Blood-bricks: Booming Construction in Cambodia Built on Modern Day Slavery

• 17 October 2018
• Local News
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Photo by Royal Holloway

The booming construction industry in Cambodia has been built on modern slavery with climate change being the key driver for the workforce, according to research by Royal Holloway, University of London published on 16 October, 2018.

Entitled”BLOOD BRICKS: Untold Stories of Modern Slavery and Climate Change from Cambodia”, the report shows that“tens of thousands of debt-bonded families in Cambodia extract, mould, and fire clay in hazardous conditions to meet Phnom Penh’s insatiable appetite for bricks”.

“Urban ‘development’ is built on unsustainable levels of debt taken on by rural families struggling to farm in one of the most climate-vulnerable countries [Cambodia] in the world” the research said.

Climate change has impacted on agrarian production causing families from rural villages across Cambodia to leave their homes to live and work in brick kilns, the report added.

“Kiln owners repay farmers’ debts and offer a consolidated loan. In return, farmers and their families are compelled to enter into debt bondage with the kiln owner until the loan is repaid”, the research said.

According to the report, average debt being studied ranges between US$100 to US$4,000 with an average level of debt was US$712 across the sample of kiln workers.

In addition, “Kiln workers report a number of specific health impacts such as respiratory illnesses driven by the inhalation of kiln fumes and brick dust without protective equipment, and limb amputation resulting from unsafe brick-moulding machinery”, the report said.

Under the support from UK Economic and Social Research Council and Department for International Development (ESRC-DFID) Development Frontiers Research Fund, the report highlighted ten untold stories of modern slavery and climate change in addition to an exhaustive research review and fieldwork from September 2017 to April 2018.

• Analysis