Phnom Penh Post, Issue 15 / 13, June 30 - July 13, 2006
The prevalence of child labor in Cambodia's brickmaking industry is increasing due to a nationwide construction boom driven by the explosive growth of tourism, experts have told the Post.
With funding from the International Labor Organization (ILO), the government plans to launch two programs to eliminate child labor in the brickmaking sector. Next month the campaigns will begin in Kampong Cham, where more than 5,000 children are working in the industry, and Siem Reap, where new hotel projects have spurred demand for inexpensive building materials.
"There is a lot of child labor working in brick factories in Phnom Penh, too, but due to limited funding, we can only focus on Kampong Cham and Siem Reap first," said Veng Heang, cabinet director of the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MLVT).
Additionally, the Australian Embassy-funded PACT Against Child Labor is starting its own program to eradicate child labor in Phnom Penh brick factories. According to Chuon Mom Thol, president of PACT Against Child Labor, there are at least 5,000 children working in more than 55 brick factories around the capital.
Cambodia's Labor Law sets the general minimum working age at 15 years, but allows children aged 12 to 14 to do "light" work that is not hazardous to their health and does not interfere with their schooling. The law sets a minimum age of 18 for work that could be hazardous to health, safety or morality.
The ILO classifies brick-making as extremely hazardous work. A recent report by the ILO found that extruding machines in brickworks lack safety devices, and that child workers are often sent inside kilns to remove bricks when the temperature is still dangerously high.
"The working conditions are very bad," the Labor Ministry's Heang said. "It's dangerous to children. They break their legs and feet when moving clay into machines."
The horrific and all-too-common injuries inflicted on children working in brick factories are well documented. But even with such knowledge, families and factory owners continue to employ child workers, many of whom receive no compensation when injured, maimed or worse.
"I am not sure, but I think it is very unlikely for them to get compensation under the circumstances in Cambodia," said Menacherry Paul Joseph, chief technical adviser to the ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor.
In June, a 9-year-old boy lost one of his arms when it was smashed under the stone crusher he was operating at a brick factory. The boy received compensation only after the incident came to the attention of news media and NGOs, according to DanChurchAid (DCA).
There have been two other serious child labor accidents in Phnom Penh recently. One victim lost a leg, the other a hand, according to PACT's Mom Thol.
"We asked $5,000 for compensation, but they only gave $3,000,"Mom Thol said. "The children were in the hospital for two months and their employers were held responsible for the medical fees. The victims went back to their home town to run a small business with the money."
According to Mom Thol, employers are often reluctant to pay, and generally claim that they cannot afford to provide compensation. Insurance is not an option.
"Now there are fewer accidents in Phnom Penh. Maybe because we told the employers that they had to pay at least US$5,000 for each victim. And last year, 18 factories were fined millions of riels by the government," Mom Thol said.
Heang confirmed that the MLVT has been active in fining child-labor abusers, and that without government intervention compensation is scarce.
"Compensation that comes from private discussions is usually limited," he said. "But if the government forces employers [to pay more], it would be a lot."
Khou Heng, owner of a brick factory on Route 6 that produces more than one million bricks every month, said that using children for labor is not cost-effective and that the government has been increasingly vigilant.
"Child workers bring many problems," he said. "They are careless and get hurt easily. Before I opened the factory, the government gave me some documents to read to understand the law, so I don't hire child laborers."
Heng told the Post that the two brick factories neighboring his hired child labor. The Post saw youngsters working at the factories, but the owners refused to be interviewed.
Heng said many children come to his factory to ask for a job and many are obviously lying about their age. Heng employs between 60 and 70 workers. Most of the employees live on the factory grounds with their entire families, including in many cases young children and infants. He insists that the children do not work in the brickworks, but concedes that the environment is both unsafe and unhealthy.
"Owners of brick factories usually do not demand that children work, but children who are living in brick factories may help their parents - then accidents occur," Heang said. "Some parents just are not aware of the dangers."
Heng said parents working at his brick factory did not care about their children because they lacked education.
