LABOUR RIGHTS Up in arms

Cambodia has bid a (partial) farewell to Everything But Arms — but what is next for the union women left fighting on the front line of the fallout?

Say Sokny will always remember her first day of work for Cambodia’s Free Trade Union.
It has never been easy being a unionist in Cambodia. This perhaps explains why Cambodia’s union women have mixed feelings about the European Commission’s decision, announced last month, to partially suspend Cambodia’s inclusion in its Everything But Arms trade deal. The EBA initiative was designed to promote development in the world’s poorest countries, permitting duty-free, quota-free exports to lucrative EU markets for Cambodia and 48 other Least Developed Countries.
A clause in the agreement binds beneficiary governments to upholding human and labour rights.

“I did not plan to work as a unionist, but I saw so much injustice that the workers faced.”

                                                                                                                                                                                Chheng Danou

This article was written by Sabina Lawreniuk

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