Radio Free Asia
Environmental groups urge Cambodia PM to press Laos to cancel dam project
Conservation groups have called on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to press Lao President Choummaly Sayasone to postpone the construction of the much-criticized Don Sahong dam project on the Mekong River in Laos. ...
Ounkeo Souksavanh
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/efforts-to-cancel-dam-project-02252015161706.html
Myanmar garment workers threaten further strikes if demands are not met
Garment workers in Myanmar protesting over pay and factory conditions threatened to continue strikes Tuesday unless their demands are met and authorities release two of their representatives detained earlier this month. As many as 200,000 people work in garment factories in Myanmar, according to the ...
Thiha Tun
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/strikes-02242015130920.html
Cambodia seeks to pardon women in jail with children
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that his government will seek the pardon and release of female convicts who are pregnant or have children living with them inside prisons, following a report by a human rights group which took authorities to task for neglecting ...
Morm Moniroth
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/pardons-for-jailed-women-with-children-02232015165148.html
Families affected by land disputes in Cambodia tripled in 2014: rights group
A surge in land disputes in Cambodia affected more than three times as many families last year as in 2013, a local rights group said Thursday, urging Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government to address the issue with “long-term lasting solutions” instead of making empty promises. Rights ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/families-02192015114159.html
Six new montagnards seeking refugee status arrive in Cambodia
A new group of six Montagnards from Vietnam have arrived in northeastern Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province to seek political refuge, as a United Nations team tries to locate and assist other refugees in hiding, a villager who provided shelter to the Montagnards said. The villager, who declined ...
Ratha Visal
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/six-montagnards-arrive-in-ratanakiri-02192015162656.html
Cambodia’s NGOs say measures proposed by parties would curtail free speech
Nine nongovernmental organizations on Wednesday slammed Cambodia’s ruling and opposition parties for considering measures that would ban them from giving interviews or making statements deemed “insulting” to political parties during election periods, saying the restrictions would violate free speech. ...
RFA Khmer News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/ngos-02042015175755.html
HIV patients in Cambodia’s Roka commune suffer thefts, fault police inaction
Villagers in remote western Cambodia who were infected with HIV/AIDS by an unauthorized medical worker have been hit by a wave of thefts of cows and other property, and some local residents say they police have been indifferent to their plight. ...
Hum Chamrouen
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/thieves-steal-from-HIV-victims-02042015155855.html
Rights group presses Cambodia to end persecution of montagnards
A rights group has asked the Cambodian government to stop harassing Christian Montagnards from Vietnam who are seeking refugee status in the country following the arrest of a family of five Montagnards in a northeastern province. ...
RFA Khmer News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/montagnard-family-arrested-02022015144411.html
Infant becomes latest person to die in Cambodia’s mass HIV infection
A seven-month-old girl is the latest victim of Cambodia’s mass HIV infections in a remote western commune where an unauthorized medical worker reused syringes. The infant was the first to die of 16 members from an extended family of 50 who contracted the deadly virus that ...
Hum Chamroeun
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/baby-dies-of-hiv-01302015171651.html
Health Minister vows to rid Cambodia of unlicensed medical clinics
Cambodia’s Minister of Health on Tuesday vowed to eliminate the country’s unlicensed medical clinics and hire more health care providers, after an unauthorized medical worker who admitted to reusing syringes was linked to a mass HIV infection in a remote western village. ...
Prach Chiv
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/clinics-01272015134440.html
Cambodian King seeks investigation of judge over court procedure
In a rare intervention, Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni has demanded an investigation over a Phnom Penh judge who interviewed an opposition party activist without his attorney being present. A lawmaker had complained to the King that Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge Keo Mony had questioned Ouch ...
Roseanne Gerin
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/investigation-of-judge-12152014160825.html
UN refugee agency joins search for Montagnards in Cambodia
A team from the United Nations refugee agency traveled to northeast Cambodia Wednesday to meet with 13 ethnic Montagnards seeking asylum in the country after fleeing alleged persecution in Vietnam, according to an agency spokesperson and a member of a local rights group. United Nations High ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/search-12032014184633.html
The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts will investigate religious ceremonies by Vietnamese on Bokor Mountain
The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts will investigate on a scene where religious rituals have held by the Vietnamese on the Bokor Mountain, in Kampot province. This measure happened simultaneously after the Seventh Commission of the National Assembly summoned the minister to clarify on ...
