Ministries and other national bodies
Ministry of Interior
More trafficked in 2014: gov’t
A mother whose daughter was trafficked into the Malaysian sex industry has pleaded with lawmakers to help rescue her child, as new figures from Cambodia’s Interior Ministry reveal an upswing in human trafficking victims rescued last year. According to the ministry, although sex trafficking cases ...
Sen David, Buth Reaksmey Kongkea and Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/more-trafficked-2014-govt
Activist Alex arrested
Outspoken environmental activist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson has been arrested by Interior Ministry officers and taken in an unmarked car to the Ministry of Interior, a rights group and witnesses have said. Cheang Sophos, a senior investigator for local rights group Licadho, said that Gonzalez-Davidson was arrested at ...
Tat Oudom and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/activist-alex-arrested
Cambodia seeks to pardon women in jail with children
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that his government will seek the pardon and release of female convicts who are pregnant or have children living with them inside prisons, following a report by a human rights group which took authorities to task for neglecting ...
Morm Moniroth
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/pardons-for-jailed-women-with-children-02232015165148.html
Gov’t waits to deport activist with expired visa
An immigration official said Sunday that his department would wait for orders before moving to deport environmental activist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, whose visa the government refused to renew after it expired Friday. ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-waits-to-deport-activist-with-expired-visa-78500/
UN hamstrung in Ratanakkiri as more montagnards arrive
Local officials in Ratanakkiri province are actively preventing a team of U.N. workers in the area from making any attempt to reach nearly 40 Montagnard asylum seekers now hiding in the province. ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-hamstrung-in-ratanakkiri-as-more-montagnards-arrive-78387/
Government standing by decision to not renew activist’s visa
The Ministry of Interior on Wednesday said it was standing by its decision to not renew the visa of outspoken environmental activist Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson in the face of mounting pressure from fellow activists, NGOs, unions, students and monks—even opposition leader Sam Rainsy—to reverse course. ...
Khuon Narim and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-standing-by-decision-to-not-renew-activists-visa-78270/
Pyrotechnics pariahs for New Year festivities
Authorities have vowed to seize fireworks and punish anyone caught letting off explosives as Lunar New Year celebrations get under way today. The warning by the Phnom Penh municipality came as the Interior Ministry revealed plans to station more than 20 fire trucks around the city ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/pyrotechnics-pariahs-new-year-festivities
Cambodia considers royal pardon for incarcerated mothers
Around 40 Cambodian women in prison with young children were being considered for royal pardons ahead of the Khmer New Year, an official said on Tuesday, amid criticism of their condition. ...
The Sun Daily News Staff
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1332716
Hun Sen calls for urgent measure against judge releasing tycoon Thong Sarath’s parents
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday has proposed the Supreme Council of Magistracy to take urgent measure on a judge responsible for releasing parents of fugitive Thong Sarath on bail. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://bit.ly/1L9D5Hh
Sam Rainsy asks government to let outspoken activist stay
Opposition CNRP president Sam Rainsy on Monday weighed in on behalf of environmental activist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, asking the Interior Ministry to reverse a decision to not renew the Spanish national’s visa over a traffic incident from September. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sam-rainsy-asks-government-to-let-outspoken-activist-stay-78095/
Areng mapped in hope ecotourism can save valley from dam
A group of university students from Phnom Penh opposed to a proposed hydropower dam in Koh Kong province entered the project’s construction site on Sunday for a 10-day study aiming to highlight the area’s alternative potential for ecotourism. ...
Hul Reaksmey and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/areng-mapped-in-hope-ecotourism-can-save-valley-from-dam-78006/
Three new refugees file claims
Three Montagnards, including a 10-year-old girl, arrived yesterday morning at the government’s Refugee Department in Phnom Penh to process their asylum claims. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/three-new-refugees-file-claims
Sar Kheng laments capital crime
Interior Minister Sar Kheng yesterday cast a negative light on Phnom Penh, labelling the capital a hotbed for criminal activity and likening the levels of street crime to the Ho Chi Minh City of yore, where he said it was once unsafe to walk around ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/sar-kheng-laments-capital-crime
Thai soldiers shoot dead three loggers, officials say
Thai soldiers shot and killed three Cambodian loggers and seriously injured a fourth last week after the group illegally crossed into Thailand from Preah Vihear province in search of valuable timber, officials said Wednesday. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thai-soldiers-shoot-dead-three-loggers-officials-say-77826/
Nine Montagnard asylum seekers join 23 others in Ratanakkiri
Nine more Montagnard asylum seekers crossed into Ratanakkiri on Tuesday, bringing the total number hiding in the province’s O’Yadaw district to 32, a police official said Wednesday. ...
Aun Pheap and Chris Mueller
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nine-montagnard-asylum-seekers-join-23-others-in-ratanakkiri-77831/
No room for refugees: Kheng
Montagnards seeking asylum in Cambodia and who are found to be fleeing persecution in Vietnam will not be allowed to stay in the Kingdom if a third country does not accept them, Interior Minister Sar Kheng said yesterday. Speaking after opening a workshop on violence against ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-room-refugees-kheng
Anti-trafficking fight expands
Cambodia, a common source, transit and destination country for human trafficking, yesterday launched a far-reaching plan to combat the exploitative practice. The 2014 to 2018 National Plan of Action (NPA), which was launched yesterday afternoon at the Interior Ministry, was devised by the National Committee for ...
Alice Cuddy and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/anti-trafficking-fight-expands
PM acknowledges criticism of Refugee agreement
Days after the International Organization for Migration (IOM) announced it would help resettle Australia’s refugees currently being held on the Pacific island nation of Nauru in Cambodia, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday acknowledged criticism of the deal at home and abroad. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pm-acknowledges-criticism-of-refugee-agreement-78764/
Interior Ministry retirees get ‘political positions’
Senior officials at the Ministry of Interior who have recently retired will be reappointed to “political positions”, Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng said yesterday. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/interior-ministry-retirees-get-political-positions
State secrets law won’t stifle press, official says
A state secrets law being drafted by the Interior Ministry will not be used to target reporting on sensitive issues such as corruption, a senior military police official said yesterday. The National Police announced that the law was being drafted late last month following a ...
Vong Sokheng and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/state-secrets-law-wont-stifle-press-official-says
CPP blasted for promotions of military, police
At least 80 of the 306 new members of the CPP’s expanded central committee are members of the country’s military or security forces, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Wednesday in a statement, which says the promotions are meant to secure the loyalty of security forces. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-blasted-for-promotions-of-military-police-77421/
Without citizenship, Vietnamese remain adrift
Though they live in floating houses moored to the banks of the Tonle Sap river, few of the nearly 2,500 ethnic Vietnamese villagers here can truly call Cambodia home. Thousands built floating homes on the Tonle Sap, a cheaper and more attainable alternative to settling ...
Chris Mueller and Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/without-citizenship-vietnamese-remain-adrift-77344/
Montagnard presence denied
Government spokesman and four-star General Khieu Sopheak has threatened to sue an NGO worker over his “false allegations” about Montagnard asylum seekers. Sopheak said authorities had only arrested “illegal Vietnamese immigrants”, and called on Chhay Thy, provincial coordinator for local rights group Adhoc and the ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/montagnard-presence-denied
Workers seek passports
The Interior Ministry is rushing to print passports for thousands of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand before a March 31 deadline set by the neighbouring junta. So far, the Interior Ministry has received a list of just 60,000 workers in need of passports, according to the ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-seek-passports