Phnom Penh: Pav Sina, head of the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, stated that the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report fails to reflect reality if it relies on research or interviews with just a small number of workers—especially when compared to the nearly 1 million workers who have returned from Thailand.
Pav Sina remarked, “It is a very different situation.” He suggested that the workers interviewed by HRW may have been pre-arranged, noting that returning workers from Thailand have received significant attention from the Royal Government of Cambodia—particularly the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, which has deployed officers to all border crossings to welcome them and assist in finding jobs.
He emphasized: “It is inevitable that there will be some gaps, given the large scale of the workers’ return, but it is impossible to interview just a few workers and then impact nearly 1 million people. For me, this report cannot reflect the reality.”
The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training has categorically rejected and strongly condemned the publication of this false, unprofessional, and baseless report by Human Rights Watch on 25 November 2025, which deliberately misleads, incites, and slanders the Royal Government’s dedicated efforts to care for returning workers.
In fact, since 8 June 2025, these returning workers have been warmly welcomed and treated with great care: shelters have been organized, free transportation to hometowns provided, assistance with carrying belongings offered, clean water and snacks distributed, help with processing identification documents given, and microfinance institutions urged to delay repayments.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training has partnered with local authorities and relevant institutions to launch the “Khmer Help Find Jobs and Provide Jobs to Khmer” campaign. This includes mutual assistance in job registration via the 1297 hotline and Telegram system—opening doors for all Cambodian citizens, including youth volunteers from the Union of Cambodian Youth Federations, to help register jobs for returning workers without requiring travel to registration sites. It also features immediate job forums in communes with high numbers of returnees, where representatives from enterprises, companies, factories, and farms conduct on-site interviews (held 577 times in total), as well as technical and vocational training programs to exchange skills for those interested in starting businesses or working locally. As a result, over 280,000 workers have secured jobs through the system, with the Ministry currently offering about 80,000 opportunities and gathering more.
