Legal framework
Laws and regulations
Cambodia rethinks passport life
A decision to extend the validity of Cambodian passports from three to 10 years should encourage more Cambodians to travel, claims the Ministry of Interior. The ministry’s General Directorate of Identification head, General Mao Chandara, was quoted by local media as saying, the department would begin ...
Wanwisa Ngamsangchaikit
http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2014/05/cambodia-rethinks-passport-life/
Women targeted at protests, Rapporteur says
The U.N.’s special rapporteur on freedom of assembly and association, Maina Kiai, has sent his third thematic report to the U.N. Human Rights Council following trips to various countries, including a three-day visit to Cambodia in February. The report focuses on groups that Mr. Kiai, a ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/women-targeted-at-protests-rapporteur-says-58735/
Leaked draft of Cambodia's proposed cyber law reveals threat to free expression
TV news viewers in Cambodia are fed a steady diet of praise for the government and top officials. Whether they’re giving speeches that go on for hours, cutting a ribbon at a new development project, or shaking hands with foreign dignitaries, government leaders are presented ...
Kyle James
http://www.dw.de/leaked-draft-of-cambodias-proposed-cyber-law-reveals-threat-to-free-expression/a-17629723
Standard forms aim for public bid transparency
The Ministry of Economy and Finance on Monday announced the release of standardised bidding forms for public contracts, a measure it said would increase transparency and accountability, though the opposition and Transparency International Cambodia offered more cautious assessments yesterday. According to a state media announcement, the ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/standard-forms-aim-public-bid-transparency
Baby formula brands place profit above health
Dara Raksmey, the owner of a pharmacy of the same name on Phnom Penh’s Street 294, keeps a record of every can of Dumex baby formula she sells. “If you buy six large cans you get a scooter and if you buy 12 large cans you ...
Ouch Sony and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/baby-formula-brands-place-profit-above-health-58635/
Stung Treng authorities seize illegal Thnong wood shipment
Authorities in Stung Treng province discovered and confiscated a haul of luxury wood that was being transported in three trucks on Sunday night from the protected Virachey National Park, officials said Tuesday. Provincial deputy police chief Yorn Din said the trucks were stopped and searched as ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/stung-treng-authorities-seize-illegal-thnong-wood-shipment-58644/
Peace marchers dispersed by city security personnel
About 50 Cambodian youths were prevented by city security personnel from performing a peace march in the capital on Tuesday. The youth, from the Working Group for Peace, had hoped to hold a non-violent march near Wat Phnom, a city landmark, to the Royal Palace, ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/peace-marchers-dispersed-by-city-security-personnel-/1913616.html
CPP-friendly businessman launches newspaper
T Mohan, a Malaysian publisher and businessman arrested in the 1990s for attempting to extort a casino executive, is back in Cambodia’s newspaper market. The Khmer Times, the latest English-language news offering from Mr. Mohan, hit newsstands earlier this month, with a government spokesman even resigning ...
Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-friendly-businessman-launches-newspaper-58610/
Illegal wood exports to China tripled in 2013
Cambodia’s exports of protected rosewood and other high-value timber to China more than tripled last year, according to U.N. figures cited in a new report that blames lax law enforcement across the Mekong region and skyrocketing demand in China for pushing some species to the ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/illegal-wood-exports-to-china-tripled-in-2013-58593/
Battambang official files campaign complaint against CNRP
A deputy commune chief in Battambang City filed a complaint Monday with the provincial election committee (PEC), accusing the CNRP of failing to inform him when they publicly screened a political video in his commune on May 6 and 7. “I have received this complaint,” said ...
Sek Odom and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/battambang-official-files-campaign-complaint-against-cnrp-58600/
Provincial governors get RCAF promotions
The governors of Siem Reap and Kompong Chhnang provinces have been promoted in the military, according to a royal decree signed last month. The decree, which was signed by King Norodom Sihamoni and dated April 24, promotes Siem Reap governor Khim Bunsong from major general to ...
Kang Sothear
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/provincial-governors-get-rcaf-promotions-58615/
HRW says trial of Stung Meanchey pair ‘flawed’
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has labeled the trial of two teenagers arrested during the lethal suppression of a garment sector strike in November 12 as “deeply flawed” and said that the pair should be spared prison sentences. In a statement Sunday, the rights organization claims that ...
