Government
National government
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/
Labor minister says Unions have no reason to complain
Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng on Wednesday denied recent claims from a group of disgruntled unions that the government was making it nearly impossible to register branches at garment factories, and announced a new push to bring noncompliant factories in line with Cambodia’s labor laws. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-minister-says-unions-have-no-reason-to-complain-77843/
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/
NGO Global Witness hits back at ministry
The government’s apparent unwillingness to take seriously evidence of continued large-scale illegal logging orchestrated by the Try Pheap Group is “disappointing”, Global Witness said yesterday. A report released last week by the UK-based group titled The Cost of Luxury detailed evidence, collected during an eight-month covert ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/ngo-global-witness-hits-back-ministry
Credit up 30 per cent in 2014
Both deposits and loans in Cambodia’s banking sector increased about 30 per cent last year, a rise that industry insiders say is a productivity boost for the Kingdom’s economy. By the end of December, deposits at all Cambodian banks reached $10 billion, a 32 per cent ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/credit-30-cent-2014
Council of ministers calls for review of contract with Cintri
The government’s faith in Phnom Penh’s embattled trash-collection company appears to have finally been lost after the Council of Ministers announced in a letter on Tuesday that a shake-up was on the way as it considers rescinding Cintri’s exclusive right to manage the city’s garbage ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.opendevelopmentcambodia.net/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=news
Fertilizer stored at Chinese man’s home seized
Local authorities investigating a house in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kok district confiscated more than 260 containers of fertilizer and insecticide Wednesday morning after neighbors of a Chinese man complained of a noxious smell emanating from his house, which they feared might have been a dangerous ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fertilizer-stored-at-chinese-mans-home-seized-77849/
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
Meaning of valentine’s day lost in translation, minister warns
With Valentine’s Day just days away, the Ministry of Education on Tuesday entreated the nation’s teachers to put their students through a crash course to dispel what it believes is a widely held misconception among Cambodian youth that the holiday is a pretext for sex. ...
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/
Gov’t announces new plan to stop violence against women
As violence against women remains pervasive throughout the country, the government on Tuesday launched a second action plan that it hopes will help give women greater protection. The National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women 2014-2018 focuses on preventing gender-based violence and aims to provide ...
Chris Mueller
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-announces-new-plan-to-stop-violence-against-women-77759/
PM proposes law to prevent rent increase
During a graduation ceremony at Royal University of Law and Economics, Prime Minister Hun Sen said he and the opposition leader agreed to create a law to prevent landlords from raising rent. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/pm-proposes-law-to-prevent-rent-increase-8172
Commute deadly: gov’t
Garment workers continue to die in traffic accidents on their way to and from the factory, a new report highlighting the deadly commute in Cambodia’s largest industry shows. In the report, titled The Dangerous Journey of Garment Workers in 2014, the Ministry of Labour’s National Social ...
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
World Cup labour on agenda
Amid reports of hundreds of workplace deaths at World Cup construction sites, Qatar invited Cambodia on Saturday to discuss implementing a long-signed agreement to send labourers there ahead of the tournament in 2022. The issue was discussed during a meeting between Foreign Ministry Secretary of State ...
Taing Vida and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/world-cup-labour-agenda
Claims by Global Witness rejected
Minister of Agriculture Ouk Rabun yesterday dismissed allegations of large-scale illegal timber smuggling by the Try Pheap Group published in a report by UK-based corruption monitor Global Witness last week. Global Witness’s report, The Cost of Luxury, identified Pheap, a prominent tycoon and former adviser to ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/claims-global-witness-rejected
Thai airforce chief visits Cambodia to strengthen ties
Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Treetod Sonjance, paid a two-day visit to Cambodia on Monday in a bid to promote ties and cooperation between the two neighbours. ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/150209/thai-airforce-chief-visits-cambodia-strengthen-ties
Defense Ministry official asks for military-plate tax exemption
A Defense Ministry official has requested that vehicles bearing Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) license plates be exempt from paying the country’s road tax, noting that a recent increase in inspections by tax officials could hurt “military officers’ feelings.” ...
Hul Reaksmey
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/defense-ministry-official-asks-for-military-plate-tax-exemption-77590/
Interior Ministry reminds civil servants of ban on two jobs
Department heads within the Interior Ministry must immediately begin enforcing a Royal Decree issued in October that prohibits civil servants from holding two government jobs at the same time, according to a letter issued by ministry Secretary of State Sak Setha last week. ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/interior-ministry-reminds-civil-servants-of-ban-on-two-jobs-77588/
Electoral reform talks stuck on issue of Assembly seats
The CPP and CNRP again returned to the issue of the number of National Assembly seats in their twice-weekly reform talks on Friday, but appeared to be further apart than ever, with the ruling party demanding that parliament continue to have 123 seats “forever.” ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/electoral-reform-talks-stuck-on-issue-of-assembly-seats-77550/
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
Communities urge gov’t to rescind ELCs
Representatives of communities across the country who have had their lives upturned by development projects yesterday called on the government to rescind the economic land concessions at the centre of their disputes. ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/communities-urge-govt-rescind-elcs
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/