Ministries and other national bodies
Ministry of Interior
NGO says legal action over land disputes on the rise
The number of people charged in land disputes across the country so far this year has already surpassed the number of charges in all of 2013 in what rights group Adhoc on Tuesday called an “alarming” increase in legal action against those wrapped up in ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngo-says-legal-action-over-land-disputes-on-the-rise-66873/
CNRP seeks prison visit
The National Assembly yesterday agreed to forward to the Ministry of Interior a request from five Cambodia National Rescue Party lawmakers to visit the five Lorpeang villagers jailed over their involvement in their ongoing land dispute with KDC International. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-seeks-prison-visit
No protest permission needed: CCHR
A prominent rights group on Monday wrote to Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, calling on him to remind ministries and local authorities that demonstrators do not require their permission to hold public gatherings. ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-protest-permission-needed-cchr
Cambodia Orders Halt to Anti-Vietnamese Protests After Flag Burning Incident
suspend protests against Vietnam over a territorial dispute as Phnom Penh expressed “regret” to Hanoi over the burning of a Vietnamese flag during the demonstrations last week. Horn Nam Hong met at his office with the head of the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation, Thach Setha, who agreed ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/protests-08192014163708.html
Risking it all for rosewood
At dawn on the Dangrek Mountain range, 62-year-old logger Suon Song* uses an empty beer can to boil water for his morning coffee. He’ll need it to stay alert during the illegal and dangerous work ahead, after the first of several sleepless nights in the ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/risking-it-all-rosewood
Government approves new traffic law
The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a new draft traffic law aimed at improving the safety of Cambodia’s notoriously dangerous roads, with only legislative approval standing in the way of the bill being passed into law. The draft law, which includes changes to 64 articles, ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-approves-new-traffic-law-66675/
Embassy defends handling of maids
Cambodia’s embassy in Malaysia yesterday denied pressuring domestic workers from the Kingdom into renewing their visas, after rights groups told the Post last week that the embassy exploited a legal loophole to keep maids in the country. The statement came as a Malaysian employers association, which has observed the drafting ...
Sen David and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/embassy-defends-handling-maids
Caper to free official works
Military police in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district on Monday were duped into letting a detained immigration official walk free just hours after he was arrested for alleged involvement in the cross-border illegal timber trade, police said yesterday. District military police chief Sok Min said yesterday that ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/caper-free-official-works
Lawyer says court won’t question lawmakers
The charges of “leading an insurrection” brought against seven CNRP lawmakers-elect after a violent protest last month now appear dead in the water, with their lawyers saying a Phnom Penh judge has told them he cannot question them over the case because they have sworn ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawyer-says-court-wont-question-lawmakers-on-insurrection-66263/
Police say mistake made, kidney transplants legal
After a two-month investigation, police were confident enough to arrest and interrogate nine people on Saturday over an alleged kidney trafficking ring at the state-run Preah Ket Mealea military hospital, including its director Ly Sovann, a lieutenant general in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF). But ...
Khy Sovuthy and Alex Consiglio
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-say-they-made-mistake-kidney-transplants-legal-66261/
Police arrest 9 for suspected kidney ring at military hospital
Police arrested nine people, including Chinese and Vietnamese nationals, on Saturday in connection with a kidney trafficking ring involving the state-run Preah Ket Mealea military hospital, officials said Sunday. Among the nine are the hospital’s director, deputy director and a Chinese professor who was training Cambodian ...
Migrants skipping gov’t plan for Thai alternative
The number of Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand has risen to 190,000 thanks to the new one-stop service centers set up across the border, Cambodia’s Ministry of Labor said Wednesday. Labor Ministry spokesman Heng Suor said about 190,000 migrant workers—some with a full complement of legal ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/migrants-skipping-govt-plan-for-thai-alternative-65903/
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/
Migrants in ‘hurry’ to get back to work
A survey of 10 Cambodian provinces is studying the whereabouts and plans of migrant workers who were recently repatriated from Thailand, fearing crackdowns on foreign workers there after the coup. During a workshop hosted by Coordination of Action Research on AIDS and Mobility (CARAM) yesterday, Ministry ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/migrants-%E2%80%98hurry%E2%80%99-get-back-work
Two points of CNRP's draft Constitution amendment need further discussion: Sar Kheng
Interior Minister Sar Kheng said that two points of the draft Constitution amendment sent by Sam Rainsy need to be discussed further. The two points are immunity and autonomous budget for National Election Committee (NEC). “We needed to discuss further over the request to grant immunity ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=MzMwY2ViYzE0MmY
Cracking down 101
A deal to end the political deadlock may reduce demonstrations in the streets, but the authorities are leaving nothing to chance – Daun Penh’s notorious district security guards are finally receiving proper government training. City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche, who has previously said the baton-wielding district ...
Daniel Pye and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cracking-down-101
Recruitment agencies operate without oversight
In June, after about a quarter million migrant workers returned from their jobs in Thailand fearing the military junta’s crackdown on illegal labor, Cambodia’s government announced it had slashed the cost of emigration, and would charge workers only $49 to legally return to work across ...
Phorn Bopha and Alex Consiglio
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/recruitment-agencies-operate-without-oversight-65497/
Sam Rainsy sends draft constitution amendment to Sar Kheng
The opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Wednesday sent a letter attaching with draft Constitution amendment to Interior Minister Sar Kheng. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=YzBhMTY3ZWIxZjE
Expatriates need IDs: government
Expatriates working in Cambodia without labour identification cards will face fines and even jail when strict new enforcement kicks in, according to a July 16 joint statement from the ministries of interior and labour. Government inspectors, the statement adds, will begin checking workplaces immediately in order ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/expatriates-need-ids-government
Tougher ELC oversight pledged
In what is the government’s latest pledge to hold tycoons and foreign investors to account for their business practices, the Ministry of Environment will begin assessing existing and proposed economic land concessions (ELCs), cancelling or rejecting those that have negative social or environment impacts, a ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tougher-elc-oversight-pledged
Protests continue for 4th day over land dispute
About 250 villagers protested against development firm Phanimex on Thursday as their commune chief faced questioning in Kandal provincial court over an ongoing land dispute. For the fourth consecutive day, villagers from Ponhea Leu commune rallied in front of the court, accusing Phanimex of grabbing 63 ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protests-continue-for-4th-day-over-land-dispute-64938/
Illicit fishballs to be destroyed after seizure
Economic crimes police on Wednesday arrested a woman and seized 3 tons of low-quality fishballs, claiming she had illegally imported the potentially dangerous meat. Kandal province resident Chan Thea, 37, was stopped in Phnom Penh while en route to Battambang—where police believe she was planning to ...
Ouch Sony
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/illicit-fishballs-to-be-destroyed-after-seizure-64808/
Six more offices to open for Thai-bound workers
Passport offices will be set up in six more provinces in an effort to ease the remigration process for Cambodian workers heading back to Thailand, according to a Ministry of Interior official. Mao Chandara, director of the Ministry of Interior’s passport department, said the new offices ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/six-more-offices-to-open-for-thai-bound-workers-64806/
Protest outside Kandal court as questioning starts in land case
About 200 people from Ponhea Leu district protested outside the Kandal provincial court Monday as questioning began of residents summoned last month in an ongoing land dispute. The court summoned 12 villagers on June 30, shortly after Phanimex Development company filed a complaint against the families, ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protest-outside-kandal-court-as-questioning-starts-in-land-case-64632/