The Cambodia Daily
ADB Admits Fault in Rail Project, Pledges Compensation
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has for the first time admitted to major flaws in its efforts to protect the roughly 4,000 families losing land to a $143 million project it is funding to rehabilitate Cambodia’s dilapidated railway system. On Friday, the ADB said it would ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-admits-fault-in-rail-project-pledges-compensation-51210/
UN Concerned Over Suppression of Rights
The U.N.’s General Assembly released its latest round of recommendations to improve the human rights situation in Cambodia on Thursday following a review held last week in Geneva. The statements made by delegations from 76 countries during the review urged Cambodia to fulfill its promise to ...
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-concerned-over-suppression-of-rights-51220/
Monks, Workers Hold Vigil for Slain Protesters
About 100 monks, activists and workers returned on Saturday evening to the Canadia Industrial Park, where garment workers clashed with military police on January 3, to pray for the five protesters who were shot dead in the violence and call for the release of 23 ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/monks-workers-hold-vigil-for-slain-protesters-51222/
Ministry Seeks to Quash Measles, Rubella Vaccination Rumors
The Ministry of Health has moved to calm public fears over the safety of the measles and rubella (MR) vaccine, which was administered to 4.5 million Cambodian children in the last three months of 2013, as rumors circulate that it poses sinister health risks, according ...
Simon Henderson and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-seeks-to-quash-measles-rubella-vaccination-rumors-51213/
CNRP Distances Itself From Threatened Social Media Activist
The opposition CNRP’s deputy public affairs director, Kem Monovithya, posted a statement to her official Facebook account on Saturday distancing the party from Thy Sovantha, a 19-year-old opposition activist with a large social media following, announcing that Ms. Sovantha was “not involved” with the CNRP. Last ...
Hul Reaksmey and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-distances-itself-from-threatened-social-media-activist-51218/
EU Parliamentarian Finds Abuses Fueled by Trade Scheme
Sugar plantations that benefit from the European Union’s Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme, which allows preferential access to the E.U.’s market, have further impoverished Cambodia’s poor, and an investigation needs to be launched, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) said on Friday. Patrice Tirolien, MEP ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eu-parliamentarian-finds-abuses-fueled-by-trade-scheme-51188/
Sar Kheng Accuses CNRP of Launching ‘Constitutional Coup’
Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng became the latest senior member of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s CPP government to accuse the opposition CNRP of attempting to “topple” the government though what he claimed is a “constitutional coup.” In a posting to the Interior Ministry ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sar-kheng-accuses-cnrp-of-launching-constitutional-coup-51186/
Media-Savvy Monks to Launch Weekly Radio Show
As Buddhist monks across the country don saffron robes and leave pagodas in search of donations to fill alms bowls each morning, seven monks based in Dangkao district on the dusty outskirts of Phnom Penh are thinking only of feeding the country’s growing appetite for ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/media-savvy-monks-to-launch-weekly-radio-show-51192/
Rights Groups Want Access to 23 Detained Prisoners
Two human rights groups on Friday appealed to Interior Minister Sar Kheng to intervene after the General Department of Prisons, which is part of the Interior Ministry, refused to allow representatives from their organizations to meet with some of the 23 union activists and protesters ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-groups-want-access-to-23-detained-prisoners-51194/
Life as Living Nightmare Along National Route 6a
Two years after Prime Minister Hun Sen broke ground on a Chinese-funded project to widen National Road 6a in order to expand its capacity as a major trade and tourism thoroughfare, life for the tens of thousands of families living along the 50-km stretch of ...
Hul Reaksmey and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/life-as-living-nightmare-along-national-route-6a-51156/
EU Parliamentarian Probes Sugar Plantations in Cambodia
A member of the European Parliament is in Cambodia investigating agri-business firms accused of evicting hundreds of families while benefiting from a free-trade scheme with Europe worth millions of dollars, according to the NGO Equitable Cambodia. The visit from France’s Patrice Tirolien follows a resolution the ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eu-parliamentarian-probes-sugar-plantations-in-cambodia-51166/
Teachers Told to Expel Corruption From Classrooms
Just weeks after the country’s only independent teachers’ association staged a strike for higher wages, Phnom Penh’s education chief told teachers this week that they must stop taking bribes to comply with the government’s promised reform agenda. Speaking to about 500 educators, mainly school directors, from ...
