News
European Lawmakers Press for Probe of Land Concessions
Lawmakers from the European Union (E.U) are again urging the block’s trade commissioner to investigate Cambodia’s Economic Land Concessions (ELCs) over a raft of alleged rights abuses and consider revoking the duty free access their owners currently enjoy to member states. Going mostly to industrial ...
Cambodian Land Rights Activist's Bail Plea Rejected
The Cambodian Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a jailed land rights activist’s appeal to be released on bail, drawing criticism from rights groups who said the whole case smacked of political interference and should be thrown out. “I am having heart, respiratory, and stomach ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/land-03272013191716.html
Boeung Kak activist to seek bail
A bail hearing for imprisoned Boeung Kak lake land activist Yorm Bopha, 29, will be held this morning at the Supreme Court, her husband, Lous Sakhorn, said yesterday. Bopha was arrested on September 4 last year and charged with intentional violence over the assault ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032764717/National/boeung-kak-activist-to-seek-bail.html
Hun Sen Seeks Chinese Help for Bridge Project
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday urged China to come up with enough funding for Cambodia to build a 3.5km bridge across the Tonle Sap and connect National Road 6 in Kampong Thom with Kampong Chhang province. Speaking at a ground-breaking ceremony for a $20 million Chinese ...
Rubber to give economy a bounce
Cambodian officials say they will focus on nine different sectors in a bid to diversify and ensure continued national economic growth. Among the nine priorities, rubber will play a crucial role in Cambodia’s trade integration strategy. After opening a workshop on Cambodia’s trade strategy for the coming ...
Koh Thom Bridge construction launched
A ground breaking ceremony of the $19.39 million, Koh Thom Bridge, has been launched Monday. The 407 meter bridge will be built over the, Tonle Bassac River, linking National Road 110 in the village of Prek Thmey, Chroy Takeo commune and National Road 21 in ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YjY1MTY0ZWI3ZjE
British Businessman Arrested over Alleged Land Fraud
The British chairman of an embattled agricultural investment firm was arrested Saturday by Cambodian authorities over charges of forging documents and using them in an attempt to illegally purchase thousands of hectares of land, a court prosecutor said. Greg Fryett, the main shareholder of Sustainable Agro ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/british-businessman-arrested-over-alleged-land-fraud-15882/
Thumbprint dubious: court
The legitimacy of a lawsuit filed by prominent businesswoman Chhin Sokountheary, also known as “Crocodile Grandmother”, accusing Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema of abusing his power by stealing some 34 hectares of privately owned land is being called into question by the Phnom Penh Municipal ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032564664/National/thumbprint-dubious-court.html
Hun Sen’s Niece Brings Hard Rock Restaurant to Cambodia
Hard Rock Cafe, the iconic U.S. restaurant franchise known for its collections of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia, will open restaurants in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, in a deal with a local firm owned by the niece of Prime Minister Hun Sen, company representatives said ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sens-niece-brings-hard-rock-restaurant-to-cambodia-15652/
Villagers say soldiers blocking land
Twenty-seven families in Oddar Meanchey’s Trapaing Prasat district filed a complaint with Hun Sen’s cabinet and the rights group Adhoc on Monday, maintaining that soldiers have been preventing them from farming since October 2012. A representative of the villagers, Soeung Sophea, 59, said yesterday that troops ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032062035/National/villagers-say-soldiers-blocking-land.html
Hun Sen: No to industry along coast
Hun Sen asked authorities to maintain the pristine beaches along coastal provinces by not allowing any industrial factories to be constructed on or near them. The comment was aimed towards an agreement signed by Cambodian and Chinese companies late last month to build a $2.3 ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=ZmQ1NGIxODRiYTk
Cambodia launches National Council on Green Growth
Cambodia on Tuesday officially inaugurated the National Council on Green Growth, aiming at developing a sustainable economic society with natural resource and environment sustainability. Cambodia has adopted several legal instruments for the green growth implementation. Those included the roadmap for green growth, the memorandum of ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-03/19/c_132246075.htm
1.5 mln hectares of land concessions granted
Hun Sen announced that 1.5 mln hectares of Economic Land Concessions were granted to private companies. 1.2 mln hectares, 80 percent, of the concessions are used for rubber plantation sector. He said, that Cambodia still maintain[s] 9.2 mln hectares of forest land even though 1.5 mln ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=OWU3Nzc3ODg4YjY
Hun Sen: to rebuild homes in Sihanoukville
The Prime Minister ordered 49 family’s houses to be rebuild [sic] at Keo Pus Village, in the Steung Hav District of Sihanoukville, after they had been demolished by authorities earlier this month. He also ordered Bin Chhin, Chairman of the National Authority for Land Dispute ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=YmFjMDM0MTczYzl
Mfone Workers Demand $4.4M Compensation
About 200 former employees of bankrupt mobile phone operator Mfone yesterday protested outside the company’s shuttered offices, asking for the help of Prime Minister Hun Sen in the fight to get more than $4 million in compensation from the company. Mfone declared itself insolvent in ...
