Subedi: There is room for reform
Despite the government indicating it was open to parliamentary reform, the dismissal of opposition lawmakers in June was a disturbing shift away from a commitment to protecting human rights, UN human rights envoy Surya Subedi says in his latest report on Cambodia. Obtained on Friday, the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/subedi-there-room-reform
Approved investment triples
In the first six months of 2013, the total amount of government-approved investment in Cambodia jumped more than 200 per cent year-on-year, according to the most recent statistics from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Released on Friday, the numbers show that $2.3 billion was earmarked ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/approved-investment-triples
Opposition CNRP Leaders to Face Court Today
Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha are due to appear before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court as scheduled this morning after retaining the services of a new lawyer, a CNRP spokesman said Monday. Mr. Rainsy and Mr. Sokha, as well as union leaders Rong Chhun ...
Eang Mengleng and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/opposition-cnrp-leaders-to-face-court-today-50487/
Tourism revenues increase but taxes remain flat
Overall revenue from Cambodia’s booming tourism sector reached $2.5 billion last year, according to Tourism Minister Thong Khon. Khon said in an interview on Tuesday that the figure, which does not reflect the amount the state collected in taxes on the sector, marked a 15 per ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/tourism-revenues-increase-taxes-remain-flat
Rehab Options Needed for Female Inmates
As International Women’s Day is marked around the world on Saturday, calls are being made for more rehabilitative opportunities to be made available to female prisoners in Cambodia and, separately, for cultural norms that rank women below men to be challenged and overcome. Local rights group ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rehab-options-needed-for-female-inmates-53733/
Child Rapes Account for Majority of Sex Attacks Last Year
The number of reported rapes recorded by human rights group Adhoc fell by about 24 percent in 2013 compared to the previous year, though the rape of children and minors continued to account for the majority of attacks. Chuon Chamrong, head of Adhoc’s women’s section, ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/child-rapes-account-for-majority-of-sex-attacks-last-year-50995/
Raids uncover 200 pieces of illegal luxury wood
The Forestry Administration in Preah Vihear province on Saturday raided a remote cabin in Choam Ksan district where they found 200 pieces of illegally felled luxury wood, police said Sunday. The 15 cubic meters of wood uncovered included the Thnong, Beng and Neang Noun varieties, and ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/raids-uncover-200-pieces-of-illegal-luxury-wood-52333/
‘A threat to Cambodia’s sacred forests’
In southwest Cambodia, at the foot of the Cardamom Mountains, is a single dirt road that meanders through the heart of the pristine Areng valley. Ten miles down this road, villagers have set up an encampment to stop a hydroelectric dam project that they fear ...
New York Times News Staff
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/opinion/a-threat-to-cambodias-sacred-forests.html
Thai rice failure hitting Cambodia
While last year was full of good news for Cambodian rice exports, which hit a record-breaking 378,800 tons, 2014 is getting off to a much slower start. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s controversial pledge to pay farmers above market rates for their rice is coming ...
Chan Muy Hong and Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/thai-rice-failure-hitting-cambodia
Two firms get priority rights to mines
The Ministry of Mines and Energy has given the nod to two companies to continue their exploration licence approval processes for some 207sq km of gold-polymetallic mining areas in Tbong Khmum and Ratanakkiri provinces. The areas are 107.10sq km in the Memot area in Tbong ...
Hin Pisei
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/two-firms-get-priority-rights-mines
Chinese Embassy Petitioners Sent Packing
Just hours before Chinese President Hu Jintao landed in Phnom Penh on Friday, a group of dismayed Koh Kong province villagers whose land is under threat from a sprawling Chinese tourism project were escorted onto a bus and sent back home before they were able ...
Wang Yi’s Show of Support for Government Is Applauded
A government spokesman on Thursday welcomed remarks of support for the ruling CPP from China’s foreign minister, saying they showed Cambodia’s main benefactor was an example to other foreign states. Following meetings with Prime Minister Hun Sen and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign ...
Simon Lewis and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/wang-yis-show-of-support-for-government-is-applauded-40662/
City poised for shopping mall boom
After spending $30 on clothes, Chan Pheavy sat down for lunch in the food court of Sorya Mall, plunking her shopping bags on the floor beside her. “It is very comfortable to do shopping here,” Pheavy, 25, who works for a commercial bank in Phnom ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/city-poised-shopping-mall-boom
World Bank Says Freeze on Lending Remains
After repeatedly equivocating about whether it has lifted a 2011 freeze on new lending to Cambodia in response to the government’s forced evictions of families in Phnom Penh, the World Bank has said that the suspension is still firmly in place. “The World Bank has not ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/world-bank-says-freeze-on-lending-remains-46681/
Government to Spend $13.7M on Appeal Courts
The government will spend a total of $13.7 million in the next three years to build new appeal courts outside of Phnom Penh along with free accommodation for judges and prosecutors across the country, according to the draft budget law for 2014, which is scheduled ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-to-spend-13-7m-on-appeal-courts-46853/
Opposition Lays Out Reform Demands at ‘People’s Congress’
Amidst an opposition boycott of the National Assembly, CNRP leaders on Sunday announced to about 10,000 supporters gathered in Phnom Penh their tentative plans to push the one-party CPP government to investigate irregularities in the July election and enact a broad slate of reforms. As patchy ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/opposition-lays-out-reform-demands-at-peoples-congress-44450/
Official Says Legality of Sanctuary Logging Unknown
A district-level Environment Ministry official in Ratanakkiri province on Wednesday claimed that he had no way to determine the legality of logging operations by firms with private land concessions inside the province’s Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary. The claim by Chou Sopheak, director of Lumphat district’s environment department, ...
Aun Pheap and Ben Woods
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/official-says-legality-of-sanctuary-logging-unknown-47518/
Angkor’s Management Plan to Be Overhauled
Cambodia’s Apsara National Authority, which manages Angkor Archaeological Park, will this week unveil a “revolutionary” new concept for Angkor’s management that will vastly decentralize responsibility for the preservation of the temple complex, according to Anne Lemaistre, Unesco representative in Cambodia. The new Angkor Heritage Management Framework, ...
Michelle Vachon
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/angkors-management-plan-to-be-overhauled-48235/
‘Land for vote’ deal backfires
Before casting their ballots, residents in three communes in Kulen district carefully mulled their options. On one hand, many have found themselves locked in a land dispute with the government – forced to farm their land in secret from the forestry administration. On the other, ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98land-vote%E2%80%99-deal-backfires
CNRP tries to balance foreign powers
A heightened global profile for the opposition CNRP since last year’s disputed election has brought with it a new challenge: balancing multiple foreign relations. The party’s campaign to delegitimize the CPP government has taken on multiple faces over the past nine months as opposition leader Sam ...
Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-tries-to-balance-foreign-powers-57074/