Government

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday released a statement condemning National Military Police Commander Sao Sokha for his admission that he sanctioned a “partisan use of force” in a January 15 speech in which he spoke of opposition protesters as the military police’s foes. ...

Seeking to amend Cambodia’s shortage of skilled labourers and equip young secondary school graduates with employable trades, the government will soon roll out a new technical training curriculum at select high schools. ...

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries saw at least 2,400 cases of forest- and wildlife-related crimes in 2014, of which almost 1,800 were forwarded to the courts, though fewer than 10 people were sentenced in relation to the crimes, ministry figures say. ...

Health Minister Mam Bunheng has been summoned for questioning next week by the National Assembly’s health commission over the outbreak of HIV among villagers in Battambang province’s Ro­ka commune, the commission’s secretary-general said Friday. ...

Two election experts from the European Union (E.U.) joined the CNRP and CPP on Friday in separate meetings held to discuss how voter registration will be managed in future elections, presenting four possible options. Although the parties agreed on which option they preferred—a new voter list ...

More than 100 handcart-pullers who transport goods across the Cambodian-Thai border protested at the Poipet International Checkpoint in Banteay Meanchey province on Thursday, accusing the Poipet City governor of breaking his promise to stop customs officials from demanding exorbitant bribes of them. ...

Four mining companies digging stone in Banteay Meanchey province that are purportedly owned by a military commander and other officers have carried on mining despite a government ban. ...

Sixteen local NGOs released a joint statement Thursday calling on Prime Minister Hun Sen to publicly repudiate National Military Police Commander Sao Sokha’s January 15 speech in which he said he learned strategy from Adolf Hitler. ...

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng has been appointed majority leader in the National Assembly, meaning he and opposition leader Sam Rainsy will engage directly in dialogue over legislative issues. Prime Minister Hun Sen and Cambodia National Rescue Party president Rainsy agreed in late ...

The Ministry of Rural Development plans to pave 1,200 kilometres of dirt roads across nine provinces surrounding the Tonle Sap this year, in a $120 million bid to improve the lives of rural farmers and reduce migration.​ The roads are to connect rural areas to ...

The head of the country’s largest teachers’ association sent an open letter to Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron on Wednesday contending that there is a serious shortage of textbooks and teacher manuals due to corruption and indifference on the part of ministry officials. Rong Chhun, president ...

Five sand-dredging operations in Ratanakkiri province – one owned by the provincial director of Public Works and Transportation – have been in business illegally for some 20 years, the rights group Adhoc said yesterday. Adhoc said that it uncovered the operations in Veun Say, Lumphat and ...

One month after the government announced a systemic crackdown on ghost workers, the Ministry of Education suspended a Sihanoukville administrator for alleged absenteeism, according to a copy of the disciplinary letter. Minister of Education Hang Chuon Naron said the suspension was decided on following complaints ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday accused the CNRP of violating the “culture of dialogue” that he and the opposition agreed to last year, and warned seven lawmakers charged with incitement and insurrection that their parliamentary immunity would not save them from prison. The seven CNRP ...

The Phnom Penh municipal government on Monday rejected a request from protesters to stage a one-month demonstration in the city’s Freedom Park for the release of 10 jailed activists and refused to receive their latest petition demanding a solution to their long-running land disputes. About 100 ...

Deputy Prime Minister Bin Chhin said Monday that he had drafted an article for the new national election law that would ban foreigners and NGOs from voicing political opinions during national elections. ...

The National Assembly’s Human Rights and Complaints Commission has asked the government to grant land titles to more than 500 families in Tbong Khmum whose land is claimed by a rubber plantation. ...

CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha on Sunday assured supporters that the opposition party is still working to oust Prime Minister Hun Sen from power, claiming that no other Cambodian leader has overseen the level of environmental destruction that has taken place during his time in ...

National Military Police Commander Sao Sokha hit out for the first time yesterday at reports that he claims to draw inspiration from Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, arguing that his comments were misinterpreted. During an annual meeting of Phnom Penh’s military police on Thursday, local media reported ...

Civil society leaders on Sunday called on the country’s two major political parties to scrap plans to ban them from giving media interviews during election campaigns and from issuing statements that “insult” any party. CPP Deputy Prime Minister Bin Chhin and senior CNRP official Kuoy Bunroeun, ...

A government delegation that traveled to the South Pacific island nation of Nauru last week to study the possibility of resettling in Cambodia some of the refugees Australia is currently holding there will return to Phnom Penh on Monday, a government official said. ...

Independent researcher and founder of the “social network” Khmer for Khmer, Kem Ley, may found as many as 1,000 political parties by the end of 2016. ...

A Cambodian delegation that arrived in Nauru on Tuesday for high-level meetings to progress a controversial refugee resettlement scheme has toured Australian-run detention centres on the island, according to a rights group. ...

The mayor of Lowell, Massachusetts—which has the second-largest population of Cambodian-Americans in the U.S.—on Friday visited 10 anti-eviction activists inside Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison, emerging to announce that he would lobby the government for their release. Wrapping up a five-day visit to Phnom Penh, Rodney ...