Cambodia businesses, unions ask EU not to impose trade sanctions
(Full article in the link.)Cambodian businesses and unions urged the European Union on Monday to not withdraw trade preferences from Cambodia over human rights concerns, saying such a decision would pose serious economic damage and harm millions of workers and their families.
The EU warned last year that it would strip Cambodia of its “Everything but Arms” (EBA) duty-free trading access, after long-time Prime Minister Hun Sen won every seat in a July general election following a crackdown on the opposition.
The 28-country bloc is Cambodia’s biggest export market, worth billions of euros a year.
A letter addressed to EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and seen by Reuters said the trade threat was most concerning for Cambodia’s rural women. “(They) make up 85 percent of the 700,000 garment workers and (are) therefore most likely to suffer ... from the social and economic repercussions of any change to the status quo,” it said.