The day the Post visited, dozens of children were seen living in his factory with their parents, most were naked and their whole bodies coated by dust, sand and industrial grime. Groups of children ranging from infants to adolescents were playing on and around heavy machinery and close to the searing heat of giant open-fire kilns.
"I provide them with clean water to wash their children, but they just don't care," Heng said.
In Kampong Cham, 70 percent of the child laborers were between 13 and 17 years old; 8 percent were aged 7 to 9. Seventy-five percent of the children worked seven days a week and their monthly income varied from 10,000 to 100,000 riel, according to the ILO report.
The ILO listed the tasks of child brick-workers as kneading soil with water and clay, filling brick moulds with soft paste, drying bricks in the sun, putting bricks into a kiln, putting wood in the kilns, taking bricks out of the kiln, and loading finished bricks on to trucks.
The ILO considers these tasks "extremely hazardous" and claims that they place children at grave health risks - including debilitating injury and respiratory and skin problems.
It is also reported that almost 20 percent of child brick-workers said they often got fevers, headaches and coughs. Nearly half of the children said they did not like being a brick-maker.
"The owners do not realize that they are doing something wrong," said the ILO's Joseph. "They think they are doing something good because they offer a job to poor children. So, when children come and ask for a job, they won't even ask how old they are. Most of the time, parents find this kind of job for their children, or children go to ask for a job - it's not the owners calling for child labor."
Joseph said that there is no financial difference for owners to hire child labor or adult labor because they are paid by piece rate.
"They like hiring child laborers because they are more flexible and obedient; they can force them to do more," Joseph said. "The government has an obligation to stop the worst form of [child labor]. Most importantly, it needs to be a joint effort of the government, NGOs and trade unions to arouse the awareness of the owners that hiring childen is not a good thing."
Although the Labor Law forbids children under 15 to do hazardous work, including brick making, "it is only applied to organized factories," Joseph said.
The MLVT's Heang agreed: "There is a lack of law control of small enterprises - it's difficult to enforce the law," he said.
Joseph said a law which will cover small household brickworks will be passed soon.
Heang said the MLVT would then send out child-labor inspectors to brick factories to withdraw the children. "We will talk things over with their parents and send them to schools," he aid. "Their school fees will be funded by the NGOs. They can finish high school as long as the funding is sufficient."
With funding from the International Labor Organization (ILO), the government plans to launch two programs to eliminate child labor in the brickmaking sector. Next month the campaigns will begin in Kampong Cham, where more than 5,000 children are working in the industry, and Siem Reap, where new hotel projects have spurred demand for inexpensive building materials.
"There is a lot of child labor working in brick factories in Phnom Penh, too, but due to limited funding, we can only focus on Kampong Cham and Siem Reap first," said Veng Heang, cabinet director of the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training (MLVT).
Additionally, the Australian Embassy-funded PACT Against Child Labor is starting its own program to eradicate child labor in Phnom Penh brick factories. According to Chuon Mom Thol, president of PACT Against Child Labor, there are at least 5,000 children working in more than 55 brick factories around the capital.
Cambodia's Labor Law sets the general minimum working age at 15 years, but allows children aged 12 to 14 to do "light" work that is not hazardous to their health and does not interfere with their schooling. The law sets a minimum age of 18 for work that could be hazardous to health, safety or morality.
The ILO classifies brick-making as extremely hazardous work. A recent report by the ILO found that extruding machines in brickworks lack safety devices, and that child workers are often sent inside kilns to remove bricks when the temperature is still dangerously high.
"The working conditions are very bad," the Labor Ministry's Heang said. "It's dangerous to children. They break their legs and feet when moving clay into machines."
The horrific and all-too-common injuries inflicted on children working in brick factories are well documented. But even with such knowledge, families and factory owners continue to employ child workers, many of whom receive no compensation when injured, maimed or worse.
"I am not sure, but I think it is very unlikely for them to get compensation under the circumstances in Cambodia," said Menacherry Paul Joseph, chief technical adviser to the ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor.
In June, a 9-year-old boy lost one of his arms when it was smashed under the stone crusher he was operating at a brick factory. The boy received compensation only after the incident came to the attention of news media and NGOs, according to DanChurchAid (DCA).
