21 Nov 2006
By Sophorn
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Phnom Penh is a city filled with fashionable people and the latest equipments, schools etc… But Phnom Penh is a dark place for poor children who are living in the street, or working as domestic servants. Because of poverty, a large number of children were forced to leave their village, their family and school to come to work as domestic servants in Phnom Penh.
A pale looking 12-year-old girl from Koh Kong province, said with tears streaking down her cheeks, that because her mother is too poor, she cannot raise her own child and brought the young girl to live with a family. Her living condition is appalling, the masters of the home forced her to eat the leftover food from the dog, the leftover coffee grind and tea leaves, and when she did something wrong, the owner would pinch and twist her thigh with a metal plier, or plunge her head in a water tub, and sometimes would chain her feet for a whole day.
The little girl said that she is doing everything at home but she does not receive any salary and she only receives food. Her workday starts early in the morning and lasts until 10:00 PM: “They beat and kick us, and I must serve at their coffee shop, then I have to do domestic chores. When we make some mistakes, they beat us. They beat us with a bat, and they use a metal plier to pinch my thigh, and they push and hold my head under water. When I leave food for the dog to eat, there are some leftover in the dog plate, they forced me to eat it. My father died and my mother is very poor.”
Another 11-year-old girl from Kompong Cham is sweeping the floor in front of a home near Kandal market, in Phnom Penh, said that she came to work in this house many months ago, and she couldn’t even remember when it was, she only remembers that her parents are too poor and they took her to work as a domestic servant. She earns 50,000 riels ($12.50) per month for her work as babysitter, dish washer, sweeper and mopper, cooking etc… She said that she wants to go to school like other children however, nobody allows her to study: “Each month I earn 50,000 riels. I send it to my mother so she can buy rice.”
Regarding domestic child labor in Phnom Penh, Un Vuthy, an International Labor Union (ILO) official, said that his organization is coming up with a plan to eradicate child labor. ILO is currently cooperating with the labor department to provide help to children working as domestic servant and those who have to help their parent work in Phnom Penh, so they can all attend school by eliminating child labor through publication and direct intervention in cases where children are overworked.
Un Vuthy said: “We will remove children who are currently working and who are facing grave danger, such as children who are working more than 10 hours per day, children who are not properly fed by their bosses, or who are tortured and who face trafficking. We will continue their removals. Furthermore, we will encourage the homeowners to help the children to go to school. If the homeowners agree with the child schooling, it’s like removing them also, one hour each day away from work is a lot of help for these children.”
Sila, a Phnom Penh government official from the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, said that work is underway towards the eradication of domestic child labor in Phnom Penh. The first phase will help 2,200 children: 1,800 aged 5 to 14-year-old, and 400 children between 15 and 18-year-old. The ministry plan to provide help to 400 of the children families so they can have a job and send their children to school.
Sila said that the work is complicated because this is the first time the ministry is taking such action to remove the children (from the houses they work) with the direct cooperation of local officials at the district level in Phnom Penh. The removed children are sent to school. Sila said: “For the first phase, we focus on the domestic servants working in Chinese homes.”
Regarding the above issue, Kun Tek, the vice-director of the department of education, youth and sport, said that his department is setting up mobile education units in all 30 districts of the city, as well as preparing teachers to receive the children who have been removed from the homes to receive education and training. He indicated that each mobile unit can take in 30 to 40 children.
ILO official said that in 2003, there are about 30,000 children working as domestic servants and who are not attending school. Within the entire country, an unofficial educational source indicated that in 2005-2006, the rate of children attending school in Cambodia is 91.3%.
Even though the government working group is not yet operational, a number of NGOs have already been at work to remove children working as domestic servants and have provided them with education in addition to room and boarding.
Among those removed by the NGOs, a 14-year-old girl from Kompong Chhnang came to work for a family in Phnom Penh in order to pay for her parents’ debt. The young girl said that after her father’s death, her mother had to work as fisherman to feed her 5 children. Because her mother could not find the money to pay off her debt, she sent her daughter to work as a servant to pay for her debt amounting to 15 chi of gold (~2 troy oz of gold).
