ODC English Site
NGOs ask ASEAN to address Xayaburi
Several groups are calling for the ASEAN summit to address the regional discord caused by the Xayaburi dam, which Laos began constructing earlier this month despite opposition downriver from neighbours Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as from conservation groups. On Friday, the Rivers Coalition in Cambodia ...
SOS Obama protests gain traction
Capitalising on recent worldwide attention to their plight, some 200 villagers who say they’ve been robbed of their homes and land staged a vivid and stylised protest yesterday aimed at President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, calling for intervention in Phnom Penh’s land-titling ...
Healthy growth for Cambodia’s economy
A NEW report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says GDP growth in Cambodia over the next five years is likely to hit 6.9 per cent, the highest of any ASEAN country apart from Laos. However, the report warns that Cambodia needs to ...
Economic benefits of birth control reported
Additional investments in family planning yields economic benefits and would save developing countries more than US$11 billion annually, according to a UN report. Better access to family planning in developing countries would reduce costs for maternal and newborn health care by $11.3 billion per year, according ...
Cambodia Drops a Spot in Asean as Burma Reforms
THE ten-member Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is used to fending off “interference” by the West in the internal affairs of some of its members. In recent years the human-rights record of the regime in Myanmar has been the tenderest of these sore spots. ...
Obama to Talk Rights Abuses, Fair Elections
The U.S. will address human rights abuses in Cambodia and urge Prime Minister Hun Sen to conduct free and fair elections and end a culture of land grabbing during President Barack Obama’s visit to Phnom Penh next week. Samantha Power, senior director for Multilateral Affairs and ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/obama-to-talk-rights-abuses-fair-elections-5731/
គ្រួសារនៅឃុំព្រៃត្រឡាចឈ្នះក្ដីតតាំងការការពារធនធានធម្មជាតិ
បន្ទាប់ពីការតស៊ូប្រឹងប្រែងរយៈពេល ៨ ឆ្នាំ គ្រួសារចំនួន ៨២៥ ដែលបានតតាំងដើម្បីការពារធនធានធម្មជាតិរបស់ពួកគាត់ បានទទួលកិច្ចព្រមព្រៀងដីព្រៃសហគមន៍ តំបន់ព្រៃត្រឡាច កាលពីម្សិលមិញនេះហើយ ទោះបីជាយ៉ាងណាក៏ពួកគាត់នៅមានក្ដីបារម្ភ។ ...
David Boyle
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012111659765/National-news/prey-trolach-families-win-key-battle.htmlbat
Journalist Lied Villagers Claim
More than 300 families embroiled in a land dispute with notorious, and now defunct, NGO Darpo said yesterday that they had filed complaints to the Preah Vihear Provincial Court on Wednesday accusing a Koh Santepheap reporter of disinformation and calling for his arrest and $4,000 ...
Environment plan passes unopposed
In a sitting of parliament yesterday that was rather more subdued than the vicious session that led to an opposition walkout a day earlier, a law to support an environmental program passed with bipartisan support. All but two of the 93 legislat-ors present voted in favour ...
Grassroots Forum Issues Demands Ahead of Asean
The Asean Grassroots People’s Assembly (AGPA) agreed yesterday on a list of demands it intends to present to the Cambodian and regional governments. A crowd of more than 2,000 people-including garment factory workers, victims of evictions, and sex workers, as well as undercover police-gathered at Phnom ...
32 Land Concessions Approved Since Moratorium
Despite a moratorium on the granting of new economic land concessions (ELCs), the government has approved at least 32 ELCs since Prime Minister Hun Sen announced their suspension in May. According to sub-decrees dated from May onward and provided by local human rights group Adhoc, Mr. ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/32-land-concessions-approved-since-moratorium-5725/
Sofa Man a big hit with local lounge lizards
Many expats living in Siem Reap have found themselves on the eternal quest for a comfortable sofa. A big, squishy sofa like the one at home, that allows a body to really stretch out on. A Khmer settee – wooden, bench-like and unforgiving – just ...
Greenpeace Catches 'Black Market' Fish
Fishing vessels registered in the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia have been filmed “laundering” illegally caught tuna, environment activist group Greenpeace International said Thursday. Two Indonesian vessels and one Philippine ship were transferring their hauls on to the Cambodian boat so that the location of their catches ...
China's Aid to Cambodia Helps Cement Ties
When Asia-Pacific leaders gather this weekend in Southeast Asia—a bright spot in a sputtering global economy—their Cambodian hosts may extend a warm welcome to U.S. President Barack Obama, but they will view officials from Beijing as old friends. Mr. Obama’s visit to Cambodia—this year’s host for ...
Chun Han Wong
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324595904578120582308358540.html
Cambodia arrests 8 for painting ‘SOS,’ plastering rooftops with Obama’s picture seeking help
One thing President Barack Obama will not see in Cambodia is pleas for help painted on rooftops near the airport. Authorities on Thursday arrested eight villagers who had hoped to attract the attention of Air Force One by plastering the U.S. president’s picture on their rooftops ...
Senator's 2nd Sugar Refinery to Start Up Monday
Two years after breaking ground, a sugar refinery situated on a pair of controversial plantation belonging to CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat and his wife will have its first test run on Monday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday. He said the refinery would be ...
Merit in rice trade plan
The cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal allowing the Commerce Ministry to form a rice trade partnership with Asean’s four other rice-producing countries, namely Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, to stabilise rice prices in the global market and to promote food security in the region. The ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/321297/rice-trade-area-plan-has-merit
Asean Fellows Warn Cambodia of Mining Pitfalls
Community representatives from Indonesia and the Philippines warned Cambodia yesterday of the potential human cost that an influx of mining companies could bring to the country. As private companies scour the land for minerals, with some set to begin extraction within a few years, Cambodia could ...
Costs outweigh the benefits of foreign direct investment: FAO
Cambodia has been featured as a case study in a new report launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) focusing on the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing nations’ agricultural sectors. While the report acknowledges the positive effects ...
As All Eyes Turn To Cambodia…
Along the Phnom Penh waterfront the city’s landmark flags have been raised and the street children and beggars are being removed – an unwanted sight for a government out to impress the biggest gathering of world leaders this country has ever seen. At the center of this will ...
http://thediplomat.com/asean-beat/2012/11/15/as-the-world-descends-on-cambodia/
Myanmar Airways flights to Cambodia to take off again
Myanmar Airways International (MAI) will resume its regular flights between Yangon and Cambodia’s two main international airports in early December after they were suspended for about three months. MAI started a twice-weekly schedule to Siem Reap in late February, but suspended the route over the last ...
Ratch puts mine purchase on hold as coal price dips sharply
The SET-listed Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc (RATCH), Thailand’s largest private power producer, is to delay the purchase of a coal mine in Indonesia, as the global coal price has dropped sharply. Ratch had planned to acquire a mine to serve its new coal-fired power plants ...
Radio Free Asia reporter to face judge
A Radio Free Asia (RFA) reporter in Ratanakkiri province will be questioned at the provincial court today in relation to claims that he incited villagers to commit crimes against a rubber company that they have been locked in a land dispute with since 2004. Lim Chanlyda, ...
Sesan Dam Decision Questioned
Cambodia has decided to go ahead with the construction of a dam on a Mekong tributary, but conservation groups are concerned that not enough study has been done on the hydropower project’s environmental consequences. Construction on the 400 megawatt Lower Sesan 2 dam in northwestern Cambodia’s ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/sesan-11142012170421.html