George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hrw-says-trial-of-stung-meanchey-pair-flawed-58483/
Government says 3.4 million land titles issued
The government has issued a total of 3.4 million land titles across the country, 500,000 of them since a renewed push personally orchestrated by Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to new figures released by the Land Management Ministry. In a notice posted to its website Friday, ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-says-3-4-million-land-titles-issued-58477/
RCAF plates still widely used, despite ban
When the 2007 Traffic Law was passed, it required that the myriad private vehicles on the road bearing Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) number plates be removed and switched with civilian plates within one year. But more than six years after this deadline, the sight of ...
Hul Reaksmey and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rcaf-plates-still-widely-used-despite-ban-58449/
No clubs near schools, Council of Ministers says
The Council of Ministers on Friday passed a sub-decree on the management of adult entertainment clubs and a draft of a new national housing policy to promote home ownership, a cabinet official said. The new Sub-Decree on Management of Adult Entertainment Places, consisting of 25 articles, ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-clubs-near-schools-council-of-ministers-says-58464/
Ivory haul investigation kept under wraps
Customs officials over the weekend said they will shed no further light on Friday’s massive haul of three tons of illegal elephant ivory at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port—Cambodia’s biggest-ever ivory seizure—until investigations are complete and a case can be sent to court. A scan on containers that ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ivory-haul-investigation-kept-under-wraps-58470/
Government spokesman summons student over Facebook post
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan has summoned a student from the country’s top state journalism school for a meeting at his office after she used a post on her Facebook page to question the sense of a guest lecture he delivered last week. Mr. Siphan ...
Alex Willemyns and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-spokesman-summons-student-over-facebook-post-58460/
CPP to debate draft judicial laws this month
The National Assembly has scheduled a plenary session on May 20 to discuss three controversial draft laws on judicial reform, a senior ruling party lawmaker confirmed Sunday. The parliamentary meeting will be the third plenary session since last year’s disputed national election, each of which have ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-to-debate-draft-judicial-laws-this-month-58487/
Union leader ready to pay bulk of bail
Independent union leader Ath Thorn said Sunday he had collected enough money from supporters to pay most of his $25,000 bail to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, and would deliver it to the court Monday. The court has charged Mr. Thorn, president of the Coalition of ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/union-leader-ready-to-pay-bulk-of-bail-58474/
Kratie families march in Phnom Penh to protest evictions
Nearly 200 villagers from Kratie province gathered in Phnom Penh Monday, hoping to deliver a petition to the Cambodian Senate and other government agencies in protest of a rubber company’s development there. The villagers, from Snoul district, say a Vietnamese rubber company began developing in ...
Suy Heimkhemra,
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/kratie-families-march-in-phnom-penh-to-protest-evictions/1912760.html
Cambodia’s top court denies bail to 21 jailed protesters
Cambodia’s Supreme Court on Friday upheld a decision refusing bail to 21 people arrested during a deadly worker strike crackdown, a defense lawyer said, as dozens of supporters protested outside, calling the charges against them politically motivated and demanding their release. The top court upheld the ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/bail-05092014170039.html
Lead-up to poll saw SLCs spike
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 2012 ban on the allocation of economic land concessions was supposed to halt the unpopular practice of turning over large swaths of property to developers. And going by the numbers last year, it worked. But in the vacuum, according to local rights ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lead-poll-saw-slcs-spike
Parking rules kicked to kerb
City Hall is turning its focus to Phnom Penh’s “anarchic parking” situation. Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong yesterday said the municipality plans to cancel old contracts awarding private companies the right to charge for parking in certain parts of the city, and introduce new restrictions on ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/parking-rules-kicked-kerb
Lawyer who paid for sex with boy avoids jail
The Siem Reap Municipal Court on Tuesday sentenced Cambodian lawyer Mao Tan Eam to two-and-a-half years in prison for purchasing child prostitution, but he will not spend a single day in jail after the court suspended the entire custodial sentence, an official said. Deputy provincial prosecutor ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawyer-who-paid-for-sex-with-boy-avoids-jail-58293/