Social development
Civil society
Prison Department Told to Tackle Overcrowding
The Ministry of Interior’s general department of prisons has been advised to address prison overcrowding and transportation issues between prisons and courts as it begins to tackle its 2013 to 2018 strategic plan for the country’s jails. The advice was given at the start of a ...
Lauren Crothers and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prison-department-told-to-tackle-overcrowding-48734/
SISHA internal audit identifies no wrongdoing
Anti-human trafficking NGO SISHA announced the results of its internal audit yesterday, attempting to clear financial misconduct allegations made earlier this year. Retired police detective and founder of the NGO Steve Morrish came under fire in August after two of the charity’s former employees leaked information ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sisha-internal-audit-identifies-no-wrongdoing
‘Wintery’ weather warning
As temperatures drop during the cool season, children, infants and the elderly should take extra measures to ward off common seasonal illnesses, officials from the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday. In a press release issued by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization’s ...
Mom Kunthear and Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98wintery%E2%80%99-weather-warning
A Hard Road To Phnom Penh For Marching Monks
Monks and their supporters marching to Phnom Penh on a 10-day “Peace Walk,” as part of International Human Rights Day, said Wednesday that pagodas along the way have repeatedly tried to shut them out, and they have scuffled with police on at least one occasion. About ...
Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/a-hard-road-to-phnom-penh-for-marching-monks-48600/
Organizations Push for Employment of Disabled Persons in Provinces
Local and international organizations on Tuesday marked International Day of Persons With Disabilities by calling on the government to extend its efforts to employ more disabled people beyond Phnom Penh’s environs. A sub-decree attached to the government’s Disability Law, enacted in July 2009, states that the ...
Matt Blomberg and Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/organizations-push-for-employment-of-disabled-persons-in-provinces-48540/
Hope for freedom of information?
Representatives from civil society and the opposition gathered yesterday to push for the adoption of an access to information law – a move that comes less than a month after Prime Minister Hun Sen urged the Ministry of Information to hasten its development. Two laws dealing ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hope-freedom-information
Try Pheap ‘defamers’ to see court
Two people who were quoted in a report implicating tycoon Try Pheap in illegal logging have been issued fresh summonses to appear in Kandal Provincial Court on defamation charges. Sen San and Ouk Sambo were originally scheduled to appear in the court last Friday, but San ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/try-pheap-%E2%80%98defamers%E2%80%99-see-court
Underage defendants routinely jailed: report
A semiannual study of defendants’ rights in Cambodian courts released this week found an alarming prevalence of pre-trial detention in cases involving juvenile suspects, who are routinely blended with adult prison populations. The Cambodian Center for Human Rights’ sixth semiannual report of trial rights, which cited ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/underage-defendants-routinely-jailed-report
Cambodia Ranked Most Corrupt Country in the Region
Cambodia is now ranked as being perceived by investors as Southeast Asia’s most corrupt country, surpassing Laos and Burma on Transparency International’s annual corruption index. Cambodia ranked 160 of 175 countries in the report, with its index score a mere 20 out of 100. That’s two ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodia-ranked-most-corrupt-country-in-the-region/1802720.html
Foreign press ‘interfering’: CPP lawmaker
A senior ruling party official yesterday accused foreign journalists and media outlets in Cambodia of interfering in the Kingdom’s governance and urging political instability. Speaking to reporters in the capital, Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker and National Assembly spokesman Chheang Vun said a number of journalists – ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/foreign-press-%E2%80%98interfering%E2%80%99-cpp-lawmaker
Cambodians Regularly Face Pre-Trial Detention: Rights Group
Cambodian authorities frequently hold suspects, especially the young, in detention pending trial, even though the law could allow them to be released on bail while awaiting the completion of their judicial proceedings, according to a report released Wednesday. Minor crime suspects are also provided a “worryingly ...
Radio Free Asia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S_S3UzOzAY&list=PLNkBYj4uOY-igjoKtwu08dF2qKq1PmauL
Cambodia to resume international adoptions next year
Cambodia will resume international adoptions in 2014, more than four years after suspending them over concerns about child exploitation, an official said Wednesday. Deputy Social Affairs Minister Nim Thoth told reporters that foreigners interested in adopting Cambodian children would be able to make applications in the ...
