Social development
Civil society
Land fight in Kampong Speu
Some 250 families in Kampong Speu province’s Phnom Sruoch district have sought intervention from rights group Adhoc to help resolve a land dispute involving a business they allege is headed by the son of former provincial governor Kang Heang. Families from three villages say Heang, who ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/land-fight-kampong-speu
Fight to save B’bang heritage finds new allies
When an old building formerly owned by the state was demolished on the outskirts of Battambang City in February, for some, it was the last straw. The giant, freestanding colonial-era mansion with the round windows, the blue shutters and the cracking yellow paint had become one ...
Matt Blomberg and Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fight-to-save-bbang-heritage-finds-new-allies-59105/
Damage uncertain: Vision blurry for survivor of acid attack
After receiving burns to 40 per cent of his body in an acid attack and undergoing surgery five times, 41-year-old Hak Ay now has blurred vision in both eyes, according to the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC). The survivor of this year’s first recorded acid attack ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/damage-uncertain-vision-blurry-survivor-acid-attack
Five months on, witnesses recall Muon Sokmean’s beating
Muon Sokmean, a 29-year-old garment worker, scrambled off Veng Sreng Street on January 3 with military police in violent pursuit, brandishing their batons. What had been a militant protest for a $160 minimum wage in the garment sector—with many protesters lobbing rocks and crude Molotov cocktails ...
Mech Dara and Alex Consiglio
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/five-months-on-witnesses-recall-muon-sokmeans-beating-59115/
Teachers who claimed graft told to keep quiet
Teachers in Oddar Meanchey province, who last week accused district education officials of stealing their salaries, were on Monday threatened with expulsion for talking to the media, a teachers union said. The Anlong Veng district education director summoned about 15 teachers and school officials to the ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/teachers-who-claimed-graft-told-to-keep-quiet-59124/
TVK director resigns, apparently in response to gov’t criticism
Kem Gunawadh, the long-serving director-general of TVK who helped set up the state broadcaster in 1983, resigned abruptly on Saturday in what his successor said was a reaction to government criticism over his decision not to broadcast live that morning’s annual Royal Plowing Ceremony. The resignation ...
Phann Ana and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tvk-director-resigns-apparently-in-response-to-govt-criticism-58980/
Chong villagers block Chinese engineers from reaching dam
A group of 20 ethnic minority Chong villagers in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley blocked the road Friday to prevent a group of Chinese engineers from reaching the site of a controversial proposed dam. A number of Chong villagers have been intermittently camping near the road ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chong-villagers-block-chinese-engineers-from-reaching-dam-58944/
Rising union leader behind Caltex station closures
In his fight for workers’ rights, Sar Mora has learned to be stubborn. The union leader behind the closure of Caltex gas stations across Phnom Penh, Mr. Mora’s members remained on strike Sunday despite an apparent agreement on Friday for workers to return to their stations. “We ...
Alex Consiglio and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rising-union-leader-behind-caltex-station-closures-58995/
Judicial laws put independence of courts in jeopardy
Three constitutionally mandated judicial laws would adversely affect the independence of the courts if they are passed in their current draft state, legal experts warned on Friday. Draft versions of the Law on the Organization and Functioning of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy, the Law ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/judicial-laws-put-independence-of-courts-in-jeopardy-58942/
Cambodians drinking more
Cambodian men drink more than the global norm and their liquor habits are on the upswing, according to a recent report by the World Health Organization. People – especially men – throughout the Western Pacific and Southeast Asian regions are drinking more, according to the WHO’s ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodians-drinking-more
Maids set to work abroad, but safety fears linger
After a three-year moratorium on sending maids overseas—sparked by a spate of serious abuses by recruiters and employers—momentum is building to once again send hundreds of thousands of Cambodian women to work overseas as domestic servants. Since Prime Minister Hun Sen shut down the industry in ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/maids-set-to-work-abroad-but-safety-fears-linger-58853/
Wing Star victim’s kin not paid out
When an overloaded and illegally built storage level at the Wing Star Shoes factory in Kampong Speu province collapsed last May 16, officials went into damage control, promising to compensate victims using a relatively new state fund. But one year after teenager Kim Dany and co-worker ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/wing-star-victim%E2%80%99s-kin-not-paid-out
Overtime at school goes unpaid
Six months after the government announced that bank accounts for all civil servants would put an end to late salaries and rampant graft, secondary school teachers in Prey Veng say they are owed long overdue payments. In addition to their regular salary, which they already received, ...
