Chinese investment drives Cambodia’s construction boom but deadly collapses prompt calls for freeze
- Chinese tourism and investment has helped fuel an industry that was worth US$5.4 billion in 2017 but safety is lax and child labour is rife
- Cambodian union now wants all construction projects halted until they are inspected and compliant with legal and safety regulations
After six children died when a building site collapsed, the Cambodian workers’ union on Wednesday called for a halt to a construction boom that has killed more than 60 people in seven months, while the government vowed to tackle child labour.
“Do we want this to become known as normal in Cambodia?” said Sou Chhlonh, vice-president of the Building and Wood Workers Trade Union Federation of Cambodia, after the building’s owners were charged with unintentional homicide. “Cambodian people are dying. Cambodia has laws to protect them but the laws need to be enforced.”
The union wants all construction projects frozen until they are inspected and compliant with legal and safety regulations, as growing crowds of Chinese tourists and investors have fuelled a boom that officials valued at US$6.4 billion in 2017.
At least two of the children were infants and it was unclear whether any of the other dead children were employed on the site.
Campaigners say the industry is rife with child labour, as are the hundreds of kilns that provide what have been dubbed ‘blood bricks’ for Cambodia’s boom.
“You only have to go for a walk to see child labour in the construction industry,” said Khun Tharo, a programme coordinator at the Centre for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, a charity.