Law and judiciary

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

The Club of Cambodian Journalists (CCJ) released a statement on Friday expressing concern over three recent cases of reporters facing harassment while attempting to document illegal logging in Preah Vihear, Pursat and Kompong Cham provinces. Sorn Mongkul, a reporter for Kampuchea Thmey newspaper based in Preah ...

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 ...

The Council of Ministers of Cambodia on Friday passed three draft laws, designed to strengthen the country’s longtime-criticized judicial system, according to a government media statement. The green light was given during a weekly cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

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 ...

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 ...

Svay Rieng provincial police Thursday publicly defended a district police official accused of corruption after conducting their own investigation into the claims. According to a report published by the local news website CEN on April 7, Svay Chrum district deputy police chief Meas Soeun embezzled money ...

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 ...

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 ...

Traffic accidents killed 38 people over Khmer New Year, with a further 306 injured, officials said yesterday. National Police spokesman Kirth Chantharith said that between Monday and Wednesday, 148 traffic accidents were recorded across the country. ...

Cambodian land advocates face some of the most threatening and deadly working conditions in the world, according to a new report by UK-based environmental watchdog Global Witness. Since 2002, 908 reported killings linked to land activism have occurred across 35 countries – with 13 taking place ...

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 ...

Mu Sochua, a lawmaker-elect for the opposition CNRP, announced Thursday that she will on Sunday morning resume her campaign to enter Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park. Last month, Ms. Sochua appeared at the park alone for four straight days—each day being physically barred by authorities—in an effort ...

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 ...

Security guards at the center of a yearlong land dispute between families in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak community and the Khun Sear Import Export Company on Wednesday accused the families of attacking them during a late-night Khmer New Year drinking party. Nuon Sokhannara, one of the ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

A Cambodian court on Friday sentenced 13 men to prison terms ranging from five to nine years for plotting to overthrow the government in a case that was criticized by a human rights group as a political setup. The men were members of a self-styled Khmer ...

The leader of Cambodia’s largest independent garment union may soon be in jail, with the group fearing it will not be able to afford the $25,000 bail a judge has ordered be paid by April 25, its vice president said yesterday. Ath Thorn, president of the ...

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, ...

Thirty tons of chemicals seized by police on Wednesday were used to make counterfeit soap, officials confirmed Thursday, refusing to release the name of the Chinese national arrested in connection with the raid. The liquid and solid chemicals were stored in blue vats, bottles and sacks ...