A pale looking 12-year-old girl from Koh Kong province, said with tears streaking down her cheeks, that because her mother is too poor, she cannot raise her own child and brought the young girl to live with a family. Her living condition is appalling, the masters of the home forced her to eat the leftover food from the dog, the leftover coffee grind and tea leaves, and when she did something wrong, the owner would pinch and twist her thigh with a metal plier, or plunge her head in a water tub, and sometimes would chain her feet for a whole day.
The little girl said that she is doing everything at home but she does not receive any salary and she only receives food. Her workday starts early in the morning and lasts until 10:00 PM: “They beat and kick us, and I must serve at their coffee shop, then I have to do domestic chores. When we make some mistakes, they beat us. They beat us with a bat, and they use a metal plier to pinch my thigh, and they push and hold my head under water. When I leave food for the dog to eat, there are some leftover in the dog plate, they forced me to eat it. My father died and my mother is very poor.”
Another 11-year-old girl from Kompong Cham is sweeping the floor in front of a home near Kandal market, in Phnom Penh, said that she came to work in this house many months ago, and she couldn’t even remember when it was, she only remembers that her parents are too poor and they took her to work as a domestic servant. She earns 50,000 riels ($12.50) per month for her work as babysitter, dish washer, sweeper and mopper, cooking etc… She said that she wants to go to school like other children however, nobody allows her to study: “Each month I earn 50,000 riels. I send it to my mother so she can buy rice.”
Regarding domestic child labor in Phnom Penh, Un Vuthy, an International Labor Union (ILO) official, said that his organization is coming up with a plan to eradicate child labor. ILO is currently cooperating with the labor department to provide help to children working as domestic servant and those who have to help their parent work in Phnom Penh, so they can all attend school by eliminating child labor through publication and direct intervention in cases where children are overworked.
Un Vuthy said: “We will remove children who are currently working and who are facing grave danger, such as children who are working more than 10 hours per day, children who are not properly fed by their bosses, or who are tortured and who face trafficking. We will continue their removals. Furthermore, we will encourage the homeowners to help the children to go to school. If the homeowners agree with the child schooling, it’s like removing them also, one hour each day away from work is a lot of help for these children.”
Sila, a Phnom Penh government official from the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, said that work is underway towards the eradication of domestic child labor in Phnom Penh. The first phase will help 2,200 children: 1,800 aged 5 to 14-year-old, and 400 children between 15 and 18-year-old. The ministry plan to provide help to 400 of the children families so they can have a job and send their children to school.
Sila said that the work is complicated because this is the first time the ministry is taking such action to remove the children (from the houses they work) with the direct cooperation of local officials at the district level in Phnom Penh. The removed children are sent to school. Sila said: “For the first phase, we focus on the domestic servants working in Chinese homes.”
Regarding the above issue, Kun Tek, the vice-director of the department of education, youth and sport, said that his department is setting up mobile education units in all 30 districts of the city, as well as preparing teachers to receive the children who have been removed from the homes to receive education and training. He indicated that each mobile unit can take in 30 to 40 children.
ILO official said that in 2003, there are about 30,000 children working as domestic servants and who are not attending school. Within the entire country, an unofficial educational source indicated that in 2005-2006, the rate of children attending school in Cambodia is 91.3%.
Even though the government working group is not yet operational, a number of NGOs have already been at work to remove children working as domestic servants and have provided them with education in addition to room and boarding.
Among those removed by the NGOs, a 14-year-old girl from Kompong Chhnang came to work for a family in Phnom Penh in order to pay for her parents’ debt. The young girl said that after her father’s death, her mother had to work as fisherman to feed her 5 children. Because her mother could not find the money to pay off her debt, she sent her daughter to work as a servant to pay for her debt amounting to 15 chi of gold (~2 troy oz of gold).
4 comments:
This is a society being created by Hun Sen and Khiev Kanharith bahavous. In the next 10 years, these poverties population will multiply for the need of house servant of other phnom penh residence. They are sytematically made to be poor so that someone can be a home servant because the old generation have died out.
this because they love...love...love......cpp....please get a new leader.....stand up...stand up...gogo....children of cambodia not just waiting someone to help you....gogo..."tar sou loeung"...gogo...stop loving who destroy you if not be it...no one can help you, but your self....
There must be away to recruit and train these servant children to be guerilla fighter and pay them more than they have now. I smell a new revolution is just around the corner!
SRP, please introduce Child Labor Laws and tell them that you mean it.
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