Trade, Monitoring, and the ILO: Working To Improve Conditions in Cambodia's Garment Factories

Abstract

The U.S.-Cambodia Bilateral Textile Trade Agreement, signed\non January 20, 1999, was remarkable for its inclusion of a labor\nstandards provision that created incentives for the Cambodian\ngarment industry to bring itself into substantial compliance\nwith international labor standards and Cambodian labor law.\nThe labor standards provision provided the impetus for the\ncreation of a novel program, to be operated by the International\nLabor Organization (ILO). This program combined trade-related\nincentives to enforce workers' rights with an unprecedented plan\nto have the ILO conduct factory-level monitoring of working\nconditions. This Article examines how the program was\ndesigned and implemented and evaluates the proposals and\nconceptions that preceded the final project document. This\nanalysis provides a case study on how to construct and\nimplement future programs that combine trade and factory\nmonitoring to improve working conditions and enforce core\nlabor rights along the global supply chain.

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