situation, migrant workers from deprived socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to re-enter the host country illegally, subjecting themselves to a high risk of exploitation, imprisonment, and human trafficking.
This chapter examines two interconnected labour migration issues: labour recruiting practices and debt-financed migration. This study addresses such challenges using our current research results to formulate policy suggestions, notably pre-COVID-19 research and current source country policy responses to COVID-19. The issues confronting Cambodian migrant workers should be a policy priority in order to secure migrants' safety and protection. An understanding of these issues is crucial for Cambodian policymakers and stakeholders to sustain and establish effective and pragmatic policy actions aimed at mitigating COVID-19's negative impacts on migration and development. Additionally, it is critical for the post-COVID-19 recovery plan and to minimize the adverse effect of future migration-related crises.
The chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 begins by examining Cambodian labour migration policy, with a focus on labour mobility in the Cambodia-Thailand corridor. Section 3 investigates labour mobility issues by emphasising pre-existing labour recruitment malpractices and debt- related migration prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Section 4, we illustrate Cambodian policy responses to COVID-19 and its challenges. The final section concludes with policy recommendations to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and future labour migration management.
Cambodia's institutional framework for labour management is mainly composed of the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MoLVT) (MoLVT 2019b). The Ministries of Interior (MoI) and Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MoFAIC) are also in charge of migrant worker registration and oversight abroad. Several additional inter-ministerial collaborations at the national and sub-national levels, such as the MoI, MoLVT, MoFIAC, MoSAVY, MoWA, and MEF, assist with labour migration management (MoLVT 2019b). The Cambodian government also partners with international organisations such as the International Labour Organization, the International Organization for Migration, and UN Women to safeguard labour mobility and promote responsible migration management practices.
Cambodian labour migration is not a new phenomenon. However, the Cambodian authorities are unaccustomed to the developing challenges surrounding labour mobility and its rapid growth. Prior to 2010, Cambodia's national instruments for labour migration were primarily and only governed by two national regulatory frameworks: the 1995 sub-decree No. 57, "Sending Khmer Migrants Abroad," and the 2006 Prakas (Guideline/Regulation) No. 108, "Education on HIV/AIDS safe migration and labour rights for Cambodian migrant workers abroad."
In response to an increase in migrant workers, especially undocumented migration to Thailand, Cambodia's government implemented its first labour migration policy in 2010. Sub-decree No.
190 was also adopted to assist in implementing the labour migration strategy, highlighting "the administration of transferring Cambodian migrant workers through private agencies." This sub- decree permits commercial recruiting agencies to engage in the labour migration process and administration, establishing mechanisms to promote legal migration. Eight Prakas were incorporated in August 2013, a year before the mass exodus of Cambodian migrant workers from Thailand, to support previous sub-decrees and Prakas and to highlight critical labour recruitment
processes, licensing of private recruiting agencies (PRAs), migrant workers' protection, and complaint mechanisms, contract durations for workers in destination countries, and the impact of migration on development (MoLVT 2014). The first Cambodian policy on worker migration, on the other hand, was criticised for lacking regulatory structures and mechanisms to facilitate labour migration governance (Chan 2009; Tunon and Rim 2013). The policy shows inconsistency with the National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), rectangular strategy III, and the national employment policy (NEP).
Cambodia's second labour migration policy (2015-2019) was adopted in 2015, building on the previous policy. This policy lists 94 operations aimed at achieving 17 policy goals, including ensuring the protection and empowerment of labour migrants and maximising the positive return on Cambodia's development. Several institutional frameworks such as Prakas on ensuring compliance with labour practices (Prakas No. 046), an inspection of PRAs (Prakas 252), and awarding and punishing PRAs (Prakas No. 251) have been put in place since 2013. However, ILO (2017) has shown that the second labour policy on labour migration has not lived up to its promises.
Three primary activities performed inadequately, including supervision of recruitment and placement, with 31% of activities falling short of the target, migration in the development agenda performing poorly off target by 38%, and return and integration falling short of the target by 50%.
The MoLVT released the third version of the Cambodian labour migration policy (2019-2023) in 2018, rectifying inadequacies and unattainable policy goals in previous policy versions. There are 13 objectives in this iteration of the Cambodian labour migration policy: 1) "Strengthening labour migration governance framework," 2) "Protection and promotion of migrant workers' rights," and 3) "Harnessing labour migration to optimise social and economic development" (MoLVT 2019b).
Besides the national policy instrument, the Cambodian government signed the Memorandum of Understandings (MoU)3 and bilateral agreements with host countries, particularly ASEAN states, to promote formal labour movement and management via PRAs.4 In particular, the Cambodia- Thailand MoU, signed in 2003, stressed the increasing expansion of Cambodian irregular migrant workers and inaugurated pathways to assure stable labour deployments and workers' return.
However, the MoU was implemented in 2006, which was three years later. Due to lax enforcement and Thailand's crackdown on unauthorised migrant workers in 2014, a significant number of Cambodian migrant workers departed Thailand. Fearing arrest and detention, some 250,000 Cambodian migrant workers returned home (MMN 2014). Both nations decided to strengthen the MoU in 2015 and create sub-decree No. 205 to enable migrant worker repatriation and re- emigration.
Although the national policies, national regulations, bilateral, regional, and international frameworks have been developed, recognizing the importance of tools to promote and protect migrant workers, the issue of migrant labour recruitment practices remains. Previous national regulations such as Prakas No. 46, 47, 250, 251, and 252 and a recent ethical code of conduct for PRAs being demonstrated as good labour practice and migration cost reduction harnessing “a zero fee migration model,” there are no clear-cut mechanisms to address how migration cost reduction can be achieved. Consequently, worker-paid migration cost remains excessively high in the Cambodia-Thailand labour migration corridor.
Furthermore, the growing pattern of problems in debt-related migration has remained silent in all policy levels. Debt-related migration policy has not been established or addressed, although recent research and evidence-based reports have been suggesting the significant adverse effects on migration, such as increasing forced labour, intensifying illegal migration, and causing
exploitation among migrant workers (IOM 2019; Bylander 2020). The policy itself has a loophole that demands policymakers to consider the promotion of financial literacy and access to financial services of migrant workers to maximize return on migration.