News

Days after warning that his ruling party was as capable and willing to protest as the opposition, and threatening a barbed-wire fence in Freedom Park to divide the two groups, Prime Minister Hun Sen was yesterday talking multi-party reform. Speaking at the Intercontinental Hotel in Phnom ...

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and Vietnam increased only about 3.4 per cent last year compared to 2012, data from the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh showed yesterday. An embassy official said the sluggish growth could be attributed to the political deadlock between the Cambodian People’s Party ...

The beating death of a Vietnamese-Cambodian earlier this month was the first incident in several years that some are calling a hate crime. Leaders of the Vietnamese community in Cambodia, as well as the Vietnamese Embassy, say they want the Cambodian authorities to pay more attention ...

When Sim Sok Toeur, 32, returned from study in Australia last April, he did so with a vision for Phnom Penh’s skyline. For Sok Toeur, a scholarship to study overseas granted him a better quality of education than was possible in Cambodia – even though ...

The total number of serious and minor crimes in Cambodia increased by 1 percent, or 27 cases, in 2013 compared to the previous year, while Phnom Penh’s crime rate rose by 62 percent, a report released by the Interior Ministry on Tuesday says—laying the blame ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday took a stand against intimidation and harassment at markets, ordering municipal and provincial governors to crack down on aggressive fee collectors they employ. Speaking at a graduation ceremony at the capital’s Royal School of Administration, Hun Sen distanced himself from what ...

A senior ruling party lawmaker has rejected allegations that the group of 21 activists, unionists and workers arrested during protests last month and denied bail for a second time yesterday are being used as a political tool by the government to force the opposition party ...

Richard Rogers, the lawyer retained by the opposition CNRP to potentially submit a case against Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government with the International Criminal Court at The Hague, said Thursday that letters were hand-delivered to two military police chiefs requesting information about the fatal shooting ...

In case the 29 officers Prime Minister Hun Sen promoted on January 30 to four-star general were not enough, six Interior Ministry police chiefs were also promoted to the same top rank late last month. A January 22 royal decree, obtained Wednesday, elevated the six lieutenant ...

The Ministry of Justice is kicking into overdrive its long-stagnated efforts to finish three fundamental laws on the function of the judiciary, saying it hopes to complete the laws – which it characterises as key judicial reforms – by the end of the month, the ...

A group of Cambodian-Americans plans to file a criminal complaint at the International Criminal Court against Prime Minister Hun Sen and senior officials, accusing them of human rights violations and obstructing justice for the victims of the Khmer Rouge. The complaint will be submitted to the ...

Political tensions that remain unresolved in both Cambodia and Thailand could lead to more violence in both countries, analysts warn. Thailand is going through another spate of democratic reform, following demonstrations that forced Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down and call for new elections. Those elections ...

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 ...

Cambodia is preparing three long-awaited laws aimed at restoring its widely criticized judicial system. However, two of the three draft laws obtained by VOA Khmer still need a lot more improvement, according to legal experts. The laws focus on codifying court jurisdiction, laying out guidelines for ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Cambodia’s human rights record was assessed Tuesday by the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 47 member states in Geneva, many of which cited concerns about the recent violent suppression of protests by the government, and a judiciary beholden to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling CPP. The U.N. ...

CPP National Assembly President Heng Samrin has ordered Cambodia’s newest ambassadors to Asia and Europe to go on a public relations offensive against mounting news abroad that the country’s respect for democracy and human rights is slipping. Cambodian security forces have shot dead seven people ...

Ahead of today’s hearing on Cambodia’s record at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, opposition figures and analysts said the ruling Cambodian People’s Party has reverted to familiar tactics of post-election suppression. Analysts yesterday said that the breaking up of Cambodia National Rescue Party-led protests ...

More than 50 per cent of candidates nominated by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party in the upcoming provincial and district council elections should be women, a coalition of 12 civil society groups said in a letter on Thursday. ...

There was a shift of almost seismic proportions between January and November 2013 as the number of people who believe the country is being steered in the right direction fell sharply, while the number of discontented citizens rose, according to a new report. Launching its annual ...

Union leaders yesterday said that despite having held strikes calling for a doubling of the minimum wage that were supported and encouraged by the country’s opposition party, they did not feel betrayed that the wage hike was taking a backseat in political negotiations. Following a government ...

Ahead of the 10-year anniversary on Wednesday of the assassination of Free Trade Union (FTU) President Chea Vichea, police said Monday that despite their inability to bring anyone to justice for the high-profile slaying, the case remains open. However, Chea Mony, the brother of Chea Vichea, ...