International relations

A call for the Cambodian government to lift its controversial ban on public assembly is among 34 such recommendations it has chosen to defer in the wake of last week’s second Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of its human rights situation. The UN on Saturday released a ...

Japan will introduce direct flights to and from Cambodia this year in an effort to bolster trade, investment and tourism between the two nations, Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Friday. Hun Sen announced the plan at a meeting with a delegation led by Hideo ...

The opposition party’s planned complaint to the International Criminal Court against government officials for long-term rights abuses will likely be beaten to the punch by a US lawyer and rights activist, Voice of America reported on Friday. According to VOA, Morton Sklar, executive director of the ...

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association will arrive in Cambodia on February 5, his office announced on Friday. ...

The Ministry of Health has moved to calm public fears over the safety of the measles and rubella (MR) vaccine, which was administered to 4.5 million Cambodian children in the last three months of 2013, as rumors circulate that it poses sinister health risks, according ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen asked Britain to help Cambodia on human resource development. Hun Sen and Hugo Swire, British Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs, had a meeting Friday at the Peace Palace. ...

Cambodia’s economy is expected to grow by 7.2 percent this year, and pick up to 7.5 percent next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. The IMF hailed Cambodia for making good progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and reducing poverty substantially. It said ...

Sugar plantations that benefit from the European Union’s Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme, which allows preferential access to the E.U.’s market, have further impoverished Cambodia’s poor, and an investigation needs to be launched, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) said on Friday. Patrice Tirolien, MEP ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Friday that the country wanted to see more British investors in order to further contribute to developing local economy and reducing poverty. The premier made the remarks during a meeting with visiting British Minister of State at the Foreign and ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy says the international community is now pushing hard for serious human rights reforms in Cambodia. Sam Rainsy, head of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, was this week in Geneva, where a UN human rights review of Cambodia took place. The UN’s Human Rights ...

The Broadcasting Board of Governors, the US agency that oversees the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, has rejected claims by the Cambodian government that its broadcasters fabricate or manipulate news. In a statement responding to a report by the Cambodian Council of Ministers this ...

A member of the European Parliament is in Cambodia investigating agri-business firms accused of evicting hundreds of families while benefiting from a free-trade scheme with Europe worth millions of dollars, according to the NGO Equitable Cambodia. The visit from France’s Patrice Tirolien follows a resolution the ...

British Secretary of State for Asia Hugo Swire was due to arrive in Cambodia last night for a two-day diplomatic visit to the country where he will meet Prime Minister Hun Sen as well as members of the opposition. ...

At least 41 new land disputes were reported in Cambodia last year despite a government moratorium on the widespread grant of so-called economic land concessions, a rights group said Thursday. The new cases in 17 locations—including the capital Phnom Penh—added to the 223 land conflicts previously ...

The anti-corruption Unit is launching its investigation on corruption cases after being revealed by Global Fund Organization through its progressive report. The investigation is being launched in line with the Unit’s announcement on the 37th Meeting of the National Anti-Corruption Council on 29 January 2014. ...

The Indian ambassador to Cambodia is calling on the government to reduce exorbitant shipping costs and take better advantage of a tariff scheme that India offers, two obstacles that the diplomat says are discouraging bilateral trade. Ambassador Dinesh Patnaik said on Tuesday that Indian businesses exporting ...

A week after they began their campaign, activists and rights groups handed out the last of their petitions to embassies across Phnom Penh on Wednesday, hoping to solicit the help of foreign governments in securing the release of 23 men arrested earlier this month at ...

Though Cambodia had four years to implement 91 recommendations on how to improve its human rights record, U.N. member states still had to push for action in a number of key areas during its second Universal Periodic Review hearing in Geneva on Tuesday. In a speech ...

International tourist arrivals to Cambodia for 2013 increased 14.1 percent over arrivals in 2012, despite lingering political uncertainty following the July election, according to preliminary annual figures from the Ministry of Tourism. The number of visitors entering the country last year reached 4.2 million, compared to ...

Taking a markedly different approach from Monday’s violent breakup of a peaceful demonstration at Freedom Park, authorities yesterday stood back as about 100 activists marched around central Phnom Penh, delivering a petition to embassies and the United Nations. District security guards and riot police initially seemed ...

Cambodia’s opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, is currently in Geneva, where the UN Human Rights Committee is reviewing the country’s rights record. Cambodian government officials are defending their rights record for the second time in four years at the Universal Periodic Review. Sam Rainsy, who heads the Cambodia ...

Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on all embassies and consulates to accelerate visa application procedures and end all “unofficial” fees. Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong said the government would crackdown on corruption related to the issue of visas. According to a Phnom Penh Post ...

Commerce Minister asked officials at all border checkpoints to prevent and crackdown on expired products. Thong Thira, Banteay Meanchey’s head of Department of Commerce, said that about 71 percent of 700,000 people living in Banteay Meanchey are farmers. He said the province has big 20 ...

Cambodia’s human rights record was assessed Tuesday by the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 47 member states in Geneva, many of which cited concerns about the recent violent suppression of protests by the government, and a judiciary beholden to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling CPP. The U.N. ...