Social development
Human rights
Amnesty International urges Gov’t to scrap asylum seeker plans
Amnesty International on Friday lambasted a pending deal that would see people seeking asylum in Australia to be resettled in Cambodia. “Australia should be ending its offshore processing and detention of asylum seekers, not looking to outsource its refugee responsibilities to another, much poorer country,” ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/amnesty-international-urges-govt-to-scrap-asylum-seeker-plans-57996/
At government rally, all proceeds smoothly
While workers and opposition supporters marched to mark Labour Day yesterday, and baton-wielding district security guards enforced a ban on gatherings, a very different, uninterrupted rally took place at the capital’s Koh Pich Exhibition Center. About 2,000 workers from pro-government unions and government officials heard Labour ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/government-rally-all-proceeds-smoothly
Five injured in Labor Day clashes near Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park
Security forces in the Cambodian capital violently dispersed Labor Day demonstrators gathered near the city’s Freedom Park Thursday, injuring at least five people, including bystanders, according to eyewitnesses and rights groups. They took the action after opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) leaders finished speaking to ...
Rachel Vandenbrink
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/labor-day-05012014194525.html
Cambodia breaks up May Day rally
Several people were injured Thursday when Cambodian authorities broke up a Labour Day rally involving hundreds of garment workers and opposition party supporters in central Phnom Penh. Am Sam Ath, senior monitor of local human rights group Licadho, told Kyodo News he saw at least five ...
Bangkok Post News Staff
http://www.bangkokpost.com/most-recent/407663/cambodia-breaks-up-may-day-rally
Cambodian reporter receives ‘Information Hero’ award
Cambodian reporter for the Voice of Democracy Radio has been awarded by Reporters Without Borders as an “Information Hero.” Oudam Tat was awarded along with 100 other journalists from around the world, as part of celebrations for World Press Freedom Day. Voice of Democracy, originally founded ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/cambodian-reporter-receives-information-hero-award/1904472.html
Opposition leader declares new demonstration
The opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Thursday announced to hold demonstration again to demand the release of 23 detained protesters who have been arrested in violent clashes earlier this year. Sam Rainsy renewed the opposition protest plan while he as well as Kem Sokha led supporters ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=YTIxNTVkMjg3MDB
Complaints filed against city official for last week’s violence
Three people have filed separate complaints against a Phnom Penh district official, accusing him of ordering violence in a clash between security forces and bystanders near Freedom Park last week. At least 10 people were injured in clashes last Monday, as opposition member Mu Sochua staged ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/complaints-filed-against-city-official-for-last-weeks-violence/1904463.html
ADB says aid plan for railway evictees still under negotiation
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday insisted that the Cambodian government has not turned down any of its recommendations for helping thousands of families hurt by a bank-funded project, claiming that talks over how to compensate and support the families were still underway. Last week, ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-says-aid-plan-for-railway-evictees-still-under-negotiation-57859/
Development body's concern for refugees resettled in Cambodia
Refugees who are resettled in Cambodia by the Australian government will be unlikely to gain employment rights, get an education or be given permanent residency, according to a peak international development body. The Australian Council for International Development said Australia had entered “uncharted territory” by resettling ...
On Labor Day, peaceful protests met with violence
A peaceful Labor Day demonstration of workers calling for better living conditions and independent courts was violently dispersed Thursday morning by district security guards, municipal police and men in plain clothes, who beat protesters, journalists and bystanders with batons, wooden sticks and crude metal poles. Shortly ...
The Cambodia Daily
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/on-labor-day-peaceful-protests-met-with-violence-57897/
Foreign Minister: Cambodia committed to human rights, democracy
The Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Hong said that Cambodia is committed and willing to improve the country’s human rights and democracy record. Namhong said during a meeting yesterday with Ms. Flavia Pansieri, the UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, at Ministry of Foreign Affairs and ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=OGUzMTA2MmFiNTE
Cambodia intends to sign asylum deal
A Senior Cambodian official has said his country has tentatively agreed to accept asylum-seekers who had been seeking to settle in Australia. Foreign Ministry Secretary of State Ouch Borith told reporters there was an agreement in principle to take the asylum-seekers, who are being held in ...
