Legal framework
Laws and regulations
Customs and Excise Director to retire
Pen Siman, the general director of the Ministry of Finance’s general department of customs and excise, will retire in October, according to a royal decree signed by King Norodom Sihamoni and reprinted Wednesday in local media. Dated April 3, the royal decree instructs Prime Minister Hun ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/customs-and-excise-director-to-retire-57879/
German Foundation to launch “The Development of Cambodian Administrative Law”
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) in Cambodia will launch a book on “The Development of Cambodian Administrative Law” on 07th of May 2014 at 05:30pm at Raffles Hotel Le Royal. In its press statement, KAS said that by offering readers an overview on the status and development of administrative ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=YmJmYzc2YjIwMWI
Cambodia bans trade unions from marking May Day at capital's Freedom Park
Cambodian authorities on Wednesday refused permission for the 18 opposition-aligned trade unions and associations to celebrate an International Labor Day event on May 1 at the capital’s Freedom Park. “The Phnom Penh Municipality does not allow the trade unions and associations to organize this event at ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-04/30/c_133301779.htm
Cambodia announces Intellectual Property Rights laws to protect artists and musicians' works
Cambodia announces today a new Intellectual Property Rights laws drafted to protect the country’s artists and musicians and their works from counterfeiting in accordance with interntional IPR standards. An event held at Ministry of Commerce was attended by newly-appointed Sun Chanthol, Minister of Commerce, who has ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=MTI4YzJmMmZiNzY
FTU bows out of May Day rallies
Chea Mony, president of the opposition-aligned Free Trade Union (FTU), said Tuesday that his union, one of the largest in the country, will not be joining other labor groups planning to rally on International Workers’ Day because he has been sick and traveling in the ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ftu-bows-out-of-may-day-rallies-57734/
NGOs say input and transparency are key
In the wake of a speech by Prime Minister Hun Sen denouncing civil society’s criticism of the way that three judiciary laws sailed through the Council of Ministers without outside input or transparency, NGOs released an open letter yesterday calling for the Kingdom’s renewed commitment ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngos-say-input-and-transparency-are-key
GMAC calls for halt to ongoing protest in Bavet’s Special Economic Zone
Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) appealed to Labor Minister Ith Samheng, and relevant institutions to immediately stop ongoing protests at Tai Seng and Manhattan Special Economic Zone in Svay Rieng’s Bavet town. Workers led by Mr. Pav Sina, President of Collective Unions of Movement of ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NzcxYmUyMDJlMTl
UN Rep asked to focus on public assembly ban
The U.N.’s deputy high commissioner for human rights, Flavia Pansieri—who is on a weeklong mission in Cambodia —has been asked to address an arbitrarily enforced ban on public assemblies, which has been in place since January. In a letter dated Monday, Muth Chantha, secretary-general of the ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-rep-asked-to-focus-on-public-assembly-ban-57654/
Hun Sen hits back at judicial reform criticism
Prime Minister Hun Sen used a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh Monday to denounce criticism from civil society groups who say that his government is rushing judicial reforms into law without appropriate public consultation. Speaking at the ceremony for about 1,800 students from the Asia Euro ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-hits-back-at-judicial-reform-criticism-57613/
Hun Sen: Cambodia has no law to require the government to send draft law to NGOs
Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that the cabinet is not obliged by any law to seek suggestions from the civil society. The premier made comments at a graduation ceremony of Asia European University in response to non-government organizations which condemned the approval on April ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=YmM2YjYxMzIxNmU
Government urges land concession firms to respect law
Environment Minister Say Sam Al met with private firms with land concessions last week to gauge their compliance with government rules and regulations, and adherence to their own contracts. Amid mounting local and international pressure, Prime Minister Hun Sen in mid-2012 ordered a freeze on ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-urges-land-concession-firms-to-respect-law-57474/
General in land dispute with another General
A two-star army general was arrested Friday on charges of defamation because he lost a court case over a dispute with a land broker and a formerly high-ranking police official, his lawyer said. Major General Chea Dara’s lawyer, Put Theavy, said yesterday that the dispute ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/general-in-land-dispute-with-another-general-57522/
Despite dolphin-saving plan, dam threat remains
A little more than two years after signing off on a scheme aimed at improving protection of the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin, experts said last week they were concerned that Mekong dams would see wholesale destruction of the population. During a two-day workshop that closed on ...
