Foreign brewers accused of exploitation in Cambodia

Sun, 23 May 2010
By Robert Carmichael
DPA

Phnom Penh - Enjoying an after-work beer is common enough in Cambodia, for men at least. In hundreds of beer gardens, female beer promoters in corporate uniforms bearing the names of international or local brands try to entice them to buy their beer.

But working as a beer promoter is frowned upon socially. Sharon Wilkinson, who heads Care International, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that works with the women, says they are typically viewed as little more than sex workers.

Wilkinson says beer gardens are an environment where "sexual harassment including physical abuse is high."

Hers is a point of view that resonates with researchers from Canada's University of Guelph.

In a recent report, they conclude that brewers, including the world's largest beer firms, are exploiting women by allowing local distributors to underpay them.

A key finding was that 57 per cent of 122 beer promoters surveyed last year in Siem Reap in north-western Cambodia were compelled to engage in sex work to supplement their average monthly incomes of 81 dollars.

Professor Ian Lubek, who led the research, says wages for the country's 4,000 beer promoters must double to reduce the risk of HIV infection.

"A living wage is required," he says, explaining salaries would need to rise to 200 dollars monthly. "Beer sellers, no matter what brand, have never received a living wage in Cambodia."

Lubek says the women support three to four people each and describes workplace conditions as "toxic" with sexual harassment and excessive drinking common.

For their part, the world's four biggest brewers reject the claim that low wages force some beer promoters to engage in sex work.

The brewers - Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, London's SAB-Miller PLC, Dutch firm Heineken NV and Danish brewer Carlsberg A/S - together sell half the world's beer and enjoy the lion's share of the Cambodian market.

They say beer promoters, who they stress are employed by distributors and not the brewers, receive adequate wages.

The brewers have been criticized before and in 2006 set up an association to improve conditions. The objectives of the Beer Selling Industry of Cambodia include ensuring women have work contracts, receive proper training and have clear grievance procedures.

Carlsberg spokeswoman Berky Kong says an association survey showed average monthly incomes, including commission, were 110 dollars.

"The pay we are offering is actually very good money for them, considering their actual working hours per day are four to six hours," Kong said of Carlsberg's 635 beer promoters. Garment workers, by contrast, receive around 50 dollars a month for longer hours, she said.

Kong says beer promoters are "normally not the only person bringing income to the family" but declined to say how many of Carlsberg's promoters are single women and, therefore, more likely to be in such a position.

Association rules also prohibit beer promoters from drinking alcohol at work although Lubek found 99 per cent still drink daily and most to excess, citing pressure from customers. That adds to the risk of contracting HIV, he said.

Beer promoters have long been among those most at risk of contracting HIV in Cambodia. The government's National Aids Authority says 0.9 per cent of the adult population is HIV-positive. Although the rate among beer promoters remains unknown, rates of 20 per cent have been cited by NGOs.

Cambodia is undergoing a shift in sexual behaviour since a 2008 law banned prostitution. Organizations such as the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS are worried that fewer measures could be taken to combat the risks as sex work moves from brothels into beer gardens and karaoke parlours.

Lubek's report states that 80 beer promoters of 900 interviewed in the past seven years in Siem Reap have since died. He says he believes HIV-related infections are the reason although a lack of death certificates means their causes of death remain unknown.

"But that so many women should die so young - average age 25 years - is startling," he says.

The brewers say providing anti-retrovirals - another demand of Lubek's report - is unsuitable. Heineken's press officer Jeroen Breuer says the firm leaves that to the health service.

"What Heineken does is focus on providing information and education," Breuer says.

It is a position with which Care International agrees, not least since HIV-positive Cambodians remain stigmatized. Besides that, relying on an employer for life-saving medication might prevent women from moving jobs.

"If we are really going to make the change, we have to change the behaviour of the drinking man," Wilkinson says. "That's where the change comes, and that's what we are working on."

