Social development

Soft-drinks giant PepsiCo has pledged to take a “zero-tolerance” approach to land grabs by its sugar suppliers. In a statement posted on the company’s website on Tuesday, it said the move came in response to a campaign by Oxfam, which targeted Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. ...

A majority government-owned life insurance company has stopped paying out benefits to policy holders who die while taking part in protests and demonstrations, the company confirmed yesterday. The Cambodian Life Insurance Company – 51 per cent owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and 49 ...

Housing rights activists from the Borei Keila and Boeng Kak communities protested in front of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday to urge authorities to speed up proceedings in an assault case they brought against Prampi Makara district authorities last month. ...

Thousands of workers at the Wing Star Shoes Co. Ltd. on Wednesday blocked the road to the factory in Kompong Speu province for two hours. They demanded the company raise their bonuses by $5 and properly enforce labor laws after arbitration talks failed Tuesday. It was ...

Rights group Adhoc on Wednesday helped 105 communities locked in long-running land disputes across the country refile their complaints with local courts and other state agencies in a concerted effort to push the government to finally resolve their cases. Covering a broad cross-section of the country’s ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy has denied fomenting hatred towards ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported Wednesday. ...

As villagers in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley continue to block Sinohydro Corp employees from entering the area where the Stung Cheay Areng dam is planned, conservationists and rights workers have spoken of the havoc it will wreak if it goes ahead. In terms of the ...

Villagers emerge from the shade of their homes and gingerly roll up their sleeves, turning their palms upwards to reveal skin braided with dark lesions, ulcers and decaying tissue. They point to houses up and down the street where people have died of symptoms like ...

A 44-year-old woman was run over and killed by a harvesting machine on Sunday while working on a sugarcane plantation in Kompong Speu province owned by CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat, marking at least the second death on the plantation since December. Y Mom, originally from ...

European Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said he has no plans to launch an investigation into Cambodia’s much-criticized sugarcane plantations after a meeting with Commerce Minister Sun Chanthol in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. Bottom line: Cambodia’s free trade benefits to Europe are safe for ...

A lack of identification papers is the key obstacle preventing ethnic Vietnamese living in Kompong Chhnang province from enjoying the same rights as Khmer citizens, according to a survey released Tuesday. In the new report, the Minority Rights Organization (MIRO) found that ethnic Vietnamese are often ...

A lawyer hired by the opposition CNRP said Tuesday that he would file a complaint next month with the International Criminal Court (ICC) over crimes against humanity allegedly perpetrated by state security forces. “We plan to file a Communication [complaint] before the International Criminal Court next ...

Thousands of workers at the Wing Star Shoes factory demonstrated Tuesday for the second day in a row outside the factory in Kom­pong Speu province after a meeting between union and company officials failed to reach an agreement that would end an ongoing strike, worker ...

The Japanese government will sign up to provide 11.7 million U.S. dollars to Cambodia next week to help the country in its health sector development, according to a news statement from the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday. ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) says it will hold a one-day training course on procedures to resolve labor disputes on Tuesday. ...

Cambodians need to be more courageous in challenging endemic corruption, a development expert says. Preap Kol, head of Transparency International Cambodia, told “Hello VOA” last week that the more people challenge corruption, the more likely it is they will free themselves from it. Cambodia remains one ...

Considered the world’s most valuable fluid, fresh clean water is a commodity that can become a life-and-death issue. Lack of it can also contribute to a child’s absenteeism rate in Cambodia, says a newly released study report by Research Advisor Helen Risebro and Professor Paul Hunter ...

When he assumed leadership of Phnom Penh municipality in May 2013, Pa Socheatvong vowed to be a governor who would get things done. His predecessor, Kep Chuktema, oversaw the filling in of Boeng Kak lake and the mass eviction of its residents. A similar scenario unfolded ...

Thailand has denied its forces shot dead 12 Cambodian loggers who crossed the border illegally on March 5, Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said yesterday. During a meeting with Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative Long Visalo, Thai ambassador Touchayoot Pakdi said Thai soldiers had made ...

Seven Chinese nationals were prevented from entering the Areng Valley in Koh Kong province yesterday as locals continued their standoff with the operator of the Stung Cheay Areng dam concession, villagers at the scene said. Ven Vorn, a community leader among those blocking a road used ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday encouraged Cambodia to pick up the slack on its higher-education system in order to bolster the country’s economic competitiveness. “Training human resources is necessary to developing the labour market and encouraging investments,” the premier said during the Royal University of Law ...

Dozens of ethnic minority Kreung villagers protested outside the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court on Monday, demanding the release of a fellow Kreung man presently in pretrial detention for setting fire to a pile of wood on land the community sold in 2007 but claims it was ...

About 7,000 workers protested in front of the Wing Star Shoes Co. Ltd. factory in Kompong Speu province on Monday, demanding that the company raise their bonuses by $5 and properly enforce a number of labor laws, a union official said. The strike comes ten months ...

Members of the government, military and civil society met on Monday to form a working group to undertake security reform and reporting. The working group will have 26 members from a wide spectrum of government and nongovernment agencies to produce policy recommendations to Cambodia’s leaders. The formation ...