PHNOM PENH — As the European Union is said to have instigated a process to suspend its ‘Everything But Arms’ (EBA) trade agreement with Cambodia, fear is spreading among the nation’s garment workers that their livelihoods could be at risk.
Research from a Cambodian trade organisation suggests that almost 250,000 workers in the garment and footwear production industries could be left without work as a direct result of the trading arrangement being pulled.
Last October it was reported by Ecotextile News that unions representing the Cambodian garment sector were worried over the alleged scaling up of trade pressure from the European Union. While several large-scale manufacturers in Cambodia claimed such action would take a long time to materialise, if at all, those concerns now seem to have been legitimised.
