More abuses await Cambodian workers sent to Qatar?

Cambodia approves law on sending workers to Qatar

Tuesday 21/8/2012
Gulf Times (Doha, Qatar)

“Cambodian law is good but often falls short in implementation”

Cambodian workers are expected to arrive in Qatar soon as the southeast Asian country’s national assembly has approved a draft law to send workers to the Gulf state.

According to The Phnom Penh Post, the house approved the draft law recently after the two countries signed an agreement to recruit Cambodian workers in May.

But the Post said a rights organisation and opposition party leaders have raised some doubts about the proposed plan to send workers to Qatar, demanding overseas Cambodians adequate protection and preparation.

Under the draft law, the ministry of labour will train workers and regulate the process of sending them overseas, the Post quoted Labour Minister Vong Sauth as saying.

Joel Preston, a consultant for the Cambodian Legal Education Centre (CLEC), said he had not seen the agreement but questioned the efficacy of its measures, given the government’s track record of sending workers to countries such as

Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

“Our concern is that they just send people there. They don’t have a monitoring programme,” Preston said, adding that Cambodian embassies did not have the necessary staff to respond effectively to worker complaints.

The Post quoted a Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) member, who asked not to be named, as saying that some cases of Cambodian maids in Malaysia were reported by media but got little attention from the country’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

“Cambodian law is good but often falls short in implementation,” he said.

But An Bunhak, president of the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA), said that in the hope of supporting the draft law’s worker protections, ACRA would open an office in Qatar and advocate against sending domestic workers, whose mistreatment is more difficult to monitor than those who work in industries. 

Labour Minister Sauth said that under the new law, training would give workers the skills necessary for jobs in Qatar, but according to Preston, apparent offers of training have provided no real assistance in the past.

According to Preston, in the case of workers sent to Malaysia, a three-month supposed training session was confining rather than training them.

Bunhak said he hoped the draft law would help workers who could not find jobs in Cambodia. However, Preston said: “I think the best solution is to improve work conditions within the country.”