Social development
Human rights
Bus drivers want ruling respected
Former bus drivers are set to stage a protest today outside Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation Company in the capital’s Daun Penh district, calling on its management to respect an arbitration ruling to reinstate most of them. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bus-drivers-want-ruling-respected
Unions, factories set positions on minimum wage raise
Unions and factories remained at odds over where to peg next year’s minimum wage for the garment sector after a meeting between representatives for both sides on Friday, though they agreed to resume the talks later in the month. Earlier this year, the Labor Advisory Committee, ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-factories-set-positions-on-minimum-wage-raise-66112/
Indigenous people Day March blocked in Mondolkiri
Authorities in Mondolkiri province prevented hundreds of ethnic minority members from marching through Sen Monorom City to mark International Day of the World’s Indigenous People on Saturday, claiming it would confuse tourists. Marches elsewhere were allowed to go ahead. Doung Pen said Sunday that he was ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/indigenous-people-day-march-blocked-in-mondolkiri-66128/
LGBT rights need to be addressed, says report
Due to discrimination, sexual minorities in the country face high poverty, bullying and elevated dropout rates, with the government’s ambiguous stance on LGBT issues worsening the situation, a UN report says. “Laws and policies in Cambodia are silent on LGBT people and rights,” states Being LGBT ...
Charles Rollet and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lgbt-rights-need-be-addressed-says-report
Unions in push for park rally
As the razor-wire came down from Freedom Park on Wednesday, a group of unions quickly filed a request to be the first people to hold a demonstration inside the park since it was put into lockdown in early January. The letter, obtained by the Post yesterday, calls on ...
Mom Kunthear and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-push-park-rally
K Chhnang villagers protest arrests for 3rd day
Villagers caught in a land dispute with a minister’s wife gathered outside Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court for a third consecutive day on Thursday, demanding the release of two men jailed over a clash with workers from the well-connected agriculture firm KDC. ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/k-chhnang-villagers-protest-arrests-for-3rd-day-66010/
ANZ hit by controversy in Cambodia
ANZ is facing calls for compensation over its funding of a Cambodian sugar mill linked to child labour, forced evictions and land grabs. Media reports on Monday said hundreds of Cambodian farmers had called on the bank to provide compensation for the land they lost due ...
Georgia Wilkins
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/10358069/ANZ-hit-by-controversy-in-Cambodia
Ban lifted from Freedom Park
City Hall has lifted the ban on public assembly at Freedom Park, which was at the center of opposition protests over the last year and the ignition point for violent clashes that led to the arrests of a handful of opposition lawmakers. Shortly after the clashes, ...
Heng Reaksmey and Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/ban-lifted-from-cambodia-freedom-park/1973078.html
Villagers protest arrests over land dispute
About 90 villagers continued to demonstrate outside the Kompong Chhnang provincial court Wednesday, calling for the release of two men from prison and protesting the summoning of another eight over clashes last month with workers from the powerful KDC company. The rally came after about 200 ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-protest-arrests-over-land-dispute-65916/
Strike ends as sacked workers take cash
Seven union leaders protesting against being sacked from the Vantage River Textile factory in Preah Sihanouk province each agreed yesterday to accept $300 compensation. Worker representative and sacked employee Keo Srey Pich, 22, said three hours of negotiations between the union, workers and the company, in ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strike-ends-sacked-workers-take-cash
Family, firm still at odds over land
While one of the two Phnom Penh families embroiled in a long-running land dispute with the Khun Sear Import Export Company this week accepted a compensation offer, the other says it has no plans to back down. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/family-firm-still-odds-over-land
Freedom Park open as city ‘returns to normal’
The razor-wire was removed, riot police departed and Freedom Park was opened to the public for the first time in seven months Wednesday morning as City Hall declared that Phnom Penh had “returned to normal” following the swearing-in Tuesday of the CNRP’s 55 lawmakers. “Because security, ...
