Law and judiciary

Thirty-three Cambodian nationals were arrested for illegally logging rare rosewood trees in Thailand, where they are currently awaiting trial, officials said Wednesday. The arrests marked a long-called-for shift in tactics by Thai authorities: In the past, Thai soldiers and border police have often dealt with illegal ...

Civil society groups  campaigned Wednesday to seek support from three former Prime Ministers in order to limit terms for Premiership. Kol Panha, president of Committee for Free and Fair Election in Cambodia (Comfrel), told reporters that he met with Pen Sovann to ask him to ...

Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday agreed to postpone a meeting with the opposition party’s information department chief, Meach Sovannara, who missed a scheduled meeting in which he was to answer questions regarding his alleged role in a violent protest in July, his lawyer said. ...

The National Assembly’s newly formed bipartisan Human Rights Commission met with representatives from the embattled Lor Peang village on Monday, promising a prompt resolution to their 12-year-old dispute over 145 hectares of land in Kompong Chhnang province. Lork Kheng, deputy chair of the commission, vowed that ...

Former parliamentary candidate and opposition information chief Meach Sovannara said yesterday that he would not appear in court today for questioning related to charges stemming from a violent opposition protest in July. ...

The UN and human rights groups called on the government Friday to honor its obligations as a party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and thoroughly investigate the disappearance of 16-year-old Khem Sopath, who was last seen lying ...

A group of 50 migrant workers on Wednesday protested outside a branch of a recruitment agency in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district that they say duped them out of $260 they paid for a guarantee of employment in Thailand. ...

Kem Sokha, newly-elected first vice president of the National Assembly, led a session of the National Assembly Wednesday for the first time after president Heng Samrin went out to have a meeting the outgoing Thai Ambassador to Cambodia for a short period of time. ...

Opposition party leader Sam Rainsy on Wednesday expressed disappointment after his two leading lawmakers failed in votes for the posts of chairpersons of the National Assembly’s eighth and tenth commissions. He said he would push for proper solution in accordance with July 22 agreement. “It is rights ...

The National Assembly carried on session Wednesday to vote for members of remaining commissions. The session was attended by 122 lawmakers from ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). ...

Yim Sovann and Mu Sochua, both prominent lawmakers of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), failed in votes for the posts of chairpersons of the National Assembly’s commissions in confidential votes on Wednesday. The CNRP nominated male-lawmaker Yim Sovann as the head of the National ...

CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha, who was on Tuesday elected National Assembly vice president, told reporters that the opposition party supports recent calls to impose limits on the number of terms a person can serve as prime minister. The issue has been in the local news ...

Civil society advocates – who last week called on parliament to consider amending the constitution to limit prime ministers to two terms in office – are now trying to enlist former premiers to back their proposal. The group, which includes well-known political analysts and representatives of ...

Even within the country’s notoriously overcrowded prison system, inmates in this northern province live in particularly harsh conditions. Approximately 120 prisoners, including 16 women and three children, are held in four cells in the Oddar Meanchey provincial police headquarters. “In one cell we keep 20 or more ...

This week lawmakers from Cambodia’s opposition party are being voted onto 10 parliamentary commissions. This is a key part of a political deal in which the opposition finally agreed to take its 55 seats in parliament, ending its year-long boycott over alleged vote-rigging in the ...

A group of families involved in a land dispute with a businessman in Battambang province will today submit petitions to the National Assembly and Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet to plead for intervention. The more than 300 families, from Bavel district’s Boeng Bram commune, maintain that ...

The Committee to Promote Women in Politics (CPWP), and civil society groups in Cambodia have asked the National Assembly and ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to keep Mrs. Khuon Sodary as second vice president of the National Assembly. In a statement issued on Monday, the groups ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) over the weekend released a statement condemning an ongoing strike at a Kompong Chhnang garment factory and urging authorities to “punish the perpetrators.” About 3,000 employees of the Chinese-owned Jiun Ye Garment factory have been on strike since August ...

The director of a Vietnamese company hoping to buy timber off a pair of land concessions has accused three local businessmen of cheating her out of $200,000 and asked Prime Minister Hun Sen to investigate, according to a letter published by local media. ...

123 lawmakers from ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) will vote on August 26, 2014 to elect new leadership of the National Assembly. According to the general commissariat of the National Assembly, the agenda will include: Vote for Nguon Nhil ...

 Cambodia’s Appeal Court on Friday granted bail to three opposition youth activists, who were arrested early this month for alleged involvements in a violent protest last month, a defense lawyer confirmed. “Appeal Court’s Judge Seng Sivutha decided to release the trio on bail,”Chen Lida, a ...

The minister of labour has sent a stern warning to garment factories to take measures to end mass faintings or face the consequences. Speaking after a safety workshop yesterday, Ith Sam Heng said the government will get tougher on factories, fining those that didn’t provide safe ...

The ministries of Labor and Interior met on Thursday to outline the government’s plan to more strictly enforce measures for employers of foreign nationals to ensure that their staff has proper documentation. Seng Sakada, director-general of the Labor Ministry’s labor department, said previous efforts have not ...

The Asia Injury Prevention (AIP) Foundation, supported by The UPS Foundation, has launched a global internet campaign to collect ten thousand pledges in support of the motorcycle passenger, including child helmet law in Cambodia, according to its statement obtained Thursday by The Cambodia Herald. The campaign ...