Small and medium enterprises (SME) have long been considered a vital driver to economic growth for developing economies. SMEs stimulate job creation throughout the country. Migration of employment to neighboring countries and the unemployment rate has significantly decreased due to a rising number of SMEs, ...

As a fast-developing nation, Cambodia has always found poverty one of its main challenges. The Rectangular Strategy states that eradicating poverty has long been one of the Royal Government of Cambodia’s (RGC’s) highest priorities.1 Since the country’s first major post-civil war election in 1993, Cambodia ...

Oil and gas have been found on Cambodian territory but no commercial extraction has begun. When extraction may begin is uncertain while oil prices are at comparatively low levels. All the petroleum products for local demand are imported, chiefly from Vietnam, Singapore and Thailand. Consumption ...

Cambodia’s national parks (or ‘natural parks’) and wildlife preserves were established under the 1993 Royal Decree on the Protection of Natural Areas. Although other areas have been added subsequently, there is currently no officially available list of all protected areas and their boundaries. ...

The law-making process is about making and enacting new laws or revising existing laws.In the Kingdom of Cambodia, three institutions can initiate the law-making process: any member of the National Assembly, any member of the Senate and the prime minister. 97 Most of the texts ...

Land registration and titling of private property has been ongoing for more than a decade. As the Cambodian government works to formally register all private property, there is a dual system of soft possessory rights to be replaced by hard ownership rights through nationally-recognized title. ...

Protected Forests are generally established under individual sub-decrees, specifically for the purpose of protecting biodiversity and conservation. They are home to many endangered or threatened species. ...

Land transfers in Cambodia assume a variety of forms involving both public and private entities. The right to transfer property to another and to be protected from forced transfer is essential to land tenure security. Land transfer capacity is a source of value for landowners, ...

Construction on a Phnom Penh tower block. Photo by Axel Drainville, taken on 4 May 2011. Licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0The construction industry has boomed in Cambodia. From 2000 to November 2018, Cambodia’s Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction approved 43,136 construction projects representing ...

UN’s Bali Climate Change Conference. Photo by Oxfam International, taken on 4 December 2007. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0Climate change is a continuing problem. In Southeast Asia, Cambodia is one of the countries that is most affected and underprepared. As it is a developing country, ...

Agriculture has been considered as the backbone of the national economy. Of the total population, 76% were living in rural areas and agriculture provided 31.2% of total employment and contributed 20.7% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019.191 However, the global pandemic caused by COVID-19 ...

Social land concessions (SLCs) are intended to provide to the landless or land-poor land on which to establish residences and/or generate income through agriculture. The Cambodian Government that more than 30,000 households have received land as social land concessions. Despite its pro-poor intention, the SLC ...

Cambodia’s economy has experienced an impressive performance, reflected in its rapid economic growth and significant poverty reduction. Part of this is the result of the relative openness of Cambodia towards foreign investors. Domestic investment has also been growing, although at a lower rate than other ...

Joint Accountability Action Plan (JAAP) meeting in Andoung Pou commune, Romeas Haek district, Svay Rieng province. Photo by Open Development Cambodia Team, taken on 26 June 2018. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0The budget of khan/municipality and commune/sangkat administrations is included under the budget of the ...

Maina Kiai speaking with journalists outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Phnom Penh. Photo by Maina Kiai, taken on 6 February 2014. Licensed under CC BY 2.0The first humanitarian international non-governmental organizations arrived in 1989. After the 1993 election, more and more internal organizations ...

Cambodia has the ambition to transform and digitalize the government system and its economy. The overarching determination comes after the country’s ambitious economic goal of 2050, the readiness to keep up with the region’s science and technology development, and the global megatrend, the fourth industrial ...

Although exploratory work has indicated the presence of modest coal resources in northern Cambodia, no commercial-scale mining has yet begun. The coal used in electricity generation and for other purposes is imported.A coal barge from Samarinda coal mine on the Mahakam river. Indonesia, Borneo. Photo ...

On 04 April 2023, Open Development Cambodia (ODC) officially launched the report on Data Protection in the Context of Indigenous Peoples in Cambodia. The event brought together 20 participants (06 females), including representatives from civil society organizations (CSOs) working on indigenous peoples (IPs), data protection ...

On 24 May 2023, Open Development Cambodia (ODC) officially launched the workshop on Public Revenues from the Extractive Industries profile page. The event brought together 21 participants (eight women) who are representatives from various relevant institutions in extractive industries, including Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Community-Based ...

Respect for strong values is the key to citizens’ trust in their courts.426 The international values recognized for judges are independence and impartiality, integrity, equality of treatment, diligence and competence. A judge cannot both decide a case and have a personal interest in its resolution. ...