Government

Cambodia is inching closer to lifting a self-imposed ban on inter-country adoptions and believes its efforts to reform will soon meet preconditions for restarting the adoption process with countries that outlawed the practice in response to numerous high-profile child trafficking scandals, the government said Tuesday. ...

A businesswoman who was arrested in Thailand in December and extradited to Cambodia over charges of plotting to rape and murder the wife and daughter of the country’s commerce minister claimed after being denied bail by the Appeal Court on Tuesday that the minister was ...

Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol said yesterday that his ministry was initiating reforms that would see Cambodia’s ease of starting a business ranking leap from the current 184 to 21. He said the government would also need to make changes to the Company Registration Law, reduce ...

Seven South Korean nationals were arrested in Siem Reap province Monday on suspicion of attempting to extort money from foreigners through Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, after a further six were detained for allegedly committing the same crime last month, an immigration official said ...

Two rival groups of tuk-tuk drivers clashed Monday evening in front of Phnom Penh’s railway station in Daun Penh district, beating each other with metal pipes and chains over a dispute regarding passengers, police said Tuesday. ...

FUNCINPEC heavyweight Nhek Bun Chhay has made his internal feud with party president Prince Norodom Ranariddh personal. ...

The number of children in the country who are stunted—leaving them physically smaller and mentally weaker than their properly nourished peers—dropped by 7 percent between 2010 and 2014, according to a nationwide survey released Tuesday. ...

Despite Cambodia’s unofficial freeze on inter-country adoptions, the Ministry of Social Affairs recently urged partner countries to reforge, in principle, their adoption partnerships with the Kingdom. In a statement issued on Monday, the ministry opened the application process for international adoption agencies, as only adoption agencies ...

Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol called on business owners to clean up their activities in the Kingdom, in order to remain competitive, especially in light of the ASEAN Economic Community integration due to be realised at the end of the year. Private sector companies have traditionally raised ...

Breaking from a history of boasting about the potential longevity of his tenure as Cambodia’s leader, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday that he would likely have to retire sometime before he turns 90. ...

Defense Minister Tea Banh joked Tuesday that the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) are “biased to the right people” in protecting the government from destabilizing political agitators. Speaking at the annual review of the military’s activities at the Defense Ministry, General Banh said the armed forces ...

Saying every girl “has value,” President Barack Obama announced a more focused government effort Tuesday to help tens of millions of girls around the world attend and stay in school. Michelle Obama said she’s heading to Japan and Cambodia later this month to promote it. ...

Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni has appointed 24 royalist Funcinpec Party figures as advisors to government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to a royal decree released to the media on Monday. ...

First Lady Michelle Obama will visit Cambodia as part of a tour later this month to promote a Peace Corps initiative for the education of girls. ...

Civil society groups have contributed significantly to the development of Cambodia over the past 20 years, working as a government partner, but sometimes they face challenges in the areas of good governance and legal education, an expert says. Government spokesman Phay Siphan said there are ...

Planning for the Stung Bot checkpoint on the Thai border is almost finalised, with the construction of new infrastructure to support trade facilitation to be completed by the end of 2018, officials said yesterday. Vasim Sorya, the director general of administration at the Ministry of Public ...

After heaping criticism on rights group Licadho for allegedly exaggerating the seriousness of Cambodia’s land rights crisis last month, the government has released its own annual report on land disputes. In a letter the following day, the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction ...

More than 50 CNRP officials seeking the removal of lawmaker Ke Sovannaroth as the party’s head in Siem Reap province carried through with a threat to bring their case to Phnom Penh, demonstrating Monday for two hours outside the opposition’s headquarters in Meanchey district. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday welcomed the end of talks over changes to the national election law and said the opposition CNRP has agreed to include in the law his proposal to strip National Assembly seats from any political party that boycotts parliament after ...

About 50 people with claims to land being developed in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva peninsula protested in front of City Hall on Monday and delivered a petition on behalf of more than 100 families demanding intervention in their dispute with the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation ...

The government will set up a $5 million fund to allow Cambodia’s 26 provinces and municipalities to take responsibility for waste management in their cities, it was announced recently. With a focus on garbage management, the decentralisation initiative, revealed at a two-day workshop in Phnom Penh ...

Thousands of kilograms of rice donated by the Cambodian Red Cross to impoverished families in Battambang province, including residents of HIV-hit Roka commune, had to be replaced Monday after villagers complained it was rotten, officials said. ...

An environmental activist in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley on Monday denied building an ecotourism information center with illegally logged wood after he was summoned to the local court to answer questions over alleged forestry crimes. ...

Local rights group Licadho yesterday praised the government’s plan to release a number of incarcerated women who are pregnant or have their children with them in prison within the next week, but said deeper reforms are needed. In a statement, the NGO said it welcomed an ...