Social development

Nearly 200 villagers from Kratie province gathered in Phnom Penh Monday, hoping to deliver a petition to the Cambodian Senate and other government agencies in protest of a rubber company’s development there. The villagers, from Snoul district, say a Vietnamese rubber company began developing in ...

Cambodia’s Supreme Court on Friday upheld a decision refusing bail to 21 people arrested during a deadly worker strike crackdown, a defense lawyer said, as dozens of supporters protested outside, calling the charges against them politically motivated and demanding their release. The top court upheld the ...

Anti-corruption advocates say they want the US government to help them push for transparency in the extractive industries, as ongoing mining continues to disrupt the lives of many Cambodians. At least 120 companies, most of them Chinese, have obtained mining licenses in the last decade, as ...

Xu Qiliang, visiting vice- chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, on Thursday visited a group of 10 Chinese doctors working at the Preah Ketomelea Hospital, known as the Military Hospital, in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Xu was accompanied by Chay Saing Yun, secretary ...

Cambodian customs officers on Friday morning confiscated around three tons of elephant tusks at the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port in Southwestern Preah Sihanouk province. In February, customs officers nabbed two Vietnamese men at the Siem Reap International Airport for smuggling 79.5 kg of illegal elephant tusks ...

Media experts warn that Vietnam continues to restrict social media, and Cambodia could be following suit. At a forum in Washington to mark World Press Freedom Day on May 3, panelists said online and traditional media activities have been restricted by Vietnamese authorities. The forum, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 2012 ban on the allocation of economic land concessions was supposed to halt the unpopular practice of turning over large swaths of property to developers. And going by the numbers last year, it worked. But in the vacuum, according to local rights ...

Cambodia lacks the skilled labor force necessary to advance the economy and the government must find ways to create more valuable work as it faces fierce regional and international competition, according to a new report released Thursday by the World Bank. The report, “East Asia Pacific ...

A government spokesman warned yesterday that legal action may be taken against the opposition leaders if their “unlawful” campaign rhetoric incites unrest. Tith Sothea, spokesman for the Council of Ministers’ Press and Quick Reaction Unit, said that the government will consider filing complaints against Cambodia National ...

Cambodian authorities have charged nearly half as many villagers in land dispute cases in the first three months of this year as they did in all of 2013, a local rights group said Thursday, adding that most of the rows stemmed from government-granted land concessions. Following ...

The Chinese government on Thursday donated 10,000 U.S. dollars to the Cambodian Red Cross (CRC) to support humanitarian activities. Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo presented the donation to CRC’s president Bun Rany during the celebration of the 151st anniversary of the World Red Cross — ...

It is exam time in Cambodian schools. But the Ministry of Education warned on Thursday that this year it is working hard to rein in rampant cheating that plagues testing in the country’s schools. ...

The Siem Reap Municipal Court on Tuesday sentenced Cambodian lawyer Mao Tan Eam to two-and-a-half years in prison for purchasing child prostitution, but he will not spend a single day in jail after the court suspended the entire custodial sentence, an official said. Deputy provincial prosecutor ...

A Vietnamese firm behind several Cambodian rubber plantations accused of rampant land grabbing and illegal logging has bowed to a request from the International Finance Corporation (IFC)—which helps fund its operations—to temporarily suspend forest clearing at some of its local subsidiaries. In an April 28 decision, ...

A day after police in Kampong Speu province arrested six striking workers, the unexpected presence of about 100 military police officers at a garment factory in Takeo province had some union activists fearing the worst. Collective Union of Movement of Workers (CUMW) president Pav Sina yesterday ...

The government could save nearly $100 million between now and 2020 if it passes the draft traffic law and enforces mandatory helmet usage as soon as possible, a road safety group said Wednesday. Madeleine Carr, an advocacy and strategic planning advisor with the Asia Injury Prevention ...

The well-being of women and children in Cambodia has improved vastly in the past 15 years but still lags internationally, according to a report released by the nonprofit organisation Save the Children this week. ...

Two disputes involving a land developer with ties to the highest ranks of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party have once again exposed the lack of justice faced by impoverished communities in the capital, affected residents and rights groups have said. In Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district, ...

Better laws and enforcement that require motorbike riders and children to wear helmets could save more than 500 lives and $100 million over the next six years, a new study says. The study, undertaken by the Asian Injury Prevention Foundation, says a new law now ...

A World Bank-supported rubber company accused of land grabs has suspended some of its projects, as an investigation by the bank continues. The Hoang Anh Gia Lai company, which received support from the bank’s International Finance Corporation, said in a decision following an April 2 ...

Representatives of a community locked in a land dispute with a Vietnamese company in Kratie province returned home from Phnom Penh late Tuesday after failing to garner support from Prime Minister Hun Sen, while an official at the company said it had begun destroying villagers’ ...

At least three workers were arrested Tuesday morning outside the Wing Star Shoes factory in Kompong Speu province, where the Free Trade Union (FTU) has been leading a strike calling for benefits and back pay, according to police and a union representative. An FTU representative said ...

Despite Vietnamese state-owned companies withdrawing funding from projects outside of their core business, the $20 million expansion of the Vietnamese-backed Cho Ray Phnom Penh Hospital remains on track, the hospital’s head said yesterday. In July 2012 the Vietnamese government requested that state-owned enterprises withdraw investment in ...

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport is plunging public schools into the digital age with a new interactive technology plan fit with bells, whistles and 3G applications, light-years ahead of its mostly dirt-floor school houses. The five-year, $1.3 million project, developed and funded by Cellcard, ...