Social development
Wages do not compute: ILO
NGOs say the Ministry of Labour’s use of its own method for determining the garment industry’s minimum wage is risking a repeat of the tensions that exploded in violent protests in January, when authorities killed at least five people. More than six months after the Labour ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/wages-do-not-compute-ilo
Demonstrators say jobs in Japan promised
Hundreds of Cambodians hoping to migrate to Japan to work in the electronics industry yesterday protested outside an NGO that they claim conned them out of up to $200 each with promises of jobs. About 100 protesters – out of a total of 300 who are ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/demonstrators-say-jobs-japan-promised
Tougher ELC oversight pledged
In what is the government’s latest pledge to hold tycoons and foreign investors to account for their business practices, the Ministry of Environment will begin assessing existing and proposed economic land concessions (ELCs), cancelling or rejecting those that have negative social or environment impacts, a ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tougher-elc-oversight-pledged
Cambodia looks to put its rice on the world’s plate
For as long as Cambodian rice farmers can remember, their product has had an unsavory reputation. Tough, dirty and unmilled, it was impossible to cook evenly, and even farmers traded it as pig feed in exchange for cash or better-quality rice from Vietnam or Thailand. Even ...
US-listed education provider moves in
US-listed firm Nord Anglia Education has taken over the management of Northbridge International School, the education provider announced earlier this month. Nord Anglia, which currently operates 29 schools stretching from the US to the Middle East, to China, on July 10 took over the day-to-day operations ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/us-listed-education-provider-moves
Cambodia’s ongoing human trafficking problem
Svay Pak is an internationally known district for child sex in Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh, where foreign men come to seek sex with young girls. According to a 2011 study by ECPAT Cambodia, around 75 percent of the victims of sex trafficking within Cambodia were children. The study also ...
Kyla Ryan
http://thediplomat.com/2014/07/cambodias-ongoing-human-trafficking-problem/
Planned dams threaten Cambodia’s food security
The planned construction of 88 hydroelectric dams in the lower Mekong basin by 2030 will cause food security challenges in Cambodia, experts say. “Cambodia is going to pay the highest price for dam development basin-wide, to the point of affecting the food security of its 80 ...
Gant Daily News Staff
http://gantdaily.com/2014/07/28/planned-dams-threaten-cambodias-food-security/
‘A threat to Cambodia’s sacred forests’
In southwest Cambodia, at the foot of the Cardamom Mountains, is a single dirt road that meanders through the heart of the pristine Areng valley. Ten miles down this road, villagers have set up an encampment to stop a hydroelectric dam project that they fear ...
New York Times News Staff
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/opinion/a-threat-to-cambodias-sacred-forests.html
Companies squabble, villagers protest in Kandal
A company that villagers say owns land that was illegally grabbed from them in Kandal province asked more than 100 residents of Ponhea Leu commune to leave the firm out of their dispute and focus their ire on Phanimex, which is owned by powerful businesswoman ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/companies-squabble-villagers-protest-in-kandal-65067/
Anglers ‘invading’: Villagers say rivals taking over fish lot
More than 200 residents from seven villages in Ratanakkiri province’s Taveng district have filed a complaint to the local Administrative Fisheries Department and two right groups over claims that rival anglers in the area are collecting fish in their protected lot by poisoning the catch. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/anglers-%E2%80%98invading%E2%80%99-villagers-say-rivals-taking-over-fish-lot
Boeng Kak’s best teach villagers protest 101
When two middle-aged novices emerged with signs protesting the development of disputed land near the tip of the Chroy Changva peninsula on Thursday, one of the country’s foremost anti-eviction activists was there to tell them they were doing it all wrong. Ms. Vanny, who was ...
