ព័ត៌មាន
Yearender: Hosting ASEAN Summit tops major achievements of Cambodia in 2012
The successful hosting of the 21st Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its related summits here in November was definitely the biggest achievement of Cambodia in 2012 despite some sad events such as the death of the venerated former King Norodom ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2013-01/01/c_132075147.htm
Hun Sen Asks Companies to Invest in Private Fire Trucks, Again
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday appealed to the private sector for the second time to invest in fire trucks instead of depending on the government’s fire departments. “Please try to do two jobs. The first is to get the fire sprinkler systems into the factory ...
Deputy PM promises tighter fiscal controls
Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister yesterday reiterated his commitment to criminalising money laundering and terrorist financing in the Kingdom. Sok An reassured delegates at the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering of Cambodia’s commitment to implementing comprehensive procedures to stop illegal monetary transactions. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2012122060381/Business/deputy-pm-promises-tighter-fiscal-controls.html
In Garment Sector, a Labor Movement Divided
There was so much noise blasting from the loudspeakers that the occasional rallying cry from striking workers at the demonstration in Phnom Penh’s Dangkao district last week could hardly be heard. One 2-meter high stack of amplifiers had been set up outside the Nex-T factory and ...
UN Envoy Calls for Judicial Reform, Lauds Other Progress
The court system is still “chronically underfunded” and laws on its management are almost 20 years overdue, the U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi said yesterday. One year ago, during his sixth mission to Cambodia, Mr. Subedi described reform in the courts as moving at a ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-envoy-calls-for-judicial-reform-lauds-other-progress-6630/
Hun Sen Says 2013 Budget Will Balance Despite Spending
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday said that Cambodia’s budget for next year was balanced, claiming that a planned increase in public spending will be made up for by a rise in government revenue. Despite concerns from the opposition that foreign borrowing should be reduced, the National ...
UN Envoy Meets Land Dispute Villagers on First Day Mission
U.N. human rights envoy Surya Subedi, who arrived in Cambodia Sunday on a five-day mission, spent yesterday, International Human Rights Day, in Kompong Chhnang province with about 300 villagers from a community embroiled in a long-running land dispute with the wife of a government minister. James ...
ADB Report Links Corruption, Political Culture in Cambodia
The government is beset with high-level corruption, a lack of transparency in public procurements, poor auditing practices and political interference in the country’s main anti-corruption body, a report produced by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) sent to the media yesterday states. In a 66-page report that ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/adb-links-corruption-political-culture-6525/
Peace Palace petitions sent to Prime Minister
Eight representatives of Phnom Penh communities involved in land disputes were allowed to present their petitions to the Council of Ministers yesterday after authorities blocked about 200 of their fellow petitioners from gathering in front of the Peace Palace. During a meeting with the representatives, Bun ...
Boeng Kak Evictees Continue Fight for Land Titles
About 50 Boeng Kak residents protested outside Prime Minister Hun Sne’s Peace Palace yesterday and submitted a petition to the Council of Minister asking for land titles in their long-running dispute with a company part-owned by CPP senator Lao Meng Khin. ...
Rights Groups Say Work to Go On Despite Hun Sen's Remarks
Rights groups said they will continue to advocate in land grabbing and eviction cases, and villagers involved in such disputes said they will continue to turn to NGOs for help despite a warning by Prime Minister Hun Sen for civil society to stay clear of ...
1 in 20 Firms Carry Out Environment Assessments
Only about 5 percent of the roughly 2,000 major development projects, such as dams, roads and bridges, approved by the government between 2004 and 2011 carried out environmental impact assessments, an official at the ministry of Environment said yesterday. Speaking at a workshop in Phnom Penh ...
Simon Lewis and Khuon Narim, P.1
http://www.cambodiadaily.com
Millions Threatened by Dam in Stung Treng
More studies should be conducted on the controversial Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province in order to understand its potential social and environmental effects, Conservation International (C.I.) said in a statement. The Lower Sesan 2-as well as other dams planned for the Sesan, Srepok ...
PM Hun Sen lavishes praise on China
In his first public speech following this week’s ASEAN summit, Prime Minister Hun Sen offered lavish praise for China’s financial largesse and congratulations for its newly appointed Communist Party heads. Speaking to thousands of villagers during a ceremony to inaugurate National Road 8 in Prey ...
Bilateral Talks, and Their Two Interpretations
Two polarizing narratives emerged after the Monday night discussion between U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Hun Sen, with the U.S. claiming it had been “tense,” while Cambodia insisted the talks were cordial. When it came to agenda, Mr. Obama put human rights, electoral and ...
Obama Presses Hun Sen on Human Rights
U.S. President Barack Obama pressed Prime Minister Hun Sen on the government’s human rights record during a closed-door meeting between the two leaders in Phnom Penh yesterday, calling for fair elections and the release of all political prisoners. In the first visit to Cambodia by a ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/obama-presses-hun-sen-on-human-rights-record-6174/
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/
ILO slams kingdom on union record
Adding to a growing list of foreign groups to censure the Cambodian government in the lead-up to the ASEAN Summit, the International Labour Organization yesterday ranked Cambodia among the biggest violators of the right to freedom of association. The Cambodia section of the report, which collated ...
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/
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
Resettlement Plans Begin for Families Affected by Sesan Dam
Thousand of families that stand to be evicted when construction work on the Lower Sesan 2 Dam begins in 2014 will each receive a 1-hectare plot of land for a home as well as a 5 additional hectares for growing crops, provincial officials said yesterday. Provincial ...
Cambodian Economy Hurt by Land Evictions
Kratie province – Cambodia’s transformation from war-torn basket-case to one of Asia’s most promising emerging economies is being overshadowed by a backwards lurch in human rights and land policies that critics say are entrenching poverty. Next week’s visit by Barack Obama, the fist by a U.S. ...
Obama Urged to Address Rights Issues During Cambodia Visit
Some of the U.S.’ most senior lawmakers are urging Barack Obama to speak out on what they called Cambodia’s deteriorating human rights situation when the U.S. president makes what will be the first visit to the country by a sitting American leader later this month. ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/obama-urged-to-address-rights-issues-during-cambodia-visit-5555/
Leaders of Japan, China to Attend Asean, East Asia Summits
The leaders of two of Cambodia’s biggest donors, China and Japan, will attend the up coming Asean and East Asia summits in Phnom Penh next week, Prime Minister Hun Sen confirmed during a speech in Siem Reap province yesterday. “China Prime Minister [Wen Jiabao] will arrive ...