Social development
Civil society
Villager rep held over burning firm’s timber
A representative for villagers living in Ratanakkiri’s O’Chum district who say that buyers from a local company failed to uphold a 2007 land deal has been charged and temporarily detained by local authorities for allegedly destroying private property. Haing Noeur, 50, was detained on Saturday after ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villager-rep-held-over-burning-firm%E2%80%99s-timber
EU concerned, but no threats to cut Cambodia aid, trade
The European Union has called on Cambodia to release 21 jailed activists and protesters and told the government during high level talks held here this week that a failure to reform the judiciary and electoral process could have severe consequences for the ruling party by ...
Simon Marks
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eu-concerned-but-no-threats-to-cut-cambodia-aid-trade-54254/
Alleged land dispute victims file petition
Alleged victims in seven separate land disputes in Kampong Cham province yesterday agreed to file a petition to the provincial governor, following a meeting with rights group Adhoc. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/alleged-land-dispute-victims-file-petition
True refuge still elusive for refugees
It took three illegal border crossings, several bribed officials and six months in an overcrowded detention centre before Mohammed Ibrahim* finally arrived in Cambodia. Four years later, the ethnic Rohingya, a victim of violence and oppression in strife-torn Rakhine state in Myanmar’s west, is one of ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/true-refuge-still-elusive-refugees
New report says garment sector fails to meet UN standards
Cambodian garment manufacturers and the association that governs them are failing to meet the standards set by the U.N.’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, as evidenced by lethal violence against workers during garment strikes in January, when five people were shot dead and ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-report-says-garment-sector-fails-to-meet-un-standards-54191/
Guidelines finalized for child workers in fisheries sector
The government on Friday finalized guidelines aimed at reducing the number of children who work in the fisheries sector and do not attend school, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the NGO World Vision said in a statement. World Vision said the guidelines, which it ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/guidelines-finalized-for-child-workers-in-fisheries-sector-54260/
On 1st day, garment strike gains little traction
Two unions that called for a stay-at-home strike by garment factory employees Wednesday had little success in mobilizing workers after six other unions, under pressure from the government and factory owners, pulled out of the planned industrial action on Tuesday. Union leaders who pushed ahead with ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/on-1st-day-garment-strike-gains-little-traction-54038/
Freedom Park off-limits: city
Freedom Park will remain off limits indefinitely for protesters, authorities said yesterday, despite Prime Minister Hun Sen suggesting last month that a ban on public assembly was being lifted. Pich Saroeun, chief of Russey Keo district’s Chroy Changva commune, said Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatvong had ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/freedom-park-limits-city
Scepticism over social land grants
Nearly a million hectares of land has been granted to ordinary Cambodian citizens through social land concessions (SLC) since May 2012, the government has claimed, though civil society groups have cast doubt on that high figure and questioned how many landless or evicted poor have ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/scepticism-over-social-land-grants
Pursat land dispute leads to destruction
Villagers in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district, locked in an ongoing land dispute with local tycoon Try Pheap’s MDS Import Export Co Ltd, claimed yesterday that security forces and environmental officers opened fire and tried to burn down their houses and plantations on Tuesday after ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pursat-land-dispute-leads-destruction
Government’s Trade Union Law may limit freedom of association
A draft trade union law that the government has pledged to introduce by the end of the year includes provisions that will allow for unions to be suspended if their activities are deemed illegal, the head of Cambodia’s largest employers association said Wednesday. Van Sou Ieng, ...
Hul Reaksmey and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/governments-trade-union-law-may-limit-freedom-of-association-54042/
Land activists ask to speed up land dispute solution
About 50 Borei Keila and Boeung Kok residents held a protest on Wednesday in front of Phnom Penh City Hall, asking it to speed up land solution. The protesters held banners showing picture of developer Shukaku Inc pumping sand to fill up the Boeung Kok, ...