Phann Ana
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/teachers-told-to-expel-corruption-from-classrooms-51158/
CNRP Spokesman Says He Advocated for Higher Troop Wages
CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann on Thursday moved to clarify his position on the armed forces after the Defense Ministry accused him of “looking down” on the government and the work of the army. In a lengthy written statement issued Thursday, Mr. Sovann spoke in glowing terms ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-spokesman-says-he-advocated-for-higher-troop-wages-51162/
CNRP Youth Activist to Protest Over Leaked Passport Details
An outspoken CNRP youth activist who claims that her passport application was leaked by immigration police said Thursday that she will lead protests in front of the Ministry of Interior and Prime Minister Hun Sen’s residence in Phnom Penh if authorities do not attempt to ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-youth-activist-to-protest-over-leaked-passport-details-51160/
Leprosy Dark Spot Healed by Early Detection
It started with a small, dark spot on Oeur Pisey’s left arm: A spot that he simply ignored. Slowly, other spots appeared. They soon covered Mr. Pisey’s thighs, upper body, and eventually, his face. A local health clinic in Kompong Cham province told him not to worry: ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/leprosy-dark-spot-healed-by-early-detection-51173/
Death Threat Made Against CNRP’s Social Media Activist
Thy Sovantha is accustomed to being threatened on Facebook. But the 19-year-old CNRP youth activist, who became something of an online celebrity through the popular opposition Facebook page “I Love Cambodia Hot News,” says the latest threat against her, in which a copy of her passport ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/death-threat-made-against-cnrps-social-media-activist-51124/
Petition Rally for Prisoners’ Release Ends Peacefully
A week after they began their campaign, activists and rights groups handed out the last of their petitions to embassies across Phnom Penh on Wednesday, hoping to solicit the help of foreign governments in securing the release of 23 men arrested earlier this month at ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/petition-rally-for-prisoners-release-ends-peacefully-51135/
Work Remains for Cambodia After UN Rights Hearing
Though Cambodia had four years to implement 91 recommendations on how to improve its human rights record, U.N. member states still had to push for action in a number of key areas during its second Universal Periodic Review hearing in Geneva on Tuesday. In a speech ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/work-remains-for-cambodia-after-un-rights-hearing-51129/
Hun Sen Moves Ahead With ‘Reform’ Plan, Minus Opposition
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday laid out more details in his plan to introduce a series of political reforms after a narrow win for his long-ruling CPP at the polls in July, including creating a new national working group and establishing public forums to ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-moves-ahead-with-reform-plan-minus-opposition-51126/
Fake Orphanage Ordered Closed After Alleged Migrant Scam
The Ministry of Interior has suspended the operation of an orphanage after it found that its director had colluded with a recruitment agency to cheat migrant workers out of an alleged $600,000, officials said Tuesday. “The Ministry of Interior temporarily suspends all activities of Our Friends ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fake-orphanage-ordered-closed-after-alleged-migrant-scam-51114/
Tourism Not Affected by Deadlock
International tourist arrivals to Cambodia for 2013 increased 14.1 percent over arrivals in 2012, despite lingering political uncertainty following the July election, according to preliminary annual figures from the Ministry of Tourism. The number of visitors entering the country last year reached 4.2 million, compared to ...
George Styllis
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/tourism-not-affected-by-deadlock-51133/
Bunong Villagers Barred From Attending Illegal-Logging Protest
Authorities in Mondolkiri province’s Pech Creada district on Wednesday set up roadblocks to prevent indigenous minority villagers from traveling to Sen Monorom City to attend a demonstration calling for an end to illegal logging, villagers and authorities said. Some 300 indigenous villagers had planned to attend ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bunong-villagers-barred-from-attending-illegal-logging-protest-51137/
Defense Ministry Statement Claims CNRP Belittles Troops
The Ministry of Defense released a statement Wednesday condemning an opposition party spokesman for allegedly “looking down on” Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government and the armed forces. The statement, dated Tuesday, attacked CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann for comments made to the media on January 23, in ...
Khy Sovuthy and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/defense-ministry-statement-claims-cnrp-belittles-troops-51131/
Another Military Official Accuses Opposition Party of Causing Chaos
General Neang Phat has become the second senior military official to wade into the current political impasse between Prime Minister Hun Sen’s CPP government and the CNRP, accusing the opposition party of trying to destabilize the country, according to a local media report. Gen. Phat, who ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/another-military-official-accuses-opposition-party-of-causing-chaos-51101/