Strike closes most Bavet factories
All but four garment factories in Svay Rieng province were closed yesterday, as a strike of thousands of workers there continued into its second week, a labour union official said. The strike, estimated to involve about 20,000 people across the province’s Tai Seng and Manhattan special ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strike-closes-most-bavet-factories
Hun Sen to visit China next week
Prime Minister Hun Sen will lead Cambodian delegation to attend the 4th Summit of Conference on interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CIAC) in China next week, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international Cooperation. The delegation companying Hun Sen will ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=ODExYWI3MDRkMWN
Garment workers march for higher wages
More than 1,000 garment workers gathered in Phnom Penh and marched through the city center Sunday, demanding a “decent wage” from their factories, the largest garment-sector demonstration in the capital since military police fatally suppressed a protest for higher wages in January. ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-workers-march-in-push-for-higher-wages-69635/
Organic vegetable demand growing
On a farm in Kampong Speu province, Erm Rim is talking to a small crowd of consumers and journalists, explaining the process of growing vegetables using only natural resources. Rim talks on the sidelines of a consumer field trip organised by the Cambodian Center for ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032764708/Inside-Business/organic-vegetable-demand-growing.html
Protesters Seek EU, World Bank Presence at Yorm Bopha Hearing
Some 50 representatives of Phnom Penh’s embattled Boeng Kak community on Monday marched to the offices of the European Union and World Bank to request that the international bodies send observers to the upcoming Supreme Court hearing of anti-eviction activist Yorm Bopha on November 22. Ms. ...
Khy Sovuthy and Ben Woods
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protesters-seek-eu-world-bank-presence-at-yorm-bopha-hearing-46608/
Grasslands present dilemma
A week after British researchers released a study warning that the nation’s grasslands would soon be lost if drastic action was not taken to protect them, some agricultural experts have called for moderation, noting that the intensive rice cultivation blamed for the grasslands’ destruction is ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032664676/National/grasslands-present-dilemma.html
NEC Says Statement on Bloggers Not an Attack on Free Speech
Despite fears that a warning to users of social media and internet blogs will dampen free speech, the head of National Election Committee (NEC) has insisted the intention was not to limit expression ahead of July’s national election. The NEC last week issued a statement requesting ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nec-says-statement-on-bloggers-not-attack-on-free-speech-26791/
Few women in upper ranks
Cambodian women make up less than 3 percent of the military’s upper echelons, the ministries of defence and women’s affairs confirmed yesterday. Just 88 women hold ranks of one-star general and above, with one solitary woman ranked a four-star general and a deputy commander-in-chief of ...
Erin Handley and Ben Sokhean
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/few-women-upper-ranks
Unions unite on draft law
7 unions working together have said that they refuse to support a union law that has been drafted as the government has ignored their recommendations. The potential legislation is said to be prohibitively restrictive and the unions have said they will boycott by organizing peaceful ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011070850278/National-news/unions-unite-on-draft-law.html
New Law to Support the Creation of Farmers’ Cooperatives
Agriculture Ministry officials said yesterday that they would soon complete a new law to regulate and support the creation of farmers’ cooperatives. They said the law would allow farmers to organize cooperatives, which could improve their market position and allow access to financial and technical ...
CAMBODIA: Garment exports soar 9.9% in 9 months
Cambodia’s garment exports rose 9.9% to $3.44bn in the first nine months of this year, up from $ 3.13bn a year ago, according to the latest figures from the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce. ...
http://www.just-style.com/news/garment-exports-soar-99-in-9-months_id116076.aspx
Minorities Press Gov't for More Communal Titles
Hundreds of indigenous people called on government to pick up the pace in granting them communal land titles at a ceremony marking the U.N.-sponsored international Day of the World’s indigenous People in Kompong Thom province yesterday. “The gathering today is to mark the 8th anniversary of indigenous Day ...
Cambodia’s GMAC says factory closures continue due to ongoing strikes
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said Thursday most of its 559 factories would continue to be closed due to security concerns after six pro-opposition trade unions led striking workers to destroy factories’ properties and forced workers to join their protests. “Because of the current ...
NZ Week News Staff
http://www.nzweek.com/world/cambodias-gmac-says-factory-closures-continue-due-to-ongoing-strikes-107149/
No End in Sight for Svay Rieng SEZ Strikes
A union official at the center of a strike that started last Monday and involves an estimated 30,000 workers from two special economic zones (SEZs) in Svay Rieng province said Sunday that he has no control over the strikers, and does not know when or ...
Aun Pheap and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-end-in-sight-for-svay-rieng-sez-strikes-49560/
Unions plan forum
The leaders of 18 unions and union confederations this week will invite ruling and opposition party members to take part in a public forum where labour relations issues will be discussed. Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), yesterday said the letters have ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-plan-forum
Unions up wage demands
Deposite not coming close to achieving their goal of a $160 monthly minimum garment wage, unions announced yesterday that they will raise their demands to $177 for 2015. Ken Chhenglang, acting president of the National independent Federation Textile Union of Cambodia (NIFTUC), said about 10 union ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-wage-demands
Mekong countries, Japan eye new development strategy beyond 2015
The leaders of Japan and five Southeast Asian countries along the Mekong River plan to craft a new strategy in July for Tokyo to contribute to sustainable development of the Mekong region beyond 2015, a senior Japanese official said Thursday. “Taking this opportunity from this ...
Bangkok Post News Staff
http://www2.bangkokpost.com/news/general/478989/mekong-countries-japan-eye-new-development-strategy-beyond-2015
Gov’t slams UN rapporteurs over Sokha trial statement
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international Cooperation and the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Cambodia to the UN Office in Geneva deplored the statement of three UN special rapporteurs who claimed that Kem Sokha’s trial was “tainted” due to irregularities. ...
Niem Chheng
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/govt-slams-un-rapporteurs-over-sokha-trial-statement
Fake potash reduces rice profits and farm output
A senior agricultural official is concerned by the prevalence of fake fertilizers that cause stunted rice crops and reduce farmers’ profits. Ngin Chhay, director of the Rice Crops Department in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry, told the Development Research Forum in Phnom Penh yesterday the products were ...