National government
Ministries and other national bodies
Sonando postpones protest for TV licence
Beehive Radio director Mam Sonando said yesterday that he was forced to postpone a planned demonstration in support of his bid for a television license as he had given authorities insufficient notice of what he hoped would be an ongoing protest. On Friday, Sonando – whose ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sonando-postpones-protest-tv-licence
Factories Closed Until Safety Guaranteed
The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) on Sunday said all of the country’s 400-plus garment factories will remain closed until the government and striking trade unions can guarantee the safety of the factories and all employees who want to work. The decision, outlined in an ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/factories-closed-until-safety-guaranteed-49749/
Cambodia Factories Grapple With Issue of Underage Workers
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia—In this quiet beach town, Lim Loeung says she spends up to 80 hours a week gluing soles onto shoes at a factory that does work for companies including Japanese sneaker-maker Asics Corp. 7936.TO +0.95% The factory believes Ms. Lim is at least 18 ...
Kate O' Keeffe
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303799404579287353595133592
Increasingly, Cambodians Say They are ‘Suffering’: Poll
An increasing number of Cambodians see themselves faring worse, a Gallup polls suggests. In a global survey released earlier this month, the US-based firm ranked Cambodia near the very bottom in terms of life satisfaction, and it found that 34 percent of surveyed Cambodians consider themselves ...
Vannarin Neou
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/increasingly-cambodians-say-they-are-suffering/1819008.html
Defense Minister Warns Protesters Against Blocking Streets
Striking garment factory workers and protesting CNRP supporters should respect people of other nationalities and make sure they act within the boundaries of the law, Defense Minister Tea Banh said Thursday. Speaking at an opening ceremony for three new Royal Cambodian Armed Force science laboratory buildings, ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/defense-minister-warns-protesters-against-blocking-streets-49733/
Cambodian labor minister holds urgent talk with pro-opposition trade unions over strikes
Cambodian Minister of Labor Ith Samheng on Friday afternoon held an urgent talk with the representatives of six pro-opposition trade unions after they have led tens of thousands of workers off work in protest against low wage increase for 2014. As the meeting was going on, ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/27/c_133002053.htm
Factories to lose millions
The economic fallout from garment worker protests and the industry’s response is expected to cost the key sector millions of dollars while tarnishing the country’s reputation among international buyers, interviews with suppliers and figures from previous periods of labour unrest show. Disputes over wages came to ...
Eddie Morton and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/factories-lose-millions
Textbooks arriving COD, NGOs claim
School textbooks paid for by the Asian Development Bank have been routed to district education offices, some of which are charging schools for books that are supposed to be free, an NGO investigation has found. The textbooks on Khmer literature, maths, geography, morality and science were ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/textbooks-arriving-cod-ngos-claim
Protest against new wage of $95 is illegal: Labor Ministry
The Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training on Wednesday said that any activities made by the unions against the minimum wage of $95, agreed upon by the Labor Council, are against the law. After the wage talks yesterday, the Labor Council agreed to raise ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=Y2RjMDY1MWE5NTl
Rice Trader Claims Being Wrongly Fined Bad Scale to Measure Her Truck
A rice trader on Monday filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Unit, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cabinet and three ministries alleging that officials in Kompong Cham province had wrongly fined her for an overweight truck after using improperly weighted scales. Saing Darlin had her truck impounded ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/rice-trader-claims-being-wrongly-fined-bad-scale-to-measure-her-truck-49631/
Malaysia Fails to Guarantee Cambodian Maids’ Human Rights
The Ministry of Labor hopes that a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will see Cambodia resume sending domestic workers to Malaysia by February, but negotiations on the document have stalled after Malaysia recently rejected 90 percent of proposed provisions to protect workers’ rights. Most strikingly, Malaysia ...
Matt Blomberg and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/malaysia-fails-to-guarantee-cambodian-maids-human-rights-49629/
French give $26 million for irrigation
The French Agency for Development will provide $26 million in loans to the Cambodian government to rehabilitate irrigation systems across three provinces in the northwest. Speaking at the signing ceremony for the deal yesterday, Aun Pornmoniroth, the Minister of Economy and Finance, said the new systems ...
