Cambodia's Children - 2
Bonded Slavery and Child Labour
19% of Cambodia 's children (nearly 120,000 children) are in bonded labour, and many are sold to local money lenders for as little as $31. Many of the industries that have bonded labourers enforce unbearably long hours, and pay as little as 20 cents per day for the work the children do. [4]
Many families survive on less than $1 per day, and this is what drives them to send their children out to work. There are up to 218,109 Cambodian children aged 5 to 14 years old who are made to do work. The percentage of girls working is higher than the percentage of boys (the figure for girls is around 55.7% and the figure for boys is approximately 44.3%).
1 out of every 10 working children live in urban areas, meaning the remaining 9 live in rural communities. Sadly, 6 out of 10 working children don't go to school. The remaining 4 have to work and attend school at the same time.
The majority of children (9 out of 10) work in the agricultural section. In this sector, the number of working boys slightly outnumbers the girls.
However, there are more girls working in the industry sector. Many do baking, handicrafts, and concreting and plastering work. However, a percentage of children also become sales workers. [5]
Table: Forms of Child Labour in Cambodia
Distribution of working children aged 5 - 14 years old, by kind of industry in primary occupation, sex, and areas.
| Kind Of Industry |
Rural |
Urban |
Whole of Cambodia |
| Both Sexes |
198 448 |
19 662 |
218 110 |
| Industry |
5 575 |
1 760 |
7 335 |
| Agriculture |
181 467 |
13 812 |
195 279 |
| Services |
11 406 |
4 090 |
15 496 |
| |
|
|
|
| Female |
111 835 |
9 643 |
121 478 |
| Industry |
3 550 |
1 283 |
4 833 |
| Agriculture |
100 719 |
6 200 |
106 199 |
| Services |
7 566 |
2 160 |
9 726 |
|
|
|
|
| Male |
86 613 |
10 019 |
96 632 |
| Industry |
2 025 |
477 |
2 502 |
| Agriculture |
80 748 |
7 612 |
88 360 |
| Services |
3 840 |
1 930 |
5 770 |
Illegal Detention
Many young children are illegally detained in prisons or jails around Cambodia . Young girls who have been forced to marry older men who have subsequently committed other crimes are often detained along with their spouses. These children don't even receive so much as a trial and are not even charged with a crime. Many of them also have to get outsiders to bring them clothing and food so that they can keep warm and so that they don't starve to death. [4a]
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