The Salt Lake Tribune Staff
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/world/57218072-68/adoptions-cambodia-resume-international.html.csp
Cambodian ruling party faces test over next 5 years
Cambodian political analysts said Prime Minister Hun Sen needs to make “serious and deep reforms” over the next five years to restore his popularity after his party survived with a slim majority in July’s disputed general election. Sok Touch, deputy director of the Royal Academy ...
Global Times
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/829846.shtml#.Up_bWNIW2ls
Bank exits rubber firm: NGO
Global Witness, a United Kingdom-based NGO, has alleged that Deutsche Bank has dropped the majority of its holdings in a Vietnamese company that operates rubber plantations in Cambodia, amid accusations the firm is involved in land grabbing and illegal logging. In a statement released today, Global ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bank-exits-rubber-firm-ngo
Panasonic to donate lanterns to Angkor villages
Panasonic, a leading manufacturer of electronics, will donate 1,500 solar lanterns to the UNESCO Phnom Penh Office to distribute to the poorest villages in Angkor Park on Tuesday, according to a press release issued by UNESCO. UNESCO will in turn hand the lanterns to the APSARA ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=MmFiMWZhZGRiYmR
Villagers Say Illegal Loggers Claim to Work for Try Pheap
Villagers in Mondolkiri province filed a complaint with rights group Adhoc on Friday, saying that they had discovered loggers illegally felling trees in their local community forest who claimed to be working for businessman Try Pheap. Mr. Pheap, who owns plantations, mining concessions and special economic ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-say-illegal-loggers-claim-to-work-for-try-pheap-48419/
No Bail for Teens Arrested After Factory Clashes
Two teenagers charged with intentional acts of violence, damage to public property and insulting public officials in clashes with police during a demonstration by SL Garment Factory workers last month were denied bail Monday. The suspects, 14-year-old Meas Non and 17-year-old Vanny Vanan, were charged by ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-bail-for-teens-arrested-after-factory-clashes-48448/
Mekong Dams a Long-Term Risk to Food Security
The momentum toward large-scale dams on the Mekong River may be unstoppable, but governments must work fast to mitigate their effects on fisheries and biodiversity or risk long-term food insecurity for millions of people whose lives depend on the river and its tributaries, leading academics ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mekong-dams-a-long-term%E2%80%88risk-to-food-security-48415/
Nations unite against dam
Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand have all called on Laos to submit its planned Don Sahong hydropower dam to an intergovernmental assessment. According to the dam’s opponents, the Laos National Mekong Committee has acted unilaterally in the planning of its second Mekong dam, a project they fear ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/nations-unite-against-dam
Long march to capital begins
The long journey on foot from the provinces to Phnom Penh began yesterday for hundreds of villagers and monks who intend to mark December 10’s International Human Rights Day by protesting outside the National Assembly. Parades of people, expected to grow in size the closer they ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/long-march-capital-begins
Government Pushes Ahead With NGO Law
After nearly two years of silence on its draft NGO Law, the Ministry of Interior on Sunday said it was aiming to have the highly contentious piece of legislation ready for the Council of Ministers early next year and voted on by July. Meas Sarim, deputy ...
Phorn Bopha and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-pushes-ahead-with-ngo-law-48245/
Villagers accuse NGO of extortion
Three staff members of a local NGO that campaigns against resource exploitation were charged yesterday with extorting money from loggers in Stung Treng province. The three staffers from the Natural Resource and Wildlife Preservation Organization (NRWPO) stand accused of extorting groups of loggers out of at ...
Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-accuse-ngo-extortion
FBI Holds Investigation Talk for Cambodian Youth
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday gave a talk to some 200 Cambodian youths in Phnom Penh, describing criminal investigation, especially in human trafficking and child prostitution. Various youth from across nine provinces attended the discussion, where they learned how they can participate in ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/fbi-holds-investigation-talk-for-cambodian-youth/1800147.html
Local Groups Say They Must Protect Forest, as Government Fails
Local watchdog groups say they have been forced to take forest protection into their hands, due to a failure of government to do so. “As we have seen: the National Assembly, the Senate and the government do not work,” Ouch Leng, head of the Cambodian Human ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/local-grouos-say-they-must-protect-forest-as-government-fails/1800429.html