The Phnom Penh Post
Sacked hotel workers headed back to court
A dispute over the sacking of 67 workers from the Angkor Village Hotel and Resort in Siem Reap in August looks set for court again, but a labour rights advocate believes justice is no closer for workers. Dave Welshsaid even if a court again ruled in ...
Women flee from Thai karaoke parlor slavery
Two Cambodian women escaped Thailand on Friday a week after being trafficked across the border and sold into sex slavery in a Thai karaoke parlour, according to the rights group Adhoc and Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection officials. Tan Kimrany, an officer for Adhoc’s Women’s Rights ...
New Bavet witnesses called
Two new witnesses have been summonsed in the case against former Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith, as the victims’ lawyer tries to prove he intentionally shot three female protesters outside a shoe factory in February. Nouth Bopinnaroath, Svay Rieng provincial co-ordinator for the rights group Licadho, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012061256740/National-news/new-bavet-witnesses-called.html
Flights boost tourism to Cambodia’s seaside
Increased flight connections to Sihanoukville helped boost tourism figures in the seaside province during the first five months of the year, tourism officials said yesterday. ...
Hor Namhong to talk debt in US
Cambodian Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong will conduct a one-day visit to Washington, at the behest of US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, where he will again lobby for US debt forgiveness. The one-day visit on Tuesday will also focus on strengthening bilateral ties between ...
Rice industry calls for help
Milled-rice exporters have called on the government to continue its efforts in reducing electricity and transportation costs, two of the main obstacles facing the government’s goal of exporting 1 million tonnes of milled rice by 2015. At a working group on rice exports on Friday, 40 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012061156715/Business/rice-industry-calls-for-help.html
Semi-skilled builders see wages drop, report says
Real wages for Cambodia’s semi-skilled construction workers fell during the past five years, according to a recent report from market research firm BDLINK Cambodia. A 36 per cent increase in the Kingdom’s consumer price index during the period put semi-skilled workers’ real wages last year ...
Rated X for content: TEDxPP
The grand finale at Phnom Penh’s much-ballyhooed TEDx event on Saturday was intended to send a message. Several activists, among them Loun Savath and the son of the late Chut Wutty, would stand before an audience of 600 and read accounts of violent land disputes. Images from ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012061156729/National-news/rated-x-for-content.html
Returning maids, fishermen share familiar tales of abuse
Eight Cambodian fishermen and four Cambodian maids were repatriated from Malaysia on Friday after finding themselves forced to work in slavery-like conditions, despite being promised high-paying jobs there by brokers and recruitment firms. ...
March calls for end to child labour
More than 1,000 people marched in Sihanoukville yesterday to raise awareness of the exploitation of child labour, said rights workers. Kong Socheat, child rights advocacy co-ordinator for Licadho, said the province had been chosen for its high rate of child labour, especially in the fishing sector ...
Boeung Kak women on hunger strike
Four Boeung Kak women convicted to two-and-a-half years in Prey Sar prison went on a hunger strike yesterday as their husbands and children led a 200-strong rally outside, the husband of imprisoned village representative Tep Vanny told the Post. ...
Tech start-up pitches sought
A group of Phnom Penh-based high-tech professionals are putting on the second annual Startup Weekend Cambodia from June 22 to 24 at Yellow Tower, across the Tonle Sap from the Riverside. Darren Jensen of Yoolk, a software company that builds content, sales and HR management systems ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012061156712/Business/tech-start-up-pitches-sought.html
Sok Siphana’s law firm joins ZICOlaw
Lawyer and government advisor Sok Siphana has made his law firm, Sok Siphana & Associates, a member of ZICOlaw, a leading regional law firm based in Kuala Lumpur and focused on the ASEAN region. ...
Phnom Penh Autonomous Port to push rice exports
Phnom Penh Autonomous Port plans to buy a rice-polishing machine from China, and will also look to build a rice storage facility in Kandal province. These moves, officials said, were intended to push along Cambodia’s rice trade during a period of uncertainty for the industry. Facilities ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012060856663/Business/ppap-to-push-rice-exports.html
Bail for Kratie land activists
Five of the eight villagers arrested during a bloody crackdown last month on what the government alleged was a secessionist movement in Kratie province are out on bail. Chuk Nguon, an investigating judge at Kratie Provincial court, said five menwere released on May 31 because ...
Visits short for jailed Boeung Kak spouses
Boeung Kak villager Heng Tong has seen his wife, Heng Mom, for a total of 15 minutes since she was sent to Prey Sar prison after a three-hour trial on May 24. He has been granted three visits and has had to bring money to pay ...
Boeung Kak tale resonates in Washington
In Washington yesterday, Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Mu Sochua lobbied US government officials to withhold military funding to the Cambodian government if it does not meet two political demands ahead of her meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday. Mu Sochua said she would ...
Workers' protest in Phnom Penh pays off
Garment workers who claim their employer was docking their pay for wearing shoes on the job will return to work today after their two-day strike ended with some demands being met. More than 300 workers from Horus Industrial Corp sportswear factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012060856672/National-news/strike-action-pays-off.html
Cambodian airport traffic soars despite global slump
Passenger traffic at Cambodia’s three main airports climbed by 21.8 per cent during the year to date compared to the same period last year, according to data released yesterday by Cambodia Airports. ...
Chinese factory ordeal over for Khmer quartet
Four Cambodian women working at a garment factory in Dongguan, China returned home yesterday after a nine-month ordeal during which they found themselves sick, overworked and trapped without passports in a foreign country. Yin Sophy, 27, Sok Kunthea, 25, Non Sopheap, 21, and Yin Sophea, 20, ...
New factory home for workers in brawl’s wake
Hundreds of Cambodian workers who refused to work at a Thai seafood factory after the deaths of two men in a violent brawl on Monday have been offered employment at another factory, their spokesman said yesterday. “The manager told us that in three more days, ...
SL factory strikes to slow Cambodian garment industry
A sharp increase in garment factory strikes this year has raised eyebrows among industry insiders, who say the disputes could lead to a decrease in year-on-year export growth. The Arbitration Council, which hears work-related disputes such as factory strikes, saw claims nearly double during the first ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012060756642/Business/strikes-hit-garment-boom.html
First milled-rice order destined for China
A 144-tonne shipment of Cambodian fragrant rice will leave Phnom Penh for Fuzhou, China on Saturday, the first Chinese order for the Kingdom’s milled rice after a recent government agreement was reached on Chinese regulation. Mekong Oryza Trading received the order months earlier ...
Union out of loop in MoU negotiations
The garment industry could be close to renewing an industrial relations memorandum of understanding, but an independent union believes it is being edged out of negotiations because it opposes the use of short-term and fixed-duration contracts. Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labour Confederation, said yesterday ...