Government to Consider New Minimum Wage
The Ministry of Social Affairs on Friday established four sub-committees tasked with finding a new minimum wage for the country’s 300,000-plus garment factory workers, Minister Ith Sam Heng said on Friday. “The sub-committees have a limited time of five weeks for research before they have to ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-to-consider-new-minimum-wage-42317/
Cambodian textile workers who supply UK clothing stores ‘starving’ and suffering 'mass faintings'
By the time London Fashion Week comes to a close, 58 high-end designers will have shown their collections. Rail-thin models will have walked the runways. Debate will have raged over size zero. In Cambodia, meanwhile, garment workers stitching clothes that supply the UK high street are ...
Former Manager Admits Stealing $2.3M From Canadia Bank
The former manager of Canadia Bank’s credit section has admitted to stealing $2.3 million from the bank’s accounts, the suspect’s lawyer said Tuesday, in what is one of the largest embezzlement schemes ever undertaken in Cambodia’s nascent banking industry. The testimony from Yeth Sopheaktra, 30, to ...
Eang Mengleng and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/former-manager-admits-stealing-2-3m-from-canadia-bank-44689/
Fearful workers urged to stay
Key players in all quarters of the garment industry have expressed concerns that workers, fearing a violent election-related conflict, may leave work and return to their home provinces after their next pay cheque. In a statement, the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) joined ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fearful-workers-urged-stay
Malaysia Says No Draft Agreement on Maids Yet
Malaysia has not yet received a draft agreement aimed at protecting Cambodian migrant domestic workers from abuse, but the government is pressing Cambodia to lift its two-year moratorium on sending maids, a Malaysian official said Wednesday. In October 2011, Prime Minister Hun Sen imposed a ban ...
Dene-Hern Chen and Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/malaysia-says-no-draft-agreement-on-maids-yet-46399/
Banks Urged to Divest From Ratanakkiri-Based Rubber Firm
Environmental campaign group Global Witness on Thursday called on the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Deutsche Bank to divest immediately from a Vietnamese firm whose rubber plantations in Cambodia are accused of rampant illegal logging and forced evictions of indigenous communities. The call came exactly six ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/banks-urged-to-divest-from-ratanakkiri-based-rubber-firm-47045/
Micro-insurance access urged
Cambodia’s finance sector should increase insurance accessibility to its smallest lenders to help protect against indebtedness at times of disaster, an industry expert said at a conference in Phnom Penh yesterday. Speaking at the Hotel Cambodiana to an audience of industry representatives on rural entrepreneurship, Jaime ...
Hor Kimsay and Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/micro-insurance-access-urged
Numbers don’t add up
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has released a nine-month status report on 2013’s illegal timber seizures, saying it had confiscated, among other things, more than 2,000 kilograms of rosewood – a figure that represents only a tiny fraction of seizures reported by the Post this ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/numbers-don%E2%80%99t-add
Protest in Cambodia leaves one dead
Violent clashes have erupted in Cambodia, leaving a protester dead and several wounded as thousands gathered to challenge strongman premier Hun Sen’s disputed election win. Security forces fired smoke grenades, tear gas and water cannon at rock-throwing opposition supporters in Phnom Penh in an escalation of ...
Sky News Australia News Staff
http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=906497
Prime Real Estate May Be Set for Development
A 5,000-square-meter plot of land owned by the local Sokimex Group on Phnom Penh’s Street 154, near Wat Ounalom and Kandal market, could be the site of a new, multi-story hotel, the conglomerate’s CEO said Tuesday. Sok Kong, Sokimex CEO, said Tuesday that construction of a ...
Aun Pheap and Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/prime-real-estate-may-be-set-for-development-46269/
Nation’s youngest lack teachers
Fewer and fewer primary schoolteachers are willing to cope with poor pay and the worst student-to-teacher ratio outside of Africa, government data shows. Annual reports released by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport reveal that despite fervent recruitment efforts, every year since 2005 – when ...
Laignee Barron and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/nation%E2%80%99s-youngest-lack-teachers
Cambodia's GMAC tells all factories to stop production amid strike
The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) on Thursday asked all its members to temporarily stop production operations this week due to concerns over security and safety after thousands of workers walked out of work in protest against the 19 percent wage hike in the ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/26/c_132997783.htm
Feature: Slum dwellers in Cambodian capital want to benefit from development
Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital and largest city, has seen rapid development in the last decade — numerous high-rises, large shopping malls and business centres as well as public parks are beautifying this city — in the meantime, slum-dwellers are also on the rise. According to the ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-08/18/c_132641165.htm
Further JICA Support Hinges On Fertilizer Scandal
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has said that its future support of agricultural development in Cambodia depends on the outcome of an investigation into a provincial official accused of embezzling funds from JICA-donated fertilizer. The accused, deputy bureau chief of Battambang’s department of agriculture Seng ...
Matt Blomberg and Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/further-jica-support-hinges-on-fertilizer-scandal-42143/
Thousands Affected by Flooding, More Predicted in Coming Days
Thousands of families continue to be affected by relentless flooding caused by heavy rains and the opening of dams in neighboring Thailand and Vietnam, causing a surge in the Mekong River in Cambodia that has inundated communities along its banks. The floods have claimed at least ...
Ben Sokhean and Lindsey Peterson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thousands-affected-by-flooding-more-predicted-in-coming-days-43416/
CNRP Rejects Marching Ban During 3-Day Protest
CNRP vice president Kem Sokha said Sunday that the opposition will not heed an order by Phnom Penh City Hall banning marches in the city, and will push forward with plans to march with thousands of supporters to the offices of the U.N. and at ...
Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/cnrp-rejects-marching-ban-during-3-day-protest-45507/
Malaysia Fails to Guarantee Cambodian Maids’ Human Rights
The Ministry of Labor hopes that a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will see Cambodia resume sending domestic workers to Malaysia by February, but negotiations on the document have stalled after Malaysia recently rejected 90 percent of proposed provisions to protect workers’ rights. Most strikingly, Malaysia ...
Matt Blomberg and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/malaysia-fails-to-guarantee-cambodian-maids-human-rights-49629/
One Garment Strike Ends, Two Begin, Over Missing Pay
Garment workers at a Kandal province factory ended their most recent strike Thursday after management agreed to pay out part of their wages for the days they were absent during a previous strike, while workers at a Phnom Penh factory went back on strike because ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/one-garment-strike-ends-two-begin-over-missing-pay-50787/
Phnom Penh governor on crusade to shut down shisha cafes
Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong said Tuesday he would shut down the shisha bars—where customers smoke flavored tobacco through large Middle-Eastern style water pipes—that have recently sprung up around the city. While the governor noted there was nothing illegal about the pipes or tobacco, he told ...
Phann Ana and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/phnom-penh-governor-on-crusade-to-shut-down-shisha-cafes-53247/
Giant Development in Cambodia Hinges on Chinese Buyers
There is an island in Cambodia that, unlike others in Southeast Asia, is not the object of an ownership dispute. But it is equally clear whom its current owners would like to land there: Chinese property buyers. If all goes according to plan, Koh Pich — ...
Chris Horton
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/07/realestate/commercial/giant-development-in-cambodia-hinges-on-chinese-buyers.html?_r=1