website.

Within five years, the market value of traded shares could constitute a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product, or more than $3 billion, Kao Thach, deputy director general of the SECC, said in a February interview in Phnom Penh. Banks, telecommunications companies, rice millers, garment firms and mining companies could seek public listings, he said.

‘Take Some Time’

Investors in Cambodia face risks in the stock market because of ineffective financial and legal systems, Sam Rainsy, 62, a former finance minister and the head of the biggest opposition party, said in a Feb. 8 interview. Cambodia was ranked by Transparency International last year as 164th in the world by perception of corruption, ahead of only North Korea, Myanmar and Afghanistan in Asia.

“It will take some time to educate the general public to understand its importance and function,” Te Taingpor, the president of the Federation of Association for Small & Medium Enterprises of Cambodia, said by phone from Phnom Penh yesterday.

Khmer Rouge

Prime Minister Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia in some capacity for most of the past three decades, overseeing the country’s transition to stability after battles with remnants of the Khmer Rouge regime blamed for the deaths of least 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979. His Cambodian People’s Party has won the past three national parliamentary elections.

Washington-based Freedom House, a group that advocates democracy, last year ranked Cambodia among 48 countries that are “not free,” meaning basic political rights are absent and civil liberties are “widely and systemically denied.” Cambodia ranked 164th out of 182 countries in Transparency International’s 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index, below Zimbabwe and Kenya.

The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, Vietnam’s biggest, started in July 2000 with two companies. It now has more than 300 publicly traded companies with a total market value of about $26.6 billion. Laos, Southeast Asia’s smallest economy, opened its stock exchange in January 2011. The two-stock Laos Composite Index soared 86 percent in its first three weeks of trading and has fallen more than 40 percent since then.

Closing the Gap

Tokyo Stock Exchange Group Inc. and Daiwa Securities Group Inc. said in an April 11 statement that they had negotiated a “memorandum of understanding” to establish a stock exchange in Myanmar and develop the country’s capital markets.

“I think we are now in the cycle for these four Asean markets to emerge as the new frontier growth markets and close the gap with the established Asean-5 markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines,” Richardson said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Cambodia had gross domestic product of $11.24 billion in 2010, World Bank data show. That’s compared with Indonesia’s $706.6 billion and Thailand’s $318.5 billion, the data show.

“The GDP levels are very, very low,” Thomas Hugger, managing partner at Leopard Capital Management Ltd., said in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday from Hong Kong. “We are very optimistic. There will be sustained growth for the future.” His firm bought Phnom Penh Water shares in the company’s IPO.

To contact the reporters on this story: Weiyi Lim in Singapore at wlim26@bloomberg.net; Anuchit Nguyen in Bangkok at anguyen@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Darren Boey at dboey@bloomberg.net

Nike execs checking out factory faintings

Source: UPI.COM Published: April 12, 2012 PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, April 12 (UPI) -- Nike executives traveled overseas to investigate mass fainting incidents among workers at a sports shoe factory in Cambodia, officials said. Union and industry representatives confirmed Tuesday Nike officials will be meeting with one of their suppliers in Phnom Penh about last week's fainting incidents, as well as allegations of violations of workers' rights at a Taiwanese-owned manufacturing plant, the Phnom Penh Post reported. Nike's executives were "looking at all aspects of working conditions and trying to come up with a comprehensive plan that could be implemented over time to improve working conditions," said Jill Tucker, chief technical adviser at Better Factories Cambodia. Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, met with Nike's regional director for Asia Tuesday and said the company is taking the fainting incidents "very seriously." "Everybody is looking for a solution," he said, adding that "Nike is committed to being part of one." Nike was notified by the Free Trade Union after more than 300 workers fainted at a Sabrina Manufacturing plant last week in Kampong Speu, said FTU leader Chea Mony. "Workers faint every week at Sabrina," Mony said, adding that the incident was only picked up by the media when fainting occurred en masse. Nike has yet to comment on the issue.

Boycott Nike, says Mu Sochua

The Phnom Penh Post

Tep Nimol and Vincent MacIsaac

Monday, 09 April 2012

Opposition MP Mu Sochua yesterday called for a boycott of global sports brand Nike, following two fainting incidents at a factory that supplies it last week. 

She also warned that global brands and the Cambodian government were taking a huge gamble by failing to address the causes of the mass fainting incidents that have plagued the country’s most lucrative export industry.

“This is economic exploitation on the back of workers to the point that they are fainting,” she told the Post, adding that the Labour Ministry lacked the expertise and training to get to the root of the problem.

Questionable conditions

Global brands should be sending experts to investigate working conditions at the factories that supply them, she said, adding it was possible conditions at some factories could cause long-term damage to workers’ health.

“Some of these women are pregnant,” she said, referring to the 970 workers the Labour Ministry estimated fainted at garment and footwear factories in the first three months of this year.

Mu Sochua also took aim at the ministry, saying it was failing to protect workers.

“The ministry has no respect for workers’ rights or human rights,” she said.

Fainting fiasco
Her comments followed three fainting incidents last week, two of  which occurred at a factory that supplies Nike: Sabrina (Cambodia) Manufacturing.

On Friday, 195 workers fainted at its factory in Kampong Speu after 107 fainted there on Wednesday.

A further 28 workers fainted at Mirae Apparel in the capital’s Meanchey district on Friday, said Meng Hong, a member of a panel set up by the Labour Ministry to probe and prevent mass faintings.

