Ministry of Labour: Report on Brick Slavery is Not True

• 2 November 2018
• Local News
• 2231 Views

Mr Veng Heang, Director of the Child Labour Department MLVT

The recent report on modern slavery in Cambodia published by Royal Holloway University is not true, according to the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MLVT).

On 01 November, 2018, Construction&Property Magazine sat down with Mr Veng Heang, Director of the Child Labour Department MLVT, to further discuss the allegations on modern slavery in the country including children. (Read more)

Responding to the allegations, Mr Veng Heang said the report was untrue because it did not show the reality in Cambodia, where he claims there is no more slavery.

In fact, the Ministry of Labour has conducted various inspections at brick kilns and has not found any slavery of children or debt bondage from brick kiln owners to workers as the Royal Holloway report detailed.

In contrast, according to Mr Veng Heang, MLVT has been working hard to help provide education for poor children and has repartitioned them from brick kilns leaving almost no one behind. Since 2008, more than 3,000 children have been repartitioned from the kilns.

He also said that the growth of the construction sector in Cambodia does not have any co-relation to the slavery described in the Royal Holloway report of which 80% of the findings have been published in 2016.

“Although the numbers of brick kiln has increased to supply the construction sector, they are now using automatic machines that can reduce labour” he said.

However, Mr Veng Heang also highlighted some of the problems faced by workers such as health and hygiene, education, as well as individual debt, none of which are related to brick production.

• Analysis