Prach Chev
http://www.rfa.org/khmer/news/social-economy/ministry-of-culture-11272014000916.html
Cambodian opposition gets final approval to broadcast throughout nation
The Cambodian government has given the final nod to the main opposition party to operate a radio station and broadcast throughout the country as part of a deal reached in July, opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Wednesday. Sam Rainsy said that the party will begin ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/radio-11262014162644.html
Cambodian opposition lawmakers threaten to walk out of parliament
Lawmakers from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) would consider boycotting parliament again if Prime Minister Hun Sen’s party continues to delay an agreement on electoral reform, according to CNRP deputy leader Kem Sokha. The two parties have reached a deadlock in talks on forging ...
Roseanne Gerin
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/kem-sokha-11242014174200.html
Thirteen ethnic Montagnards from Vietnam seek refugee status in Cambodia
More than a dozen ethnic Montagnards are hiding in the jungles of northeastern Cambodia after fleeing alleged religious persecution across the border in Vietnam, a member of a hill tribe living in the area said Monday. The 13 Christian Montagnards, who crossed into Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/montagnards-11242014144636.html
Cambodian parliament panel chief questions management of Angkor Wat revenue
A parliamentary commission leader wants Cambodia’s tourism ministry to manage revenue generated by the country’s iconic Angkor Wat temple complex, amid concerns that the government is losing money by retaining a private company to oversee ticket sales. A quasi-government group, Apsara Authority, which is responsible ...
Roseanne Gerin
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/angkor-wat-11192014172942.html
Cambodia’s election reform chief appeals to U.S. to tie aid to reforms
The director of Cambodia’s election reform movement asked the U.S. government on Wednesday to make any financial aid to the country conditional on the implementation of planned electoral reforms. The request by Koul Panha, director of the Committee on Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (Comfrel) ...
Roseanne Gerin
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/koul-panha-visit-11062014182102.html
Cambodian monk and dissident ordered to court on incitement charges
Two outspoken critics of Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen are to be dragged to court this month on vague charges of “incitement to commit a crime,” but the defendants say they have done nothing illegal. Prominent activist monk Luon Sovath received a summons dated Oct. 22 ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/charges-11042014165237.html
Cambodian poll reform movement head demands transparency
The head of a key election reform group in Cambodia said Tuesday that he would consider applying for a position on the country’s new election body if membership selection is open to the public and transparent. Koul Panha, director of the Committee on Free and Fair ...
Roseanne Gerin
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/koul-panha-11042014181035.html
Cambodian garment unions threaten strike after wage demand is voted down
Cambodian unions have warned of possible strikes after a tripartite working group voted down their demand for a U.S. $40 increase in the monthly minimum wage for garment factory workers. Twenty-seven representatives of unions, factory owners and the government decided in a secret vote in Phnom ...
Roseanne Gerin
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/garment-workers-wages-10302014185252.html
Cambodian opposition lawmaker wants probe of nepotism claims
A senior Cambodian opposition lawmaker has lodged a complaint against a high-ranking, ruling-party official in parliament, accusing him of corruption and nepotism, but is frustrated by the lack of response. Son Chhay, from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), charged that Mith Karen, parliament’s deputy ...
Roseanne Gerin
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/nepotism-10282014183526.html
Cambodia completes '90 percent' of draft of electoral body reform law
Cambodia’s opposition and ruling parties have completed 90 percent of a draft law to reform the country’s electoral body, officials said Monday following talks. Revamping the National Election Committee (NEC), which oversees the country’s elections, was a key component of a deal struck in July between ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/draft-10272014172013.html
'No Decision' made yet on Cambodia loans: World Bank
The World Bank has not yet reached a decision on whether to lift a ban on loans to Cambodia, a Bank official has said, contradicting local media reports that the international financing institution would resume loans suspended three years ago over allegations of violent land ...
Richard Finney
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/loans-10222014170636.html