ការអភិវឌ្ឍសង្គម
Forestry Administration Fights Logging with Wedding Gardens
As the remains of the county’s forests fall to rapacious illegal loggers and to make way for the government-awarded economic land concessions, officials tasked with forestry protection are hoping newlywed couples can build a last line of defense. “Wedding gardens”- green spaces where newly-married couples are ...
Kuch Naren, P.20
http://www.cambodiadaily.com
Ethnic Jarai villagers defend claim at court
Jarai ethnic minority villagers appeared at Ratanakkiri provincial court yesterday, demanding compensation from a Vietnamese company they say illegally cleared 30 hectares of community land in November last year. Chea Chanrith was granted a licence from the Ministry of Agriculture last year to clear land ...
Banong Families Close to Communal Land Titles
An indigenous ethnic Banong community in Mondolkiri province yesterday began the final stage in acquiring a communal land title, setting it up to become only the sixth community in the country to secure one of the coveted documents. Established by the 2001 Land Law, communal land ...
Titles closer, but ‘land damage done’
Three ethnic Jarai minority communities passed a crucial hurdle on the way to obtaining communal land titles in government-sanctioned ceremonies this week. But a human-rights activist tempered the celebration, saying mass deforestation in the province had already stripped most of the land the villagers are ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032264629/National/titles-closer-but-land-damage-done.html
NGOs query Lao’s telco promotion
Four NGOs asked the government yesterday to explain the decision to promote Lao Saroeun to an undersecretary of state position in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, even though he has not been cleared of alleged corruption. “In proper practice, people under investigation for alleged corruption ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032062034/Business/ngos-query-lao-s-telco-promotion.html
R’kiri minorities say land’s sale improper
Fifty Tampuon ethnic minority families protested yesterday in front of the Soeung Commune Hall in Bakeo district against their commune chief, who they allege sold land that belonged to the Ratanakkiri community. In a complaint filed to rights group Adhoc yesterday, the families claim that commune ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031962012/National/r-kiri-minorities-say-land-s-sale-improper.html
Myanmar’s siren song
Unions and labour rights groups have spent recent months unashamedly drilling home a stark reminder: Cambodia’s minimum garment wage, at $61 per month, compares poorly with those in Thailand – where workers earn more than $200 a month – and Vietnam, which has a base ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031861998/National/myanmar-s-siren-song.html
Japan to provide Cambodia with nearly 34 mln USD grant aid
Cambodia will sign to receive 33.9 million U.S. dollars in grant aid from Japan for three projects in small hydropower dams, healthcare and education, according to a news release from Cambodia’s foreign ministry on Monday. ...
Still No Donor to Take Over Communal Land Titling From Canada
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) said yesterday that it had still found no replacement donor to commit long-term to carrying on its work helping indigenous ethnic minority groups secure communal land titles once it pulls out in May. Kan Vibol, project field manager for CIDA’s ...
Animal feed lucrative but demand not being met
The production of animal feed may be lucrative for family-run businesses, but production is failing to meet the local market’s demand, said industry experts. Ros Limhy, National Agriculture adviser for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries’ Tonle Sap Poverty Reduction and Smallholder Development project, and ...
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 ...
The drugs don’t work: Despite the best efforts of the authorities, producers of fake medicines are making a killing in Cambodia
“Counterfeit medicine kills, while real medicine heals.” This was the simple but apt message selected just over a year ago for a poster campaign in Cambodia that aimed to raise awareness of the risks of counterfeit medications, as part of a government crackdown on the ...
EU fund of over $4.5 mln in Cambodia
The European Union in efforts to reduce the poverty rate and secure a free society has awarded $4.5 mln to four projects. These projects will work to improve justice, natural resources, land rights, and build the capabilities of local authorities. Four projects were selected among ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=ODhhZmVjNmU1OTd
CNRP Rallies Garment Workers With Promises of Change
Speaking to hundreds of garment workers yesterday in Phnom Penh, Kem Sokha, deputy president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), appealed to those in attendance to vote for the newly formed opposition party, promising higher wages, social security and free access to schools and ...
Millers need greater access to credit: Govt
The Ministry of Commerce and bank officials announced yesterday that they will hold a meeting next month aimed at better facilitating rice millers’ access to credit. The move is part of the Asian Development Bank’s Climate Resilient Rice Commercialization Sector Development program to address food security ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031161863/Business/millers-need-greater-access-to-credit-govt.html
World Bank’s Boeng Kak Failure Cited in UN Report
The U.N.’s expert on housing rights has cited the World Bank’s failure to help thousands of families evicted from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood as a prime example of why the bank needs to make human rights a focus of its land sector programs worldwide. At ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/world-banks-boeng-kak-failure-cited-in-un-report-14120/
Policy to expand sector
The government plans to implement an industrial policy designed to promote development of the manufacturing sector. Speaking at a business networking dinner prepared by the Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Associations on Wednesday, Sok Chenda Sophea, secretary general of the Council for the Development of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013031161862/Business/policy-to-expand-sector.html
Cambodia’s Economic Growth Will Help Poverty Reduction
Cambodia economic growth was 7.3 percent in 2012. Agriculture grew by 4.3 percent, crops by 4.9 percent, fisheries by 6.7 percent, industry by 9.2 percent, garment [sector] by 6.9 percent and the service industry by 8.1 percent, said Dr Hang Chuon Naron, Secretary of State ...
Prosecutor Wants Change To Sonando Charges
In a bizarre twist at the Appeal Court hearing of radio station owner Man Sonando, the prosecution yesterday asked that judges drop the charge against Mr. Sonando of inciting antigovernment violence, but then asked the court to uphold another charge leading to an insurrection. Mr. ...
Shots fired as families evicted
Police, military police and forestry officials evicted 100 families in Koh Kong province’s Smach Meanchey district yesterday, shooting into the air during the forcible removal to disperse villagers with the threat of violence. It was the second day of evictions in an area authorities say ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030761809/National/shots-fired-as-families-evicted.html
Report shows lack of information on Chinese-Funded Railway
With locals demanding dialogue with the Chinese firms behind a proposed multibillion dollar rail line to Preah Vihear province, an NGO report released yesterday highlights the dearth of information that has been made available on the project. Chinese company Cambodia Iron Steel Mining Industry Group (CISMIG) ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/report-shows-lack-of-information-on-chinese-funded-railway-12723/
Ethnic villagers fight lake fill-in
One hundred and thirteen Jarai families from Ratanakkiri’s Bakeo district are sending a letter of protest to the provincial fishery administration today, after a Vietnamese rubber company started filling in a lake that they had promised last month to preserve for villagers. Rochom Ven, chief of ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030561737/National/ethnic-villagers-fight-lake-fill-in.html
‘Historic’ deal for workers
Labour-rights groups are lauding a “historic” deal that will result in about $200,000 in wages and benefits being paid to workers who were stranded when the Kingsland Garment factory in Phnom Penh closed unannounced in December. In a meeting on Friday that took place as more ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013030461726/National/historic-deal-for-workers.html
Cambodia To Become Lower-Middle-Income Nation By End of 2013: PM
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that the country would move from the status of a low-income to a lower-middle-income nation by the end of this year. “We acknowledge that we are in the status of a low-income country with GDP per capita of less ...