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 ...
Open Development Cambodia has added one new feature of Cambodia-Sino Metallic Material SEZ on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) profile page
Open Development Cambodia (ODC) has just published a new online resource detailing on 39 Special Economic Zones in Cambodia along with comprehensive references which are accessible and available in bilingual versions, Khmer and English. Together with the website’s map web tool, this profile page aims ...
Duty-Free Agreements Worry Minister
Duty-free agreements between regional competitors and foreign importers would put the Cambodian garment industry at risk, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said last week. Speaking to reporters after a meeting, Prasidh warned that the Kingdom’s garment sector would not be able to maintain its competitive edge over ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013060366010/Business/duty-free-agreements-worry-minister.html
Police arrest 37 in meth sweep in Trapaing Chhouk
Police arrested 36 men and one woman on Saturday in the latest raid on Phnom Penh’s Trapaing Chhouk slum, a cluster of shanties above a fetid pond in Sen Sok district where crystal methamphetamine use and distribution are rampant. ...
Ouch Sony
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-arrest-37-in-meth-sweep-in-trapaing-chhouk-98243/
Border business in O'Smach
It was a big gamble for Khun Savy, travelling hundreds of kilometres and spending thousands of Thai baht for broker fees and bribes he said he paid to be smuggled into Thailand. At the O’Smach international Border Checkpoint in Oddar Meanchey province, the 29-year-old was one ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012031254987/National-news/border-business-in-osmach.html
Value chain in decline: WTO
Cambodia is one of only two economies worldwide to have declined in global value chain (GVC) participation since 1995, according to the World Trade Organization’s latest study. The WTO’s World Trade Report 2014, released Monday, shows Cambodia’s overall percentage of GVC participation – one country’s contribution ...
Eddie Morton
http://phnompenhpost.com/business/value-chain-decline-wto