Social development
Civil society
S Korean farming industry slammed
Long considered the friendlier and less exploitative option for overseas Cambodian migrants, South Korea is now being slammed by Amnesty International for a number of abuses afflicting its migrant-dominated agriculture sector. The 20,000 foreign workers fuelling South Korea’s farming industry regularly encounter intimidation, violence, excessive working ...
Laignee Barron
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/s-korean-farming-industry-slammed
Input floated on traffic law
A coalition of NGOs are to submit to the National Assembly today a list of recommended additions to the amended traffic law, a draft of which was approved by the Council of Ministers in August. Road safety advocates hope the amended law, which creates higher fines ...
Phak Seangly
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/input-floated-traffic-law
Cambodia factories snub workers arrested in January strikes
While the smoke has long cleared on January’s violent garment strikes, for many of the 23 workers and unionists arrested and tried on charges widely considered to be baseless, the ordeal is far from over. Nine months after security forces used deadly violence to end strikes ...
Alice Cuddy, Chhay Channyda & Mom Kunthear
http://www.ucanews.com/news/cambodia-factories-snub-workers-arrested-in-january-strikes/72213
UNESCO chief condemns killing of Cambodian journalist
Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova has denounced the killing of journalist Taing Try in Cambodia on Oct. 12 and urged the authorities to ensure that those responsible are punished for their crime. Taing Try, 49, a freelance journalist for several local newspapers and a member ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/141020/unesco-chief-condemns-killing-cambodian-journalist
Citizenship bribes offered: police
Four Vietnamese women claiming to be working for a Vietnamese company attempted to obtain residency papers reserved for Cambodian citizens by bribing authorities in Ratanakkiri’s Sre Angkrang commune last week, police and an NGO said yesterday. The news comes as the government continues a “foreigner census” ...
Phak Seangly
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/citizenship-bribes-offered-police
Somaly Mam Foundation closes down
Months after announcing the resignation of its founder and promising to start afresh to continue its “vital work” protecting vulnerable girls in Cambodia, the U.S.-based Somaly Mam Foundation (SMF) announced Saturday that it has ceased operations, telling supporters to turn to other organizations to help ...
Chris Mueller
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/somaly-mam-foundation-closes-down-70300/
Cybercrime law’s status uncertain
A Ministry of Commerce official said in a speech last week that the controversial draft cybercrime law was almost ready to appear before the National Assembly, though another government official dismissed this yesterday. At a conference on cybersecurity attended by representatives of the public and private ...
Sean Teehan
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/cybercrime-law%E2%80%99s-status-uncertain
Anti-refugee protest dogged by xenophobia
Hundreds of demonstrators marched through central Phnom Penh yesterday morning calling for a controversial refugee resettlement deal between Australia and Cambodia to be scrapped. While the protesters echoed human rights concerns that have been repeatedly made about the scheme, an undercurrent of xenophobia was also present. After ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/anti-refugee-protest-dogged-xenophobia
Ebola measures have been taken, gov’t tells investors
As world leaders vowed to dramatically step up the global response to the Ebola virus this week, the Cambodian government sought to reassure investors that they are making adequate preparations to contain an outbreak in the Kingdom. Speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce luncheon yesterday, ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/ebola-measures-have-been-taken-gov%E2%80%99t-tells-investors
NGO volunteer found guilty of child sex crimes
A man who volunteered at a Christian NGO that seeks to combat sex trafficking was found guilty yesterday by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and jailed for three years for raping four former street children younger than 10 years old who were meant to be ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/ngo-volunteer-found-guilty-child-sex-crimes
Land concessions cancelled
The government has seized back more than 12,000 hectares of land previously awarded to seven companies as economic land concessions (ELCs), according to a letter from the Council of Ministers. It explains that licences awarded from 2006 to 2011 for eight ELCs in the provinces ...
Phak Seangly
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/land-concessions-cancelled
No breakthrough in new talks for Cambodian minimum wage increase
Cambodian authorities have held two rounds of talks with garment factory owners and unions under a new mechanism to help break a deadlock over increasing the workers’ monthly minimum wage but to no avail. But Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng said that he expected the Garment ...
