Photograph of a child labourer in a Cambodian brick kiln by Thomas Cristofoletti (copyright Thomas Cristofoletti/ Ruom https://www.thomascristofoletti.com)
Help us to call-out investors driving modern slavery, child labour and dangerous working conditions within Cambodian brick kilns by donating to our Crowd Justice fundraising campaign HERE.
Cambodia is in the midst of a construction boom fuelling the demand for huge quantities of bricks. Meeting this demand are 10,000 adults and children working as debt-bonded labourers in its 450 kilns.
The kiln workers begin as indebted farmers and labourers in rural Cambodia. Due to floods and droughts brought about by climate change, as well as a lack of affordable health services and an under-regulated microfinance sector, their debts begin to spiral. They therefore had no choice but to accept loans from brick factories.
In return for such loans, whole families are forced to move to brick kilns to work off their debt bond, over years and even generations. Debt bondage is the most common form of ‘modern slavery’ in the world.
Wages are very low, so many workers take years to pay back their debt-bond, or even pass it on to the next generation. Children as young as 12 have to work on-site producing these 'blood bricks', even though child labour is illegal in Cambodia. Labourers are commonly prohibited from leaving, and are often arrested and brought back if they try to escape. Conditions in the kilns are dire, with many reported injuries and even unexplained mortalities.
It is a grave injustice that people should be exploited in this way. It is especially shocking because their labour is being used primarily to build luxury hotels and tower blocks – some of which are being funded by western banks and invested in by UK pension funds.
We intend to expose the kiln owners and the investors who turn a blind eye, and profit from modern slavery.
In 2018, we produced a report shining a light on this issue, which you can read here.
The practices have not changed: families are still suffering, and children are still being robbed of their childhood by debt bonded labour in these kilns. Furthermore, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, an employment crisis in Cambodia means that thousands more families will likely move to brick kilns in the coming months as a way of paying off debts, and end up in perpetual bondage.
Now, we want to bring a legal case against the individuals and corporations profiting from this system, but we can only do so with your help. We are looking to submit a petition to the UN, which would bring tangible pressure upon both investors and the national government. These petitions have a history of bringing about change. We want to ensure that brick workers receive fair wages and good working conditions, and even compensation for past exploitation.
Our legal team at Payne Hicks Beach and barristers Ben Douglas-Jones QC, 5 Paper Buildings, Shu Shin Luh, Doughty Street Chambers and Ella Gunn, Garden Court Chambers are working pro bono, but we need to raise enough money to carry out further investigative work to compile the forensic evidence for legal action.
Please support us and ensure that debt bondage and child labour are no longer an acceptable means of providing profits for construction tycoons and brick sector industrialists.
Thank you.
Professor Katherine Brickell, Dr Laurie Parsons (both Royal Holloway, University of London) and Dr Nithya Natarajan (King’s College London)
The Blood Bricks study has been shortlisted for “Research Project of the Year: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences” by the Times Higher Education Awards 2020. Please note that legal advice by its nature may suggest exploring other avenues of litigation and we reserve the right to apply funds raised to other aspects of litigation to expose these human rights abuses.