The Artisans' Association of Cambodia (AAC) is a fair trade association currently comprised of 32 member organizations that include artisan and handicraft businesses, social enterprises, and NGOs that all work with Cambodia's most marginalized and vulnerable groups. These groups address the diverse needs of landmine victims, people with disabilities, trafficked women, and youth who must provide for their large families. AAC's aim is to become the bridge between its member organizations and the market- both local and international. With AAC's assistance, these community organizations are able to increase production, improve product quality, and incorporate fair trade principles into production. Increased revenue in poor communities has meant an increased ability to address pressing issues of women's rights, literacy, education, and public health.

Established in 2000, AAC was founded by the World Rehabilitation Fund (WRF) with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the International Labor Organization (ILO). AAC was originally funded by the government of Japan through United Nations Mine Action Services (UNMAS) with the hopes of providing innovative socie-economic solutions for people disabled by landmines. AAC is also the first organization in Cambodia to be a member of both the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) and the Asia Fair Trade Forum (AFTF).

AAC is unique in its highly democratic approach to the management of the association; the guiding body of AAC is an elected board called the AAC Committee comprised of representatives of the member organizations so that each community group participates in decision-making. The long-term goal for AAC is to provide its members with increased access to mainstream markets and continued training and resources for production.

Disabled Turned Artisans

AAC defines ‘Cambodians with disabilities' as individuals who are at a socioeconomic disadvantage due to their physical or mental conditions, or due to other social problems that impede their access to the economic mainstream. This includes numerous individuals that are inflicted with polio, women who have been sexually exploited, large impoverished families, and many who are tragically wounded by the landmines left over from war. Since 1979, over 40,000 Cambodians have suffered amputations due to mine injuries; that is one in every 290 people, one of the highest ratios in the world. One third of the victims are children. With 32 member organizations receiving direct support from AAC, more than 4000 people in urban and rural communities benefit from the services it provides. Of the employees working in member organizations, over two-thirds are women; one-third are people with disabilities, one-tenth are landmine victims and over half of the member organizations are managed and directed by women.

Watthan Artisans Cambodia

Based in Phnom Penh, Wathan Artisans Cambodia (WAC) trains people with disabilities to become artisans specializing in handicraft production and fine traditional woodcarving. In 2004, the former students of Maryknoll Wat Than Skills Training Center for Landmine and Polio Disabled in Phnom Penh set up WAC as an independent worker-run cooperative aimed at bringing employment opportunities to people living with disabilities.

Mekong Blue

In response to community needs in the remote Stung Treng province of Northeast Cambodia, a local Cambodian couple established Stung Treng Women's Development Center (SWDC) in 2001 as a hospice to treat those living with HIV and AIDS: primarily former soldiers, policemen, and sex workers. After a year, the founders realized that they needed to shift the focus of SWDC from treatment of AIDS patients to include prevention of HIV and AIDS for the rural poor of Stung Treng, many of whom have little access to basic services like clean water, education, health facilities, and employment. Benefiting over 280 women, 100 children, and 20 families through literacy and vocational programs thus far, SWDC recently created its income-generating venture, Mekong Blue, to train women in sewing and weaving. Mekong Blue is fast developing a reputation for creating some of the finest silk products in Cambodia. Women hand dye and weave the 100 percent silk fibers on traditional hand looms. These high quality Mekong Blue scarves have won the Seal of Excellence Awards from UNESCO for two consecutive years.

The Cambodian Craft Revival

AAC is welcoming back to its nation the rich tradition of handmade crafts. During the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge's brutal regime in Cambodia led not only to mass atrocity, but also to the destruction of the arts and with it, weaving, pottery making, and woodcarving. AAC and its member organizations are reviving these traditional skills by training disadvantaged Cambodians to handcraft items using traditional techniques paired with modern fashions.

