Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association

National

Garment workers leave a factory during lunch break in scorching weather, in Phnom Penh on April 10, 2024. (CamboJA/Pring Samrang)

Garment Workers Request for Water Mist Fans as Rising Temperatures Affect Health And Productivity

Garment workers in Phnom Penh and Kandal, Takeo and Kampong Chhnang provinces have asked their companies to install water mist fans in the factory amid rising temperatures. The call comes on the heels of the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training’s directive on April 9 to factories and companies to spray water on roofs and set up enough fans to cool down.
An Indigenous women walks back from farming in the Veun Sai district of Ratanakiri province on October 29, 2023. (CamboJA/Try Thaney)

Op-Ed: Indigenous Communities Lose Land at Perilous Rate Due to Predatory Loan Industry

A microfinance credit officer in Ratanakiri recently told me he thought Cambodia’s Indigenous communities would be landless in the next 10 years, as they sell off their land to pay off loans. His worrying prediction comes in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, when financial instability pushed even more people in the country to take on debt. Many local community members, including Indigenous communities, have borrowed money from banks and microfinance institutions to buy land, pay for medical expenses, build houses, fund farms, carry out religious ceremonies and pay school tuition. But many of these communities are struggling to pay back their debt.