The Directorate of Labour of the Cambodian Ministry of Labour and
Vocational Training has launched a database developed by IOM that
will help it to manage labour migration and protect the rights of
Cambodian workers abroad.

The database, which was developed with funding from Finland,
will contain details of all Cambodians hired through recruitment
agencies to work abroad. The information will allow the Ministry of
Labour to monitor significant labour migration trends and will
underpin future policy development.

Cambodian migrant workers are currently mainly employed in
Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea. In April 2007 there were some
2,508 Cambodians legally employed in Thailand, 708 of them women,
mainly working in the fishery, construction and agricultural
sectors.

In Malaysia, there are some 8,969 Cambodians working legally,
7,042 of them women, almost all of them employed as domestic
workers.

The number of Cambodians working legally in South Korea is less
clear, following the replacement of the International Trainees
System (ITS) with the Employment Permanent System (EPS), at the
beginning of this year. Under the ITS system, 3,399 Cambodians went
to South Korea, 469 of them women, to work legally in the
industrial sector.

IOM and the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training plan to
continue to cooperate to expand Cambodia's labour migration
management capacity, subject to new donor funding becoming
available.

For more information, please contact:

Iuliana Stefan

IOM Phnom Penh

Tel: +855.23216532

E-mail: "mailto:istefan@iom.int">istefan@iom.int