In the wake of last week’s mass demonstrations and heavy-handed police response, Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on Cambodians to promote a state of peace for the sake of the country’s social and economic development. In a letter written to mark the U.N.’s International Day ...

H&M has pledged to pay a living wage to 850,000 textile workers after expressing frustration over a lack of action by governments to address working conditions in Asian factories in the wake of the Rana Plaza disaster. The world’s second-biggest clothing retailer said it would support ...

Anti-human trafficking NGO SISHA announced the results of its internal audit yesterday, attempting to clear financial misconduct allegations made earlier this year. Retired police detective and founder of the NGO Steve Morrish came under fire in August after two of the charity’s former employees leaked information ...

The number of women serving as lawmakers in the next mandate has dropped from last term, even after parties made final adjustments that saw more women moved up into key positions. According to official results released by the National Election Committee on Sunday, women will hold ...

A new highway that is being built is expected to not only reduce traffic jams, but to also open up a large area for real estate development. The new highway, called Samdech Techo Hun Sen Blvd, runs from the intersection of Road 271 and Monivong Blvd ...

Members of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) said during a conference Sunday that they are “fed up” with the government for not controlling strikes by labor unions. “All of us have the same issue: illegal strikes,” Van Porphin, a member of GMAC’s executive committee, ...

Finding out why women’s voices are not being listened to is imperative to increasing the proportion of female political representation in Cambodia, a meeting heard yesterday. The Committee to Promote Women in Politics (CPWP) – which is made up of 12 organisations – hosted discussions in ...

Major labels that have clothing manufactured in Cambodian factories have written an open letter expressing concern for the recent shootings of workers demonstrating for higher wages. Adidas, Gap, H&M, Levi’s and Puma were among those that signed the January 7 letter to the Phnom Penh government, ...

More than one thousand military police officers on Saturday participated in simulated exercises designed to prepare them should demonstrations over the contested results of last month’s national election break out, officials said Sunday. The officers, clad in bulletproof vests, were trained in crowd control and riot ...

The National Election Committee, acting on orders from the Constitutional Council, yesterday examined ballots and original documents taken from 13 polling stations in a Kratie province commune, but the opposition and observers quickly questioned the process’s validity due to apparent irregularities. Despite the fact that “Safety ...

With an aim of facing the growing challenge in Southeast Asia concerning money laundering and the financing of terrorism, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime has stepped in to provide Cambodian police with skills in order to curb this threat, according to a statement ...

As Laos pushes toward its goal of becoming the “battery of Asia” through hydropower, its newfound claim that the location for the proposed Don Sahong dam is not on the Mekong River’s main stream is provoking incredulity from some observers. Less than two kilometres north of ...

Panasonic, a leading manufacturer of electronics, will donate 1,500 solar lanterns to the UNESCO Phnom Penh Office to distribute to the poorest villages in Angkor Park on Tuesday, according to a press release issued by UNESCO. UNESCO will in turn hand the lanterns to the APSARA ...

Resembling a giant Rubik’s cube under construction, the solar-powered factory in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district will be completely off the grid. Some 1,350 solar panels, each one capable of generating 100 watts per hour of sunlight, cover the three-story building. In a few months, ...

The Broadcasting Board of Governors, the US agency that oversees the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, has rejected claims by the Cambodian government that its broadcasters fabricate or manipulate news. In a statement responding to a report by the Cambodian Council of Ministers this ...

Verdicts will be handed down Friday in two garment protest-related cases that rights groups say were built on a weak body of evidence. The two cases occurred months apart but followed a similar narrative: Garment workers fed up with their calls for a higher monthly minimum ...

The U.N.’s human rights office in Cambodia expressed concern Monday that 22 detained protesters may not be allowed to attend their trials on Friday, while the government insisted that the prisoners will be transported to the court. Two minors were arrested for intentional violence for their ...

A family locked in a longstanding land dispute with a powerful real estate tycoon claims company guards late on Sunday night once again attempted to burn down their Tuol Kok home. The alleged attempted arson is the latest in a slew of bizarre at­tacks on the ...

When the 2007 Traffic Law was passed, it required that the myriad private vehicles on the road bearing Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) number plates be removed and switched with civilian plates within one year. But more than six years after this deadline, the sight of ...

Muon Sokmean, a 29-year-old garment worker, scrambled off Veng Sreng Street on January 3 with military police in violent pursuit, brandishing their batons. What had been a militant protest for a $160 minimum wage in the garment sector—with many protesters lobbing rocks and crude Molotov cocktails ...