Civil society

Mekong floodwaters have risen sharply this week and have already surpassed the levels seen at this time of the year during the devastating floods of 2011. In Phum Thom commune in Kien Svay district in Kandal province, local residents observed floodwaters rising about two meters between ...

News of an end to a year-long political deadlock has labour union leaders believing the opposition party can bring their interests to parliament, but a lack of follow-through could cost the Cambodia National Rescue Party vital support from one of its key interest groups. Different union ...

Experts fear Cambodia’s well-earned reputation as a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS could be undermined by government policy targeting the country’s high-risk groups. Over the past 15 years, government action and large amounts of money from donors have seen the infection rate drop from 2 ...

United Nations human rights expert for Cambodia Surya Subedi has welcomed the political breakthrough reached between the two main political parties in Cambodia. “I welcome the agreement reached between both parties that finally breaks the deadlock that has gripped the country for almost a year,” said ...

Decriminalising sex work could slash the world’s HIV infections by a third or more, according to a new study. Published yesterday in health journal The Lancet, the paper says that punitive treatment of sex workers can “elevate HIV acquisition and transmission risks”. In Cambodia, which has Southeast Asia’s ...

A jubilant crowd of opposition supporters burst into cheers yesterday afternoon as seven Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmakers-elect and one party activist were released on bail just hours after an announced rapprochement between the CNRP and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. They walked free through exits ...

Desperate to cut down on illegal logging, Kampong Thom forestry officials are trying out a new strategy: disarming loggers before they can get to the trees by cracking down on chainsaw dealers and other sellers of equipment used to fell trees. On Sunday night, the Baray ...

After more than half a year with only one acid attack recorded in Cambodia, police in Banteay Meanchey’s Poipet town are at a loss to explain an incident yesterday in which three women were allegedly doused with the chemical while eating noodles at a local ...

Just before the sun sets over the enchanting Angkor temples in northern Cambodia, a group of children gets ready for their big show. Every day, according to fliers at restaurants and hotels around town, the children perform an hour-long “charity show” for tourists visiting the ...

Early this month, in what looks like a failed attempt to save its reputation, Australia‘s ANZ Bank severed its ties with Phnom Penh Sugar, a company accused of a range of human rights abuses linked to its plantations in Kampong Speu province, Cambodia. The move ...

Over the past six months, 19 “vulture restaurants” have led to a slight rise in the number of the birds spotted in Cambodia, according to a recent Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries report. Contrary to the name’s sound, the vultures aren’t the dish being served ...

At nearly half of the Kingdom’s primary schools, students have to make a daily choice between drinking contaminated water or going thirsty, a dilemma the government hopes to soon banish with new minimum sanitation and safe water standards. The guidelines, which have yet to be finalised ...

As scheduled, Khmer  Krom citizens gathered Monday in front of French embassy in order to present their petition which asks the VN embassy’s spokesman to apologize for his comment over Khmer Kampuchea Krom territory. Some 500 students, monks, and citizens were led by leaders of Federation ...

Violent skirmishes erupted again between workers and villagers at the restive KDC development site Thursday, with both sides blaming the other for using weapons and instigating the fracas. Clashes last occurred at the site on July 7, when about a hundred police were dispatched to ...

In case cramming for an exam that determines high school graduation and college placement wasn’t stressful enough, grade 12 test-takers will now have to do so under the scrutiny of independent observers tasked with manning every exam-room window. As part of a slew of reforms to ...

Thursday while a court summoned its deputy chief for questioning following violent clashes when party supporters tried to force the reopening of Freedom Park in the capital. Elected members of parliament Nut Rumduol and Long Ry were taken into custody by policemen in plain clothes from ...

International legal experts are expressing deep concern over proposed changes to Cambodia’s legal system that critics say hand over too much power to the executive.  At a meeting in Phnom Penh Tuesday, a group recommended the three judicial reform laws should be returned to parliament ...

Several security guards have been injured after an opposition-aligned protest turned violent in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. The Phnom Penh Post is reporting that at least eight district security guards have been injured, some severely, and three opposition MPs have been arrested. ...

A group of civil society organizations will petition King Norodom Sihamoni today, calling on the king to withhold his signature from three judicial laws that they say will entrench the ruling CPP’s control of the courts and jeopardize citizens’ constitutional freedoms. Despite concern raised by local ...

Australians are among donors to a school charity in Cambodia where the director has been charged with arranging for foreign volunteers to sexually abuse teenage students. The scandal has focused new attention on the management of Cambodia’s orphanages and children’s charities and the deception used by ...

Cambodian workers are migrating back to Thailand en-masse following a mass exodus last month in the wake of the coup. This movement has sparked safety concerns for young children travelling alongside their parents, says World Vision, one of the world’s largest aid agencies. “Our staff working ...

In the predawn hours of May 6, a flatbed truck packed with lengths of illegally logged timber sped past a checkpoint in Ratanakkiri province, knocking aside a police car and racing off. Police later tracked down the truck to a house in Banlung City. In the ...

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday called on all undocumented Cambodians in Thailand to register for a legal work permit at one of that country’s newly opened one-stop service centres. Thailand’s junta began piloting the latest temporary registration centres at the end of June and ...

An anti-tank mine exploded in Battambang province’s Bavel district on Saturday, injuring an agricultural worker and damaging machinery, an official said, marking the latest in an upswing of explosions this year. The victim, identified only as Sok, 46, of Bavel’s Kdol Tahen commune, and was hired ...