Worldwide Financial Crunch Hits Cambodia's Garment Industry

A young Khmer woman is at work at her machine in a garment factory in Prasat Village, Viheathom Commune, Cambodia.

Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved

There are roughly ONE HALF BILLION people in the world that exist on one dollar a day or less so the 200 mostly young people working in a Chinese owned fabric factory in Prasat Village, Viheathom Commune, Cambodia have it a bit better. Nevertheless, fabric manufacturing is a process with limited labor costs and the Prasat Village factory workers prove the point by spending 11 hours a day standing at machines while earning about $50 USD per month. Most of the laborer's farm families didn't have the funds for schooling them beyond the 8th grade, so that's where their formal education ended.

Despite these facts, the Prasat Village workers have it easy when compared to thousands of industry workers in Phnom Penh where, as many manufacturing areas in Thailand, Vietnam and elsewhere, workers are housed in dormitory like structures where they share rooms while working six days a week.

With wages in China now rising close to 25 percent a year in several industries, the so-called "China price" for a growing list of goods, particularly low-tech products, is no longer a bargain. Rural villages throughout China are running out of young workers to send to factories and ages are rising more than 10 percent a year for many assembly-line workers according to an article written by Keith Bradsher that appeared in the June 17, 2008 edition of the International Herald Tribune.

The factory investments shifting from China to elsewhere in Asia tend to be in low-skill, low-wage industries as China deliberately focuses on higher-wage industries such as precision machining and computer component manufacturing.

Cambodia's government has earmarked development of the garment industry a priority, but as with many business sectors, it's vulnerable to worldwide and regional events. Recently, dozens of Phnom Penh's garment factories have closed shop in reaction to the financial crisis currently gripping the world and thousands of previously employed workers have returned to rural areas. Some of these workers are considering migrating to other countries.

According to a recent report entitled "Migration and Development: The PSI Perspective" published by Public Services International (PSI), "Quality public services are the foundation of decent work and the key to a decent life, giving people a real choice whether or not to migrate. The International Labor Organization (ILO) warns that the current finan­cial crunch along with the food and fuel crises could raise the number of unemployed people by a further 20 million."

Presently, thousands of "middle class" Cambodians are striving to improve their skill sets by learning English, Korean, and how to drive cars. These accomplishments aren't sponsored by any government entities, but rather, are financed by the people. These individuals hope they'll be viewed as more employable by businesses in other nations and anticipate migrating to foreign lands.

What about the factory workers who have been forced to flee to villages for the time being? Will the Cambodian government provide them with the skills needed to attract higher paying business sectors to Cambodia when the economy rebounds? A better question might be; does it want to?

China’s growing influence in Cambodia is undeniably growing. For example, in the final quarter of 2004, the Seng Keang Company, the most powerful logging syndicate in Cambodia, proceeded with the construction of a manufacturing plant equipped with new machinery imported from China. Since we know China is focused on developing their machine manufacturing sector, thereby transitioning Chinese jobs from low-wage industries, it makes perfect sense for Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen to tell China he will strive to keep Cambodia's workforce unskilled, thereby maintaining a haven for Chinese firms seeking cheap labor.

In doing so, Prime Minister Hun Sen can rest assured he'll continue to receive $7,000,000 USD interest free loans from China for unspecified purposes as he did in November, 2008. That's how the game is played folks, and why those clothes at Wal Mart are so cheap.


John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage

The Follow-up To Blog Post "Female Breast Cancer Victim Denied Access To Treatment By Cambodian Government"

Photo © John Brown All Rights Reserved

Here is a follow-up to my Female Breast Cancer Victim Denied Access To Treatment By Cambodian Government post.

It's in the form of a personal email reply I sent to Ali, the Australian nurse I mentioned in the original post.
May 10th, 2009

Alice Tweedledee
alice_tweedledee@hotmail.com
Dear Ali and Jack:

Thank-you for the email in which you wrote:

"We did receive an email from Peter the tuk tuk driver who has said that miraculously his wife has been accepted for the free treatment in the Centre of Hope hospital."

That is indeed great news and it shows that while we can't take any credit for this positive development, it never hurts to stir things up.

For example, my blog post at:

johnbrownphotos.blogspot.com/2009/04/female-breast-cancer-victim-denied.html

has been hit a total of 23 times and one of the hits came from Hope Worldwide itself, located in Wilmington, Delaware.

What this means is that somebody at Hope Worldwide knew very specifically what had happened to the drivers wife at the Sihanouk Hospital Center of Hope social services office. The world works in strange ways sometimes.

I offer my best wishes to Peter and his wife and feel relieved that she will be receiving proper medical diagnosis and treatment.

Best Regards,

John Brown, Photojournalist Cambodia

cc: mancambodian@yahoo.com

Thank you for your attention

JB

John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage

Photography Guest Of The Week Espen Rasmussen - Norway

Displaced people take refuge in a church in the village of Rubare.

Photo © Espen Rasmussen All Rights Reserved

Through his lens, Norwegian photojournalist Espen Rasmussen sees a tragic story that never ends. It's the tale of the war in DR Congo, the most deadly conflict to have taken place anywhere on earth since World War II.

Although a ceasefire was signed in 2008, a wide-ranging study estimated that the conflict and its associated humanitarian crisis had claimed 5.4 million victims according to Espen Rasmussen's photo story, Congo: Africa's World War.

Mr. Rasmussen's powerful black and white images of the Congo are appearing on Gaia Photos, a place to explore and discover the issues facing the diverse population and locations of our world, both near and far. Gaia Photos mission is to promote quality and diversity in documentary photography.

Speaking of quality, Espen Rasmussen was named one of the world's 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch by Photo District News (PDN) in 2008, and his imagery has been published in magazines and newspapers worldwide.

