Many "beer promotion women" in
Cambodia may die
on the job unnecessarily within the next 2 years: 20% are HIV/AIDS
sero-positive but cannot afford life-saving medications. How can we
urge international breweries to take urgent steps to save the lives of
these women? This website hopes to publicize proactive efforts by
companies towards our fairtrade
standard.
What's happening to make things better for
beer-sellers? SiRCHESI
are working to encourage breweries to put into practice their Fair
Trade Standard
(4)
Evidence driven "Fair Wages" ($110 monthly) with
additional annual cost to the company or distributor: $660 per woman
per year. This would remove the necessity of a second job, which for
illiterate women, often means accepting occasional propositions to
exchange money for sex, sometimes after drinking with a client to reach
a sales quota.
Free HAART (high active antiretroviral therapy) for
beer
sellers and infected families (estimated cost $110-330 per person per
year).
Recognition by International Brewers and local
distributors that women beer sellers are "workers" under Cambodian
Labour Code and are elligible for all international company benefits
and local labour rights.
Behaviour-changing health education about alcohol,
AIDS,
reproductive health, workplace behaviours prior to start of work, and
continuous updates
An end to forced workplace alcohol consumption
Heineken efforts, 2001-2007 - still more
work needed
In March 2004 Heineken and Asia Pacific Breweries announced that a Safe
Selling Beer Program was being initiated in Cambodia with participation
of CARE. However, in other areas of renumeration and provision of
antiretroviral therapy, Heineken is still recalcitrant
(read Lubek's published
article in POWS, 2005, pdf 83kb) or for an earlier uncensored
version see
Just dying for a ...(rtf 53kb) despite their own HIV/AIDS
policy (read their policy in
rtf
or
pdf)
and have been recently criticized in the Dutch press (see press report Promotiemeisjes
/
Biertje? Promotion girls/beer? (html 10kb)
On 8 July 2004 a Bloomberg article quotes Stefaan
van
der Borght, corporate medical adviser at Amsterdam-based Heineken as
saying in an interview "People dying of HIV and AIDS are the same
people consuming our product. If 10 percent of your customer base is
eroding I think in the long-term you have an economic problem."
Read the Bloomberg article
In Aug 2004 a representative from Heineken (which
owns
approx 42% of Tiger's parent company Asia Pacific Breweries) at a
conference on HIV/AIDS in Siem Reap, reported that since Dec., 2003,
Tiger beer is providing free anti-retroviral therapy for male brewery
workers at its Cambodian subsidiary- but not yet to it's beer sellers
in Cambodia.
On 13th Sept 2006 SiRCHESI
send
a letter to CEOs of three major European brewers (INBEV, Heineken and
Carlsberg) inviting them to meet to discuss proactive steps.
Read letter (rtf 13kb).
On 25 Sept 06 A report is published in The Lancet
stating that Heineken are providing free HAART to it's (predominately
male) workers in Africa. Read new reports via www.ethicalbeer.com/archive.html#25sept06.
As yet they have not extended this policy to beer-sellers in Cambodia
Read response via www.TheLancet.com
On 29 Sept SiRCHESI deliver a presentation
'Combining
Alcohol and HIV/AIDS risks in Cambodia' at Heineken headquarters in
Amsterdam.
presentation exe file (3,265kb)
In 25 Oct 2006 Beer Selling Industry Cambodia
(BSIC) -
which includes Heineken - publish a Code of Conduct for Beer Promoters
(BPS) setting industry standards for health, safety and working
conditions
Read (pdf 33kb) .
Having a Code of Conduct is an important step forward, but must go
beyond public relations to implementation in order to help the women.
Unfortunately, the Code does not yet address two major causes of health
and safety risks to women beer sellers: i) provision of a fair wage of
at least $110 monthly and ii) provision of free highly active
anti-retroviral therapy (HAART).
Support
HIV/AIDS
prevention work in Cambodia!
Recent News
April 08 International
brewers still behaving badly in Cambodia. Latest research findings suggest Heineken and
other
brands, despite statements to media and shareholders, have not made
significant progress in 2007 to reduce high risks to their women
beer-sellers in Cambodia. Demands for paying a
"living
wage", provide free HAART for HIV+ beersellers, improve health
education before employment, provide contracts transparently, and end
all workplace drinking (for starters) remain unchanged.
Please read the recent
pressrelease (RTF- 78k)
Jan 08SiRCHESI's
2008 newsletter details
information about the NGO's activities and events in Siem Reap Cambodia.
pdf (3,396kb)
Oct
07 The NGO Global Witness has recently published their
investigative report 'Cambodia's Family Trees: Illegal Logging and the
Stripping of Public Assets' on illegal trade in Cambodia, focusing
primarily on illegal logging but with additional information concerning
the alcohol beverage industry (pp. 82-86). Download report in pdf (5mb)
at:
www.globalwitness.org/media_library_detail.php/546/en/cambodias_family_trees"
Aug 07
SiRCHESI researchers observe for the first time Royal Stout
Ginseng, Bayon and Guinness being sold by female beer sellers in Siem
Reap. Royal Stout Ginseng and Bayon* are owned by Carlsberg. *Bayon is
brewed by Cambrew which is half owned by Carlsberg.
16 June 2007 Cass, a Korean beer owned
by INBEV and
sold by women in Cambodia "recently released a new product [in Korea]
with twice the alcohol of average brews after it realised sales of its
other products were falling because they took too long to get people
drunk" an article in The Independent reports. In Korea the culture of
business binge drinking "forces" women to drink "corrosive combinations
of beer and rice wine to climb the career ladder".
Read the full article
online or in
in rtf 16kb
April 2007SirCHESI suggests
to
VBDO (Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable
Development)
six points for shareholders to raise at the Annual Heineken
meeting on 19th April 2007. more
March 2007
Citing Van Merode (2006) a brief prepared for Heineken shareholders
states "The workplace risks from nightly alcohol overuse, violence,
forced sex, and HIV/AIDS for sellers of Heineken (and part-owned brands
Tiger, ABC, and Anchor) are alarming". The detailed brief goes on to
outline the two major causes of health and safety
risks not addressed by the BSIC code of conduct for beer sellers.
Read shareholders brief (rtf 88kb)
