Legal framework
Laws and regulations
Criticism is sour grapes, says minister
The justice minister yesterday defended three long-awaited laws on judicial reform which were approved by the Council of Ministers last week in a move slammed by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) as lacking transparency. Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vathana said that the “three ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/criticism-sour-grapes-says-minister
Unrest among disabled security guards at SL Garment Factory
A team of disabled security guards hired to protect the embattled SL Garment Factory in Phnom Penh is seeking the formalization of their employment and an end to what they claim is the factory’s exploitation of their impairments. In November—at the height of an occasionally violent, ...
Sek Odom and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unrest-among-disabled-security-guards-at-sl-garment-factory-56892/
Low salaries stifle education reform efforts
Sao Sothy’s home is small and the furniture is sparse. There are no tables or chairs. In one room, there is a small bed, but her family of four sleeps on mats in the living room. Hanging on the otherwise bare walls is Ms. Sothy’s ...
Emily Wilkins and Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/low-salaries-stifle-education-reform-efforts-56752/
Sorya bus drivers fired after wage strikes
At least eight bus drivers from Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation company were fired last week for leading a strike before Khmer New Year to demand higher wages, employees and union representatives said Sunday. About 80 drivers went on strike on April 3 demanding a $60 increase ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sorya-bus-drivers-fired-after-wage-strikes-56764/
Medical students, Gov’t tussle over new exam
About half of the University of Health Science’s class of 2014 risks not graduating this year, having refused to register for a new compulsory final exam. A 2007 sub-decree states that a national-level examination for medical students would be implemented from that academic year onwards. But ...
Sinary Sany
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/medical-students-govt-tussle-over-new-exam-56780/
Court officers shifted en masse by ministry
Nearly 80 judges and prosecutors will be transferred to new jurisdictions today in a move that the Justice Ministry maintained would curb corruption, despite more sceptical assessments yesterday from legal observers and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party. According to Sam Prachea Manith, chief of cabinet ...
Meas Sokchea and Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/court-officers-shifted-en-masse-ministry
2,500 workers in Bavet SEZ go on strike
More than 2,000 workers at three factories in Svay Rieng’s Bavet City went on strike Saturday, claiming their bosses owed them money. About 500 workers at the You Li factory, which makes baby clothes, went on strike Saturday because management refused to pay them for Thursday ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/2500-workers-in-bavet-sez-go-on-strike-56762/
NEC bans campaign bases at council elections
The National Election Committee (NEC) on Friday said that political parties would be banned from setting up permanent campaign bases in the city during next month’s council elections. The announcement followed the CNRP’s request to City Hall on Friday asking permission to set up a base ...
Khuon Narim and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nec-bans-campaign-bases-at-council-elections-56748/
Nationwide garment factory strike sputters into second day
A few garment factories resumed operations in Phnom Penh on Friday, albeit at reduced capacity, as thousands of workers returned to the city after Khmer New Year celebrations in the provinces. While the majority of factories in Meanchey and Pur Senchey districts stayed closed, it remained ...
Sek Odom and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nationwide-garment-factory-strike-sputters-into-second-day-56740/
Rainsy courts Vietnamese
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy yesterday said that up to a quarter of a million ethnic Vietnamese living in Cambodia could be granted full citizenship rights via the Nationality Law if his Cambodia National Rescue Party were to come to power. The CNRP president has sought in ...
Kevin Ponniah and Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rainsy-courts-vietnamese
Little appetite for garment strike in Phnom Penh
Most garment factories did not open for business Thursday, choosing to extend the Khmer New Year holidays—which officially ended Wednesday—rather than face industrial action in the form of a planned nationwide stay-at-home strike. However, a number of workers interviewed Thursday said they knew nothing about the ...