Impunity reigns for armed, drunken men

A Phnom Penh beer garden - proprietors say that armed bodyguards pose a risk to staff and customers alike. (Eleanor Ainge Roy)

Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Written by Chrann Chamroeun and Eleanor Ainge Roy
The Phnom Penh Post

The fatal shooting of a 21-year-old woman in a Kandal beer garden throws new light on the impunity of bodyguards

THE once-bustling Floating Beer Garden and Restaurant in Kandal province's Kien Svay district is now a quiet, dejected place. The road leading to the small establishment is muddy after the recent rains, and water drips from the low, over-hanging trees making the air rank and cloying.

Two weeks ago, the Floating Beer Garden was the site of a brutal shooting that left 21-year-old Sor Samphoa dead.

The alleged killer, an intoxicated Royal Cambodian Armed Forces major moonlighting as a bodyguard, has not faced any criminal charges.

"Sor Samphoa worked at a factory near Pochentong Airport, and she had never been to my restaurant before," said Leang Davy, owner of the Floating Beer Garden and Restaurant, talking about the night of the shooting.

"It was a fun night, lots of joking. It had just began to rain and Sor Samphoa said, ‘We need some plants to dispel the rain'," she said.

"The RCAF major was drunk, and he took out his gun and said, ‘No! You just need to shoot into the sky'," Leang Davy added.

"Everyone was laughing and playing around. He put his gun down on the table and it went off - shooting Sor Samphos. I was panic-struck and very, very scared."

Sor Samphos died that night, and her body was taken to a nearby pagoda.

The major was briefly arrested, but after paying the dead woman's family US$2,700 in compensation, he was released.

Leang Davy said she will now attempt to keep bodyguards out of her restaurant because she is wary of trouble.

"There are many instances ... when bodyguards have used their guns while drinking in groups in beer gardens and karaoke bars."

"All the businesses around here have suffered because of the shooting. I try to keep the bodyguards out, but sometimes they conceal their guns in their pockets. From now on I think I will just tell them that the bar is full," she said.

Continuing impunity?

Ou Virak, director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, is not surprised at the light treatment received by the major.

"There are many instances I can recall when bodyguards have used their guns while drinking in groups at beer gardens or karaoke bars," he said.

"They are never held responsible before the law. They pay compensation, and then they are released as free men. As a result, the perpetrators are not afraid of the consequences of such a crime."

But Hin Bunheang, Prime Minister Hun Sen's chief of bodyguards, told the Post that he does "not excuse any bodyguards who use their guns in the wrong way to kill or injure people".

He added these people should be arrested and dealt with by the court system.

Ministry of Interior Under Secretary of State Srun Vong Vannak said that while he knows of bodyguards who use their guns recklessly, none of them are present in the ministry's forces, which are rigorously trained and disciplined.

None are allowed to keep their weapons after their missions.

"Our government and Hun Sen pay attention to protect the safety of the people by not allowing bodyguards to use their guns whenever they want," Srun Vong Vannak said. "If they do, they will be arrested and punished by law."

Troublesome clients

Despite such assurances, multiple Phnom Penh beer garden owners interviewed by the Post last week said that dealing with bodyguards is a delicate business because they have the potential to cause many problems for bar owners and are often aggressive or demanding.

"We have four security personnel who work here, and they check every person that comes in the door. But sometimes [the bodyguards] hide their guns, and we cannot demand to search every inch of them," said one beer garden owner who declined to be named.

"When a man like this comes in, we all know he is a risky customer, and we must treat him like a king. The staff here are like my family, and I am scared for them when someone like that is around," the owner added.

Cheng Solyda, 35, a local NGO worker who often goes to beer gardens with his co-workers and friends, said that when a bodyguard is present at a bar everyone becomes uncomfortable and scared. "The government must make more of an effort to crack down on illegal gun users and firmly punish those who do wrong. They are a serious threat to society."

Another beer garden owner said the worst violence tends to occur once customers have left the beer garden and are wandering the streets armed and drunk.

"It is a risk once my employees leave the beer garden," said the owner.

"But I can only try to protect them at work."

Am Sam Ath, a monitor at the Cambodian rights group Licadho, said cases of bodyguard impunity cannot continue to go unpunished.

"Civil compensation is good, but the persecutor must also stand before the courts, whether the murder was intentional or not," he said.