Youth Offered EdC Job After Brother's Death
The older brother of a boy killed in a construction accident at a work site of Electricite du Cambodge last week has been promised a jo
The older brother of a young boy killed in a constructionaccident on a work site of Electricite du Cambodge last week has been promiseda job by the company and the family compensated with $1,500. Men Chanpong, 13, was buried alive Friday night by an EdCbulldozer in Lor Kambor village, Svay Pak commune, Russei Keo district, wherevillagers say he was working part time. EdC has denied employing the boy, but paid compensation tohis father and promised a job to Men Chanthy, the 23-year-old brother of theboy. Rights and union officials said such compensation, common inCambodia,perpetuated a system of impunity and weakened the rule of law. “They gave my son a job in the company, but I don’t knowwhat it is because I just got a call this morning to get an application,” MenChanseng, 47-year-old father of the boy, said Tuesday. Men Chanseng himself is a construction worker. He would notconfirm whether his son worked for EdC, but he confirmed receiving compensationfrom the company. Chea Sunhel, director of EdC’s supply department, denied theboy worked for the company and said Tuesday EdC was giving Men Chanthy a job inaddition to compensation because the family was poor. “He might work as a security guard or, if he is literate, hecan record meter readings,” Chea Sunhel said. “It depends on his abilities.” Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation Union,said such compensation was not worth the life of a child. “It is not fair, because if the company keeps paying just$1,000 or $2,000 for the family of the deceased, and there is nothing happeningto it, that means impunity in Cambodiais still high,” he said. In Cambodiaa habit exists where a perpetrator of a crime pays compensation to a family inorder to avoid the courts, which themselves are widely criticized as corruptand politically biased. Ny Chakrya, a rights investigator for Adhoc, said if thelegal system cannot punish perpetrators, Cambodia cannot meet the rule oflaw. “If impunity continues, none of the cases will be involvedwith the people. They will not file in court, they will not cooperate and theywill not join in legal reform to strengthen the rule of law in Cambodia. Sothe legal system here will become weaker and weaker.”