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Cambodia’s garment exports exceeded US$1 billion during the first quarter of 2012, yet many factories are failing to pay workers proper maternity leave benefits or address issues of fainting, a labour report says. The International Labour Or­ganization-Better Factories Cam­bodia’s Twenty Eighth Syn­­­thesis Report on Working Conditions ...

Cambodia held on to its Tier 2 ranking for the third straight year in the U.S. State Depart- ments latest global Trafficking in Persons Report, which praised the country for a rise in prosecutions, but criticized the country over a new sub-decree on migrant labor. In ...

Despite authorities turning a blind eye to their villages for more than 15 years, about 2,000 families living near Preah Sihanouk province’s Kbal Chhay waterfall face imminent eviction to make way for a clean-water processing plant, officials said yesterday. Prime Minister Hun Sen’s recent bold move ...

The Phnom Penh municipal authority has called on Borei Keila residents evicted on January 3 to present official documents proving they are eligible for housing. City Hall’s request came as part of a statement criticising NGOs and political parties that encouraged “poor” residents, who were not ...

The Australian Embassy conceded that problems have plagued the relocation process of about 160 families moved to Trapeang Anhchanh on the outskirts of Phnom Penh last September. The families were moved for a railway rehabilitation project partially funded by the Australian government’s AusAID. “We agree on the ...

Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen on June 14 ordered line ministries to distribute land to landless and real poor people to contribute to strengthening social equity system in the kingdom. “Landless and real poor people will get a plot of land with land titles according to the obvious situation,” Premier said in the launching ceremony ...

Increasing discrimination by factories against unions and continued poor wages in Cambodia’s garment sector have resulted in a rise in the number of worker protests, according to a report released yesterday by the International Labor Organization (ILO). According to its periodic synthesis report on working ...

In April, Chut Wutty was shot to death in the Cambodian forests he was so outspoken in defending, a slaying that outraged human rights activists suspicious of the conflicting explanations given by police. His death appears to be part of a chilling trend. Growing numbers of activists ...

The filling of Boeng Kak lake and the eviction of thousands of residents was necessary to root out the “prostitutes and terrorists” that were drawn to the area’s once-popular tourist zone, the Phnom Penh Municipality said in a statement yesterday. In a statement posted to its ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has given approval to grant state-owned land to three private companies despite issuing a temporary ban on land concessions, drawing criticism from local NGOs concerned about increasingly frequent land disputes in the country. Copies of three subdecrees obtained by RFA showed ...

Less than a week after Prime Minister Hun Sen called for land to be returned to villagers embroiled in land disputes, a Pursat province villager has been summonsed by the court in a scenario many see as all too common in these disputes. Kuch Veng, a ...

The Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC) is planning to develop a 400-unit apartment complex on the former site of the Ratanakkiri provincial airport, an official with knowledge of the project said yesterday. Ly Teang, Banlung City branch manager for Canadia Bank, whore investors are the ...

Adding to a growing body of research into the flaws of Cambodia’s $142 million railway rehabilitation project, a report published yesterday said soaring debt levels are crippling families forcibly relocated by the project. In the report by land rights organization Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT), researchers tracked ...

The State Department on Tuesday cited abuses in Thailand’s huge fishing industry as part of an annual worldwide report on Trafficking in Persons. The report noted that men from Cambodia and Myanmar, also known as Burma, are trafficked aboard Thai ships and forced to work ...

“Vespa was in Cambodia before the war [and] Piaggio wanted to come back to the market in Cambodia, because the market is growing,” explained Frederic Bachelet, head of business development at Narita Vespa Co. Ltd. The company plans to break ground next week on ...

Hundreds of people have ordered video compact discs (VCDs) of Thursday’s speech on land rights given by Prime Minister Hun Sen after an official at CTN offered on-air yesterday to send a copy to anyone who requested it Orders of the speech have been pouring in ...

Hundreds of Kompong Cham villagers protested yesterday and Sunday against high electricity prices in another example of energy-price demonstrations that are becoming increasingly frequent across the country. In Kompong Cham province’s Batheay district, more than 500 villagers yesterday continued a protest over electricity prices that began ...

An unnamed Chinese investor will put nearly US$400 million into a 300-megawatt coal-powered plant in Kampot province, officials said yesterday. The plant, slated for a November groundbreaking, will provide power for the Kampot Special Economic Zone, the nearby Prey Nob oil refinery in Preah Sihanouk province ...

Women’s economic roles in Cambodia have made slower progress than in many other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, World Bank economists said yesterday. The region as a whole has seen tremendous gains in the way of gender equality during the past 20 years, but increasing wages ...

More than 100 villagers from Svay Rieng province’s Romeas Hek district protested yesterday on land they say was stolen from them in 2007 and recently cleared by a former community representative, whose uncle is a local commune chief Villagers said lang Hai, who acted as ...

A Chinese mining firm has donated about $200,000 toward the building of a new district headquarters for the ruling CPP in Preah Vihear province, officials said yesterday. Kong Makara, director of the provincial industry, mines and energy office, said that Chinese company Cambodian Iron Holding and ...

Cambodian Vannak Prum’s destiny changed in a dirt-road town called Malai. It’s a Cambodian outpost on the border with Thailand that is known for its involvement in the trafficking of human beings. Prum arrived in Malai seven years ago searching for work. His wife was pregnant, ...

Commune and village officials in Kratie province yesterday threatened to shut down a community meeting on the protection of Prey Long forest because the organizers had failed to get permission and allegedly invited only opposition party activists. The authorities eventually allowed the meeting to proceed, after ...

Cambodia and China, on June 13th, inked an agreement to strengthen their ties and showed they have become comprehensive strategic partners as ties between the two countries boosts bilateral trade to reach a level of 5 billion US dollars by 2017. Eang Sophallet, an assistant to Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen, told media that ...