ខេមបូឌា ដេលី
Garment Workers Set Tires on Fire as Tax Protest Continues
About 600 garment factory workers continued their strike in Phnom Penh yesterday, setting car tires alight to protest what they said were unfair salary cuts but factory representatives and labor officials described as a normal tax on income. “The factory told us that they cut our ...
Second Eviction Protester Jailed In Two Days
Police and court officials yesterday questioned, charged and imprisoned elderly woman involved in the long-running land dispute at the Borei Keila community in Phnom Penh, a day after an anti-eviction protester from Boeng Kak community met a similar fate. In both cases, police and court officials ...
Senate Approves Law Allowing Cambodians to Work in Qatar
The Senate yesterday approved a law making way for Cambodians to travel to Qatar for work, an official said. The 52 senators present passed the law unanimously and without amendments, said Oum Sarith, Senate cabinet chief. The agreement lets Cambodians work in the oil-rich emirate’s service ...
Government Says Constitutional Amendment Is Not a Change
The government has taken exception to language used to refer to its plan to amend the Constitution dealing with Cambodia’s borders, saying that the planned “amendment” does not constitute a “change”. Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday said that he had launched a study to amend ...
Gov't Reports $25M From Rents in Six Months
The government earned just over $25 million in rental fees from state land leased to private companies in the first six months of the year, according to new figures from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. While the data shows that earning have risen, critics say ...
Emerging Mining Sector to Be Subject to Grassroots Scrutiny
As mining companies continue to scour Cambodia for minerals, work is also under way to build a network of local monitors and activists to shed light on the country’s often-opaque mining sector and its practices. {T]he Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy has granted an unknown ...
Fisheries Official Questioned Over Clearing Flooded Forest
A fisheries official accused of involvement in the clearing of an area of protected flooded forest in Kampong Thom province in July was questioned at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. Korn Chanseiha, chief of the Fisheries Administration’s Stong district office, is one of about 20 officials ...
Villagers Told Eviction Is for Obama's Safety
More than 180 families living adjacent to the Phnom Penh International Airport were told yesterday that they must vacate their homes to make was for a security road to ensure the safety of U.S. President Barack Obama, who is expected to visit in November. Var Sarang, deputy ...
Japanesee NGO Admonishes Forced Evictions
A okyo-based human rights group has called on the government to cease forced evictions and branded the use of armed forces against ordinary citizens defending their land as an :unforgivable human rights violation.” Human Rights Now (HRN), which in June sent a team of Japanese investigators ...
China Gives $523M, Thanks Cambodia for Asean Help
Prime Minister Hun Sen returned home yesterday from a quick trip to Beijing with the promise of some $523 million in new loans and grants, one day after Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jabao praised Cambodia for helping China maintain “friendly relations” with Asean. Speaking with ...
Bourse May Have 7 Trading Sessions Daily
Officials at the Cambodian Securities Exchange (CSX) may increase the number of daily stock trading sessions from two to seven, giving traders more flexibility to buy and sell, an official at the bourse said yesterday. Currently, trading on the CSX occurs in just two sessions, starting ...
Garment Factory Monitoring Needs to Improve
The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Better Factories Cambodia (BFC) program must overhaul its monitoring practices before it can meaningfully improve working conditions in the garment sector, accoring to the authors of a new report. the new report by Community Legal Education Center and the Netherlands-based ...
Indian Chamber of Commerce Launches in Capital
About 100 Indian businessmen and government officials gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday for the official launch of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Cambodia. Speaking at the launch the ICC president, Debasish Pattnaik, said that since the new organization registered with the government in February, it has gained 54 ...
District Police Chief Removed Over Link to Sale of State Land
A district police chief in Kampong Chhnang province has been removed from his post over his alleged involvement in the sale of almost 130 hectares of state land to private buyers, provincial officials said yesterday. Kim Sareth, the chief of police in Toek Phos district, was ...
US, Cambodia Agree to Explore Investment Pact
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced Friday that the U.S. and Cambodia have agreed to explore the creation of a bilateral investment treaty that would regulate the rules of foreign direct investment between the two countries, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. According to the Embassy, such a treaty ...
Fire Destroys 32 Homes In Russei Keo District
Two people received burns when a large fire gutted 32 houses in Russei Keo district’s Kilometer Nine commune on Friday, police said. The fire broke out at 11 a.m. in a village of wooden houses at the rear of the Cambodian Television Network station, said municipal ...
Duo Gets Bail After Obstructing Land Volunteers
A Council of Ministers official and her husband who were arrested in July for obstructing a land-titling initiative spearheaded by Prime Minister Hun Sen have received bail, Stung Treng Provincial Court prosecutor Chroeng Khmao said Friday. Meas Sokhon, who works at the Council of the Ministers’ ...
Mired in Land Disputes, Villagers Find No Remedy in Courts
Since 2009, local human rights group Adhoc has documented 623 cases of land conflict in the country, yet only a little more than 10 percent of those cases were brought to court. The statistics highlight the lack of trust ordinary Cambodians have in the court system, says Adhoc, ...
Hun Sen Asks Summit to Back UN Bid
Addressing the biggest international summit Iran has held in decades, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday made a plea to the 120 nations belonging to the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) to support Cambodia in its quest for a non-permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. There is ...
Families Seek Missing Relatives in Malaysia
Ten months after the government suspended sending Cambodian women to work as maids in Malaysia, following numerous reports of abuse by employers and recruitment companies, families say they have completely lost contact with their loved ones who continue to work in Malaysian households. Local rights group Adhoc has recorded ...
Japan to Study Angkor Wat Park Environment
The Apsara Authority on Wednesday signed an agreement with the Japan Development Institute and two Japanese environmental management companies that will allow them to conduct a feasibility study into the natural environment and pollution in the Angkor Archaeological Park. Yuki Edano, Japan’s minister of economy, trade and industry, and Commerce ...
No Probe Yet of Link to Taiwan Heroin Shipment
Cambodian police have yet to receive information about last week’s massive heroin haul by Taiwanese authorities, who indicated that the drugs were sourced from Cambodia, said Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Interior Ministry. According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice, 70 kg of heroin were ...
One Garment Worker Killed, 24 Injured in Truck Accident
A female garment worker died and 24 other workers were injured when the truck in which they were traveling careened into a pond in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district Wednesday morning, police said. More than 30 garment workers were on board a small, open-backed truck in Prek ...
Man Charged With Clearing State Forestland
The Kampong Thom Provincial Court yesterday charged a man with clearing state-owned forestland after he was arrested on Monday along with 13 other villagers, according to provincial prosecutor Ben Sarath. Heoun Sokha was arrested in Kraya commune’s Santuk district after he was found by police clearing ...