As borders shut, Cambodian families struggle to survive in frontier city Poipet

While Poipet sits less than five kilometres from Thailand’s Rong Kluea Market, it has long represented a vastly different world of comparative economic opportunity for those in the Cambodian border city.

But today, Poipet residents are lamenting the loss of the cross-border economy that once supported their community, which over the last eight months has collapsed into widespread unemployment, halted migration and food insecurity.

Poipet resident Chan Srey Neat*, who used to be able to cross the land border daily to work at Rong Kluea market, has seen her city completely change over the last eight months. Without the tourism it used to rely on, business is dead.

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