Laignee Barron and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/overtime-school-goes-unpaid
17 families reject payout from minister’s wife
A special committee set up in March to settle a long-running land dispute between 52 families in Kompong Chhnang province and the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem has finished its work, leaving 17 families without a deal. Deputy provincial governor Dork Sothea, who ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/17-families-reject-payout-from-ministers-wife-58741/
Education official promises to repay shortchanged teachers
A technical error caused 57 teachers in Oddar Meanchey province to be shortchanged when collecting overtime salaries, said an education official who promised the problem will be rectified by the end of May. A teachers’ union on Monday asked the Ministry of Education to address some ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/education-official-promises-to-repay-shortchanged-teachers-58749/
Women targeted at protests, Rapporteur says
The U.N.’s special rapporteur on freedom of assembly and association, Maina Kiai, has sent his third thematic report to the U.N. Human Rights Council following trips to various countries, including a three-day visit to Cambodia in February. The report focuses on groups that Mr. Kiai, a ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/women-targeted-at-protests-rapporteur-says-58735/
Investigation sought into death threats of Cambodian rights worker
International observers are calling on the Cambodian government to ensure the safety of a human rights worker who has allegedly received death threats from a company affiliated with family members of Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/investigation-sought-into-death-threats-of-cambodian-rights-worker/1914440.html
Leaked draft of Cambodia's proposed cyber law reveals threat to free expression
TV news viewers in Cambodia are fed a steady diet of praise for the government and top officials. Whether they’re giving speeches that go on for hours, cutting a ribbon at a new development project, or shaking hands with foreign dignitaries, government leaders are presented ...
Kyle James
http://www.dw.de/leaked-draft-of-cambodias-proposed-cyber-law-reveals-threat-to-free-expression/a-17629723
Caltex loosing hundreds of thousands of dollars, striking workers say
Chevron’s Caltex gas stations are potentially losing hundreds of thousands of dollars per day in Cambodia, striking employees say. Workers say Caltex, a subsidiary of US-based multinational Chevron, sells between 5,000 to 10,000 liters per station per day, putting its losses between $350,000 to $700,000 ...
Khoun Theara,
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/caltex-loosing-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-striking-workers-say/1914429.html
Strike by Cambodian Caltex staff enters 3rd day after wage talks fail
Cambodian workers for the U.S.- owned Caltex petrol stations in Phnom Penh continued their strike for higher wages Wednesday after wage negotiations late Tuesday failed to reach any agreement. Strike leader Sar Mora, president of the Cambodian Food and Service Workers Federation, said some 300 Caltex ...
Xinhuanet News
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-05/14/c_133332966.htm
Sexual abuse among claims against HAGL
Sexual assault and the annihilation of sacred graveyards are among the many claims levelled at Vietnamese Rubber giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) by villagers in Ratanakkiri province, a report by the World Bank’s investment arm reveals. In February, 17 indigenous communities that accused HAGL of ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sexual-abuse-among-claims-against-hagl
Standard forms aim for public bid transparency
The Ministry of Economy and Finance on Monday announced the release of standardised bidding forms for public contracts, a measure it said would increase transparency and accountability, though the opposition and Transparency International Cambodia offered more cautious assessments yesterday. According to a state media announcement, the ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/standard-forms-aim-public-bid-transparency
Officials accused of embezzling teachers’ salaries
A teachers’ union has accused education officials in Oddar Meanchey province’s Anlong Veng district of stealing 21 million riel, or about $5,200, that had been slated as overtime payments for primary school teachers. In a letter sent to the Education Ministry on Monday, the Cambodia Independent ...
Ben Sokhean and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-accused-of-embezzling-teachers-salaries-58676/
Deal would send workers to Saudi Arabia
Cambodia is nearing a deal that would open a pipeline of workers to Saudi Arabia, a country where Southeast Asian migrants have in the past been abused and even executed for crimes that include “sorcery”. Following a meeting in Hanoi last week with Saudi Ambassador Salah ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/deal-would-send-workers-saudi-arabia