National government
Ministries and other national bodies
Child labour identified in Siem Reap
The National Committee for Counter Trafficking’s (NCCT) six-month report, released on Monday, identified two cases of child labour in brick-making factories in Siem Reap, though officials and a rights group monitor said the use of such labour had decreased in the province. ...
Kong Meta
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/child-labour-identified-siem-reap
International group demands severance for shuttered factory’s workers
An international alliance of NGOs has started a campaign to urge two prominent U.K. clothing retailers and a Canadian brand to compensate 208 factory workers who lost their jobs when the Chung Fai Knitwear factory abruptly closed a year ago. ...
Julia-grace Sanders
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/intl-group-demands-severance-for-shuttered-factorys-workers-132451/
Prospects bright for solar in Kep
The Ministry of Environment has announced its support for a new 10-megawatt solar power development project in the coastal province of Kep to be spearheaded by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), a South Korea-based organisation set up by the UN in 2012 to chart ...
Kali Kotoski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/prospects-bright-solar-kep
Industry experts say ecotourism has potential to expand
As tourists’ itineraries veer toward nature resorts and jungle trekking, companies and conservationists are considering how they can define, develop and expand ecotourism and coastal tourism in Cambodia. ...
Hang Sokunthea
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/industry-experts-say-ecotourism-has-potential-to-expand-132411/
Migrant workers overwhelm passport center
On a narrow side street on the outskirts of Phnom Penh on Tuesday, cars and tuk-tuks crept slowly along as hordes of pedestrians and motorbikes blocked their paths. Food carts and steady streams of customers lined the road. ...
Chhorn Phearun and Hannah Hawkins
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/migrant-workers-overwhelm-passport-center-132417/
Koh Kong sand exports permanently banned after volume discrepancies
The Ministry of Mines and Energy has permanently banned sand exports from Koh Kong province – eight months after it imposed a temporary ban following controversy over large discrepancies found in sand export figures to Singapore. ...
Yesenia Amaro and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/koh-kong-sand-exports-permanently-banned-after-volume-discrepancies
China’s appetite driving rice export growth as demand continues to outstrip supply
Cambodian rice exports increased marginally during the first half of the year as export companies push to fulfill higher quotas destined for China. Rice exports totalled 288,562 tonnes in the first six months of the year, an increase of 7.6 percent compared to the same time ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/chinas-appetite-driving-rice-export-growth-demand-continues-outstrip-supply
More than $1bn invested in local infrastructure
Cambodia has invested more than $1 billion on infrastructure, especially on transport, a senior official at the Ministry of Economy and Finance says. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/40155/more-than--1bn-invested-in-local-infrastructure/
Workers rescued from Thai boats in Malaysia
The Cambodian embassy in Malaysia has repatriated 14 Cambodian fishermen who fled a Thai boat and are believed to be human trafficking victims, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. ...
Ros Chanveasna
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/40167/workers-rescued-from-thai-boats-in-malaysia/
Laws failing young sex exploitation victims
Child sex tourism is continuing to damage the lives of young Cambodians, while the internet is enabling perpetrators to carry out abuse, the Justice Minister has warned. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/40172/laws-failing-young-sex-exploitation-victims/
Activists fear dredging in wildlife sanctuary
Activists and a fisherman yesterday claimed that a company has started sand dredging within a wildlife sanctuary in Koh Kong, despite a standing ban on sand exports from companies operating in coastal areas. ...
Yesenia Amaro and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/activists-fear-dredging-wildlife-sanctuary
Ministry to use ‘experts’ to review exam grading
Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said yesterday that next month’s Grade 12 high school exams will largely follow the same process as the past few years, though a spokesman noted that new subject “experts” will be introduced to help spot grading errors. ...
Yesenia Amaro and Rinith Taing
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-use-experts-review-exam-grading
Speed Pay has plans for cash in a digital age
Speed Pay Plc, a newly licensed electronic payments service provider (PSP), is gearing up to join the ranks of mobile platforms tapping into Cambodia’s nascent digital payment sector. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/speed-pay-has-plans-cash-digital-age
Cambodia, Japan sign deal for trainees
Minister of Labour Ith Samheng yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with his Japanese counterparts to make it easier for Cambodian trainees to find work in Japan. ...
Sen David
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/40168/cambodia--japan-sign-deal-for-trainees/
Kampong Thom's Sambor Prei Kuk gets Unesco listing
The Sambor Prei Kuk archaeological site, a cluster of ancient brick temples scat-tered in the forest in Kampong Thom province, was listed as a World Heritage Site of Unesco on Saturday. ...
Jovina Chua and Kong Meta
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kampong-thoms-sambor-prei-kuk-gets-unesco-listing
Passport fees to be investigated
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially instructed the Cambodian Embassy in Malaysia to investigate agencies that ask for exorbitant passport renewal fees for workers there, according to a statement released on Friday, though some sources said corruption in the Passport Department itself is part ...
Leonie Kijewski and Niem Chheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/passport-fees-be-investigated
China to buy more Cambodian rubber
China is expected to purchase 300,000 tonnes of rubber from Cambodia in 2018, according to a commerce ministry statement. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/40122/china-to-buy-more-cambodian-rubber/
Survey to guide minimum wage talks
The Ministry of Labour has announced plans of a month-long research campaign into the living standards of garment and footwear factory workers prior to setting a minimum wage in 2018. ...
Sen David
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/40136/survey-to-guide-minimum-wage-talks/
Centers in Thailand to grant migrant workers travel documents
The Thai government has agreed to set up stations across Thailand where Cambodian illegal migrant workers can register for documents that will allow them to stay and work in the country, Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng said at a news conference on Thursday. ...
Chhorn Phearun and Hannah Hawkins
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/centers-in-thailand-to-grant-migrant-workers-travel-documents-132234/
Four tonnes of illegal medicine seized
Anti-economic crime police from the Interior Ministry yesterday seized more than four tonnes of illegal medicine in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/40077/four-tonnes-of-illegal-medicine-seized/
Yunnan offers to help tourism sector
The Ministry of Tourism is to collaborate with Yunnan’s Tourism and Vocational Training Institution to develop human resources in tourism and seek the methodology to attract more Chinese tourists to visit Cambodia. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/40085/yunnan-offers-to-help-tourism-sector/
Workers fear arrest in Malaysia
Cambodian workers continue to fear arrest and deportation amid an ongoing crackdown on undocumented migrant workers in Malaysia, with local media reporting that 2,000 migrants have been arrested since the beginning of the month as of yesterday. ...
Yon Sineat and Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/workers-fear-arrest-malaysia
NGOs warned to comply with law or face action
Interior Minister Sar Kheng took aim at civil society on Tuesday night, warning NGOs to comply with the law or face legal action, at the same time the ministry ordered the ad hoc election monitoring group the Situation Room to cease any future monitoring activities. ...
Ben Sokhean and Ben Paviour
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngos-warned-to-comply-with-law-or-face-action-132171/
Cambodian migrant workers return from Thailand
Despite the Thai government’s temporary backtracking on its harsh punishments of undocumented migrant workers, hundreds of Cambodians working in Thailand continued to pour back into their home country yesterday. ...
Leonie Kijewski and Yon Sineat
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodian-migrant-workers-return-thailand