Local human rights NGO Licadho released a report showing that migrant workers often had to migrate overseas to find work to pay off loans from microfinance institutions, and in some instances the lenders encouraged migration.
The report, titled “Driven Out: One Village’s Experience with MFIs and Cross-Border Migration”, was released on Tuesday and reports a link between the 1.2 million Cambodians working overseas and over indebtedness in these mostly rural families.
The NGO used a village in Banteay Meanchey province with high rates of migration to illustrate its findings, asking open-ended questions in a confidential survey administered to 30 of nearly 60 households last September.
