SISHA rescues a 12-year-old girl from child labor

May 03, 2011

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA- SISHA recently rescued Kunthy*, a 12-year-old girl, before she could be sent to Malaysia where she would suffer from child labor.

Despite her young age, Kunthy and her family were approached by a broker from one of the many recruitment agencies who promised money in exchange for the girl to be sent to Malaysia for work. The family was promised an initial amount followed by a monthly salary in the hundreds of dollars once she arrived in Malaysia. Desperate and under pressure, Kunthy and her family signed the contract in late December 2010.

Like many families in Cambodia, Kunthy’s family is very poor and often struggles just to survive. A promise like that of the broker was simply too good to be ignored. Because Kunthy is well under the legal age for work, the broker allegedly convinced Kunthy’s older sister to alter Kunthy’s date of birth on documentation supplied to the recruitment agency to make her appear older than the legal age of 18.

As was stated in the contract, Kunthy was sent to the recruitment agency’s training center in Phnom Penh in early January. The company chose not to question the validity of her forged birth certificate despite her obvious child-like appearance. Kunthy stayed there until her rescue in early April.

After hearing numerous horrifying stories about the women who had already been sent off to Malaysia, Kunthy changed her mind. She was now terrified of being sent away. That is when she called SISHA for help. She became aware of SISHA’s hotline following a previous rescue at the same center. SISHA investigators had purposefully left behind contact cards to various employees which allowed Kunthy to reach out for help.

Right after the call, SISHA investigators were rapidly deployed. Investigators met with the girl, took statements, searched for documentation that proved the girl was underage and met with the managers. Despite official documentation and Cambodian laws on child labour, the managers at the recruitment agency refused to let Kunthy leave with SISHA investigators.

SISHA reported the matter to the Phnom Penh police who, with SISHA’s help, managed to rescue the girl from the recruitment agency and reunite her with her family. Because the girl was a minor, her contract was annulled which means the recruitment agency is not legally entitled to compensations from Kunthy and her family. The police are currently investigating the broker who is suspected of having recruited Kunthy back in December.

Although difficult to imagine, stories like that of Kunthy are unfortunately common in Cambodia and the rest of South East Asia. Poverty pressures families into making difficult choices which often results in their children being placed in situations of exploitation.

All throughout Cambodia there are countless brokers working for recruitment agencies who convince desperate families to give up their precious daughters in exchange for a working contract. Families often receive 100$ US and a bag of rice when the girls leave the home, followed by another payment before they are lured away to other countries, usually Malaysia. Some of these girls are never heard from again, many are abused and exploited.

Numerous investigations conducted by NGOs revealed that women staying in these training centers were often times younger than younger than 18 (the legal age for international contracts).

Training centers, such as the ones Kunthy was taken to, are allegedly often overcrowded and unhygienic. Women and girls have been reportedly maltreated, forcibly confined and abused while being trained in these facilities. Recently, IRIN News (see link below) reported the story of one woman who died in one of these training centers while another broke her two legs after she tried to escape from the third floor balcony of the same facility. Most of these centers are located in Phnom Penh.

SISHA is increasingly involved in the fight against exploitation, abuse and bonded labour as evidenced by Kunthy’s recent rescue. SISHA meets with potentially exploited and abused workers, investigates complaints, liaise with the police and reunites families. When needed, SISHA also negotiates with companies and recruitment agencies to terminate contracts without significant debts for the families involved.

Unfortunately, if the people who sign the contracts are legal age, companies and recruitment agencies are currently allowed to ask for monetary compensation if the terms of the contract are not respected. Recruitment agencies claim that the training the women and girls benefited from while staying at the facility is a considerable expense. For this reason, they feel entitled to compensations if trainees opt-out before the completion of the contract. This applies even if women and girls are maltreated and rescued by NGOs like SISHA or the police.

If this story speaks to you please help SISHA rescue more people like Kunthy by educating yourself on SISHA’s work, raising awareness about these issues and by donating. Your personal contribution is essential to SISHA’s work.

To fund more rescues like this one, please click here to donate!

For more information about the situation in Cambodia, please check out:
www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportID=92210

* Kunthy’s real name has been changed in order to protect her identity