Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet (center) takes selfies with workers on Aug. 29, 2023. On June 24, his government said it was planning to launch an investigation into a labor rights group after it criticized employer-imposed barriers to freedom of association.(Photo: AFP)
Two leading rights groups have accused the Cambodian government of engaging in a retaliatory smear campaign against a labor rights group after it published a report highlighting employer-imposed barriers to freedom of association.
In a joint statement published on June 26, CIVICUS, a global civil society alliance, and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) criticized what they said were concerted retaliation efforts staged by government-backed unions and authorities.
The labor rights group, Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL) came under heavy attack after it released a report following a one-year study, titled “Barriers to Representation: Freedom of Association in Cambodia,” on June 4.
FORUM-ASIA and CIVICUS said the government-backed unions and authorities organized protests outside CENTRAL's office, demanding it "correct" its report.
The unions also accused CENTRAL of receiving foreign funding to “destroy peace and stability” in Cambodia and called on the Ministry of Interior to monitor and review CENTRAL’s activities.
“These actions highlight the repressive climate for civil society in Cambodia and the challenges activists face in documenting and reporting on human rights issues,” CIVICUS and FORUM-ASIA said in their joint statement.
The CENTRAL report evaluated Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) and whether its current processes appropriately assess and adequately report on employer-imposed barriers to freedom of association.
One of the BFC’s core activities is to monitor export apparel factories’ compliance against international labor standards to inform brands and buyers of labor conditions in each factory.
Union representatives from 10 out of 14 workplaces stated in the report that they faced violations of freedom of association despite perfect compliance scores for their workplaces as per BFC data.
The CENTRAL report highlighted a host of irregularities, including sexual and gender-based harassment, threats, coercion, smearing, bribes, buyouts, and non-renewal of short-term contracts, among other issues.
Tactics like layoffs, suspensions, and dismissals based on fabricated charges, constant monitoring of union members and their activities, changes in work teams, and blacklisting of workers were also reportedly used to suppress freedom of association.
“Cambodian union activity is being eclipsed by constant surveillance and monitoring by company-affiliated unions, and a prevailing atmosphere of distrust,” the CENTRAL report said.
CENTRAL added that there was significant evidence pointing to management’s use of "yellow unions" to harass and intimidate independent unions and prevent dismissed unionists from being employed elsewhere.
“Such practices are seldom captured in conventional social audits, BFC's included,” the CENTRAL report said.
Around 70 pro-government union federations and unions protested against CENTRAL in Phnom Penh, calling its report “baseless” and not reflecting “the truth of the situation of unions in Cambodia,” Camboja News reported.
On June 24, the interior ministry said it was planning to launch an investigation into CENTRAL’s operations and use of foreign funds following the call to do so by the unions.
FORUM-ASIA and CIVICUS emphasized that the role of CENTRAL in documenting and reporting labor rights is critical in Cambodia, in ensuring that the government and businesses adhere to international law and standards and protect the rights of workers and unions.
The actions against CENTRAL highlighted the “repressive civic space environment for activists, trade unionists and civil society,” in Cambodia, the rights groups added.
They urged the “international community to speak up and stand in solidarity with CENTRAL and other civil society groups and activists facing harassment or criminalization.”