The Cambodia Daily
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/despite-dolphin-saving-plan-dam-threat-remains-57509/
Eighteen fired bus drivers protest in front of firm’s office
Eighteen sacked drivers for the Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation company protested in front of the company’s offices Friday morning calling for their reinstatement and a raise. The drivers say they were fired in mid- and late-April for leading strikes—in which they walked off with the keys ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eighteen-fired-bus-drivers-protest-in-front-of-firms-office-57423/
Acid attack wife charged, imprisoned
A 26-year-old woman who allegedly disfigured her husband’s face and body in an acid attack Tuesday has been charged and sent to pre-trial detention in Banteay Meanchey province, police said Thursday. Tor Rachany is accused of pouring half a liter of strong acid over her husband, ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/acid-attack-wife-charged-imprisoned-57370/
Heads of new departments of immigration, identification sworn in
Interior Minister Sar Kheng presided over a ceremony in Phnom Penh on Thursday to appoint the directors of his ministry’s new general departments of immigration and identification, who have both stood down as National Police deputy commissioners to take up the positions. At the ceremony, General ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/heads-of-new-departments-of-immigration-identification-sworn-in-57344/
Heritage preserved: Park status to protect ancient site
Ancient ironwork at a site in Preah Vihear province that predates the civilisation of Angkor will fall within a new national park formed by royal decree last week. More than 200 pre-Angkor era industrial sites have been discovered since 2010, but the newly created national park ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/heritage-preserved-park-status-protect-ancient-site
Factory owners boycott wage talks for Cambodian garment workers
Garment factory owners failed to turn up for what was supposed to have been a tripartite meeting with the government and worker unions on Thursday to help break an impasse in negotiations to increase the minimum wage for workers, officials said. The International Labor Organization (ILO) ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/talks-04242014182701.html
Concern over migration chief’s family connections
The appointment of General Sok Phal to head the Interior Ministry’s newly formed department to monitor migrant workers has raised concerns over his close familial connection to a labor recruitment industry fraught with human rights abuses. Gen. Phal’s sister, Ung Seang Rithy, is the owner of ...
Matt Blomberg and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/concern-over-migration-chiefs-family-connections-57202/
UN critical of pending asylum seeker deal
Officials with the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday spoke out for the first time against Australia’s plans to send some of the asylum seekers trying to reach its shores to Cambodia, saying the pending deal was not a “real ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/concern-over-migration-chiefs-family-connections-57202/
Harsh restrictions imposed on union leader
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday ordered embattled union leader Ath Thorn to stay away from the SL garment factory and its workers and to avoid any public gatherings that could “damage public order,” drawing a tight circle around one of the country’s most ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/harsh-restrictions-imposed-on-union-leader-57067/
Old problems persist in new NGO draft law
The latest version of the government’s draft law on NGOs, which was approved by the Council of Ministers in January, is identical to an earlier version made available to civil society in 2011, with several outstanding concerns still intact, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/old-problems-persist-new-ngo-draft-law
Sihanouk statue waves down on Royal Palace
A familiar figure has popped up atop a building that authorities in Phnom Penh ordered demolished in October for violating height restrictions around the Royal Palace: a statue of late King Father Norodom Sihanouk. “I have built a King statue on the top of my building ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sihanouk-statue-waves-down-on-royal-palace-56896/
R’kiri bust ends with $5,000 fine for logging
Forestry officials arrested four men and confiscated two pickup trucks containing illegally logged luxury timber en route to Vietnam on Sunday in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district before releasing both the men and the timber after fining them thousands of dollars, officers and a rights group representative ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/r%E2%80%99kiri-bust-ends-5000-fine-logging