Jasmin Mellen
Cambodia is a developing country that is heavily reliant on the textile industry. It contributes to one fifth of the GDP and use its power to influence the social and economic policies. Corporations target countries like Cambodia because of the low cost associated with it such as cheap labour and using its abundance of natural resources to operate. Throughout the whole supply chain, from manufacturing to disposing the fabrics they violate the basic human rights; and are inflicting risk to the people of Cambodia and depleting them of their natural resources. I want to raise awareness about this industry taking advantage of the people of Cambodia and the problems that arise with this industry.
To understand the state of Cambodia, we look back at the history of how it became what is it today. One of the main reasons corporations can get away with these malpractices’ is due to Genocide and warfare that occurred between 1965 to 1979. The first attack targeted the rural areas by the United Stated, which forced people into urban areas, this happened from 1965-1973. Then in 1975 the Pol Pot regime began to attack the urbanized areas. In 1979, is when Vietnam helped Cambodia people take back their land. This resulted in a predominately younger demographic, with sixty one percent of the population being younger than 24. This put Cambodia in survival mode, they were traumatized and focused on surviving and getting their basic needs met. This creates a population that are uneducated and unskilled, which affects their resources and their ability to stand up for themselves. Cambodians are just above the poverty line, with limited employment options, majority of them will resort to doing jobs where they could be potential risking their lives because without it, they could potentially starve without that employment. The country caters to these corporations because the textile industry is very competitive and will market themselves as corporate friendly legal environment. Meaning the government aid does not enforce the regulations purposefully because they need the funding coming into the country.
These factories are funded by foreign direct investments, meaning the wealth displacement is going back to the original country, while they pay for Cambodia citizens to do the labour work by malpractices. Brands such as Nike, H&M, and Marks are strategic they avoid legal liability by not branding their products until the final product. They have contracts with these manufacturing sites and those manufacture sites subcontract smaller factories to avoid being fined as well. These smaller factories appear as regular houses or buildings without signs, so they could remain unregistered. Being unregistered their employees are given short term contracts to avert from paying benefits. “Cambodia government does have labour laws that do protect employees through National Social Security Fund” (2016, Kashyap Aruna); however, majority of these factories do not benefit from it.
The factories hold all the power they can replace their employees if they do not abide by their unreasonable demands. They do not have any job security and work on a quote basis to meet their requirements they are forced to work overtime without reasonable compensations. With 90 percent of the workers being woman, if they become pregnant, they can be easily let go once they give birth. Having childcare is not accessible or affordable because they are being paid an unlivable wage. They are given short term contracts to motivate employees to meet with their demands. This is not manageable in long run; and will change once their citizens begin to demand for their rights; however, that could be far in the future. The conditions of these factories lack ventilation and with the climate being warm all year long it is common for employees to call off work. Another violation is they allow children to work and are hidden if any outsiders enter these buildings.
The waste generated from these factories are being sold to kilns factories to generate electricity. They resorted to burning garments from the covid outbreak, the demand for clothing decreased from all the restrictions. However, as covid came under control, kiln factories continue to burn garments, they are much cheaper alternative than burning solely wood. For a truck load of wood, it cost 1000- 1500 US dollars compared to a truck load of garments, which is 100 US dollars. They burn other products as well such as hangers and rubber, with illegal wood, which pollutes the air with microfibers of plastics and other toxic fumes harming the people nearby and in those facilities. Workers become sick frequently with colds, flu, bloody noses, and lung inflammations and do not have the means to pay for their medical expenses. In many situations, the workers burrow money from kilns factories to pay for the medical expense and are indebted to work for those factories’ years. They get truckloads of woods from locals because they do not want to be liable for being fined for the environmental laws.
These investments in Cambodia are profit maximization oriented, many violations occur operating in this industry. This is a common practice in the business world, they seek out countries where the government is inadequate with providing resources to protect their citizens and take advantage and in many articles, they characterized this as modern slavery. They live in poverty and to meet partial of their basic needs they are willing to do these harsh jobs because for many this is their only option. Corporations need to be more responsible but does not look like it will change until the consumer demand it. Textile industries are creating more waste than ever before due to these fast trends. It is inhumane to proceed operating this business without compensating these workers the amount they deserve. They need to be protected and everyone should take responsibility including the consumer, becoming more knowledgeable in what you buy will enforce change.
Citations
Aruna Kashyap. (2020, October 28). The secret underbelly of the Cambodian Garment Industry. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/10/24/secret-underbelly-cambodian-garment-industry
Cambodia. College of Liberal Arts. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust-genocide-education/resource-guides/cambodia
Www.chijournal.org. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://www.chijournal.org/Content/Files/R225-02.pdf
Gangopadhyay, P., Jain, S., & Suwandaru, A. (2020, December 8). What drives urbanisation in modern Cambodia? some counter-intuitive findings. MDPI. Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/24/10253
Www.giz.de. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://www.giz.de/en/downloads/giz2022-en-cambodia-sustainable-textile-industry.pdf
Griffin Allie, A., Griffin, A., Allie, & *, N. (2017, April 3). Subcontracting factories: The most invisible makers. Remake. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://remake.world/stories/news/subcontracting-factories-the-most-invisible-makers/
Major retailers' garment waste burnt to fuel Cambodian kilns. Resource.co. (2022, August 9). Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://resource.co/article/major-retailers-garment-waste-burnt-fuel-cambodian-kilns