PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia's retired king, Norodom Sihanouk, backed a campaign on Wednesday demanding better pay and working conditions for "beer girls" often abused and exploited as they peddle foreign brands.
The outspoken former monarch lent his weight to a coalition of unions and human rights groups who say young women are subjected to sexual assault and violence while working in bars and restaurants to sell well-known beer brands.
The campaign, led by the Australian Council of Trade Unions, accuses foreign beermakers of exploiting the women who usually wear a costume representing one brand and sell it exclusively.
"Foreign companies which export their famous beers to the Kingdom of Cambodia earn million of dollars every year thanks to desirable Cambodian beer girls," Sihanouk said on his Web site, www.norodomsihanouk.info.
More than 20,000 beer promotion women are working in Cambodia, earning about $55 a month, the ACTU said at the launch of the campaign in Phnom Penh last weekend.
"The low wage means many of the women are forced into prostitution, sometimes after drinking with a client to reach a sales quota," the union said.
It noted a study by a Canadian researcher who found that 20 percent of female beer sellers in Cambodia were HIV positive.
Woman are also subjected to regular assaults by drunken patrons, including one girl who was shot in the foot by off-duty army officers for being too slow to bring ice for their drinks.
Sihanouk, who abdicated in 2004, has posted many letters and commentaries on his Web site since returning from medical treatment in Beijing last week.
He also weighed in on a debate about 3G mobile phones after Prime Minister Hun Sen banned them last week, citing complaints about pornographic images sent via the high-tech phones, but did not come down on either side.
The outspoken former monarch lent his weight to a coalition of unions and human rights groups who say young women are subjected to sexual assault and violence while working in bars and restaurants to sell well-known beer brands.
The campaign, led by the Australian Council of Trade Unions, accuses foreign beermakers of exploiting the women who usually wear a costume representing one brand and sell it exclusively.
"Foreign companies which export their famous beers to the Kingdom of Cambodia earn million of dollars every year thanks to desirable Cambodian beer girls," Sihanouk said on his Web site, www.norodomsihanouk.info.
More than 20,000 beer promotion women are working in Cambodia, earning about $55 a month, the ACTU said at the launch of the campaign in Phnom Penh last weekend.
"The low wage means many of the women are forced into prostitution, sometimes after drinking with a client to reach a sales quota," the union said.
It noted a study by a Canadian researcher who found that 20 percent of female beer sellers in Cambodia were HIV positive.
Woman are also subjected to regular assaults by drunken patrons, including one girl who was shot in the foot by off-duty army officers for being too slow to bring ice for their drinks.
Sihanouk, who abdicated in 2004, has posted many letters and commentaries on his Web site since returning from medical treatment in Beijing last week.
He also weighed in on a debate about 3G mobile phones after Prime Minister Hun Sen banned them last week, citing complaints about pornographic images sent via the high-tech phones, but did not come down on either side.
8 comments:
HeY Hun Xen, what about teachers and other public servance? Do you want them to become rubbers?
You children are on the street by themselves to you know?
Thank King father for your concernce about the life of the beer girls. But it is only a small problem in our society. We would like your majesty to address the most important issues that our country is facing, namely, the land issue, border issue, illegal immigrants, corruption, and Khmer Rouge trial. PG phone, beer girls are not the issues for your majesty to address.
life long King Father!
I think King's return to Cambodia and he need to have good times. he wants to chill out, relax and have some nice cold beer brought to him by some young girls who sat on his lap. I think he miss this a long time and he wants it bad that's why he want to take care of them.
Livin in la Vila Kinga!
Thank you for your noble action to save thousands of women's dignity. Save a small thing is better than nothing....
Don't shoot the beers girls, save them for the King. He loves women.
Doing small thing when you get pay to do big thing is imoral! just like Hun Xen!
Wut you idiot mean life long king idiot,,,, i have to say.. DIE NOW KING, OR GO TO HELL KING, FOR THE MILLION INNOCENTS WHO LOST THEIR LIFE CAN REBORN !!!
what do mean by noble,, no term equal to him,,,eeyore
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