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Phnom Penh Governor Says Lake Families to Get Land Titles
For the first time since Phnom Penh municipality slated some 4,000 mostly poor families for forced eviction in 2007 to make way for a CPP senator’s controversial real estate project, City Hall yesterday promised them what they have always wanted most: titles to their land. ...
Adhoc Calls for Stronger Indigenous Land Rights
The government must correctly implement the Land Law and allow indigenous people greater access to collective titling of their native territories, human rights group Adhoc said yesterday in a statement. Although there is a provision in the Land Law allowing indigenous groups to obtain collective ...
Villagers Face Hefty Court Fees in Land Dispute
Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court has ordered 40 families embroiled in a long-running land dispute with the wife of Minister of Industry Suy Sem to pay court fees of up to $155 each, or have their complaints dropped. The villagers, however, say they are too poor ...
Forest on the auction block
Almost 30,000 hectares of a wildlife sanctuary in Oddar Meanchey, Siem Reap and Preah Vihear provinces have been reclassified as state private land for agricultural development, drawing sharp criticism from rights groups. Four sub-decrees signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on July 22 reclassify land ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011080950943/National-news/forest-on-the-auction-block.html
World Bank stops funds for Cambodia over evictions
The World Bank said on Tuesday it had stopped providing loans to Cambodia and would not resume lending until the government did something to help hundreds of families facing eviction from land around a lake in the country’s capital, Phnom Penh. “The World Bank’s last ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/09/cambodia-worldbank-idUSL3E7J920D20110809
90 Garment Factory Workers Faint Over Two-Day Period
About 90 garment factory workers fainted over a two-day period last week at Zhen Tai garment factory in Sen Sok district’s Phnom Penh Thmei commune, union officials and police said yesterday, though accounts of what caused the mass fainting differed. Thirty workers first fainted on ...
Rising Consumer Prices Draw Hunderds to Protest for Action
Some 200 factory workers and taxi drivers protested in Phnom Penh yesterday morning to demand that the government take action to curb the rising costs of food and fuel, and threatened larger demonstrations if it failed to actAccording to figures released by the National Institute ...
Teenager Rescued From T&P Training Center
Police and a human rights group said they rescued a 15-year-old girl from the training center of an overseas job recruitment agency in Kompong Chhnang province on Saturday. A rights worker said two more underage girls had been saved from being sent abroad to work ...
(English) Mekong environment ministers talk on sustainable economic development
Cambodia on July 28th hosted the 3rd Greater Mekong Sub- Region Environment Ministers to look forward to sustainable economic development in the region and to talk about current projects to reduce harm for regions and also to minimize several environmental challenges affecting natural resources, forest and ...
(Khem Sovannara and Chhorng Long Heng, p 7)
http://thesoutheastasiaweekly.com/?p=1289
Union makes poisoning claim
More than 70 employees continued to protest in front of a luxury resort in Siem Reap town yesterday, demanding that 18 workers be reinstated after they were allegedly dismissed for attempting to unionise. Chhey Phi, head of the Angkor Village Resort Workers Union, claimed yesterday ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011080550873/National-news/union-makes-poisoning-claim.html
One week deadline for beer strike resolution
Following “tough discussions” with Phnom Penh’s deputy governor yesterday, Angkor Beer promoters agreed to suspend their protest for one week starting today. Ou Tep Phally, vice-president of the Cambodian Foods and Service Workers’ Federation, said five beer promoters and one union representative negotiated with officials. ...
Visitors to Angkor Up 25 Percent in First Six Months
The number of visitors to Siem Reap’s Angkor Archaelogical Park in the first six months of the year increased about 25 percent over the same period last year, according to figures released yesterday by the Apsara Authority, which runs the site. According to the figures, ...
Fixed-Duration Contracts Threaten Garment Industry
Cambodia’s garment sector is in danger of losing its reputation for adherence to international labor standards because of the widespread use of “abusive temporary labor contracts,” according to a report released by Yale Law School on Wednesday. “Cambodian garment manufacturers have adopted the practice of ...
Chevron talks oil production
Chevron Overseas Petroleum (Cambodia) has been actively exploring Cambodia’s offshore Block A, and applied for a permit to begin extraction from government authorities. Yesterday, The Post caught up with its President Steve Glick, who has been in his present role in Phnom Penh for about ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011080450868/Business/chevron-talks-oil-production.html
Two dollar strike to continue
Angkor Beer promoters yesterday rejected an offer from the municipality that would have required them to suspend their strike while officials negotiated a solution for them, telling Phnom Penh’s deputy governor that their protest is legal and that their employer is breaking the law. More ...
Complaint over violence
Twenty-nine community representatives from Kampong Speu’s Phnom Sruoch district travelled in person to the National Assembly building in Phnom Penh yesterday to file a complaint against provincial governor Kang Heang and other officials, accusing them of “robbing a total of 950 hectares of farm land”. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011080450865/National-news/complaint-over-violence.html
City Hall Calls On Angkor Beer Promoters to Protest Peacefully
Phnom Penh City Hall yesterday warned Angkor Beer promoters to protest peacefully until a resolution could be reached on their pay claims, a union representative said. Protests held by the Angkor Beer promoters turned violent on Tuesday evening, with one promoter hospitalized after protestors clashed ...
Mass Evictions Loom for Wildlife Sanctuary
Ms Sam On, 37, has already lost her house. It was one of three homes razed in April by Kratie provincial military police, environment officials and workers of the Sovannvuthy rubber company, after a tense stand-off with about 100 villagers that villagers said ended with ...
B Kak Firm Seeks Bauxite in Mondolkiri
Bauxite reserves in Mondolkiri province abandoned by Australian mining form BHP Billiton in 2009 are now being explored by China’s Mongolia Erdos Hongjun Holding Group, the same firm that is behind the controversial development of Boeng Kak lake in Phnom Penh. Kong Pisith, director of ...
Hotel Staff Fired for Union Creation, Say Rights Group
Staff of the Angkor Village Hotel and Resort in Siem Reap have begun protested after the owner fired a total of 30 trade union officials and members after the staff joined a union in July. The dispute initially started when the owner of the hotel ...
Khy Sovuthy, P 24
http://www.cambodiadaily.com
Bus Company’s Partner Involved in Similar Crash
Kampuchea Angkor Express and Virak Buntham Express Travel, two bus companies that share a fleet of busses and operate services running between Siem Reap, Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam have both been involved in bus crashes recently. A number of passengers were injured ...
Tax-Free Trade Access Will Stay, Says EU
The European Union has said that it has no plans to suspend Cambodia’s duty-free trade access even though there have been concerns over land evictions as a result of economic land concessions. The EU is seeking that human rights are not the cost of trade ...
Carlsberg investigates beer strike
Carlsberg has said it is investigating a strike by Angkor beer promoters, who yesterday vowed to continue in their bid for fair treatment. More than 30 beer promoters have been striking since last Monday, accusing Angkor brewer Cambrew of refusing to pay overtime despite a ...
June textile workers get paid
Thousands of workers who were sacked after part of the June Textile garment factory burned down in March are finally receiving severance payments and other awards following a ruling from the Arbitration Council. Taing Kisay, an administration assistant at the factory, said yesterday that more ...