The Cambodia Herald
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=YWI1YzYxY2ZiNDA
Workers’ strike delayed, rescheduled for post-Khmer New Year
Labor unions and associations have suspended their strike plan scheduled for March 12 following the request by garment workers, according to a union leader. The suspension came after the meeting between the union leaders from a coalition of 18 labor unions and associations today. The unionists ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NmU5MTVjY2ExZTQ
Business employers say corruption greatest threat to economy
Corruption remains the most significant challenge facing Cambodia’s economy, according to a survey of more than 300 employers conducted last year by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the results of which were released Tuesday. Despite legislation meant to stamp out graft, corruption continues to be perceived ...
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/business-employers-say-corruption-greatest-threat-to-economy-53963/
Be glad you’re not paid in rice, Prime Minister tells teachers
Prime Minister Hun Sen advised the country’s newest crop of teachers not to feel down about their poor salaries, recalling that were they embarking on their careers in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime their pay would be a few bags of rice each ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/be-glad-youre-not-paid-in-rice-prime-minister-tells-teachers-53965/
Laos promises transparency over Don Sahong dam
More than 100 representatives of Mekong River Commission (MRC) member countries, development partners, international NGOs, and Lao and foreign media yesterday visited the site of the planned Don Sahong hydropower project. The two-day site visit provided an opportunity for participants to learn from experts how fish ...
The Cambodia herald news Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=YWU3ZjgwNzk1MWI
National testing could widen
Cambodia may soon have new standardised exams to hold its students, teachers and education system accountable. “Everyone agrees that the improved enrolment rates in primary school is an accomplishment; at the same time, everyone also calls for quality-control improvement [which] means better testing,” said Jan ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/national-testing-could-widen
Judicial draft laws still unseen: rights groups
Two civil society organisations are calling on Prime Minister Hun Sen to publish three long-gestating draft laws on judicial reform to allow ample time for “genuine, inclusive and meaningful participation in the drafting process”. Hun Sen said in a speech last Wednesday that the three laws ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/judicial-draft-laws-still-unseen-rights-groups
Professionalism best mechanism to protect journalists, expert says
Journalists need to be more professional in their reporting, which is the best way to protect themselves, a media educator says. “Like any other profession, journalism can be risky, but if journalists follow their professional codes of conduct and ethics and work with responsibility, there should ...
A refined approach?
Hundreds of trucks hauling sugarcane queue up along the dusty roads that cut a path through a plantation in Kampong Speu province. Their destination: Cambodia’s most advanced sugar refinery. Its owners say the landmark project, run by the Phnom Penh Sugar Company and its president, ruling ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/refined-approach
Protest ban firmly in place on Women’s Day
Freedom Park was placed under lockdown and a march by land rights activists was blocked Saturday morning as Phnom Penh’s security officials were out in force to ensure that peaceful rallies on International Women’s Day could not go as planned. Prime Minister Hun Sen on February ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protest-ban-firmly-in-place-on-womens-day-53745/
ILO, Camfeba outline ways to improve investment climate
The International Labor Organization said it would launch on Wednesday two reports outlining ways to improve the investment climate in Cambodia. The first report, by the ILO, analyses Cambodia’s performance in 17 areas and contains a national survey of workers and employers. Key areas include ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YzJiMjE2YzkzYTA
Cambodia reports two new bird flu cases, one dies
Two more new human cases of avian influenza H5N1 have been confirmed in Cambodia, and one of them, an 11-year-old boy died on Friday in Phnom Penh’s Kantha Bopha Children Hospital, a hospital representative confirmed Monday. “An 11-year-old boy from Kampong Chhnang province was admitted to ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/health/2014-03/10/c_133174366.htm
WWF unveils bid to help Mondulkiri forests
In the latest bid to protect Mondulkiri’s ravaged forests, World Wildlife Fund is rolling out a new project designed to give locals financial incentives to help preserve Mondulkiri Protected Forest and Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary. Cultivating small-scale, community-run businesses such as resin tree tapping and beekeeping ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/wwf-unveils-bid-help-mondulkiri-forests