FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2026
MEDIA STATEMENT
Over 900,000 Cambodian Migrant Workers Returned in Crisis — New CENTRAL Report Reveals Severe Gaps in Protection and Recovery
Phnom Penh, Cambodia — The Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL) today releases From Policy to Practice: Experiences of Cambodian Returnees from Thailand during Border Tensions, a comprehensive impact assessment documenting the conditions faced by Cambodian migrant workers who returned from Thailand during the 2025 border conflict.
Between July and December 2025, at least 900,000 Cambodians returned from Thailand following renewed border tensions — one of the largest and most abrupt migration reversals since the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a household survey of 527 returned migrant workers across 11 provinces, seven focus group discussions, and follow-up interviews conducted in December 2025, the report paints a stark picture of a humanitarian and labour protection crisis that remains far from resolved.
Key Findings
The assessment reveals that the return was overwhelmingly crisis-driven and self-financed, with unofficial fees and bribes at border crossings compounding financial losses. For 8% of respondents, the act of returning home itself created new debt. Only 30.5% of returnees received any form of assistance during or after return, with support largely limited to short-term food aid and transportation. Access to healthcare, psychosocial support, livelihood assistance, and vocational training was almost entirely absent.
Debt is identified as the central driver of vulnerability. Seventy-one percent of returnees reported being in debt, with an average household debt of USD 5,500 and total reported debt exceeding USD 2 million across the sample. Eighty-five percent of indebted households were unable to keep up with repayments — a situation that is directly affecting children’s schooling, food consumption, mental health, and family stability. Participants reported cases of debt-related suicide, with one focus group noting that four people in their community died by suicide due to debt pressures.
Despite returning to Cambodia, livelihood conditions remained deeply inadequate. Average monthly household income among returnees stood at approximately USD 64 — less than half of average monthly expenses of USD 173. Attempts to find local work were frequently marked by wage theft, unsafe conditions, and misleading job offers. With few viable pathways to recovery, remigration pressure has sharply increased: 53% of respondents now plan to migrate again, up from just 13% in CENTRAL’s August 2025 Rapid Needs Assessment.
Follow-up interviews conducted in December 2025, following renewed hostilities, documented a worsening situation — heightened fear, deeper food insecurity, intensified debt stress, and constrained mobility. Women were disproportionately burdened with managing household finances and debt negotiations, while domestic tension and community insecurity were also reported.
As of late February 2026, more than 65,000 people remain in internally displaced persons camps, dozens of schools and hospitals remain closed, and nearly 1,000 homes have been permanently destroyed.
Recommendations
CENTRAL calls on the Royal Government of Cambodia, development partners, and the international community to take immediate, coordinated action, including:
• Expanding time-bound social protection — including cash assistance, food support, and health fee waivers — prioritising vulnerable households in high-return and border provinces;
• Accelerating employment recovery through public-private hiring incentives with safe worksites and transparent wage payments;
• Fast-tracking skills recognition and short-cycle vocational training, paired with temporary health coverage;
• Implementing targeted debt relief, including temporary repayment moratoria and loan restructuring for returnee households at risk of land loss or default;
• Strengthening safe migration pathways and streamlining documentation services to reduce the incentives for irregular remigration once borders reopen.
“The stories behind this data are stories of families who worked for years in Thailand and came home with nothing — not because they failed, but because they were abandoned at every step. They crossed the border without support, returned to communities without decent work, and are now drowning in debt with no relief in sight.
What these workers need is not charity — it is a coherent recovery plan. That means immediate cash assistance, food support, and health coverage for the most vulnerable households. It means real jobs with safe conditions and wages that are actually paid. It means fast-tracking skills recognition so that the experience these workers built abroad is not wasted. Above all, it means tackling debt directly — through moratoria, restructuring, and protection from predatory lenders — because without debt relief, everything else is temporary. And it means opening safe, legal migration pathways so that when people do move again, they do so with protection, not desperation.
This is not a wish list. These are the minimum conditions for dignity and stability. CENTRAL calls on the government, financial institutions, and development partners to act on this evidence now — before more families are pushed into unsafe migration, further indebtedness, and irreversible harm.” — Tola Moeun, Executive Director, CENTRAL
About CENTRAL
The Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL) is a Cambodian civil society organization working on labor rights, safe migration, anti-trafficking, digital rights and legal aid. CENTRAL has been at the forefront of monitoring and responding to the 2025 border crisis, including through the Rapid Needs Assessment conducted in August 2025 and this comprehensive impact assessment.
For Media Enquiries, Please Contact:
Mr. Dy Thehoya, Head of Anti-Human Trafficking and Migration
Phone: +855 93 55 66 31