Social development
Once again, Sochua denied
Following a break over Khmer New Year, opposition lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua continued her campaign to bring freedom to Freedom Park yesterday morning and was once again met with force, this time metres outside of the park. At about 8am yesterday, the Cambodia National Rescue Party member ...
Alice Cuddy and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/once-again-sochua-denied
2,500 workers in Bavet SEZ go on strike
More than 2,000 workers at three factories in Svay Rieng’s Bavet City went on strike Saturday, claiming their bosses owed them money. About 500 workers at the You Li factory, which makes baby clothes, went on strike Saturday because management refused to pay them for Thursday ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/2500-workers-in-bavet-sez-go-on-strike-56762/
NEC bans campaign bases at council elections
The National Election Committee (NEC) on Friday said that political parties would be banned from setting up permanent campaign bases in the city during next month’s council elections. The announcement followed the CNRP’s request to City Hall on Friday asking permission to set up a base ...
Khuon Narim and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nec-bans-campaign-bases-at-council-elections-56748/
Nationwide garment factory strike sputters into second day
A few garment factories resumed operations in Phnom Penh on Friday, albeit at reduced capacity, as thousands of workers returned to the city after Khmer New Year celebrations in the provinces. While the majority of factories in Meanchey and Pur Senchey districts stayed closed, it remained ...
Sek Odom and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/nationwide-garment-factory-strike-sputters-into-second-day-56740/
Rainsy courts Vietnamese
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy yesterday said that up to a quarter of a million ethnic Vietnamese living in Cambodia could be granted full citizenship rights via the Nationality Law if his Cambodia National Rescue Party were to come to power. The CNRP president has sought in ...
Kevin Ponniah and Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rainsy-courts-vietnamese
Little appetite for garment strike in Phnom Penh
Most garment factories did not open for business Thursday, choosing to extend the Khmer New Year holidays—which officially ended Wednesday—rather than face industrial action in the form of a planned nationwide stay-at-home strike. However, a number of workers interviewed Thursday said they knew nothing about the ...
Zsombor Peter and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/little-appetite-for-garment-strike-in-phnom-penh-56695/
Road accidents kill 38 over Khmer New Year
Traffic accidents killed 38 people over Khmer New Year, with a further 306 injured, officials said yesterday. National Police spokesman Kirth Chantharith said that between Monday and Wednesday, 148 traffic accidents were recorded across the country. ...
Khoun Leakhana
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/road-accidents-kill-38-over-khmer-new-year
Land activists ‘under threat’
Cambodian land advocates face some of the most threatening and deadly working conditions in the world, according to a new report by UK-based environmental watchdog Global Witness. Since 2002, 908 reported killings linked to land activism have occurred across 35 countries – with 13 taking place ...
Amelia Woodside and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/land-activists-%E2%80%98under-threat%E2%80%99
Cops, CNRP clash at service
The deputy governor of Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district was slightly injured yesterday in a clash that broke out during a remembrance ceremony to mark the day 39 years ago the Khmer Rouge seized the capital in 1975. Prach Seyha, Dangkor’s deputy governor, was injured in the ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cops-cnrp-clash-service
Chong villagers put festive spin on dam protest
Villagers from an ethnic minority community in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley continued their blockade over the Khmer New Year holiday of an access road leading to the site of a proposed dam they say would destroy their way of life. Members of the ethnic ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chong-villagers-put-festive-spin-on-dam-protest-56708/
UXO injuries, deaths on the rise
Forty people were injured or killed by landmines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the first two months of 2014, a figure nearly twice as high as that recorded in the same period last year, a recent report from the Cambodian Mine Action Centre shows. In ...
Maria Wirth
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/uxo-injuries-deaths-rise
Brands ‘violating contract rights’
Exclusive use of short-term contracts continues to impede progress in Cambodia’s garment sector, with major brands still sourcing from factories violating the statutory two-year limit on temporary employment, labour rights groups have warned. According to a report released last week by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), ...
Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/brands-%E2%80%98violating-contract-rights%E2%80%99
Mu Sochua to restart Freedom Park campaign
Mu Sochua, a lawmaker-elect for the opposition CNRP, announced Thursday that she will on Sunday morning resume her campaign to enter Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park. Last month, Ms. Sochua appeared at the park alone for four straight days—each day being physically barred by authorities—in an effort ...
Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mu-sochua-to-restart-freedom-park-campaign-56712/
China donates to encourage Chinese language education at Cambodian schools
The Chinese government on Thursday donated 203,000 U.S.dollars to the Chinese Association in Cambodia to support schools offering Chinese language courses in Cambodia. Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo handed over the money to Duong Chhiv, the president of the Chinese Association in Cambodia. ...
Kong Defang and Liang Jun
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/8601478.html
Cambodia must make union draft law public: rights group
Cambodia’s government should make public a proposed law aimed at regulating the country’s labor movement, a rights group said Thursday, amid concerns that it includes provisions for the suspension of unions and for severely restricting their right to freedom of association. Requests from civil society to ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/unions-04172014170804.html
Predictions mixed for post-new year garment strike
Along Phnom Penh’s industry-heavy Veng Sreng Street on Wednesday, garment factories lay idle in observance of Khmer New Year. The dorms around them were empty, save for the few workers who could not afford the bus ticket home for the holiday, which ended Wednesday. Eight unions ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/predictions-mixed-for-post-new-year-garment-strike-56624/
Another New Year fracas at land dispute site
Security guards at the center of a yearlong land dispute between families in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak community and the Khun Sear Import Export Company on Wednesday accused the families of attacking them during a late-night Khmer New Year drinking party. Nuon Sokhannara, one of the ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/another-new-year-fracas-at-land-dispute-site-56626/
Technology adviser calls process in cybercrime law ‘completely wrong’
A senior government adviser on information technology says a draft of a cybercrime law is unnecessary and could lead to demonstrations and unrest if passed as currently written. Critics say the draft law, made public last week, criminalizes online behavior in vague language open to ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/technology-adviser-calls-process-in-cybercrime-law-completely-wrong/1894096.html
Landmine casualties in Cambodia up 90 pct in first two months
Casualties from landmines and unexploded ordnance have remarkably increased in the first two months of this year, a report of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority showed Tuesday. The country reported 40 casualties, 6 people died and 34 injured, during the January-February period this ...
Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/854674.shtml#.U09J9_mSx8E
CPP vows to increase monthly wage to 250 dollars for civil servants and 160 dollars for garment workers by 2018
The ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) has issued nine points of its policies for upcoming local council Election which will be held on May 18, 2014. According a statement issued on Saturday, the policies included a promise to increase the monthly salary to 1,000,000 riel or ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=NDk3MDAwNTUzZTA
ADB urged to consult rail project evictees
More than two dozen NGOs have written to the head of the Asian Development Bank demanding the immediate release of a draft plan the ADB has drawn up to help Cambodian families evicted to make way for a bank-funded railway rehabilitation project. They also want ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-urged-to-consult-rail-project-evictees-56514/
Cambodia sends 13 to prison for insurrection plot
A Cambodian court on Friday sentenced 13 men to prison terms ranging from five to nine years for plotting to overthrow the government in a case that was criticized by a human rights group as a political setup. The men were members of a self-styled Khmer ...
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cambodia-sends-13-prison-insurrection-plot-23286155
Union scrambling for $25k bail
The leader of Cambodia’s largest independent garment union may soon be in jail, with the group fearing it will not be able to afford the $25,000 bail a judge has ordered be paid by April 25, its vice president said yesterday. Ath Thorn, president of the ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-scrambling-25k-bail
Staying at home not a strike, factories say
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) warned garment workers on Thursday that they risk losing their jobs if they extend their Khmer New Year vacation by joining a stay-at-home strike. Aiming to avoid police suppression of street protests for a higher garment sector minimum wage, ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/staying-at-home-not-a-strike-factories-say-56440/