The Cambodian government is failing to provide support to hundreds of thousands of migrant workers with microfinance debts who returned from Thailand because of hostilities in mid-2025, Human Rights Watch said today (26 November).

Even before the border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand, from July 24-28, Cambodian officials encouraged migrant workers in Thailand to return home because of rising tensions, and more than 900,000 have done so. The government’s promises of jobs and other support have not materialized for most though, and many are under pressure to repay microfinance loans they took before seeking work in Thailand. The government should assist returned migrant workers to find jobs in Cambodia and adopt measures to provide meaningful debt relief to them and other Cambodians.

“The Cambodian government has an obligation to assist the migrant workers its officials encouraged to return from Thailand because of discrimination and recent hostilities,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government should ensure that predatory microfinance institutions are not putting improper pressure on returned migrants and other marginalized Cambodians who are struggling to feed their families.”

Human Rights Watch interviewed 56 former migrant workers in Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province who returned from Thailand between May and September.

The Cambodian government has long failed to ensure the rights to an adequate standard of living, education, and health care, compelling many families to obtain predatory microfinance loans. The return of hundreds of thousands of Cambodian migrant workers because of hostilities with Thailand and the promises of support from the Cambodian government have made their already tenuous situation even more difficult, Human Rights Watch said.

In May, tensions escalated at the Thai-Cambodia border. On June 14, Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen called on all Cambodians working in Thailand to return home to avoid expulsion or mistreatment in Thailand, calling it a “real and inevitable risk.” Prime Minister Hun Manet, Hun Sen’s son, said the government was prepared to facilitate repatriation, with the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training pledging more than 70,000 jobs for returned migrants and the Ministry of Economy and Finance ready to offer a “range of economic and social intervention packages aimed at improving their daily lives.”

On June 23, Thailand ordered the closure of all land crossings with Cambodia, except for migrant workers returning to Cambodia.

Migrant workers told Human Rights Watch that they returned to Cambodia due to discrimination and harassment in Thailand, as well as the Cambodian government’s promises of employment and social assistance. But many said that once back in Cambodia, they have been skipping meals and forgoing medical care to make repayments on microfinance loans they incurred before going abroad. In 2023, the average Cambodian household held more debt than they spent for the year.

A 17-year-old who had worked for two years in Thailand said she had dropped out of school and migrated to help her mother repay a microfinance loan. She said that after fighting between Thailand and Cambodia began, her Thai employers would regularly verbally harass her: “I would cry every day because of the bad treatment at work.”

Despite government promises, returned migrant workers said that there were very few jobs available once they got back home. Some travelled to find work in the capital, Phnom Penh, hundreds of kilometers away from their homes in provinces along the Thai-Cambodia border, but few reportedly found employment.

A 32-year-old woman who tried to get a job at a Cambodian garment factory after returning from Thailand said she did not have the necessary experience. “I took a three-day skills test, and I didn’t pass because I didn’t have the skills to work and sew the garments,” she said. “They want skilled workers, and we don’t have the skills.”

Many returned migrants have loans from banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs). For years, Cambodian banks and MFIs have engaged in predatory lending, causing a household debt crisis, and pressure to repay debts often contributes to the decision to migrate to Thailand for work. Cambodia has the most microcredit debt per capita anywhere in the world.

A 2019 report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) identified microfinance debt as a growing driver of migration from Cambodia, and Cambodia’s microfinance sector has grown rapidly since then. The Cambodian Development Resource Institute (CDRI) reported that one-third of returned migrant workers are from households that hold formal loans ranging from US$5,000 to US$8,000, several times larger than Cambodia’s annual median per-capita income.

A 41-year-old woman who had lived in Thailand for 10 years working in construction in Bangkok said that she now had to balance repaying her loans with paying for health care and her children’s education. “We have to decide between food, making MFI payments, and whether our kids can still afford to go to school,” she said. Her household used to have three people working in Thailand but now all have returned, and the family has cut back to two meals a day. She said that if they miss their monthly loan repayment of more than $100, they will lose the land they pledged as collateral for the loan.

Under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Cambodia is a party, governments are obligated to take steps, to the maximum of their available resources, to progressively realize the human right to an adequate standard of living. This includes the obligation to protect people from conduct by third parties, such as predatory microfinance institutions, that would prevent the fulfillment of this right. Under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, private companies also have responsibilities to respect human rights and to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for practices that have harmed people.

The Cambodian government should take prompt action to uphold the rights of returned migrant workers, including by following through on its pledges to assist them in finding employment. The government should also implement more effective measures to protect all Cambodians, including returned migrant workers, from predatory debt collection practices and the potential human rights harms of debt servicing.

This could include the restructuring of loans for returned migrant workers and others affected by the Thai-Cambodia border conflict, who face extreme economic hardship. The government needs to enforce penalties for aggressive debt collection practices and ensure that all microfinance institutions and lenders follow ethical standards for loan recovery.

The government also needs to address the broader situation that compels many families in Cambodia to take on considerable debt, including by removing barriers to health care and free education. The Cambodian government should allocate appropriate resources to both sectors and set budgetary spending targets aligned with international benchmarks.

“The situation is dire for these returned migrant workers, who are rapidly eroding their savings to survive and pay off their debts,” Lau said. “Cambodian authorities need to act swiftly to protect Cambodians from microfinance lenders and financial institutions and support workers who returned from Thailand at their urging.”