"Labor Ministry Brings Home 26 Cambodian Migrant Workers Stuck in Saudi Arabia For Months", 6 August 2024

Twenty six Cambodian workers, who allegedly worked long hours with inadequate food, have returned home after being retained for four months in Saudi Arabia. Four more remain but will be repatriated soon.

…, a video posted on a Facebook account named Ry Single, said their employment contract with Cambodian company Fatina Manpower Co Ltd required them to do cleaning work as a group for eight hours in the Middle East country for a monthly remuneration of 15,000 riyal ($400).

The Labor and Vocational Training Ministry said they cooperated with the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Ministry and Cambodian embassy in Egypt, and the Saudi government to repatriate the workers ...

To date, 104 workers have been repatriated from Saudi Arabia, the ministry said …

Em Bopha, 44, who said she was a victim in Saudi Arabia, told … that she was “really happy” to return to Cambodia ...

Bopha shared that the ministry arranged health checks for everyone, and gave each of them 180,000 riel ($45) cash and groceries.

She also asked Fatina Manpower to help resolve their financial situation by way of compensation following the employment problem stretching over several months.

… Rights group NGO Adhoc president Ny Sokha welcomed the efforts to bring home the workers, but called on relevant ministries to thoroughly review the legal measures involving the recruitment of Cambodian workers by companies for foreign jobs.

“This is a [case of] labor exploitation because they went there based on their employment contract but upon arrival, the contract was not enforced,” he said…