Government
National government
Judiciary laws moving forward with ‘debate’
The National Assembly yesterday opened debate for the first time on the first of three controversial judicial draft laws, approving in principle the first two chapters of the Law on the Organisation and Functioning of the Courts, in the continued absence of the opposition Cambodia ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/judiciary-laws-moving-forward-%E2%80%98debate%E2%80%99
TVK boss’ departure draws further concern
Media watchdogs on Wednesday expressed concern that the resignation on Saturday of Kem Gunawadh, long-serving director-general of state broadcaster TVK, was due to the station’s airing of an opposition campaign spot showing violent government protest repressions. In a statement, the Cambodian Center for Independent Media and ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tvk-boss-departure-draws-further-concern-59348/
Cambodia has some 13,000 drug addicts: anti-drug chief
About 13,000 people, aged between 18 and 35 years old, have been using drugs in Cambodia, up from roughly 7,000 users in 2007, Meas Vyrith, secretary general of the National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD), said Wednesday. “It is estimated that a drug user spends about ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140521/cambodia-has-some-13000-drug-addicts-anti-drug-chief
Ministry swapped in deal with timber magnate
In yet another land swap deal that will see lucrative state-owned land handed to a private business in exchange for a new building on cheaper land, the Try Pheap Group has built a new headquarters for the Women’s Affairs Ministry in Stung Meanchey commune. In return, ...
Aun Pheap and Alex Consiglio
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-swapped-in-deal-with-timber-magnate-59216/
Customs agreement gets green light at NA
The National Assembly approved changes to the country’s customs law yesterday, in order to comply with Association of Southeast Asian Nations intergration standards. The changes demand border operations increase human resources, reduce paperwork and modernise procedures in order to simplify border exchange and facilitate trade between ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/customs-agreement-gets-green-light-na
Gov’t called on to save forests
Villagers from forest communities in nine provinces called on the government yesterday to take action after alleging that “the rich and powerful” are causing the “serious destruction” of their livelihoods. The villagers, with the support of two NGOs – the Children’s Development Association and Community Peace-Building ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/gov%E2%80%99t-called-save-forests
Rights group says US military support breaches Congress bill
U.S.-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday released a report claiming that Washington’s ongoing support for Cambodian security forces is inconsistent with U.S. Congress directives regarding aid to Cambodia. HRW charges that last month’s 10-day Angkor Sentinel military exercise, undertaken by members of the ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-group-says-us-military-support-breaches-congress-bill-59227/
Future unclear for dormant health center
Nearly three years after it was shut down for supposed renovations, Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon Referral Hospital is still not operational and former staff say they have been left out in the cold about what will happen to the site. Commune, district, municipal and national health ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/future-unclear-for-dormant-health-center-59231/
Three provincial police chiefs shuffle jobs
Three provincial police chiefs will move into different jobs over the next three days due to their retirement or election to council positions, a police official said Tuesday. Kompong Chhnang provincial police chief Brigadier General Ath Khem will be replaced by his deputy, Brigadier General Prak ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-provincial-police-chiefs-shuffle-jobs-59237/
Australian media cite Hun Sen Facebook page on refugee deal
A post on a Facebook page that Prime Minister Hun Sen has denied is his own was cited Tuesday by both the Sydney Morning Herald and Australia’s national broadcaster as having officially announced the Cambodian government’s agreement to resettle asylum seekers held by Australia. Mr. Hun ...
Alex Willemyns and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/australian-media-cite-hun-sen-facebook-page-on-refugee-deal-59229/
Minister to address beatings
Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith has pledged to meet with Daun Penh District Governor Sok Sambath to discuss the targeting of journalists by hired district security guards, said UNESCO country representative Anne Lemaistre, who met with the minister on Friday. The minister is also keen on ...
Kevin Ponniah and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/minister-address-beatings
Some 2,000 Chinese flee Vietnam to Cambodia: Cambodian deputy PM
Approximately 2,000 Chinese businesspeople and tourists have crossed the Vietnamese border into Cambodia these days to escape anti-China riots in Vietnam, a senior Cambodian official said Tuesday. “Some 2,000 Chinese nationals have fled Vietnam to Cambodia,” Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng told reporters. ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-05/20/c_133348158.htm
Cambodia sees rise of Asean tourists in Q1
Cambodia received 424,300 visitors from Asean countries in the first quarter of the year, up 4 per cent year-on-year. Data from the Tourism Ministry showed tourist arrivals from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) accounted for 33 per cent of 1.27 million overseas arrivals from January ...