‘Crocodile’ gran to file $100 million lawsuit
Prominent businesswoman Chhin Sokountheary yesterday announced her intention to sue Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema for falsifying documents saying she illegally occupied state land in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district in a bid to steal the land and develop a sports stadium on it. Sokountheary, 57 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031861997/National/crocodile-gran-to-file-100-million-lawsuit.html
Rosewood trade must stop: PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos to help curb the illegal trade in rosewood after Cambodia’s bloodiest year yet for logging-related border shootings. Speaking to reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport after the premier returned from a two-day meeting ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031461944/National/rosewood-trade-must-stop-pm.html
Thailand, Cambodia mull joint business, trade body
Thailand and Cambodian signed an agreement for the formation of a joint business council to promote bilateral trade and investment. The memorandum of understanding was officially endorsed on Tuesday evening by Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen on the sidelines of ...
http://www.pattayamail.com/news/thailand-cambodia-mull-joint-business-trade-body-23289
Six Cambodians Injured in Capital Land Clash
At least six people were seriously injured Wednesday in clashes between about 100 villagers demanding land compensation and 300 security personnel in front of the home of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, activists said. According to villager representative Tep Vanny, the evictees from Phnom Penh’s Boeung ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/clash-03132013184900.html
Siamese Rosewood Elevated to Protected Status
Siamese Rosewood, which is illegally logged and exported from Cambodia in large quantities, will be protected internally as a threatened species following a decision taken in Bangkok yesterday. A meeting of the 177 countries party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild ...
Government targets unsafe trucks on national roads
Just 6 percent of 12,006 commercial freight vehicles passed recent road safety inspections, while an estimated 70 percent of car drivers bought their driving licenses illegally from private driving schools, a meeting at the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation was told yesterday. Many of the ...
ASEAN countries agree to greater economic cooperation
Senior representatives for Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and ASEAN met here Tuesday and issued a joint statement highlighting their agreement to forge stronger mutual investment, trade, transport and scientific cooperation links. The joint statement was released at the conclusion of the 6th annual Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam (CLMV) Summit, ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2013-03/12/c_132228469.htm
Hun Sen says Wage Changes Are Not Up To The Government
Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that the government has no role in setting the minimum wage, as Cambodia is a market driven economy, and shot down unnamed people who have been calling for the government to significantly raise the country’s floor wage of $61. “For ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-says-wage-changes-are-not-up-to-government-14455/
Banong Families Receive Communal Land Tiles
Seventy-two ethnic minorities Banong families received communal titles to a combined 1,008 hectares of ancestral land in Mondolkiri province yesterday morning in a ceremony attended by Land Management Minister Chhun Lim. Communal titles were designed to protect the ancestral lands of the country’s minorities from outside ...