Industries

Manufacturing

Mining the Mekong: Land and livelihoods lost to Cambodia’s thirst for sand

Some 45 kilometers, or 28 miles, up the Mekong River from Phnom Penh, Voi Thy sat and watched as 12 boats pumped sand from the riverbed. Another 11 boats, weighed low by their quarry of freshly mined sand, were making the glacial journey past her ...

Gerald Flynn, Vutha Srey

Severance pay remains a struggle for Southeast Asian workers

Garment workers at Thailand’s Brilliant Alliance factory were granted leave, only to learn their employer had shut down when they returned to their worksite in early March 2021.  “Everyone was abandoned and never went back to work, there was nothing from the company about compensation,” said ...

JACK BROOK

Kingdom to gain from production of hemp

The government is aiming to make Thailand a regional manufacturing centre for hemp products in the next five years to generate at least 25 billion baht in income, said Industry Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit on Sunday. The plan is projected to add more value to hemp grown ...

POST REPORTERS

Large-scale logging in Cambodia’s Prey Lang linked to politically-connected mining operation

The early onset of Cambodia’s wet season had seen the rain fall thick over Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, turning freshly cut paths through the forest into a near-impassible slick of churned-up mud. But the torrential weather had done little to deter local loggers, who rode ...

Gerald Flynn|Andy Ball|Vutha Srey

Myanmar state of affairs worsening, ETI warns businesses

In a position statement, the ETI points to a Commission of Inquiry into the decline of workers’ rights in Myanmar established by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in March, noting such a move is the ILO’s highest-level investigative procedure which is generally set up when a member state ...

Hannah Abdulla

As road accidents rise, garment workers face a dangerous commute

Early on the morning of 12 February while heading to her shift at the garment factory in Kampong Speu province, Soth Vy was the last of about 40 workers to climb onto the standing platform of the truck that came to her village. She enjoyed ...

ASHLEY HUI YIN TAN

Two dozen dead, 80 missing after jade mine landslide in Myanmar’s Hpakant

At least 23 people are dead and 80 are missing 11 days after a landslide at a jade mine in Myanmar’s Kachin state, but junta officials and the mine’s operators have yet to confirm the casualties and are seeking to keep the incident under wraps, ...

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Cambodia ready to exit LDC status

Cambodia is well-prepared to minimise economic risks when it graduates from its Least Developed Countries status, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Commerce on May 7. Four LDCs – Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh and Nepal – met at a virtual workshop last week to ...

Thou Vireak

China’s rare earth supplies disrupted by Myanmar tumult

Fears are growing of a global shortage of rare earth minerals used in the manufacture of high-tech devices as unrest in Myanmar following the February 1 coup disrupts exports to China.  Chinese companies started complaining about delays in shipments of the minerals since mid-March, reportedly due to ...

DOMINIC OO

Watchdogs Call For Transparency as Cambodia Strikes Oil

Civil society organizations and Cambodia’s banned opposition party have called on the government to release detailed information about revenue it is earning from the petroleum industry, days after the country struck oil following a decades-long quest. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on social media ...

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

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