Social development
Police officer called to face logging allegations
A commune police officer has been summonsed to appear at Ratanakkiri’s provincial court on Friday after 10 villagers filed lawsuits against him in September for his alleged involvement in illegal logging in a community forest and for threatening them with a rifle, villagers and the ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-officer-called-face-logging-allegations
A burden to bear
Among the exotic wildlife that prowls Cambodia’s forests are large furry creatures that may be far more familiar to European and North American visitors than the ever-dwindling populations of large cats and beastly elephants. The Kingdom’s bears climb trees and devour honey just like their ...
Bennett Murray
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/7days/burden-bear
UN envoy raises assembly ban concerns
Maina Kiai, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the freedom of assembly and association, met with a Foreign Affairs Ministry official Thursday and raised concerns about the government’s blanket ban on gatherings in Phnom Penh. His visit wraps up today, and a thematic report he will issue ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-envoy-raises-assembly-ban-concerns-51652/
Unions want wage negotiations, arrest of shooters from January violence
Representatives of nine unions met together have made seven resolutions to seek better conditions and wages for workers in Cambodia’s factories. The unions are calling for the release of those workers, the restart of wage negotiations and the “unmasking” of police personnel who did the ...
Kong Sothanarith
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/unions-want-wage-negotiations-arrest-of-shooters-from-january-violence/1845791.html
Missing boy presumed dead after protest shooting
The father of a 16-year-old boy who went missing during last month’s labor protest crackdowns says he now presumes his son dead. The boy, Khim Sophat, was caught up in demonstrations at the Canadia Industrial Zone in early January. He was not listed among the four ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/missing-boy-presumed-dead-after-protest-shooting/1845735.html
Sugar Firm Offers Defense After Call for Probe of EU Trade Links
The director of a CPP senator’s sugar plantation accused of stealing land from hundreds of families said Wednesday that most locals were happy with the new jobs the plantation has generated, a week after a visiting European Union parliamentarian renewed calls for an investigation of ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sugar-firm-offers-defense-after-call-for-probe-of-eu-trade-links-51545/
Workers From 2011 Shooting Still Dealing With Medical Problems
Two women wounded in the 2011 protest shooting in Svay Rieng province have seen their conditions worsen. A total three women were shot during worker strikes by the former governor of Bavet city, Chhouk Bandith, during worker strikes in February 2011. ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/workers-from-2011-shooting-still-dealing-with-medical-problems/1845710.html
Tuk-Tuk, Motorbike Drivers Want Vehicles Back
A dozen tuk-tuk and motorcycle-taxi drivers who say their vehicles were confiscated after police suppressed a demonstration in Phnom Penh last week gathered outside City Hall on Wednedsay to demand the return of their property. The drivers waited from 12 p.m. until 5 p.m. hoping to ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tuk-tuk-motorbike-drivers-want-vehicles-back-51555/
United Nations Envoy Visits After Protest Deaths
The U.N. special rapporteur on the freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Maina Kiai, began a three-day unofficial visit to Cambodia on Wednesday, just one month after military police shot dead five protesters in Phnom Penh and the government imposed a ban on public gatherings. Mr. ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/united-nations-envoy-visits-after-protest-deaths-51551/
UN Envoy Asks Cambodia to Lift Demonstrations Ban
A U.N. rights envoy suggested Thursday that Cambodia lift a ban on public gatherings in the capital imposed amid a violent crackdown on demonstrators a month ago. Maina Kiai, the U.N.’s global Special Rapporteur for freedom of peaceful assembly and association, made the suggestion to Foreign ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/rapporteur-02062014181843.html
Motor insurance slows to a crawl
Insurance providers sold far fewer motor vehicle and personal accident policies in 2013 than in the previous year, sparking concern among some in the industry that the importance of being covered in case of a road accident isn’t getting through to drivers. According to the General ...
May Kunmakara and Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/motor-insurance-slows-crawl
Forums to help guide learning
Beginning this year, all public schools will be required to conduct regularly scheduled forums designed to function as a sounding board between teachers, parents and students, officials said yesterday. The meetings will encourage dialogue about what is and isn’t working in Cambodian schools, Education Minister Hang ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/forums-help-guide-learning
Khmer minority lack equal rights: report
Thach Ry, a 64-year-old Khmer Krom man, fled Vietnam in 2008 after authorities there tried to arrest him for protesting the government’s treatment of his community. Arriving in Cambodia with his wife and daughter, authorities here tried to arrest him, too, he said, so like many ...