A 'big risk'

“The brands are taking a big risk,” Mu Sochua warned. “Consumers are beginning to learn what’s going on.”

Dave Welsh, country director for the American Centre for International Labour Solidarity, said the problem was unnecessary.

He said both the government and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia were deeply concerned about the faintings and that the onus was on the brands to help alleviate the underlying conditions. 

“The buyers are the ones who are making out like bandits,” he said.

Rectifying rights

Welsh identified the causes of the faintings as poor nutrition, forced overtime and poor occupational health and safety, saying all three were easily fixable.

Sochua said the faintings would continue until workers mobilised to ensure their rights were respected.

Meng Hong said his committee would monitor both factories today to ensure they had been sanitised and their ventilation systems improved.

Cambodia gives region ‘export’ advice

The Phnom Penh Post
Don Weinland
Tuesday, 03 April 2012

Cambodia's garment sector yesterday looked more like a teacher to regional economies such as Myanmar than a student of China and other export juggernauts.

With more than 500 garment and shoe factories – adding a new one every 10 days, according to the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia – the Kingdom drew the attention of officials from Myanmar and Laos yesterday at a business-to-business dialogue hosted by the ASEAN-EU Business Summit.

“I always give Cambodia as an example to people in my country. The garment sector here has made so much progress in the past 10 years,” Khine Khine Nwe, secretary general of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association, told the Post on the sidelines of the meeting.

“To be frank, we have to learn from many countries, not just Cambodia. We’re still at the first stage of development.”

Myanmar-bound

Myanmar is no newcomer to the industry.

In 2001, garment exports from the Southeast Asian nation were worth US$767.6 million, with the United States its biggest customer, according to Khine Khine New.

Cambodia exported about $1.16 billion the same year.

But US sanctions against Myanmar’s military-led government saw a more than 60 per cent decrease in the value of exports by 2005, as Cambodia’s sector experienced nearly 90 per cent growth during the same time period, Garment Manufacturers of Cambodia figures showed.

Although Myanmar’s exports last year recovered to near-2001 levels on trade with Japan and Korea, the value of Cambodia’s total garment exports was about 335 per cent higher than the regional neighbour in 2011.

Lao speculates success

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic was also interested in Cambodia’s success in the sector.

The World Bank projected that garment-driven exports in Laos would grow by 15 per cent in 2011.

Laos’s landlocked, low-population status detracted from the country’s appeal as a manufacturing destination, but officials will continue to study other regional successes for tips on attracting investment, Somphone Phonhaxa, a representative from the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said at the discussion on Cambodia’s exports yesterday.

“We need to know what we must change to attract investors into this sector. I think we can learn some of that from Cambodia,” he said.

'Don't be afraid'

President of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, Van Sou Ieng, yesterday recommended Myanmar exporters call on their customs offices for speedy clearance of imported materials, as well as improvements on inland logistics.

Bluntness with Myanmar’s new government was the overarching theme of yesterday’s lesson.

“[The manufacturers] need to tell the government what they need. Don’t be afraid,” Van Sou Ieng offered as advice to Myanmar on the sidelines of the meeting yesterday.

Cambodia and Myanmar both lack local textile manufactures that supply garment factories with raw materials.

Instead, the two countries import almost all of the fabrics used in production, a step in the manufacturing chain subject to logistic risks and unfavourable fluctuations in currency.

In this sense, Cambodia still has room to learn from other regional players such as Bangladesh, which manufactures much of its own textiles, Gordon Peters, manager at Emerging Markets Consulting, said yesterday.

About 90 per cent of Cambodia’s garment factories are foreign owned, leaving little incentive to invest in the domestic value-added process, Peters said.

Twenty-three of Myanmar’s 100 or so factories were foreign-owned, Khine Khine Nwe said.

Political push-back

Ultimately, investors interested in Myanmar would wait for a greater sense of political stability before putting their money in the country, experts told the Post last week.

Parliamentary elections in Myanmar on Sunday saw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party win 44 out of 45 seats, Reuters reported yesterday.

“The rule of law in Myanmar is still weak. Investors would like to see stronger rule of law before they start coming,” Khine Khine Nwe said.

Cambodia’s economy dependent on garment sector – Report

Source: Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
March 16, 2012 (Cambodia)
 
The garment and textile industry in Cambodia is significantly contributing to the country’s economy and can be stated as the backbone of the Cambodian economy, according to a report.

The 309 garments and textile firms in Cambodia employed around 335,400 workers at the end of 2011, with 91 percent of them being women, a Ministry of Commerce report stated.

According to the report, the industry paid out US$ 408 million in worker’s salaries during last year.

Registering a year-on-year rise of 25 percent, Cambodia’s garment sector, the country’s largest revenue generating industry, exported goods worth US$ 4.24 billion in 2011. This, according to the report, constituted around 85 percent of the country’s overall exports.

The US and the EU are major export destinations for Cambodian garments. Export to US grew by 11 percent to US$ 2.05 billion during last year, while that to European nations grew by 42 percent to US$ 1.3 billion, the report stated.

Relevant publication on Cambodia:

Cambodia Now: Life In the Wake of War




The Effect of Reputation Concerns on Labor Law Compliance: A Case Study of Cambodia's Garment Factories


HOW REMITTANCES ARE USED?: A Study of Livelihood of Family of Women Garment Workers? in Kampong Speu Province in Cambodia