PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- A Cambodian Cabinet minister says British actress Minnie Driver's plan to work in a textile factory here to highlight the plight of sweatshop labor could end up harming the country.
The garment industry is Cambodia's main source of foreign revenue and accounts for 36 percent of its national economic output. More than 200,000 people work in about 220 factories, producing clothes for brand names such as The Gap, Banana Republic and Polo.
``People who want to improve the working conditions of women in the garment industry in Cambodia should ... reflect on ways and means to assist them, and they should refrain from pursuing their anti-globalization goals by trying to harm the poor in the world's poorest countries,'' Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh was quoted as saying by The Cambodia Daily on Thursday. ``Ms. Minnie Driver can be harmful to Cambodia,'' Cham Prasidh was quoted as saying.
He spoke Wednesday at a workshop on how to encourage female garment workers to stand up for their rights. It's not known when Driver is coming to Cambodia or where she plans to work.
Oxfam, the Britain-based anti-poverty charity arranging Driver's visit to Cambodia as part of its ``Make Trade Fair'' campaign, said it didn't believe Driver's trip would be harmful to Cambodia. ``Oxfam is not anti-globalization,'' added Lysbeth Holdaway, a spokeswoman for Oxfam. Labor conditions in Cambodia, once abysmal, are gradually improving.
The United States three years ago commissioned the Geneva-based International Labor Organization, a U.N. agency, to monitor factory conditions in Cambodia. In its last report, the ILO said there was no evidence of forced or child labor or discrimination in the 61 factories it reviewed. However, incorrect payment of wages occurs frequently and overtime work wasn't always voluntary, according to the report.
Lejo Sibbel, an ILO representative in Cambodia, said the organization would be happy to show Driver around.
``What she will find is what everyone can see already through our reports: Problems exist, but the situation is improving,'' he told The Daily.
Driver, 32, has appeared in films including ``Grosse Point Blank,'' ``Return to Me,'' and ``Hope Springs.'' She earned an Oscar nomination for her role in ``Good Will Hunting.''
