Cambodia construction boom built on 'blood bricks' and slavery: report

[geovalin]

PHNOM PENH (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Cambodia’s construction boom is built in part with “blood bricks” manufactured by modern-day slaves, including children, researchers said on Tuesday.

Poverty fueled partly by climate change has pushed tens of thousands of Cambodian families into bonded labor, making bricks for buildings in the capital, Phnom Penh, according to a report by researchers from London’s Royal Holloway University.

“Tens of thousands of debt-bonded families in Cambodia extract, mould and fire clay in hazardous conditions to meet Phnom Penh’s insatiable appetite for bricks,” researchers said.

“Kiln owners repay farmers’ debts and offer a consolidated loan. In return, farmers and their families are compelled to enter into debt bondage with the kiln owner until the loan is repaid.”

 

Families surveyed had agreed to pay back loans of between $100 and $4,000. The average was $712 - a fortune in a country where the average annual income is $1,230, according to the World Bank.

 

Those pushed into debt bondage often earned far less than the average, with climate change hitting harvests and pushing farming families into debt.

Cambodia is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to the effects of climate change, the report noted.

 

The country is also one of Asia’s fastest growing economies, but inequality remains stark - two-bedroom apartments in the capital were up for sale at prices of $260,000 and up, more than 200 years’ wages for the average Cambodian, the report said.

 

Workers reported “respiratory illnesses driven by the inhalation of kiln fumes and brick dust without protective equipment, and limb amputation resulting from unsafe brick-moulding machinery”.

 

When bonded laborers need to seek medical treatment or for other reasons, they must leave without their families to ensure they return, said the report, which was backed by the British government and the Economic and Social Research Council.

 

“Kiln owners showed a preference for families over single workers as they were apparently less likely to run away,” according to the researchers.

Cambodia’s labor minister released a statement last week warning businesses, including brick kilns, against using child labor and other forms of exploitation such as debt bondage.

 

The International Labor Organization (ILO) said working standards in construction had been neglected as advocacy groups and the government focused on the garment sector, a key driver of the economy.

Chuong Por, who coordinates the ILO’s construction industry work, said the building boom had not so far attracted much attention.

 

“In the brick kiln sector, actually there is not enough inspection. That’s why we cannot find out all the problems in the sector,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

 

Reporting by Jared Ferrie @jaredferrie, Editing by Claire Cozens.  Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit news.trust.org

source https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cambodia-slavery-construction/cambodia-construction-boom-built-on-blood-bricks-and-slavery-report-idUSKCN1MQ1JH

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 17/10

[thaiguzzi]

That country is a complete basket case.

Absolutely heartbreaking for your average Khmer.

Hun Sen and any collaborators inc Western governments and firms, and the Russians & Chinese have a helluva lot to answer for. If anybody in this world deserves a bullet in the head, it is that disgusting man Hun Sen.

Tragic.

[Burma Bill]

I bet the CHINESE are behind this appalling behavior - they are the ones investing heavily in Cambodia. 

[JimmyTheMook]

Yep and not that long ago they were beating each other to death with clubs 

as bullets were to valuable. 

[Naam]

9 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

That country is a complete basket case.

Absolutely heartbreaking for your average Khmer.

Hun Sen and any collaborators inc Western governments and firms, and the Russians & Chinese have a helluva lot to answer for. If anybody in this world deserves a bullet in the head, it is that disgusting man Hun Sen.

Tragic.

there's nobody demanding an answer.

[poanoi]

" Poverty fueled partly by climate "

yeah rite, is there anywhere where this agenda isnt pushed ?

[balo]

Now the Chinese are taking over anyway and bring with them cheap workers , they built 70 casinos in Sihanoukville and did not use Cambodian labor.  The Chinese are in total control . 

 

 

[dieter1]

"Poverty fueled partly by climate change "

aha!  from Reuters !!!

missionary from the climate change religion.

Not the devil anymore. Now its the climate change - cause of every evil

(not the tyranny of the kleptocracy in Cambodia)

 

[Stargeezr]

Yup lets blame Climate change, and not the obvious, Corruption, and other

horrible things, such as Government in power etc. or the great supporter

China.

Geezer

Edited October 17, 2018 by Stargrazer9889
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