Ministry of Interior

Less than a month after the government announced that more than 170 Montagnard asylum seek­ers would have their refugee applications processed, an Interior Min­istry spokesman said on Wednesday that the group had not met the criteria for refugee status and would be returned to Vietnam. ...

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng said yesterday that his decision regarding a request from the National Police to amend the drug law will depend on the results of a study by the National Authority for Combating Drugs on drug addicts currently serving ...

Following a nationwide spate of violent gun crime over the past few months, the government has called on City Hall for help in its crackdown on illegal firearms, a problem one Ministry of Interior official laid at the feet of authorities themselves. ...

Minister of Interior Sar Kheng has sent a new set of procedures to local authorities aimed at speeding up the sluggish process of issuing new IDs. ...

The Interior Ministry has warned 140 of its employees to stop skipping work or risk being fired. It is one of the first government ministries to penalize “ghost workers” – the thousands of bureaucrats, police officers, and other civil servants who are on the government ...

About 300 vendors from the Tumnup market in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district protested in front of the municipal court on Wednesday to demand that two of their colleagues who were arrested amid a dispute over market fees be released. ...

The government has announced several amendments to the troubled Traffic Law which, according to National Police spokesman Kirt Chantharith, will be fully enforced starting March 15. ...

Government ministries were yesterday urged to continue their efforts in shifting responsibilities towards local authorities at an annual meeting to discuss ongoing decentralisation reforms, reforms one top official called key to the ruling party’s upcoming election hopes. ...

Following a troubled rollout of the January 1 Traffic Law, the government announced yesterday in a press conference that an inter-ministerial team has been established to determine what amendments will be made in reaction to widespread criticism from the public and civil society. ...

Stricter controls on guns – including those carried by police – will be put in place following a spate of violent crimes involving firearms in recent weeks. ...

Stung Treng provincial governor Kol Sam Ol said on Tuesday that he had been replaced by his deputy, Mom Saroeun, and sent to work at the Interior Ministry in Phnom Penh. ...

The Interior Ministry on Thursday reassigned the directors of three of the country’s prisons during a ceremony at Phnom Penh City Hall, where it was also announced that the city’s minimum-security PJ Prison would itself be relocated. ...

Officials responsible for issuing new identity cards, which every adult will eventually need, must get a grip on the task and speed up, the Ministry of Interior said yesterday.In an “instruction” to staff, Interior Minister Sar Kheng said the number of new ID cards issued ...

Police and military police officials across the country on Wednesday said they had tightened security at shops and markets, a day after Interior Minister Sar Kheng threatened to demote provincial police chiefs who failed to make arrests following a wave of violent armed robberies. ...

Police chiefs in three provinces have been given an ultimatum from Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng – put a stop to armed robberies or step down. ...

The Interior Ministry has re­sponded to remarks the chief of the government’s Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) made this week about graft among police officials, claiming that such comments belittle the work of civil servants who have dedicated their lives to the state. ...

The job of spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, long held by General Khieu Sopheak, has been split up and given to 22 different ministry officials, according to a statement released Friday, though contact details for the new point people have not been published. ...

Officials with the Interior Ministry and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Thursday that a fifth person from Australia’s refugee camps on Nauru had arrived in Cambodia, but declined to provide any details. ...

A commune chief in Takeo has taken responsibility for producing a birth certificate that incorrectly lists the southern Cambodian province as being in Vietnam, but claimed he had made an honest mistake, officials said, adding that he would not face punishment. ...

The Interior Ministry is searching for a man who posted a doctored birth certificate to Facebook that lists his birthplace as Takeo province, Vietnam—reasoning that the suspect had “poisoned the environment,” officials said on Thursday. ...

The Interior Ministry on Friday released a letter that it sent to Mondolkiri provincial governor Eng Bunheang asking him to respond to a petition—filed last month and thumbprinted by 900 members of 17 ethnic minority Bunong communities—requesting his removal. ...

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng on Wednesday dismissed rumours of ulterior motives behind the deportation of a Chinese “scammer” group. ...

The deadline for the country’s five mobile operators to ensure all their subscribers are registered by National ID cards or other legal documents is December 22, officials said yesterday.  ...

The Interior Ministry released a statement Thursday calling for increased protection from violence and criminal activity for “elite figures.” ...