There have been two other serious child labor accidents in Phnom Penh recently. One victim lost a leg, the other a hand, according to PACT's Mom Thol.
"We asked $5,000 for compensation, but they only gave $3,000,"Mom Thol said. "The children were in the hospital for two months and their employers were held responsible for the medical fees. The victims went back to their home town to run a small business with the money."
According to Mom Thol, employers are often reluctant to pay, and generally claim that they cannot afford to provide compensation. Insurance is not an option.
"Now there are fewer accidents in Phnom Penh. Maybe because we told the employers that they had to pay at least US$5,000 for each victim. And last year, 18 factories were fined millions of riels by the government," Mom Thol said.
Heang confirmed that the MLVT has been active in fining child-labor abusers, and that without government intervention compensation is scarce.
"Compensation that comes from private discussions is usually limited," he said. "But if the government forces employers [to pay more], it would be a lot."
Khou Heng, owner of a brick factory on Route 6 that produces more than one million bricks every month, said that using children for labor is not cost-effective and that the government has been increasingly vigilant.
"Child workers bring many problems," he said. "They are careless and get hurt easily. Before I opened the factory, the government gave me some documents to read to understand the law, so I don't hire child laborers."
Heng told the Post that the two brick factories neighboring his hired child labor. The Post saw youngsters working at the factories, but the owners refused to be interviewed.
Heng said many children come to his factory to ask for a job and many are obviously lying about their age. Heng employs between 60 and 70 workers. Most of the employees live on the factory grounds with their entire families, including in many cases young children and infants. He insists that the children do not work in the brickworks, but concedes that the environment is both unsafe and unhealthy.
"Owners of brick factories usually do not demand that children work, but children who are living in brick factories may help their parents - then accidents occur," Heang said. "Some parents just are not aware of the dangers."
Heng said parents working at his brick factory did not care about their children because they lacked education.
The day the Post visited, dozens of children were seen living in his factory with their parents, most were naked and their whole bodies coated by dust, sand and industrial grime. Groups of children ranging from infants to adolescents were playing on and around heavy machinery and close to the searing heat of giant open-fire kilns.
"I provide them with clean water to wash their children, but they just don't care," Heng said.
In Kampong Cham, 70 percent of the child laborers were between 13 and 17 years old; 8 percent were aged 7 to 9. Seventy-five percent of the children worked seven days a week and their monthly income varied from 10,000 to 100,000 riel, according to the ILO report.
The ILO listed the tasks of child brick-workers as kneading soil with water and clay, filling brick moulds with soft paste, drying bricks in the sun, putting bricks into a kiln, putting wood in the kilns, taking bricks out of the kiln, and loading finished bricks on to trucks.
The ILO considers these tasks "extremely hazardous" and claims that they place children at grave health risks - including debilitating injury and respiratory and skin problems.
It is also reported that almost 20 percent of child brick-workers said they often got fevers, headaches and coughs. Nearly half of the children said they did not like being a brick-maker.
"The owners do not realize that they are doing something wrong," said the ILO's Joseph. "They think they are doing something good because they offer a job to poor children. So, when children come and ask for a job, they won't even ask how old they are. Most of the time, parents find this kind of job for their children, or children go to ask for a job - it's not the owners calling for child labor."
Joseph said that there is no financial difference for owners to hire child labor or adult labor because they are paid by piece rate.
"They like hiring child laborers because they are more flexible and obedient; they can force them to do more," Joseph said. "The government has an obligation to stop the worst form of [child labor]. Most importantly, it needs to be a joint effort of the government, NGOs and trade unions to arouse the awareness of the owners that hiring childen is not a good thing."
Although the Labor Law forbids children under 15 to do hazardous work, including brick making, "it is only applied to organized factories," Joseph said.
The MLVT's Heang agreed: "There is a lack of law control of small enterprises - it's difficult to enforce the law," he said.
Joseph said a law which will cover small household brickworks will be passed soon.
Heang said the MLVT would then send out child-labor inspectors to brick factories to withdraw the children. "We will talk things over with their parents and send them to schools," he aid. "Their school fees will be funded by the NGOs. They can finish high school as long as the funding is sufficient."
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