The Phnom Penh Post
Thais mandate migrant worker health checks
On the road to legal employment in Thailand, Cambodian migrant workers are being made to undergo check-ups that have them cough, strip and give blood and urine samples to prove they are physically and mentally sound enough to work in the country. Obtaining a workers’ permit, ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thais-mandate-migrant-worker-health-checks
‘Abused’ maid awaits return
Woman who was taking part in a pilot scheme to place Cambodian maids in Singapore is waiting to be repatriated after being molested at her employers home and allegedly mistreated by a recruitment firm, she said yesterday. Nation’s managing director, Gary Chin, rejected those claims ...
Sen David and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98abused%E2%80%99-maid-awaits-return
Companies warned over slow development of ELCs
Provincial government officials in Stung Treng have warned companies granted economic land concessions (ELCs) in the province to fulfil their promised development plans or face losing their rights to the land. Touch Thea, director of the Stung Treng provincial department of agriculture, said the call for ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/companies-warned-over-slow-development-elcs
Company ‘destroyed rice field’
Representatives of a Chinese firm embroiled in a land dispute in Preah Vihear province have destroyed a hectare of rice fields to drive a farmer away, villagers alleged yesterday. According to 45-year-old villager Tem Song, on June 28 six Cambodian and Chinese employees of Roy Feng ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/company-%E2%80%98destroyed-rice-field%E2%80%99
Online registration option to be rolled out to SMEs
The Ministry of Industry and Handicraft will introduce an online registration platform for Cambodia’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) this year, a ministry official confirmed yesterday. Heng Sok Kong, secretary of state at the ministry, said the new software for web registration was built in partnership ...
Annie Lee
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/online-registration-option-be-rolled-out-smes
Working ‘mother’ kept child chained
A day after Prime Minister Hun Sen pointed out the need for more effective child protection in Cambodia, police in Koh Kong arrested and released a woman who admitted to chaining her 4-year-old “adopted daughter” inside their house eight hours a day for the past ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/working-%E2%80%98mother%E2%80%99-kept-child-chained
Mining accidents kill two
Two artisanal miners died and one was seriously injured in two separate accidents on Saturday, police said yesterday. One man was killed and one sustained serious injuries while working for a Chinese mining company at Kbal Damrei commune in Kratie province’s Sambor district. ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mining-accidents-kill-two
Bus company to reject workers' win
The general manager of Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation bus company says he will likely reject a Friday ruling by the Arbitration Council ordering the reinstatement of 15 employees fired for trying to form a labour union. Sorya Transportation general manager Chan Sophanna yesterday said he had ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bus-company-reject-workers-win
Land battle leads locals to protest
About 100 villagers in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district who allege two powerful families are trying to push them off their land protested yesterday after workers fenced off more than 3 hectares of the land they claim in Kouk Rokar commune. ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/land-battle-leads-locals-protest
Illegal Ratanakkiri gem mine raided
District and military police in Ratanakkiri raided an illegal gem mine inside a Chinese company’s land concession on Saturday but failed to make any arrests, according to a rights group representative. Chhay Thy, provincial coordinator for Adhoc, said about 200 illegal gem miners had settled on ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/illegal-ratanakkiri-gem-mine-raided
Registration of garment factories up in first half
The number of garment factories registered in Cambodia reached 1,200 at the end of June, an 8 per cent increase over six months ago, according to data released by the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft. The report also showed that the garment sector employed 733,300 workers ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/registration-garment-factories-first-half
A ride worth the weight
North of the Sesan River, in protected forests that stretch to the border with Laos and Vietnam, illegal timber traders describe a network of bribery that leaves them counting their riels, despite the multimillion-dollar nature of the industry. In contrast to the large flat-bed trucks owned ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ride-worth-weight
Rice export target a big task
The pace of Cambodia’s rice exports are expected to slow this year. Unable to maintain the steady rate of previous years, the export volume for the first half of 2014 is much the same as it was this time last year. At the end of June, ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-export-target-big-task
Gov’t as legit as junta: premier
In a bid to reinforce the legitimacy of his government amid an ongoing parliamentary boycott by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday looked west for an analogy. He chose one that didn’t involve a ballot box. Instead, he pointed to Thailand’s National ...
Vong Sokheng and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/gov%E2%80%99t-legit-junta-premier
Thais free 14 Cambodian workers
Charges against 14 Cambodia migrant workers arrested in Thailand last month have been dropped and the group will return to the Kingdom tomorrow, government officials have told the Post. A hearing at the Sa Kaeo provincial court in Thailand this morning determined that the workers had been ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thais-free-14-cambodian-workers
Joint patrols on agenda
In response to a spate of Cambodian illegal loggers being shot dead by Thai soldiers near the border, the government on Tuesday urged a Thai delegation to consider border patrols composed of representatives from the two countries, the foreign minister said. “I would like to request ...
Chhay Channyda and Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/joint-patrols-agenda
Puny plants perturb Kampot pepper producers
Kampot pepper farmers saw a bumper crop this year with harvest levels up more than 36 per cent, but rain shortages have diminished the producers’ chances of exporting their haul. According to Nguon Lay, president of the Kampot Pepper Promotion Association (KPPA), more than 30 tonnes ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/puny-plants-perturb-kampot-pepper-producers
Deadlock longest in history
Deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha yesterday asked Prime Minister Hun Sen to show more flexibility in negotiations in order to break the political deadlock. His request comes at a symbolic juncture: The political impasse following last July’s national election has now become the longest ever since ...
Meas Sokchea and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/deadlock-longest-history
Officials ‘take cut’ of dam compensation
Officials involved in negotiating compensation offers between the developers of the Lower Sesan II dam and affected villagers have kept a portion of the money paid out to 12 families for themselves, according to an official. Duong Pov, Stung Treng provincial administration director, claimed that a ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officials-%E2%80%98take-cut%E2%80%99-dam-compensation
Six months on, no justice for shootings
Six months ago today, security forces opened fire on garment workers protesting for a doubling of their minimum wage on Phnom Penh’s factory-lined Veng Sreng Boulevard. At least five people were killed in what rights groups called the worst state violence against citizens in 15 ...
Vong Sokheng and Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/six-months-no-justice-shootings
Urban planning needed: ADB
With a rapidly rising population exacerbating the country’s existing infrastructure, the Asia Development Bank (ADB) has highlighted in a new study the Cambodian government’s failure to install effective planning policies in its most densely populated urban centres. The ADB estimates that, driven by work opportunities and ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/urban-planning-needed-adb
Electricity provider to offer Wing payments
Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) on Monday announced it will offer customers in Sihanoukville, Battambang and Siem Reap the option to pay their bills via mobile payment provider Wing. EdC and Wing officials signed an agreement on July 1 at the Cambodiana Hotel in Phnom Penh authorising ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/electricity-provider-offer-wing-payments
‘Chemical’ barrels to be tested
Experts will begin tests today on two barrels discovered in Mondulkiri province earlier this week, which are suspected to contain chemicals used by the US in the 1970s in its war against the Viet Cong, officials said yesterday. Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine ...
Sen David and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98chemical%E2%80%99-barrels-be-tested
Direct flights to Japan coming
Asia Atlantic Airlines, a Thai airline owned in part by Japanese tourism firm HIS Co, will launch scheduled flights between Cambodia and Japan this September, according a statement published by the airline on June 26. As of September 2, Asia Atlantic will run three weekly flights ...
Annie Lee
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/direct-flights-japan-coming