Roseanne Gerin
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/working-group-10162014181856.html
Frenchman arrested in Cambodia over sexual abuses
A French non-governmental organization (NGO) director had been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing seven boys, police and anti-pedophilia agent said on Thursday. Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), a child protection NGO, assisted the police in an investigation that led to the arrest, the police ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/euruope/2014-10/16/c_133722367.htm
High-level officials to get raises
Prime Minister Hun Sen is set for a monthly salary hike of more than $900 as part of sweeping changes to senior government and high-ranking civil servant bonuses, according to a new sub-decree. The document, dated October 13 and obtained by the Post yesterday, states that ...
Pech Sotheary and Shane Worrell
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/high-level-officials-get-raises
Murdered reporter’s wife asks court to expand investigation
The wife of slain journalist Taing Try filed a complaint with the Kratie Provincial Court on Tuesday urging judicial officials to bring charges against two more men, including a local military police chief, for her husband’s murder on Sunday. ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/murdered-reporters-wife-asks-court-to-expand-investigation-69986/
Soldiers took our cameras, allege NGOs
Activists from two local rights groups yesterday accused soldiers in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district of seizing their cameras and stopping them from investigating a land dispute. ...
Phak Seangly
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/soldiers-took-our-cameras-allege-ngos
Another wage body to form
Following a meeting with parliamentarians at the National Assembly yesterday, Minister of Labour Ith Sam Heng announced the ministry would form a 27-member committee to study technical aspects of raising the minimum wage in Cambodia’s garment sector. The new committee will comprise nine representatives each from ...
Pech Sotheary and Sean Teehan
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/another-wage-body-form
Men confess to killing journalist
The three men arrested for the murder of 49-year-old journalist Taing Try in Kratie province on Sunday morning confessed to murdering the reporter after he threatened to tell authorities about their illegal logging activities, a police official said. ...
Saing Soenthrith and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-recount-killers-confession-in-slaying-of-journalist-69750/
Consult quickly: Door closing on Laos dam input period
Very quietly, with no official public announcement, the intergovernmental assessment process for Laos’s contentious Don Sahong dam is almost over before anyone knew it began. ...
Laignee Barron
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/consult-quickly-door-closing-laos-dam-input-period
Journalist investigating illegal logging shot dead
A 49-year-old journalist reportedly investigating illegal logging in Kratie province was shot dead early Sunday morning. Within hours, police arrested three men—a commune police chief, a military police officer and a Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) soldier—for the murder, officials said. Taing Try, who contributed to ...
Saing Soenthrith and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/journalist-investigating-illegal-logging-shot-dead-69629/
Cambodia takes tentative steps to tackle corruption
Luxury cars and fancy homes are among the lavish gifts Cambodia’s political and business elite shower each other with on special occasions but there are hints the government is moving to curb such excesses. Patronage has long been a problem in impoverished Cambodia, with bribery ...
Worldbulletin News Staff
http://www.worldbulletin.net/america-canada/146002/cambodia-takes-tentative-steps-to-tackle-corruption
Land-grab complaint against ANZ filed with OECD
NGOs have filed a new complaint against Australia’s ANZ Bank claiming it owes compensation to 681 Cambodian families who say their farms were illegally grabbed by a sugarcane plantation the bank helped to finance. ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/land-grab-complaint-against-anz-filed-with-oecd-69444/
City bans pair of marches
City Hall has banned street marches for World Teachers’ Day and World Housing Rights Day, ordering participants to confine their activities to Freedom Park instead. World Teachers’ Day and World Housing Rights Day occur on October 5 and 6, respectively. Planners for both expressed disappointment ...
Taing Vida
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/city-bans-pair-marches
Child labourer injuries rife
Over 85 per cent of child domestic workers in Phnom Penh are injured in the course of their employment, research into child labour released yesterday revealed. The Cambodian Development Research Institute and World Vision International are jointly examining child labour practices in the Kingdom, and the ...
Laignee Barron and Sen David
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/child-labourer-injuries-rife