Government

One year ago today, ex-Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith smiled as he sat before a judge at the Appeal Court in Phnom Penh on the first day of his trial for shooting and badly injuring three unarmed garment workers at a protest in Prey Veng ...

Armed soldiers will continue to patrol Veng Sreng Street, the garment factory-lined thoroughfare in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district where military police shot dead five workers during a nationwide strike last month, until labor unrest in the garment sector subsides, the deputy commander of the ...

The beating death of a Vietnamese-Cambodian earlier this month was the first incident in several years that some are calling a hate crime. Leaders of the Vietnamese community in Cambodia, as well as the Vietnamese Embassy, say they want the Cambodian authorities to pay more attention ...

The 6th Cambodia-Laos Joint Border Committee’s meeting kicked off Wednesday to speed up border demarcation between the two countries. ...

Cambodia is forecast to receive 4.7 million foreign visitors in 2014, an estimated rise of 12 percent from 4.2 million in 2013, Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said Wednesday. Last year, the country’s tourism generated 2.5 billion U.S. dollars, contributing about 16 percent to the GDP, ...

The International Finance Corporation’s compliance ombudsman has officially accepted a complaint filed by ethnic minority families in Ratanakkiri province against the IFC for investing in rubber plantations accused of stealing land and clearing forests. In a letter sent to the families on Monday, the ombudsman deems ...

As illegal logging con­tinues to take a toll on the country’s woodlands, civil society groups yesterday called on the government to stay true to its commitment of providing an extra two million hectares of community forest by 2029. During a two-day conference in the capital, participants ...

Seven pre-Angkorian temples have been discovered on two land concessions in Preah Vihear province, but while an Environment Ministry official said Tuesday that the ministry had no knowledge of the temples when they granted the concessions, the Culture Ministry said their existence had long been ...

Environment Minister Say Sam Al is scheduled to visit Koh Kong province today, while a representative of Chinese-owned company Union Development Group said the minister is expected to pay a visit to their 45,000hectare land concession, which has been the cause of a long-running land ...

Two Cambodian nationals are among those reported dead following the collapse of a beam at a construction site yesterday on the outskirts of Bangkok. The death toll stood at 11 as of 4pm yesterday, while another 17 were reported injured. A concrete beam fell down at the ...

It will be years before oil starts to be produced by energy giant Chevron’s offshore site in the Gulf of Thailand, a senior Cambodian official said yesterday. Meng Saktheara, secretary of state at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, said that negotiations over taxation have continued ...

Garment workers’ calls for a $160 minimum wage are justified and should be honored, a new report by an international team of academics and labor experts has found. The authors—including a team from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, South Korean and ...

Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday convicted and sentenced in absentia a senior official at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport for directing money from employees’ salaries to his own pocket. Seng Setha, 52, general director of the ministry’s administration and human resources department, was sentenced ...

The Phnom Penh governor on Tuesday told city officials to halt corruption and work harder to provide public services in an effort to restore confidence among the people who were so frustrated with the ruling party that they voted for the opposition CNRP in last ...

Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong said Tuesday he would shut down the shisha bars—where customers smoke flavored tobacco through large Middle-Eastern style water pipes—that have recently sprung up around the city. While the governor noted there was nothing illegal about the pipes or tobacco, he told ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday called on the authorities to lift their bans on public rallies to grant equal rights to citizens. Speaking at inauguration ceremony of a coal power plant in Sihanouk province, he said the city and provincial authorities have to allow the ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen once again warned the labor union leaders would be held responsible for the closure of factories which can be caused by protests and strikes. “It is very difficult to attract the garment investors to Cambodia, so if the protests and strikes ...

The Pacific Asia Travel Association will hold the 37th PATA Travel Mart at Diamond Island Convention & Exhibition Centre, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The event is being hosted by the ministry of tourism of Cambodia and will take place from September 17th-19th. PTM 2014 will offer delegates the ...

The ruling Cambodia People’s Party (CPP) and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) decided to cancel their meeting, which is scheduled for February 27, according to a CNRP official. The meeting of the two parties’ working groups was suspended not because of political issues, but ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday that the opposition-aligned unions, inciting garment workers to stage strikes for higher wages, must take responsibilities for any future closures of factories. “The government has worked very hard to attract investors to build factories and has urged manufacturers to ...

Preah Sihanouk provincial governor Sbong Sarath will resign on April 17 to transition into a position on the provincial council of Prey Veng following this May’s council elections, he confirmed yesterday. ...

The Ministry of Environment will relocate its offices to a plot of land near NagaWorld Hotel and Casino in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district after its planned new headquarters in Meanchey district were declared too far from the city’s center by the new environment minister, ...

A sand-dredging ferry caught fire and two of its pumping machines exploded yesterday in Kandal’s Kien Svay district. The blast sent a black plume of smoke over the Mekong and caused oil to leak into the river. Yem Sokhum, Phomthom commune police chief, said that according to ...

Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who became first prime minister of Cambodia after the 1993 U.N.-sponsored elections, will form a new party and re-enter the political arena, according to his cabinet chief. “The prince has a plan to create a new party,” said Naranarith Anandayath, chief of Prince ...