Zsombor Peter and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/little-appetite-for-garment-strike-in-phnom-penh-56695/
Cops, CNRP clash at service
The deputy governor of Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district was slightly injured yesterday in a clash that broke out during a remembrance ceremony to mark the day 39 years ago the Khmer Rouge seized the capital in 1975. Prach Seyha, Dangkor’s deputy governor, was injured in the ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cops-cnrp-clash-service
Predictions mixed for post-new year garment strike
Along Phnom Penh’s industry-heavy Veng Sreng Street on Wednesday, garment factories lay idle in observance of Khmer New Year. The dorms around them were empty, save for the few workers who could not afford the bus ticket home for the holiday, which ended Wednesday. Eight unions ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/predictions-mixed-for-post-new-year-garment-strike-56624/
Technology adviser calls process in cybercrime law ‘completely wrong’
A senior government adviser on information technology says a draft of a cybercrime law is unnecessary and could lead to demonstrations and unrest if passed as currently written. Critics say the draft law, made public last week, criminalizes online behavior in vague language open to ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/technology-adviser-calls-process-in-cybercrime-law-completely-wrong/1894096.html
Seventy-eight judges and court officials reshuffled
With new laws in the pipeline to reform the judiciary, the Supreme Council of Magistracy has announced a reshuffling of judges and court staff, with 78 officials promoted or transferred, according to a royal decree signed April 6. The job changes, which include senior judges and ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/seventy-eight-judges-and-court-officials-reshuffled-56529/
ADB urged to consult rail project evictees
More than two dozen NGOs have written to the head of the Asian Development Bank demanding the immediate release of a draft plan the ADB has drawn up to help Cambodian families evicted to make way for a bank-funded railway rehabilitation project. They also want ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-urged-to-consult-rail-project-evictees-56514/
Staying at home not a strike, factories say
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) warned garment workers on Thursday that they risk losing their jobs if they extend their Khmer New Year vacation by joining a stay-at-home strike. Aiming to avoid police suppression of street protests for a higher garment sector minimum wage, ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/staying-at-home-not-a-strike-factories-say-56440/
Groups appeal to gov’t to pass traffic law
The Cambodia Red Cross, NGOs and traffic accident victims Thursday marked annual road safety week by appealing to the government to quickly pass a new traffic law in an effort to reduce road accidents. The Ministry of Justice must still review the new traffic law ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/archives/groups-appeal-to-govt-to-pass-traffic-law-56448/
Cybercrime law may silence critics, NGOs say
Cambodia’s cybercrime law, a draft of which was made available online Wednesday, could be used to arbitrarily punish people who share controversial opinions online or air complaints about the CPP government, rights groups said Wednesday. According to the law, people who publish content online that slanders ...
Joshua Wilwohl and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cybercrime-law-may-silence-critics-ngos-say-56288/
Acid services reduced
With acid attacks in steep decline – not a single attack has been recorded so far this year – the only organisation working directly with acid survivors on the ground is scaling back its services by 75 per cent. Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) is no ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/acid-services-reduced
Ministry Says no to CNRP ceremony at Tuol Sleng
The Ministry of Culture on Tuesday rejected the opposition CNRP’s request to hold a ceremony at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum for those who died under the Khmer Rouge. In a letter dated Monday to the CNRP, Chamroeun Vantha, director general of the Culture Ministry’s administration ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-says-no-to-cnrp-ceremony-at-tuol-sleng-56170/
Gov’t unlikely to meet target to reduce road deaths
Without more efforts to punish traffic violators, the government is all but certain to miss its 2020 goal of cutting traffic deaths by 20 percent and drunk driving deaths by 50 percent, road safety experts said at a forum Tuesday. There were 1,910 deaths due to ...
Simon Henderson and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-unlikely-to-meet-target-to-reduce-road-deaths-56156/
Cyber bill raises concerns
Cambodia’s highly secretive draft law on cybercrime, which has never been released publicly, seeks to criminalise online content that “slanders or undermines” government agencies, ministries or officials or affects “political cohesiveness”, a copy obtained by the Post reveals. The law, which was first announced in May ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cyber-bill-raises-concerns
Garment union president in court over incitement allegations
Ath Thorn, the president of the union that led strikes at the SL Garment Factory last year, appeared before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday for questioning over allegations of incitement. The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU), headed by Mr. Thorn, spearheaded ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-union-president-in-court-over-incitement-allegations-56136/