The Australian News Staff
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/cambodia-intends-to-sign-asylum-deal/story-fn9hm1gu-1226900446176
Cambodia bans trade unions from marking May Day at capital's Freedom Park
Cambodian authorities on Wednesday refused permission for the 18 opposition-aligned trade unions and associations to celebrate an International Labor Day event on May 1 at the capital’s Freedom Park. “The Phnom Penh Municipality does not allow the trade unions and associations to organize this event at ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-04/30/c_133301779.htm
Government agrees to review of railway evictees
The government has agreed to review its resettlement agreement with families relocated from railways as part of an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded rehabilitation project, but has refused a recommendation to set up a debt-relief scheme for the evictees, according to an action plan released by ...
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-agrees-to-review-of-railway-evictees-57745/
Trafficker gets 10 years
The manager of Giant Ocean International, a now-defunct recruitment firm notorious for abuse scandals, was sentenced yesterday to 10 years in jail for trafficking hundreds of Cambodian fishermen to work in slave-like conditions overseas. Taiwanese national Lin Yu-shin, who ran the firm, was arrested in May ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/trafficker-gets-10-years
FTU bows out of May Day rallies
Chea Mony, president of the opposition-aligned Free Trade Union (FTU), said Tuesday that his union, one of the largest in the country, will not be joining other labor groups planning to rally on International Workers’ Day because he has been sick and traveling in the ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ftu-bows-out-of-may-day-rallies-57734/
Maids ‘abused’ in Singapore
At least three Cambodians who have travelled to work as maids in Singapore since August last year as part of a pilot scheme have complained to worker welfare groups there about employer abuse and poor working conditions, including molestation and the slapping of a worker. In ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/maids-%E2%80%98abused%E2%80%99-singapore
Cambodian deputy PM meets with two UN senior officials on ties
Cambodian deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Tuesday met with two United Nations senior officials to discuss relations and cooperation between Cambodia and UN on social and economic development and human rights. The two officials are Haoliang Xu, assistant to the UN secretary ...
Shanghai Daily News Staff
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=215511
ANZ needs to step up its risk assessment: Oxfam
ANZ’s financing of ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat’s controversial sugar plantation has come under fire once again, this time in an investigation by NGO Oxfam into Australia’s big four banks and their links to rights abuses in developing countries. In a report titled “Banking on ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/anz-needs-step-its-risk-assessment-oxfam
Strike closes most Bavet factories
All but four garment factories in Svay Rieng province were closed yesterday, as a strike of thousands of workers there continued into its second week, a labour union official said. The strike, estimated to involve about 20,000 people across the province’s Tai Seng and Manhattan special ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strike-closes-most-bavet-factories
Cobra house family again accuses security guards of arson
A family locked in a longstanding land dispute with a powerful real estate tycoon claims company guards late on Sunday night once again attempted to burn down their Tuol Kok home. The alleged attempted arson is the latest in a slew of bizarre attacks on the ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cobra-house-family-again-accuses-security-guards-of-arson-57606/
Villagers questioned over land dispute
Five men in Koh Kong province could be prosecuted for stealing from a construction crew after the group allegedly seized tools in January, preventing the construction team from building fences in their village. Police summonsed the villagers from Kiri Sakor district’s Prek Khsach commune for questioning ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-questioned-over-land-dispute
CNRP lawmaker files suit against official
Opposition lawmaker-elect Lim Kim-Ya filed charges with Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday morning against a government official he claims led an attack on a peaceful crowd at Freedom Park last Monday. Ket Khy, a Cambodia National Rescue Party lawyer, told the Post that Kim-Ya was seeking financial compensation ...
Chhay Channyda and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-lawmaker-files-suit-against-official
UN Rep asked to focus on public assembly ban
The U.N.’s deputy high commissioner for human rights, Flavia Pansieri—who is on a weeklong mission in Cambodia —has been asked to address an arbitrarily enforced ban on public assemblies, which has been in place since January. In a letter dated Monday, Muth Chantha, secretary-general of the ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-rep-asked-to-focus-on-public-assembly-ban-57654/