Publications

SXH Law and Policy Insights: Responsible Retrenchment and Closure

The global aid sector is in a state of uncertainty as the Trump administration moves to halt U.S. foreign assistance. The dismantling of USAID and suspension of awards will have significant consequences for many countries, including Cambodia. In addition to their vital work being stopped, some NGOs are facing staff layoffs and even closure of their own operations. We invite you to explore Sok Xing & Hwang's latest  Law & Policy Insights feature, which offers essential considerations regarding law and best practice for managing layoffs and closing NGO operations with care and compliance

Cambodia: Addressing the Skills Gap

Mr. Hans S. Hwang, Senior Director of Sok Xing & Hwang, was a member of the expert team that prepared the Employment Diagnostic Study for Cambodia, a joint-publication of the Asian Development Bank and the International Labour Organization. The report examines constraints and opportunities for increasing productive employment in Cambodia.

Cambodia’s growth in the last 20 years has been remarkable and the lives of its people have improved substantially. But low-cost labor advantages on a narrow economic base have driven this growth. The country now needs to move beyond the four sectors that have dominated its economy: garment manufacturing, tourism, construction, and agriculture. Better education outcomes and higher-level skills are crucial for economic diversification and structural transformation and to sustain its inclusive growth.

From Law on Books to Law in Action: A note on the role of regulation in the production of good jobs in Cambodia’s garment sector

This report, co-authored by Mr. Hans S. Hwang, Senior Director of Sok Xing & Hwang, was commissioned as a background note for the World Bank’s World Development Report 2013: Jobs, an annual guide to the economic, social and environmental state of the world. 

The note contributes to the discussion of the ways in which law and the systems for its enforcement emerge in ways that support the production of good jobs.

The Cambodia case study tracks the emergence of labor rights over the last 20 years—from an initial point where there were very few private sector jobs and little effective regulation; through a situation where formal sector employment has grown and industrial relations are starting to mature.

Cambodia's Arbitration Council: Institution-building in a developing country

This paper presents the authoritative story of the Arbitration Council, Cambodia’s national institution for labor dispute resolution.  Co-authored by Hans S. Hwang, Senior Director of Sok Xing & Hwang, and based on a joint effort of the International Labour Office and the World Bank, it is written from an insider’s perspective, with first-hand knowledge and insights of the Arbitration Council’s original establishment, its first decade of operations, and its successes and limitations in Cambodia.