Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports

Cambodia

Alcoholic Beverages
Alcoholic Beverages
Child Labor Icon
Bovines
Bovines
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Bricks
Bricks
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Forced Child Labor Icon
Forced Labor Icon
Fish
Fish
Child Labor Icon
Manioc/Cassava
Manioc/Cassava
Child Labor Icon
Meat
Meat
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Rubber
Rubber
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Salt
Salt
Child Labor Icon
Shrimp
Shrimp
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Sugarcane
Sugarcane
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Textiles
Textiles
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Timber
Timber
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Tobacco
Tobacco
Child Labor Icon
Cambodia
2022 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor:

Minimal Advancement – Efforts Made but Continued Practice that Delayed Advancement

In 2022, Cambodia made minimal advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The Government of Cambodia launched and committed $10 million to the National Action Plan on Early Childhood Care and Development, which aims to provide equitable and inclusive early childhood education and prioritizes an expansion of early learning curriculum, improved teaching materials, and a strengthened preschool workforce. Cambodia's Inter-Ministries Technical Working Group also drafted the Child Protection Law, which outlines children's rights and provides detailed information on how officials should conduct child-centered case management and referrals to social services. Despite initiatives to address child labor, Cambodia is assessed as having made only minimal advancement because it continued to implement practices that delay advancement to eliminate child labor. The government failed to take active measures to investigate, prosecute, convict, and sentence public officials who participate in or facilitate the worst forms of child labor, including commercial sexual exploitation of children and debt-based forced labor in brick kilns. In addition, judges, police, and labor inspectors were reported to have accepted bribes to overlook child labor offenses in the country, especially when the perpetrator had alleged ties with the government. Children in Cambodia are subjected to the worst forms of child labor, including in commercial sexual exploitation, sometimes as a result of human trafficking, and in forced labor in brickmaking. The government also failed to publicly release information on its criminal law enforcement efforts. Moreover, the lack of regulation in the microfinance industry has led to debt bondage and an increase in child labor.

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