Cambodian Silk

The silkworms of Cambodia are unlike any of the surrounding regions. Due to their unique diet of mulberry leaves, these silkworms produce a quality silk that is naturally yellow tinted. During the Khmer Rouge, however, in order to survive, people cut down the precious mulberry trees leading to the near extinction of these worms. Currently, extensive efforts are being devoted to replanting mulberry trees and reviving the special silk worms. To make silk, their cocoons are boiled and separated into the outer cocoon, which results in fine silk, and the inner cocoon or raw silk. The only difference between the two silks is their texture although raw silk is often considered superior due its studier quality. Watthan Artisans Cambodia (WAC), one of AAC's member organizations, offers a high quality four-toned raw silk scarf that we carry here at GGP.

Region: Southeast Asia
Capital: Phnom Penh
Population: 14 million (2007)
Size: Slightly smaller than Oklahoma
Year of Independence: From France in 1949
Currency: Riel
Languages: Khmer (official), French, English

Literacy Rate: 73.6% (2006)
Education: Families must pay fees to send children to government run primary school. Less than half of students complete primary school and less than 1% of students enroll beyond secondary schools
Primary school enrollment: 65%
Life Expectancy: Male, 59 years; Female, 63 years (2007)
Infant Mortality: 58.45 deaths/1000 lives births (2007)
HIV/AIDS Prevalence: 1.6% (2005)
Poverty Rate: 34% lives on less than $1 a day (1994-2004)
Access to clean water: 41% (2004)
Access to Proper Sanitation: 17% (2004)

All statistics from CIA World Factbook 2007, and UNICEF

In the last ten years, Cambodia's economy has expanded dramatically as the communist led government has recognized the benefits of market-driven growth. The country's measured openness and its rich and ancient culture has made Cambodia a popular tourist destination. However, it is still recovering from a dark and recent history of war and genocide.

For four years, from 1975 to 1979, the Cambodians suffered under the violent regime of the Khmer Rouge (the Cambodian Communist party) and its leader Pol Pot. When Pol Pot took control, he decided to turn Cambodia into an agricultural society. People were forced out of their previous jobs to become peasant slaves. In the fields, they were overworked and starved. Anyone educated or religious, anyone who tried to protect their families, who had worked for the former government, or who were from a different ethnic group were labeled "enemies of the state" and executed in what are now known as the "killing fields." The postal service, currency, hospitals, telephones, books, music, and art were banned or destroyed. In 1979, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and drove Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge out, but not before 2 million people (nearly one quarter of the population at the time) were killed and the country's infrastructure devastated.

Today, hidden landmines, left over from the war, continue to explode when people walk over them. Every week, more than 1000 landmine victims are reported. One-third of the victims are children. Those who are not killed are disabled. Because they are disabled, it becomes difficult for them to work and support their families.

Human trafficking is also a major issue; women and children are often either kidnapped or sold by their impoverished families out of desperation. They are used as slave laborers or sex workers in Malaysia and Thailand.

Cambodia is more politically stable today under the rule of King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Sun Hen, but the country still faces a number of challenges in its transition to democracy. Human rights such as freedom of speech are often neglected and there is a great gap between rich and poor. Migration from rural areas to the cities is also becoming a challenge for the country, as in much of the developing world. Droughts, decreasing natural resources, and the rise of large business-style farms are making it very difficult for small subsistence farmers, who make up 85 percent of the population, to support themselves. As a result, people move to the cities in search of jobs. The large numbers of poor migrants creates slums, where violence, drugs, and the sex industry thrive. To address such large scale migration, one must address rural poverty at its source by creating strong and sustainable local economies in rural areas.

Many of these migrants who are able to find work do so in one of Phnom Penh's factories that are producing exports for the US garment industry. Previously, labor practices and sweatshops in the factory areas of Phnom Penh were of big concern. Women and children laboring in factories endured poor working conditions and low wages. In 2001 the International Labor Organization (ILO) created the "Better Factories Cambodia" program to ensure that all garment export industries follow labor standards and grant their workers rights. A 2005 World Bank study gave Cambodia good marks for its labor environment-higher than any other Asian country. Although Cambodia still has a long way to go, its people are making great efforts to rebuild their country.