Children in Cambodia engage in the worst forms of child labor, including in forced labor in brickmaking and in commercial sexual exploitation, sometimes as a result of human trafficking. (1-3) Table 1 provides key indicators on children's work and education in Cambodia.

Source for primary completion rate: Data from 2018, published by UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2020. (4)
Source for all other data: International Labor Organization's analysis of statistics from Socio-Economic Survey (CSES), 2016. (5)

Based on a review of available information, Table 2 provides an overview of children's work by sector and activity.

† Determined by national law or regulation as hazardous and, as such, relevant to Article 3(d) of ILO C. 182.
‡ Child labor understood as the worst forms of child labor per se under Article 3(a)–(c) of ILO C. 182.

In Cambodian brick factories, some children engage in forced labor, sometimes in dangerous conditions, to offset family debt to employers. (3,10-12,27,34,35) The rapid growth in the construction industry, particularly in Phnom Penh, has increased the demand for bricks and fueled child labor and debt bondage. (3,11,34,36) Failed harvests from droughts have compounded farmers' debts, which they sell to brick kiln owners, thus placing their families into hereditary debt bondage until the debts are repaid. (3,11,12,34-37)

In 2019, the government announced an ambitious plan to eliminate child labor in the brick industry by the end of the year, and conducted a census of all 486 operational kilns in the country to document the prevalence of child labor in the brickmaking sector. Although the government will not publish results from the census until late 2020, the government inspectors announced that no child labor or debt bondage was found at these kilns and, therefore, inspectors did not issue any fines. (11,27,38,39) However, in 2019 independent researchers documented at least 638 cases of child labor at brick kilns, in addition to situations of debt bondage at 464 operational kilns. (11,27,38,39,40) Following completion of the government census, officials required brick kiln owners to sign contracts with 1,259 brick kiln family workers, agreeing not to loan them any money. (11,38)

Also during the reporting period, the government and the ILO conducted the first nation-wide survey of child labor since 2012. They plan to release results in 2020. (11,14,41)

Children are subject to human trafficking domestically, from rural to urban areas, and internationally, to countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, for commercial sexual exploitation. (3,9,25,27,30) During the reporting period, there were reported cases of teenage girls dropping out of school in Sihanoukville to work in casinos where there is a high risk of exploitation, including commercial sexual exploitation. (27)

Online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) is reportedly increasing in Cambodia, facilitated by an increase in cheap, high-speed Internet access. (10,11,30,42) To help address the emergence of OSEC within Cambodia, a local NGO set up an online platform and a hotline for people to report issues of OSEC. (43)

Research has found that children who are placed in residential care facilities or orphanages in Cambodia are at a higher risk of engaging in the worst forms of child labor, including child sexual exploitation, and are exposed to conditions that can negatively affect their developmental and health outcomes. (11,30) Of the 265 residential care institutions housing 7,634 children, many private institutions reportedly exploit children as "sham" orphans to lure donations from foreigners. (11,30)

Although the Education Law establishes free basic education, school-related fees, such as for building maintenance, are prohibitive for some families. (11,22,44,45) Other barriers to education include denied enrollment for children without birth certificates, limited transportation to schools in remote areas, lack of drinking water and toilet facilities in some schools, language barriers, and an insufficient number of teachers. These barriers particularly affect ethnic minority children, children with disabilities, and children from rural and disadvantaged communities. (8,11,46-50) Research also found that children living in provinces bordering Thailand are at a higher risk of dropping out of school to find work following the migration of their parents to Thailand for work. (51)

In 2019, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports created a Special Education Department to help institutional systems address the needs of vulnerable children, including those with disabilities, to keep them in school. (52)

Cambodia has ratified all key international conventions concerning child labor (Table 3).

The government has established laws and regulations related to child labor (Table 4). However, gaps exist in Cambodia's legal framework to adequately protect children from the worst forms of child labor, including the minimum age for work and prohibiting the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

Although the Labor Code prohibits work by children under age 15, the law does not apply to children outside of formal employment relationships and, therefore, does not conform to international standards that require all children be protected under the law that sets a minimum age for work. (54) The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training's (MOLVT) regulation on household work extends minimum age protections for domestic workers to age 18 and provides clear definitions of household work. However, the regulation does not specify legal protections for household workers employed by their relatives. (10,50,53,60-63)

Cambodian laws also do not sufficiently prohibit the commercial sexual exploitation of children, because the use or offering of a child for pornographic performances is not criminally prohibited. In addition, the laws do not prohibit the recruitment of children under age 18 into non-state armed groups. (22,55)

Education is free, but not compulsory, through grade nine. (45,63) The lack of compulsory schooling makes children under age 15 particularly vulnerable to child labor because they are not required to be in school but are not yet legally permitted to work. (45,53,63)

The government has established institutional mechanisms for the enforcement of laws and regulations on child labor (Table 5). However, gaps exist within the authority of MOLVT that may hinder adequate enforcement of their child labor laws.

