Labour Minister Ith Samheng yesterday said Cambodia’s long-delayed labour courts will be instituted by 2017, a key element of the new Trade Union Law.

Speaking at the 7th National Industrial Relations Conference in the capital, Samheng said the courts were needed to resolve disputes, given that the Arbitration Council’s rulings were not legally binding. “We have observed labour courts in Japan, Australia and Singapore, and now we are preparing the labour court draft, which will be created by the end of 2017,” he said.

Ministry spokesman Heng Sour said legislation would put the new courts under the Labour Ministry’s jurisdiction.

Coalition of Apparel Workers Democratic Union Cambodia president Ath Thorn said unions had been insisting on the creation of the courts, which would then provide binding decisions to worker-employer disputes.