Mech Dara and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/freedom-park-open-as-phnom-penh-returns-to-normal-65893/
Villagers take KDC protest to court
About 200 villagers and monks marched to the Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court on Tuesday to call for the release from jail of two villagers and protest the summoning of eight more to appear before the provincial court. The villagers are embroiled in a long-running land dispute ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-take-kdc-protest-to-court-65806/
Police block villagers’ march to Hun Sen’s house
About 100 villagers locked in a land dispute with an agribusiness firm from Kratie province were blocked from marching to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house Tuesday by hundreds of military police and municipal security guards after walking from Phnom Penh’s Samakki Raingsey pagoda. The villagers, who ...
Aun Pheap and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-block-villagers-march-to-hun-sens-house-65804/
One family settles land dispute, 2nd holds out
One of two Phnom Penh families involved in a long-running land dispute with a powerful real estate tycoon accepted the businessman’s latest compensation offer during negotiations Tuesday brokered by the Housing Rights Task Force, though the other family has continued to hold out. The two families, ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/one-family-settles-land-dispute-2nd-holds-out-65812/
Activists sentenced
Nine Prey Lang forest activists received suspended one-year prison sentences at Kampong Thom Provincial Court yesterday and were ordered to pay $1,250 to a businesswoman whose hectare of cassava they were accused of uprooting, the defendants’ lawyer said. Yong Panith – who represents Mao Thea, 37; ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/activists-sentenced
Police rescue stranded Cambodians
Seventy-five Cambodian workers and six children marooned for 10 days after being lured to build a resort on Koh Mook in Trang’s Kantang district were rescued on Sunday evening. Meanwhile, Employment Department chief Sumet Mahosot yesterday said 444,097 migrant workers and 48,541 accompanying persons had ...
Khanita Sitong and Thammarat Kijchalong
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Police-rescue-stranded-Cambodians-30240234.html
Visa ‘loophole’ no friend to maids: NGOs
Cambodia’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur has played a key role in pressuring domestic workers to stay in the country despite fears for their welfare, rights groups have said. While a moratorium was placed on sending domestic workers to Malaysia in 2011 amid mounting concerns over abuses, ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/visa-%E2%80%98loophole%E2%80%99-no-friend-maids-ngos
Boeng Kak evictees protest at Singapore Embassy
A small group of evictees from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood protested in front of the Singapore Embassy Monday morning against a Singaporean company’s plan to buy a plot of land inside the neighborhood, from which they say they were pushed out illegally. ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boeng-kak-evictees-protest-at-singapore-embassy-65708/
Unions up wage demands
Deposite not coming close to achieving their goal of a $160 monthly minimum garment wage, unions announced yesterday that they will raise their demands to $177 for 2015. Ken Chhenglang, acting president of the National Independent Federation Textile Union of Cambodia (NIFTUC), said about 10 union ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unions-wage-demands
UK urged to help improve Cambodia’s factories
A group of unions in the U.K. is urging its government to make sure British brands sourcing clothes from Cambodian factories respect their workers’ rights, and to ask the European Union to negotiate a deal with the Cambodian government to improve factory conditions. In a July ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/uk-urged-to-help-improve-cambodias-factories-65704/
Dismissed protests in S'ville over sacked staff
Dozens of workers in Preah Sihanouk province marched on the local labour department yesterday after three days of protests against the sacking of seven employees. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://phnompenhpost.com
Embassy asked to intervene
Boeung Kak residents delivered a petition to the Singaporean Embassy yesterday, calling on it to pressure Singapore-listed HLH Group to halt dealings with a controversial development project at the site until a land row is settled. HLH Group entered a $14.9 million purchase deal in June ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/embassy-asked-intervene
Cambodia Urges China Visa Restrictions
Cambodia says it has asked China to restrict the number of visas it issues to single Cambodian women, to prevent the brokering of marriages to Chinese men. The appeal comes as an increasing number of Cambodian women are finding their way into Chinese marriages and becoming ...
Thida Win
http://www.voanews.com/content/cambodia-urges-china-visa-restrictions/1971535.html