Labor Law Enforcement

In 2019, labor law enforcement agencies in Cambodia took actions to combat child labor (Table 6). However, gaps exist within the operations of MOLVT that may hinder adequate labor law enforcement, including financial resource allocation.

The National Committee on Countering Child Labor (NCCL) relies on other bureaus within MOLVT to alert them to possible child labor issues in their specific sectors before the NCCL inspects. (11) Due to the segregated nature of MOLVT, bureaus with chief inspection responsibility within a sector with a known child labor issue are not equipped with the proper technical training and expertise to identify child labor, and bureau staff and typically ask very few questions. (10,11) In an effort to improve labor inspectors' performance, MOLVT said it now requires that all labor inspectors take and pass a newly created online examination that aims to assess and improve overall technical skills and legal knowledge, in order to continue working as labor inspectors. (11,66)

The government only proactively inspects the brick kiln industry and the export garment sector for child labor, but during the reporting period MOLVT also focused on conducting labor inspections in the construction and entertainment industries. (11,66) However, when child labor inspections occur, they are concentrated in the city of Phnom Penh and in the provincial, formal-sector factories producing goods, such as textiles and garments for export, rather than in rural areas where the majority of child laborers work. (6,10,11,23,50,66)

Following up on the government's plan to eliminate child labor by the end of 2019, MOLVT issued to all provincial labor departments in Cambodia instructions aimed at preventing children from entering brick kilns, and publicized that brick kiln owners who use child labor or forced child labor could face fines, brick kiln closure, and possible criminal prosecution. (11,37,68,69) MOLVT stated that it will begin fining non-compliant brick kilns in 2020. (70)

With the goal of improving inspection efficiency, the NCCL began conducting joint labor inspections with inspectors from other labor bureaus in the garment sector, in parallel with the inspections conducted by the ILO's Better Factories Cambodia (BFC). (11) To further align with BFC, the export garment sector instituted a zero-tolerance policy for child labor in 2019. (11) Children discovered in garment factories are immediately removed and placed in vocational training or other studies, and upon reaching the legal working age, are guaranteed employment. (11,71) Children discovered working in other sectors are removed and referred to the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation (MOSAVY) for assessment. (10,11,72,73)

The government, the ILO, and NGOs all agree that the labor inspectorate is insufficiently funded, resulting in insufficient training of labor inspectors and an insufficient number of labor inspections. This affects the ability of the labor inspectorate to conduct inspections outside of Phnom Penh and in rural communities because labor inspectors require more funding to cover transportation costs. (10,11) Lack of funding also prevents the labor inspectorate from conducting inspections in hospitality and nightlife establishments after business hours, because the inspectorate is not able to pay inspectors for overtime. (10) In addition, the labor inspectorate does not have the ability to inspect child labor abuses in domestic work, which is overseen by the Sub-National Committee of Women and Children. (10,11) While unannounced inspections are permitted, they rarely happen and anecdotal evidence suggests that when they do happen, most occur on cassava farms. (10,11,48)

The MOLVT has established regulations for children on hazardous work in several sectors, including in agriculture, brickmaking, fishing, tobacco, and cassava production. However, malfeasance within the MOLVT and law enforcement limits the capacity of local authorities to adequately enforce these regulations, resulting in sanctions for child labor violations being rarely imposed in accordance with the law. (8,10-12,50,70,74,75) Overall, NGOs have indicated that the government lacks the capacity to deal with child labor and are overwhelmed at the scale of the issue, particularly in the construction industry. (11)

Criminal Law Enforcement

In 2019, criminal law enforcement agencies in Cambodia took actions to combat child labor (Table 7). However, gaps exist within the authority of the Cambodian National Police that may hinder adequate criminal law enforcement, including failing to take active measures to investigate public officials who participate in or facilitate the worst forms of child labor.

