TRIANGLE in ASEAN has been working with the two recruitment agency associations in Cambodia, the Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA) and the Manpower Association of Cambodia (MAC) to develop a Code of Conduct for Cambodian Private Recruitment Agencies (COC) with the broader focus to promote fair recruitment within ASEAN. The COC, which was launched in a high-level event in January 2020, was developed in conjunction with the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MOLVT).

Following the launch, and during 2021-2022 period, TRIANGLE have been working with ACRA and MAC to develop an assessment framework and checklist to be used to monitor recruitment agencies compliance with the COC. The assessment framework also describes the assessment process and cycle, the composition of the assessment team (two members each from ACRA or MAC; DoE, MOLVT; national trade union; and CSO), and information to be considered in the monitoring exercise. The checklist, which will be the basis during the assessment visits, consists of a total of 50 indicators to be ranked by the assessment team (from 0-2).

On 30 November, 2022, ACRA and MAC, with support from TRIANGLE, organised the Signing Ceremony of the CoC and launch of the assessment framework with a view to raise broad awareness of the Code’s principles, implementation, assessment framework and checklist; and launch the pilot of the COC Assessment.

10 recruitment agencies (5 ACRA members and 5 MAC members) signed the CoC and committed themselves to be part of the first round of assessment (aimed to assess their compliance with the COC).

The half-day event brought together 116 participants, including around 100 private recruitment agencies who are members of either ACRA or MAC, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MOLVT), trade unions, CSOs, representatives from embassies (Japan, EU, USA) and international organizations (IOM and UN Women).