Cambodian opposition lawmaker wants probe of nepotism claims
A senior Cambodian opposition lawmaker has lodged a complaint against a high-ranking, ruling-party official in parliament, accusing him of corruption and nepotism, but is frustrated by the lack of response. Son Chhay, from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), charged that Mith Karen, parliament’s deputy ...
Roseanne Gerin
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/nepotism-10282014183526.html
NGOs feel ignored by ASEAN rights council
Despite renewed criticism from civil society and a call for its drafting to be postponed, finalisation of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD) was well under way, officials said yesterday at the beginning of a week of ASEAN meetings. Speaking to reporters after a meeting between ...
Hands-on contest a hit in Cambodia
Long a popular fixture of US TV and radio competitions, “Hands on a Hardbody,” a marathon endurance contest where participants vie to hold their palms against a car the longest in order to win it, has expanded to Cambodia. More than 80 participants took part ...
Environmental groups given chance to address PM Hun Sen at forum
With a mixture of hope and hard-earned scepticism, environmentalists from around the country will today get an opportunity most had never dreamed possible: an audience with the prime minister. About 500 civil society activists have been invited to Phnom Penh for the first National Forum ...
Cristina Maza and Kong Meta
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/environmental-groups-given-chance-address-pm-hun-sen-forum
WHO Urges Higher Taxes On Tobacco
The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday urged Cambodia to increase taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products-currently the lowest in the world-in order to raise revenue and deter smokers. Ayda Yurekli, coordinator of the WHO’s tobacco control economics unit, said during a workshop in Phnom Penh ...
Renewed MAI flights touch down in Cambodia
Myanmar Airways International (MAI) has resumed flights between Yangon and Phnom Penh after a four-month suspension due to low demand. The MAI flight landed at Phnom Penh International Airport at 7:15pm on Saturday. MAI country manager Ye Jhan told a press conference to cover the flight’s arrival ...
Charity Calls on UK Gov’t to Act for Cambodian Workers
A report by a U.K.-based charity has highlighted the low pay of Cambodian garment workers and called on the British government to intervene in disputes involving Southeast Asian factories supplying British retailers. Restricting Rights, a report published Tuesday by anti-poverty charity War on Want, looks at ...
Council of Ministers Approves Draft Report on Human Rights
The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a draft report on political rights in Cambodia, which made outline efforts being made by the government to reduce poverty and secure land titles for millions across the country, a measure that Cambodia must complete as a signatory ...
Increase in Customs Taxes Raises Retail Prices in Cambodia
Customs officers along Cambodia’s border have been instructed to increase their efforts to properly inspect and tax products coming into the country, which has increased the cost of imports and led to a rise in retail prices for a host of goods, government officials, businessmen ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/increase-in-customs-taxes-raises-retail-prices-in-cambodia-48461/
Cambodian Opposition Leaders Go Into Hiding Amid Protest Crackdown
Cambodia’s opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha went into hiding Saturday as the government stepped up its crackdown on protests against Prime Minister Hun Sen following deadly violence. A day after police shot dead four people during workers’ protests for higher wages, the government ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/clampdown-01042014123656.html
Official says Cambodia not ready for ASEAN Free Trade
Cambodia is not prepared to join Asean’s single regional market and production base next year, a Labor Ministry official said Friday. Next year, the 10 nations of Asean are to create the Asean Economic Community (AEC). Within this community, labor is to flow freely and import ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/official-says-cambodia-not-ready-for-asean-free-trade-55203/
Eco groups slam Areng dam
Two major conservation groups yesterday said that the proposed Stung Cheay Areng dam in Koh Kong province should be scrapped, while protesters who have blocked developer Sinohydro Group from entering the site for several days headed to Phnom Penh to voice their concerns and discontent. Conservation ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eco-groups-slam-areng-dam
Obfuscation reigns over ban on demonstration
The government can’t seem to agree on whether or not Prime Minister Hun Sen has lifted the ban on the constitutional right to freedom of assembly. Last week, Mr. Hun Sen said in a speech: “I will not prevent [demonstrations] because everyone has equal rights,” which ...
Kuch Naren and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/obfuscation-reigns-over-ban-on-demonstration-53621/
Restore Free Assembly, UN Rights Council Says
Cambodia’s human rights record was assessed Tuesday by the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 47 member states in Geneva, many of which cited concerns about the recent violent suppression of protests by the government, and a judiciary beholden to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling CPP. The U.N. ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/restore-free-assembly-un-rights-council-says-51097/
Proposed law gives new powers to Justice Ministry
The last of three draft laws written with the aim of cleaning up the courts establishes four new judicial chambers, but legal and political experts worry that it does little to loosen the grip of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Justice Ministry over the courts. The draft ...
Lauren Crothers and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/proposed-law-gives-new-powers-to-justice-ministry-54546/
Factories still skimping: ILO
Cambodia’s garment exports exceeded US$1 billion during the first quarter of 2012, yet many factories are failing to pay workers proper maternity leave benefits or address issues of fainting, a labour report says. The International Labour Organization-Better Factories Cambodia’s Twenty Eighth Synthesis Report on Working Conditions ...
Vietnam's Chinese flee unrest to Cambodia
Chen Qun squinted into the morning sunlight as she walked out of the customs and immigration office in Bavet, a small border town that serves as one of the main gateways for land travel between Cambodia and Vietnam. “I have no friends in Sviey Rieng so ...
Luc Forsyth
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/05/vietnam-chinese-flee-unrest-cambodia-201451873538689813.html
World's largest freshwater fish threatened
The 16th Conference of Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) has brought thousands of delegates from over 150 countries to Bangkok to discuss cross-border cooperation, sustainable use of biodiversity and transnational endangered species issues. Construction has already begun on the ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/340170/mekong-dams-threaten-world-largest-freshwater-fish
Dams, climate plague Mekong
Villagers in Kratie province have long feared the proposed Sambor hydroelectric dam and the impact it could have on their subsistence fishing and riverbank agriculture. According to Resilience on the Mekong: A Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment in North-East Cambodia, a report released by the World Wildlife ...
http://www.eco-business.com/news/dams-climate-plague-mekong/
Chinese Delegates Visit Environment Minister, Officials
A Chinese parliamentary delegation arrived in Phnom Penh yesterday to hold talks with various Cambodian officials including the environment minister, Chinese state media reported. The delegation from the National People’s Congress is headed by Huang Xianzhong, vice chairman of the Environment Protection and Resource Conservation Committee and a ...