Bernama News Staff
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/wn/newsworld.php?id=1039613
Greens will try to force Senate vote on plans to settle refugees in Cambodia
The Greens will attempt to force a vote in the Senate on plans to resettle in Cambodia refugees whose claims for protection are recognised on Nauru and is challenging Labor to block any deal. The party’s immigration spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, is confident any deal with the ...
Benefits for teachers? Not yet
The government has a response to teachers’ request for health insurance: We’ll provide it if you buy it. At a meeting in Takeo province this past weekend, the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association (CITA) said an upcoming teacher strike would include health insurance on the list of ...
Laignee Barron and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/benefits-teachers-not-yet
Five months on, witnesses recall Muon Sokmean’s beating
Muon Sokmean, a 29-year-old garment worker, scrambled off Veng Sreng Street on January 3 with military police in violent pursuit, brandishing their batons. What had been a militant protest for a $160 minimum wage in the garment sector—with many protesters lobbing rocks and crude Molotov cocktails ...
Mech Dara and Alex Consiglio
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/five-months-on-witnesses-recall-muon-sokmeans-beating-59115/
Caltex strike deal doesn’t hold up
After Caltex managers allegedly reneged on an agreement to pay workers a $20 bonus to suspend a strike for two months, employees say they would only return if the deal is in writing. In a Friday meeting, the Cambodian Food and Service Workers Federation agreed with ...
Phak Seangly and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/caltex-strike-deal-doesn%E2%80%99t-hold
Teachers who claimed graft told to keep quiet
Teachers in Oddar Meanchey province, who last week accused district education officials of stealing their salaries, were on Monday threatened with expulsion for talking to the media, a teachers union said. The Anlong Veng district education director summoned about 15 teachers and school officials to the ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/teachers-who-claimed-graft-told-to-keep-quiet-59124/
TVK director resigns, apparently in response to gov’t criticism
Kem Gunawadh, the long-serving director-general of TVK who helped set up the state broadcaster in 1983, resigned abruptly on Saturday in what his successor said was a reaction to government criticism over his decision not to broadcast live that morning’s annual Royal Plowing Ceremony. The resignation ...
Phann Ana and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tvk-director-resigns-apparently-in-response-to-govt-criticism-58980/
Cambodia’s tourism short of staff
Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism says the country’s tourism sector is growing at an unsustainable rate that will cause a massive shortfall in skilled tourism-related labour. The ministry’s statistics department director, Kong Sopheareak, told local media that as tourist arrivals increase substantially every year, the challenge is ...
Wanwisa Ngamsangchaikit
http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2014/05/cambodias-tourism-short-of-staff/
Grenade attack on deputy chief prosecutor’s home
A grenade was thrown into the home of Kompong Thom Provincial Court deputy prosecutor Say Nora on Saturday night but the official escaped injury as he was not at home when the device exploded, police said. Provincial police chief Phan Sopheng said the attack was an ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/grenade-attack-on-deputy-chief-prosecutors-home-58988/
Chong villagers block Chinese engineers from reaching dam
A group of 20 ethnic minority Chong villagers in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley blocked the road Friday to prevent a group of Chinese engineers from reaching the site of a controversial proposed dam. A number of Chong villagers have been intermittently camping near the road ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chong-villagers-block-chinese-engineers-from-reaching-dam-58944/
Judicial laws put independence of courts in jeopardy
Three constitutionally mandated judicial laws would adversely affect the independence of the courts if they are passed in their current draft state, legal experts warned on Friday. Draft versions of the Law on the Organization and Functioning of the Supreme Council of the Magistracy, the Law ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/judicial-laws-put-independence-of-courts-in-jeopardy-58942/
Oz an example for mining reform
Inspired by Australian mining regulations, the Cambodian government is considering a raft of changes to the mineral resources mining law, including a rethink of the sector’s comparatively high tax rate. Citing discussions held with Western Australia state mining industry representatives last week, Meng Saktheara, secretary of ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/oz-example-mining-reform