Bound by Bricks: An Opportunity to End Debt Bondage and Child Labour in Cambodia
Released in November 2023
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Debt bondage and child labour plague Cambodia’s brick factories, as decades of inaction by the Cambodian government and construction and real estate sectors have allowed these human rights abuses to continue unchecked.
Today, on World Children’s Day 2023, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) is renewing its call for all actors to immediately end these shameful practices. Workers must be freed from bonded labour; child labour laws must be properly enforced and strengthened; and international garment brands must stop their waste from being burnt in brick kilns, harming the health of workers and their children.
“Bound by Bricks: An Opportunity to End Debt Bondage and Child Labour in Cambodia’s Brick Factories" is a report based on information documented by LICADHO from 21 brick factories across Kandal province and the capital Phnom Penh. Dozens of conversations plus in-depth interviews with 10 workers highlighted that debt bondage remains rampant in the industry, and that low per-brick payments continue to drive children aged as young as nine years old to work in brick factories.
There is now a crucial opportunity to eradicate these abuses once and for all. The slowdown in Cambodia’s construction and real estate sectors since the Covid-19 pandemic crushed demand for bricks. This has led to a variety of responses from factory owners: some bonded workers have disturbingly been moved to other industries, been forced to wait at idle factories without any income, or permitted to temporarily leave the brick industry. Few workers have been freed from bonded labour with their debts cancelled in full – yet this is the response that is urgently needed across the industry.
Brick factory workers’ debts to factory owners are textbook examples of criminal debt bondage, and those debts must be immediately cancelled
Am Sam Ath, Operations Director
“Brick factory workers’ debts to factory owners are textbook examples of criminal debt bondage, and those debts must be immediately cancelled,” said Am Sam Ath, LICADHO’s Operations Director. “No child under 18 years should be formally or informally working in hazardous brick factories.”
The Cambodian government’s haphazard labour inspections of brick factories, with no accountability or known prosecutions for debt bondage, have failed to end these abuses. The private sector has also allowed these issues to continue, as actors buying bricks in Cambodia – whether they are local housing developers or multinational corporations – have likely failed to ensure that their supply chains are free of debt bondage and child labour. International garment brands sourcing from Cambodia also bear responsibility for the harmful use of their pre-consumer waste in brick factories.
The government’s charade of inspecting brick factories, only to deny the existence of any problems, is a shameful effort to obscure the truth
Pilorge Naly, Outreach Director
Brick factories often burn garment waste as cheap fuel for brick kilns. The practice appears to have increased in recent years, despite causing health and environmental impacts. Brick factory workers and their children reported respiratory problems, headaches and other harms. LICADHO identified waste belonging to 19 international brands across seven brick factories. LICADHO contacted these brands or their parent companies in October 2023. Just five companies replied within the requested timeframe. Photographs of brands’ waste found at brick factories and details about their replies are available at “Garment Brands’ Waste Burnt in Cambodian Brick Factories; Few Commit to Act”. LICADHO will publish updates about additional responses there if they are received.
“The Cambodian government allows debt bondage and child labour to continue in plain sight,” said Pilorge Naly, LICADHO’s Outreach Director. “The government’s charade of inspecting brick factories, only to deny the existence of any problems, is a shameful effort to obscure the truth. For decades, Cambodia’s cities and developments have been built upon the exploitation of brick factory workers. It is past time to end modern slavery and child labour in Cambodia’s brick factories.”
For more information, please contact:
▪ Am Sam Ath, Operations Director of LICADHO, on Signal at (+855) 10 327 770 (Khmer)
▪ Pilorge Naly, Outreach Director of LICADHO, on Signal at (+855) 12 214 454 (English)