Matt Blomberg and Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boeng-kaks-best-teach-villagers-protest-101-64920/
Minister meets NGOs over ongoing UDG dispute
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Thursday met with U.N. and NGO representatives to discuss the ongoing dispute between the powerful Chinese-owned Union Development Group (UDG) and villagers in Koh Kong province who say they were kicked off their land and had their shelters torched. In ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-meets-ngos-over-ongoing-udg-dispute-64952/
New rules for proctors
In its continuing campaign to clean up the grade 12 national exam, the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has warned that anyone caught leaking copies of the test or selling answers could find themselves imprisoned. Punishments for misbehaving exam observers are spelled out in an ACU statement released ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-rules-proctors
Villagers seek refuge in Phnom Penh pagoda again
About 160 villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district embroiled in a land dispute with a plantation owner are the latest evictees to take residence in Phnom Penh’s Samakki Raingsey pagoda. A spokesman for City Hall, which has made repeated efforts in recent months to prevent the ...
Aun Pheap and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-seek-refuge-in-phnom-penh-pagoda-again-64942/
Mekong floodwaters already above late July levels of 2011
Mekong floodwaters have risen sharply this week and have already surpassed the levels seen at this time of the year during the devastating floods of 2011. In Phum Thom commune in Kien Svay district in Kandal province, local residents observed floodwaters rising about two meters between ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=M2ViMTlkMmFjZTg
On the march: Days-long strike shifts to district HQ
After striking for more than a week, employees at Phnom Penh’s Sun Well Shoes yesterday marched to Por Sen Chey district hall, demanding their voices be heard. Some 300 people marched from their Veng Sreng Boulevard factory with a list of seven demands, including the ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/march-days-long-strike-shifts-district-hq
After jailing, Mu Sochua ‘more determined’ print share
Mu Sochua, the outspoken lawmaker of the opposition who just spent a week in jail, says she is going to continue pushing for democratic reforms in Cambodia. “I’m not intimidated by arrest,” she told “Hello VOA” on Wednesday. “Instead, my will to defend the people and ...
Men Kimseng
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/after-jailing-mu-sochua-more-determined/1964382.html
Minister lauds controversial sugar industry
Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Wednesday lauded the country’s controversial sugar industry and the jobs it has created, saying that companies operating in the sector need to be defended against the widespread criticism they have been receiving. Rights groups and the opposition CNRP have undertaken ...
Khuon Narim and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-lauds-controversial-sugar-industry-64810/
After deal, unions expect support
News of an end to a year-long political deadlock has labour union leaders believing the opposition party can bring their interests to parliament, but a lack of follow-through could cost the Cambodia National Rescue Party vital support from one of its key interest groups. Different union ...
Sean Teehan, Mom Kunthear and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/after-deal-unions-expect-support
Officials raid villager’s home in KDC dispute
Police and court officials on Wednesday searched the home of villager Oum Sophy, who has been outspoken opponent of the well-connected KDC company as it has tried to push her and dozens of her neighbors off their land in Kompong Chhnang province. The raid came after ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-raid-villagers-home-in-kdc-dispute-64802/
Hun Sen’s cabinet accepts petition of villagers
The cabinet of Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday accepted a petition from villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district who are requesting intervention in a land dispute with a plantation owner. Kong Chamroeun, a secretary in the prime minister’s cabinet, met about 100 villagers at Phnom ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sens-cabinet-accepts-petition-of-villagers-64812/
Concerns Cambodia's fight against HIV/AIDS undermined by funding cuts, government policy
Experts fear Cambodia’s well-earned reputation as a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS could be undermined by government policy targeting the country’s high-risk groups. Over the past 15 years, government action and large amounts of money from donors have seen the infection rate drop from 2 ...
Robert Carmichael
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-24/cambodia-hiv-efforts-could-be-undermined-by-government-misst/5621218
Garment workers demand district intervention
About 200 garment workers on Wednesday marched from the Sun Well Shoe Factory on Veng Sreng Street to the Pur Senchey district office, demanding intervention in an ongoing dispute over their wages, a union representative said. At 7 a.m., the workers left the factory, marching out ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/garment-workers-demand-district-intervention-64820/
Six more offices to open for Thai-bound workers
Passport offices will be set up in six more provinces in an effort to ease the remigration process for Cambodian workers heading back to Thailand, according to a Ministry of Interior official. Mao Chandara, director of the Ministry of Interior’s passport department, said the new offices ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/six-more-offices-to-open-for-thai-bound-workers-64806/