manual: women workers' rights and gender equality - International ...

Card 1: No to Suppression of Freedom, Yes to Workers to Organize (picture No. 24)
Convention 87: Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, 1948
Workers and employers must have the right to establish and join organizations of their own
choosing with a view to defending and furthering their respective interests.
Convention 98: Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949
Protection of workers who are exercising the right to organize; non-interference between workers’
and employers’ organization; promotion of voluntary collective bargaining.
Both Conventions are ratified by the Cambodian Government.
The right to organize is also protected by the Constitution. Section 36.5 states that Khmer citizens
of either sex shall have the right to form and to be members of trade unions.
This is very important to informal sector workers. They can fight to get more rights by organizing
themselves (see the session about Right to Organize for more details).
In the Labour Code 1997 chapter 11 deals with Trade Union Freedom and Worker Representation
in the Enterprise. Section 1 gives provisions about the right to form a union, section 2 deals with
the protection of trade unions’ freedom and section 3 is about the representation of workers in the
enterprise.
Card 2: No to Forced Labour, Yes to Free Labour (picture No. 25)
Convention 29: Forced Labour and C105: Abolition of Forced Labour
To prohibit and suppress forced or compulsory labour in all its forms.
Both Conventions are ratified by the Cambodian Government.
Section 5 of chapter 1 in the Labour Code 1997 is about forced labour. Article 15 states: forced or
compulsory labor is absolutely forbidden in conformity with the International Labour Convention no.
29 on forced or compulsory labour. Article 16 says that hiring of people for work to pay off debts is
forbidden.
Card 3: No to Child Labour, Yes to Education (picture No. 26)
Convention 138: Minimum Age
No persons under the age of 15 are allowed to work
Convention 182: Worst Forms of Child Labour
To eliminate the worst forms of child labour. Among the worst forms of child labour are: all forms of
slavery, prostitution or pornography, work which is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of
children and illicit activities like trafficking or production of drugs.
Convention 182 is not yet ratified by the Cambodian Government but Convention 138 is.
In the Constitution, article 48 states that the State shall protect the rights of the children as
stipulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), in particular, the right to life,
education, protection during wartime, and from economic or sexual exploitation. Children shall be
protected from acts that are injurious to their educational opportunities, health and welfare (see the
session on Child Labour for more details).
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