ព័ត៌មាន
The canes of wrath
Satiating the demands of the global sugar industry is big business for Cambodia’s sugarcane plantations. Yet accusations of human rights abuses and land grabs in the Kingdom have left a bitter aftertaste for many on the ground as companies vie for a larger slice of ...
NGO, Boeung Kak activists offer solution
The Boeung Kak community and a land rights NGO yesterday released a proposed demarcation plan they say could solve the long-standing land dispute. In a map presented yesterday, villagers said they had agreed on a land division that would make room for 70 families locked out ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050365397/National/ngo-b-kak-activists-offer-solution.html
Hun Sen Seeks Garment Factory Vote
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday asked some 4,000 garment factory workers for their votes in July’s national elections at a rally in Phnom Penh attended by members of several CPP-aligned unions, according to those in attendance. Cambodian Union Federation president Choun Mom Thol said ...
Union Plan Massive Demonstration in Phnom Penh
Four of Cambodia’s independent and opposition-aligned unions have informed the Phnom Penh municipality that they plan to gather 20,000 people on May 1 to march from Olympic Stadium to the National Assembly. ...
Wages will increase following economic growth
Hun Sen said salaries for civil servants and garment workers will increase yearly coinciding with the growth in the economy. Speaking at a graduation ceremony for the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP) at the Koh Pich center on Tuesday, he said during the general assembly ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=Y2MzZjI4MzI3MzI
Largesse and threats ahead of election
Prime Minister Hun Sen warned thousands of villagers yesterday that his most popular initiatives, including his far-reaching land-titling scheme, will simply disappear if he is not re-elected in July’s national election – amid suggestions his campaigning has unofficially begun. In a marked shift from his apparent ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013032664688/National/largesse-and-threats-ahead-of-election.html
Land rights have key role in Cambodia
Faced with widespread evictions and opaque private sector deals, activists in Cambodia are calling on the government to be more open and transparent about land concessions, beef up mechanisms for resolving land disputes, and abide by the rule of law. It is estimated that ...
http://www.gulf-times.com/asean-philippines/188/details/345724/land-rights-have-key-role-in-cambodia
Hun Sen says Wage Changes Are Not Up To The Government
Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday that the government has no role in setting the minimum wage, as Cambodia is a market driven economy, and shot down unnamed people who have been calling for the government to significantly raise the country’s floor wage of $61. “For ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-says-wage-changes-are-not-up-to-government-14455/
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 ...
Hun Sen Says CPP Largess Will End If Election is Lost
Less than five months from the national elections, Prime Minister Huns Sen yesterday warned the public that his ruling CPP party would stop making charitable donations towards infrastructure and national development if the party is not re-elected. Speaking at the inauguration of a Chinese-funded expansion of ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-says-cpp-largess-will-end-if-election-is-lost-12645/
CNRP Proposes Minimum Wage Law for Garment, State Workers
The Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) has submitted a new law to the National Assembly for consideration that would institute a minimum monthly wage of $150 for garment workers and $250 for civil servants, the newly formed opposition party announced at a press conference yesterday. The ...
Regional Bank, IMF Note Risks to Government's Dam Guarantee
The government’s guaranteed bailout of major infrastructure projects, such as the future 400-megawatt hydropower dam in Stung Treng province, requires a thorough assessment of forecasted risks – a capacity which the government currently does not possess, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official said yesterday. Speaking on ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/regional-bank-imf-note-risks-to-governments-dam-guarantee-11269/
Sesan Dam Law Approved
Cambodia’s parliament on Friday approved a law providing financial guarantees for the developers of a planned hydropower dam on a Mekong River tributary, despite opposition from civil society groups seeking to delay the project. Villagers campaigning against the Lower Sesan 2 dam in northeastern Cambodia’s Stung ...
Land Is Life, and It’s Slipping Away
Nean Narin, a humble man and father of three children, says his family is going hungry. Narin lives in the village of Boeung Kak, situated on the edge of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. For years, he and other villagers relied on the Boeung Kak Lake ...
Rights Group Denounces Gag Order on Lawyers Before Election
New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Cambodian Bar Association of trying to silence potential government critics ahead of July’s national elections by imposing restrictions on lawyers making public statements. The Bar Association and the Information Ministry have both issued edicts that ...
A road runs through them
UP AND down a 4km stretch of highway on the northern outskirts of Phnom Penh, about 3,000 of Cambodia’s Cham minority have built a life. Their distinctive Muslim culture thrives in conditions of close-knit community, a stark contrast to the shattering days the country endured ...
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/01/cambodia%E2%80%99s-cham
Government Tells Unions to Agree on Minimum Wage Demands
The government on Monday requested that manufacturers look at raising the minimum wage for garment workers, but only after divided trade unions agree on what that wage should be. “After discussions, those present at the meeting agree in principle to discuss raising the minimum wage ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/government-tells-unions-to-agree-on-minimum-wage-demands-8193/
Should Minimum Wage Be Market Driven or Government-Dictated?
Manufacturers and unions aligned with the ruling CPP yesterday said the current labor shortage inside the garment industry would act as an incentive for employers to increase salaries, and that there was no need for the government to impose a new minimum wage. During a meeting ...
Anti Eviction Activists Take Plea for Help to CPP
Phnom Penh’s anti eviction protesters yesterday staged a 100 strong demonstration outside the CPP Headquarters on Norodom Boulevard, calling for the ruling party to release a jailed community activist and help families acquire land titles. They also requested that the government include 61 families left ...
World Bank Tight-Lipped on Resumption of Financial Assistance
The World Bank has declined to say whether it will resume providing financial assistance to Cambodia, despite a bank official allegedly telling anti-eviction protesters last week that the organization planned to do so next year. In August 2011, World Bank country director for Southeast Asia Annette ...
Job losses ‘discrimination’
More than 60 union leaders lost their jobs at garment factories in the past nine months for trying to unionise co-workers, their representatives claimed yesterday. Fourteen members of the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions endured threats, discrimination and ultimately a message they were no longer welcome ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2012121960367/National/job-losses-discrimination.html
Mooted casino tax shot down by ruling party
Casinos are first and foremost for protecting Cambodia’s border, not for making money, government lawmakers insisted in parliament yesterday when drilled about their opposition to raising gambling taxes. Seizing on an off-the-cuff comment made by Prime Minister Hun Sen during a speech in August, Finance Minister ...
Shift in CNRP's political strategy to win elections
The Cambodian National Rescue Party is making a strategic shift in its bid to win the next election: focusing less on traditional hot-button issues like government corruption and territorial disputes, and instead offering voters a series of concrete new policy initiatives. This required clear and ...
Fertilizer factory won’t hire non-CPP members, workers claim
Workers applying for jobs at a fertilizer factory in Kandal province claim they were passed over in favour of applicants who were members of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). Prey Treng II village chief Hang Suon and two job applicants told the Post yesterday that Five ...