Kevin Ponniah and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/khmer-minority-lack-equal-rights-report
Ministry to ‘examine’ probe results
Officials from the Ministry of Interior will meet tomorrow to review the results of an investigation into a crackdown that left four dead on Veng Sreng Boulevard in Phnom Penh last month, a police spokesman said. After saying on Tuesday that a report on the investigation’s ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ministry-%E2%80%98examine%E2%80%99-probe-results
Khmer Krom Seeking Refuge Remain in a State of Limbo
Khmer Krom people fleeing persecution in Vietnam and denied refuge in Thailand are being sent to Cambodia, where the government does not ensure that their rights are protected, the Minority Rights Organization (MIRO) has said in a new report. The report—“Abandoned People Khmer Krom Seeking Refuge ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/khmer-krom-seeking-refuge-remain-in-a-state-of-limbo-51557/
All quiet as Veng Sreng probe ends
The government’s investigation into the bloody crackdown on unruly protesters on Veng Sreng Boulevard one month ago wrapped up yesterday, officials said, though those familiar with the investigation remained tight-lipped about its findings. National Police spokesman Kirth Chantharith said yesterday that the three-week investigation had cooperated ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/all-quiet-veng-sreng-probe-ends
Phnom Penh Trash Collectors Dance for Demands
Piles of garbage festered on the streets of Phnom Penh on Tuesday as hundreds of workers employed by the city’s refuse collection company, Cintri, continued to strike for higher wages and better working conditions. At the company’s truck depot in Dangkao district Tuesday morning, more than ...
Ben Sokhean and Alice Cuddy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/phnom-penh-trash-collectors-dance-for-demands-51432/
Unions argue over wage committee reforms
Meeting for a minimum wage workshop on Tuesday, the country’s independent and government-aligned unions argued over reforms to the Labor Advisory Committee (LAC), the body in charge of setting the minimum wage in the garment sector, which employs some 600,000 workers. The LAC, which is composed ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-argue-over-wage-committee-reforms-51452/
Garment Workers Injured in Svay Rieng Crash
At least 86 garment workers were injured when the 3-ton truck in which they were traveling overturned on National Road 1 in Svay Rieng province Tuesday morning, police and health officials said. In November, seven people were killed and 17 others seriously injured when a ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/garment-workers-injured-in-svay-rieng-crash-51454/
Migrant abuse down, not out
Fewer cases of abuse of migrants were recorded last year than in 2012, but that doesn’t mean the issue is any less serious, a forum held by rights group Adhoc was told yesterday. Torture, a lack of food, and physical and sexual abuse are just some ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/migrant-abuse-down-not-out
Killing of Journalist May Not Be Linked to Illegal Fishing Reports
Police in Kompong Chhnang province on Tuesday said they were looking for three suspects in the murder of a local journalist on Friday night and may soon add more names to the list, but still had no motive for the attack. However, the provincial coordinator for ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/killing-of-journalist-may-not-be-linked-to-illegal-fishing-reports-51448/
‘Workplace inequality pervasive’
Discussions about salaries on the factory floor led worker Channa, 22, to begin feeling jealous of her male counterparts. She learned, through talking with a number of co-workers, that the men working around her were doing the same amount of work as she was, but being ...
Shane Worrell and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98workplace-inequality-pervasive%E2%80%99
US Ambassador Calls for Curbs on Corruption
U.S. Ambassador William Todd on Tuesday used his weekly newspaper column to urge Cambodia’s government to immediately conduct reforms that would even the country’s economic playing field, curb corruption, restore democratic freedoms and generally address the concerns of citizens who want change. “Corruption and nepotism contribute ...
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-ambassador-calls-for-curbs-on-corruption-51436/
Opposition Barred From Meeting Detainees for a Second Day
Riot police and security forces prevented an opposition delegation from meeting with 23 protest detainees in Kampong Cham province on Tuesday, for second day in a row. No violence was reported, as the delegation from the Cambodia National Rescue Party met with more than 100 police ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/opposition-barred-from-meeting-detainees-for-a-second-day/1844162.html