Chan Muy Hong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/french-give-26-million-irrigation
Turmoil marks year in labour
When unions and the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) signed a memorandum of understanding in October last year, both sides were confident strikes in the Kingdom’s biggest export sector could be kept to a minimum. Not counting December, GMAC has recorded 131 strikes this ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/turmoil-marks-year-labour
Keep striking for $160, Rainsy urges
Ahead of today’s Ministry of Labour announcement of a minimum wage increase for Cambodia’s apparel sector, opposition leader Sam Rainsy yesterday urged striking workers in Svay Rieng province to hold out until their monthly salary is raised to $160. “[Garment] workers should not return to work ...
Mom Kunthear, Sean Teehan and James Hall
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/keep-striking-160-rainsy-urges
ACU asks Global Fund for evidence in probe
Cambodia’s Anti-corruption Unit has criticised the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for not sending them the findings of its investigation into widespread corruption in health grants. Chhay Savuth, vice-president of the Anti-Corruption Unit, said he had contacted the Global Fund to request evidence ...
Mom Kunthear and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/acu-asks-global-fund-evidence-probe
Barges Impounded for Breaking Sand Dredging Ban in Kandal
The Ministry of Water Resources impounded five barges in Kandal province on Saturday for flouting a government ban on sand dredging on the Mekong River, an official said Sunday. Chan Youttha, cabinet chief for Water Resources Minister Lim Kean Hor, said the minister personally led a ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/barges-impounded-for-breaking-sand-dredging-ban-in-kandal-49567/
Council of Ministers Nullifies Telecom Law
The Council of Ministers has nullified a 2009 law that set minimum prices on telephone calls, paving the way for regulators to reset the country’s telecommunications prices, which industry executives say are too high. The law, Prakas 232, which has been widely flouted, set a minimum ...
Hul Reaksmey and Joshua Wilwohl -
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/council-of-ministers-nullifies-telecom-law-49573/
No End in Sight for Svay Rieng SEZ Strikes
A union official at the center of a strike that started last Monday and involves an estimated 30,000 workers from two special economic zones (SEZs) in Svay Rieng province said Sunday that he has no control over the strikers, and does not know when or ...
Aun Pheap and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-end-in-sight-for-svay-rieng-sez-strikes-49560/
Cambodia new ministry on oil, gas
Cambodian lawmakers on Friday endorsed the setting up of a new ministry specifically in charge of mines and energy, in the hope that oil and gas production will finally get under way in the next couple of years. The new Ministry of Mines and Energy will ...
Bangkok Post News Staff
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/386021/cambodia-sets-up-new-ministery-in-charge-of-oil-gas-production
CPP Parliament Approves Two Ministers, 2014 Budget
CPP lawmakers including Prime Minister Hun Sen unanimously voted Friday for their party members, Suy Sem and Cham Prasidh, to become heads of the newly created Ministry of Mines and Energy, and the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts, respectively. The 67 ruling-party parliamentarians present also approved ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-parliament-approves-two-ministers-2014-budget-49542/
Prime Minister sister nominated as under-secretary
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s younger sister, Hun Sinath, has been nominated to the position of Under-Secretary of State for the Ministry of National Assembly-Senate Relations and Inspection. She was nominated, at the age of 57, by King Norodom Sihamoni on December 9, 2013. .. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=YWY5ODM4YzAxMjN
Four alleged loggers shot by Thai soldiers
At least four people were injured, one seriously, after Thai soldiers shot them as they allegedly illegally logged the Thai side of the Preah Vihear border on Wednesday. The injured men were part of a group of eight from Preah Vihear province’s Choam Ksan district, provincial ...
Sen David and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/four-alleged-loggers-shot-thai-soldiers
Budget to share the wealth: official
The amount of money to be allocated to commune-, district- and province-level governments is slated to rise next year in accordance with the government’s long-gestating attempts at decentralising its power. Provincial- and capital-level funding will rise to about 640.8 billion riel, with 237.2 billion riel ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/budget-share-wealth-official
Fund playing hardball
The Global Fund has threatened to suspend or reduce health grants to Cambodia totalling more than $100 million if the Ministry of Health, the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STD (NCHADS) and NGO umbrella group MEDiCAM fail to meet a 30-day deadline to return ...
Kevin Ponniah and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/fund-playing-hardball