Law and judiciary
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/
Hun Sen urges safe driving during New Year
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday urged Cambodians to keep safe as they celebrate Khmer New Year this weekend and instructed law enforcement officers to be vigilant during a period renowned for causing an annual spike in traffic accidents. Speaking at a graduation ceremony on Koh ...
Khy Sovuthy and Hay Pisey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-urges-safe-driving-during-new-year-56040/
Palace says King’s name still intact
The Royal Palace yesterday said the letter sent by opposition leader Sam Rainsy to King Norodom Sihamoni last week that elicited a furious response from the government for “insulting” the King, did not, in fact, disrespect the monarch’s “honour and name”. A statement signed by the ...
Kevin Ponniah and Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/palace-says-king%E2%80%99s-name-still-intact
Pardons given to 70
Seventy prisoners are to be released during Khmer New Year next week in an amnesty that will also see hundreds of prison sentences reduced by up to a year. The Ministry of Justice approved 555 applications for sentence reductions and pardons following a request by its ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pardons-given-70
Linking the worst factories with the labels
The building that housed USA Fully Field Garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district stands empty now. The grounds are littered with garbage and boxes full of dusty brand labels that were stitched onto clothes by almost 400 workers before the factory owner fled in ...
Simon Henderson and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/linking-the-worst-factories-with-the-labels-55839/
Labor Ministry, ILO set out plan for minimum wage reforms
Facing public pressure from major garment brands and labor unions, the Ministry of Labor and the International Labor Organization (ILO) will cooperate in the coming months to reform the current system of setting the minimum wage in the garment sector. The reform process will begin with ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-ministry-ilo-set-out-plan-for-minimum-wage-reforms-55869/
Preah Vihear Governor to close NGO office for inciting workers
Preah Vihear provincial governor Oum Mara has sent a letter to inform Interior Minister Sar Kheng that he is ordering an NGO to close its local offices, on the grounds that the organization is inciting villagers to destroy sugarcane farmed by a Chinese company. In the ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/preah-vihear-governor-to-close-ngo-office-for-inciting-workers-55773/
Assembly OKs law to patch up roadways
A draft law meant to improve the maintenance and construction of Cambodia’s dilapidating roads was passed yesterday in a one-sided session of the National Assembly that saw ruling party lawmakers lambast Public Works and Transport Minister Tram Iv Tek for his allegedly poor stewardship. ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rcaf-captain-guilty-outlawed-birds%E2%80%99-battle
Villagers say Pailin Governor gave orders to clear land in 1999
A villager involved in a dispute over 684 hectares of land with Pailin provincial governor Y Chhien claimed Thursday that in 1999 Mr. Chhien and a senior military officer distributed axes and farm tools to the families now on the land. Pailin Provincial Court on Wednesday ...
Ruling party debates roadways law without opposition
Ruling party members continued to meet at the National Assembly on Wednesday, discussing a draft law on roadways despite a boycott by the opposition. The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party has refused to participate in the new government, following 2013 elections it says were marred by ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/ruling-party-debates-roadways-law-without-opposition/1884674.html
Child labor probe on Preah Vihear sugar plantation moves forward
Police in Preah Vihear province say they have uncovered more evidence of child labor on a Chinese-owned sugarcane plantation and will send the case to court if further investigation confirms their preliminary findings. A former employee of the Lan Feng plantation filed a complaint last month ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/child-labor-probe-on-preah-vihear-sugar-plantation-moves-forward-55643/
Eco groups slam Areng dam
Two major conservation groups yesterday said that the proposed Stung Cheay Areng dam in Koh Kong province should be scrapped, while protesters who have blocked developer Sinohydro Group from entering the site for several days headed to Phnom Penh to voice their concerns and discontent. Conservation ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eco-groups-slam-areng-dam
RCAF soldiers charged for smuggling Rosewood
Siem Reap Provincial Court on Wednesday charged four soldiers from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) with illegally logging rosewood and placed them in pre-trial detention, an official said. “We charged them under article 96 of the Forestry Law,” said Hok Pov, an investigating judge at ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rcaf-soldiers-charged-for-smuggling-rosewood-55656/
Taiwanese firm in court over trafficking fishermen to Africa
A Taiwanese woman and five associates charged with trafficking Cambodians to work in slave-like conditions on fishing boats off the coast of Africa had their case heard by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday. Lin Yu Shin, the 54-year-old owner of the now defunct Giant ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/taiwanese-firm-in-court-over-trafficking-fishermen-to-africa-55673/
SL protesters appeal for bail
Two suspects arrested during a deadly garment-worker demonstration in November appealed for bail at the Supreme Court yesterday. Vann Ny and Vann Norn have been detained since an intended march of striking SL Garment factory workers devolved into a riot on November 12, at which participants ...
Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sl-protesters-appeal-bail
CCAWDU leaders deny corruption during questioning at court
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday questioned three senior officials from the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (CCAWDU) who stand accused of embezzling $92,929. Speaking after questioning under the court’s deputy prosecutor Ek Chheng Huot, union president Ath Thorn denied siphoning off the ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ccawdu-leaders-deny-corruption-during-questioning-at-court-55670/
Road accidents claim 576 lives in Cambodia in first 3 months
The number of road fatalities in Cambodia rose to 576 in the first three months of the year, up from three percent over the same period last year. Preap Chan Vibol, director of Transport Department at the Public Work and Transportation Ministry, attributed the high ...
Bernama News Staff
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/wn/newsworld.php?id=1027429
Lawmaker’s morning at park ended by district guards
Senior opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua walked into Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Wednesday morning, trailed by a small group of news photographers, and stopped to pose in front of about 100 municipal riot police exercising in the park. Ms. Sochua’s small act of defiance against the ...
Alex Willemyns and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmakers-morning-at-park-ended-by-district-guards-55636/
Court charges four Pailin villagers for violating state property
Pailin Provincial Court on Wednesday charged four villagers with infringing on public property because they cultivated 684 hectares of land that the court says belongs to the state, but which villagers claim to have farmed legally since 1999, a rights worker said. The villagers were arrested ...
Three arrested in land dispute with Governor
Villagers involved in a long-running land dispute with a company alleged to be owned by Pailin Governor Y Chhien were arrested Monday for failing to heed an order from Mr. Chhien to vacate the disputed land, rights workers said. Pich Sothea, 47, Orm Sam Ath, 44, ...
Phann Ana
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-arrested-in-land-dispute-with-governor-55402/
Police confirm arrest of villagers in dispute with Pailin Governor
Police officials confirmed Tuesday that the villagers involved in a land dispute with a company allegedly owned by Pailin Governor Y Chhien were arrested late Monday and said that one more villager was detained Tuesday. Sath Sin, deputy police chief of Pailin province’s Sala Krao district, ...
Interior Ministry says no to campaign demonstrations
Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said yesterday that the government will not let opposition leader Sam Rainsy dodge a government ban on public gatherings by holding mass demonstrations during the campaign period before the May 18 district, provincial and city council elections. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/interior-ministry-says-no-to-campaign-demonstrations-55530/