During the reporting period, research found that criminal law enforcement officials, writ large, failed to take significant actions on credible reports against government officials complicit in the worst forms of child labor, including at entertainment establishments where the commercial sexual exploitation of children is known to occur, and at brick kilns whose owners may subject families and children to debt-based forced labor in brick kilns. (12,27,50,73)

Research has found cases of government officials profiting directly from the commercial sexual exploitation of children and indirectly by being permissive of it, especially when undertaken in establishments by those with ties to the government. (12,71,76) Furthermore, research found that owners of entertainment establishments at which child sexual exploitation is known to occur sometimes used their connections to law enforcement officials to avoid investigation, prosecution, and fines. (12,27,50,71,76) Research also found instances where raids into these establishments were thwarted by "tip-offs" from working-level police in advance of the raids. (12,27)

In particular, police officers have reported that they sometimes avoid investigating child labor complaints at brick kilns, and instead assist in the capture and jailing of runaway brick kiln workers to avoid potential retaliation by politically connected owners who use their connections to avoid potential investigations and fines. (34,50,71,77) Despite these trends and calls from Prime Minister Hun Sen to investigate and prosecute government officials complicit in promoting the worst forms of child labor, this does not appear to be occurring. (27,50,73)

The government does not authorize anti-trafficking police units to conduct undercover investigations, which significantly constrains the ability of law enforcement to pursue human traffickers, including those involved in child sexual exploitation. (11,12,27,42,50) In addition, many law enforcement officials, particularly those located in rural areas, are unaware of how to properly conduct anti-trafficking work, as most did not receive training on basic law enforcement techniques. (12,27) Furthermore, law enforcement officials investigating suspected trafficking cases are expected to personally cover all expenses, including transportation costs, and are rarely reimbursed in full or on time. This has led to officials reportedly pursuing cases for which costs will be covered on their behalf. (11,27,71)

Unlike in prior years, the government did not report investigating or prosecuting labor recruiters for illegal practices that may have contributed to or involved human trafficking, which continued to perpetuate widespread labor exploitation. (12)

In Cambodia, judges have discretion to determine whether perpetrators of crimes related to child labor will be imprisoned or fined and the amount of the fine. The penalties imposed are not uniformly administered and do not adhere to the parameters prescribed by law. (3,50,78) In some cases, prosecutors and judges have been known to accept bribes in return for dismissal of charges, acquittal, and reduced sentencing, especially for those with alleged ties to the government. (12,50,71) According to an NGO, use of "judicial supervision," where defendants are released on their own recognizance in advance of trial, has resulted in as many as 30 percent of human trafficking suspects not returning to participate in their criminal trials; severely limiting the ability of law enforcement officials to hold criminals accountable and putting the population at risk. (12,27) In addition, the government has yet to fully implement the "Child Friendly Court" program that will make it easier for child victims to provide testimony by using video-conferencing technology instead of confronting defendants in-person, which can result in re-traumatization. (27)

The government's ability to properly save and store data related to the worst forms of child labor was found to be inadequate, due to outdated data collection storage platforms and a lack of resources. (27)

The government has established mechanisms to coordinate its efforts to address child labor (Table 8). However, gaps exist that hinder the effective coordination of efforts to address child labor, including the efficacy in accomplishing mandates.

The Commune Committees for Women and Children are underfunded and have insufficient technical capacity to provide social protection services to children involved in or at risk of child labor. (80)

The government has established policies related to child labor (Table 9). However, policy gaps exist that hinder efforts to address child labor, including integrating child labor elimination and protection strategies into relevant policies.

‡ The government had other policies that may have addressed child labor issues or had an impact on child labor. (81,89,90-93)

In September 2019, Cambodia became the 26th Pathfinding country to join the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, which aims to have a world where "every child grows up safe and secure." (11,94) The Government of Cambodia created an action plan, which includes the goal of ending all forms of violence against children, while reinforcing the government's dedication to implementing the inter-ministerial Action Plan to Prevent and Respond to Violence Against Children. (11)

The government has not specifically included child labor elimination and prevention strategies in the National Employment Policy. (95)

In 2019, the government funded and participated in programs that include the goal of eliminating or preventing child labor (Table 10). However, gaps exist in these social programs, including adequacy of programs to address the full scope of the problem in all sectors.

† Program is funded by the Government of Cambodia.
‡ The government had other social programs that may have included the goal of eliminating or preventing child labor. (100)

The government does not currently have a system in place to monitor and promote the reintegration of victims of forced labor and human trafficking, leaving victims vulnerable and at higher risk of recidivism, and leaving the government heavily reliant on NGOs to fill this need. (71) Therefore, during the reporting period, the government signed Memorandums of Understanding with four NGOs to be able to provide these services to victims. (27)

Many poor households in rural communities lack access to a social protection safety net, which increases the vulnerability of children to child labor as a means to supplement family income. (3,101) Although Cambodia has implemented programs that target child labor, the scope and resources provided to these programs is insufficient to fully address the extent of the problem. (10,11)

Based on the reporting above, suggested actions are identified that would advance the elimination of child labor in Cambodia (Table 11).

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