He is the recipient of two World Press Photo awards, and has garnered several Picture of the Year international (POYi) awards as well. Locally, he has 18 awards from Norway's Norwegian Picture of the Year. Espen Rasmussen is represented by Panos Pictures in London.

Click here to see a more of Espen Rasmussen's photography.

Gaia Photos hopes to increase awareness about the challenges we are facing together on this planet and to promote understanding across all borders, physical or otherwise, so please visit us at Gaia Photos and look our continually updated new features page.

John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive HomepageGAIA Photography and Photojournalism

Public Services International Omits One Key Word In The Debate On Migration And Development: Corruption

Awhile back one of my photographs appeared in "Migration and Development: The PSI Perspective" published by Public Services International (PSI).

PSI is a global federation of public sector unions representing more than 20 million workers involved in the delivery of public services, and they "are seriously concerned that the current discourse on migration and development is narrowly focused on the "economics of migration" at the expense of migrants’ rights."

Here is a brief look at the report.

"Do States provide enough protection for the most vulnerable groups of migrants such as migrant children, migrant women, do­mestic workers and irregular migrants?"

That's one of the questions asked by Public Services International (PSI) in their report "Migration and Development: The PSI Perspective", which elaborates the position of PSI as it engages in the debate on migration and development.

Public Services International Believes In "Decent Work"

The report states: "Current trends in migration reflect a country’s ability or inability to de­velop and retain its own workforce. Decent work is at the heart of this. Governments must strive to implement policies that promote decent work in the countries where people live. Decent work is founded on four pillars which take due account of the gender dimension: productive and freely chosen employment, rights at work in­cluding the ILO core labor standards, social protection and social dia­logue."

This is important reading folks, so I'll share a bit of the PSI report's information in a "Did You Know?" format.

Did You Know?

1. About half a billion workers continue to live earning below $1 USD per day while 5 out of 10 people in the world survive on vulnerable or precarious work. (International La­bor Organization (ILO), 2008).

2. In 2007, the number of unemployed women rose to almost 82 million and global trends show that women have a higher likelihood of being unemployed than men. (ILO, 2008).

3. In the last five years, the phenomenal rise in the volume of remittances
that migrants send back to their home countries has attracted international attention from governments and international financial institutions.

4. In 2006, the World Bank estimated remittances at $207 billion USD, with total remittances including informal transfers at about $300 billion USD, thereby labeling it as “an important and stable source of development Finance. (The World Bank, 2007).

5. That the UN and ILO Conventions provide full protection of the rights of migrants, including those displaced by climate change.

At any rate, the relationship between migration and development is a hotly debated according to PSI. They feel that:

"the labor migration policies of industrialized countries ex­acerbate the brain drain in developing countries. Without serious con­sideration of developmental challenges and poverty levels in developing countries, countries in the North design policies that draw skilled workers from the South while filtering out low skilled migrants through stricter immi­gration controls, security measures and employment sanctions. Migration policy is increasingly becoming a function of the labor market, without due regard to human and labor rights."

In dealing with the challenges posed by migration and development, PSI calls for:

1. A comprehensive and coherent set of policies that address migration and employment policies within the context of current global develop­ment challenges.

2. A gender sensitive and rights-based approach to migration.

3. Defending the integrity, access and quality of public services, as a way to reduce inequality, pursue sustainable development and build the foundation to decent life and decent work for all.

4. Adoption of a WHO Code of Practice on the Ethical Recruitment of Health Workers.

How do you weigh in? Do you think "forced migration resulting from climate change will pose serious challenges to development brought about by increased pressure on urban infrastructure and services, undermining of economic growth, increased unemployment, intensification of conflict and creation of conditions leading to the deterioration of health, educational and social well-being among the population"? (IOM, 2008).

Is it women and children who will be most adversely affected?

It seems to me that while the PSI report states, "It will be the poorest countries that will have the greatest challenges in coping technologically with climate change and in accessing adequate resources to help reduce the need for people to move.", governments of these poor nations should act as responsibly towards the developed world as PSI wants the developed world to act towards poor nations.

Although the report says, "Governments must strive to implement policies that promote decent work in the countries where people live" this glosses over the realities. Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Congo Republic, Haiti, Somalia, Sudan and Philippines are all poor countries…..and rank among the world's most corrupt nations.

Developmental challenges and poverty levels in developing countries are perpetrated by government corruption and CORRUPTION is a word that never appears in the report. I acknowledge that people are unbelievably poor, I see them everyday. However, although this report is thought provoking, it fails to address corruption as one of the root causes of poverty and forced migration.

According to the recent UK government-commissioned Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, "international efforts to combat climate change must prioritize the preservation of existing natural forests."

It's a well known fact Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's family has stripped the country's forests. Cambodia has lost over 30% of its primary tropical forest in just the last 6 years. This plundering of natural resources demonstrates that Hun Sen's government is not acting in the people's best interest and his greedy and corrupt policies are "ex­acerbating the drain" of human resources in Cambodia.

And those hydroelectric dam projects being planned. Will their construction lead to ecological damage and human suffering due to land loss and displacement? Will Khmers go to Korea or Thailand to work in manufacturing or farming if they lose their land or will they remain in Cambodia?

Transparency International's 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index recommended that:

"The world’s wealthiest governments must strictly enforce the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, which criminalizes the bribery of foreign public officials."

"Developing countries should use aid money to incorporate strengthened integrity and corruption prevention as an integral part of poverty reduction programs."

Whatever happens, "Migration and Development: The PSI Perspective", makes for some interesting reading and may offer some people a fresh perspective. It's just missing one key word.

John Brown Photojournalist On LIGHTSTALKERS
My Mondo Library Photography
My Photoshelter Photography Archive Homepage