VOA Khmer

Tens of thousands of workers protested in front of the Ministry of Labor on Monday, after negotiations between labor leaders and the government failed to find a resolution to demands of higher wages in the face of a rising cost of living. Labor Minister Ith ...

An increasing number of Cambodians see themselves faring worse, a Gallup polls suggests. In a global survey released earlier this month, the US-based firm ranked Cambodia near the very bottom in terms of life satisfaction, and it found that 34 percent of surveyed Cambodians consider themselves ...

Analysts say a recall election is possible within Cambodian law, despite statements to the contrary by Prime Minister Hun Sen. Hun Sen, who left Thursday for an official state visit to Vietnam, said in a speech last week he would not step down—something opposition supporters ...

Economic growth has a close correlation with the quality of education, and not its quantity, a graduate student at the University of Chicago says. While education for all has been introduced in Cambodia, more needs to be done toward offering equal access to quality education, ...

Cambodia needs to build new leaders to take over the country in the next generation, a leading rights activist says. “This means the party is ready to let their children take over, family style,” he [Cambodian Center for Human Rights head Ou Virak]. “But this younger ...

Political turmoil in Thailand, where protesters have overtaken government buildings and called for the premier there to step down, have sparked concerns in Cambodia that its diplomatic relations with its neighbor could again deteriorate. “The governments of Yingluck and Thaksin are close to Hun Sen,” ...

Cambodia is now ranked as being perceived by investors as Southeast Asia’s most corrupt country, surpassing Laos and Burma on Transparency International’s annual corruption index. Cambodia ranked 160 of 175 countries in the report, with its index score a mere 20 out of 100. That’s two ...

Swedish clothing giant H&M recently announced a program to boost wages for garment workers in its sub-contractor factories around the world, including in Cambodia, where the company is a leading buyer. H&M’s announcement comes at the end of a turbulent year in the garment sector ...

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday gave a talk to some 200 Cambodian youths in Phnom Penh, describing criminal investigation, especially in human trafficking and child prostitution. Various youth from across nine provinces attended the discussion, where they learned how they can participate in ...

Local watchdog groups say they have been forced to take forest protection into their hands, due to a failure of government to do so. “As we have seen: the National Assembly, the Senate and the government do not work,” Ouch Leng, head of the Cambodian Human ...

A US-based group of lawyers has launched an online campaign to raise funding to support a lawsuit against a UK company that bought sugar from a Cambodian plantations linked to human rights abuses. The campaign is being undertaken by the International Senior Lawyers Project, which is ...

Experts say the government has not yet done enough to promote the studies of science at the university level, leaving Cambodia behind on technology and other science subjects. Louise Ahrens, a project coordinator at Maryknoll, a US-based organization that provides education counseling at the Royal University ...

The rights group Adhoc says it is monitoring “at least 100” individuals who are complicit in forestry crimes across the country. These include “high-ranking officers” of the police and military police; business tycoons; and ordinary citizens across 11 provinces, Chan Soveth, a lead investigator for the ...

Japan’s prime minister failed to address major issues, by leaving aside Cambodia’s political deadlock and its poor human rights record on a visit last week, rights activists say. “It was a missed opportunity for the government of Japan, which has a great deal of leverage with ...

Local NGOs on Friday urged more participation in land dispute resolution by the nation’s youth. Youth participation can mean better laws, better application of those laws and greater respect for citizens, “especially for farmers and the poor,” said Chhit Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO ...

Two ambitious trade negotiations are moving forward in the Asia Pacific, but Cambodia should first pursue a regional partnership before joining in with all of the Asia Pacific, trade experts say. Cambodia should build momentum on the existing Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, an Asean-driven agreement, before ...

The assistant of a lumber tycoon accused of major deforestation and forced evictions rejected Thursday the findings of a recent report by local rights groups. The Cambodian Human Rights Task Force said in its report that some 1,400 families had been pushed from their land by ...

Eleven senators supporting the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party say they will not take part in a Senate session on Thursday scheduled to debate the 2014 budget. Opposition senators say they will not endorse a budget that did not go through proper parliamentary procedure and ...

Proper accounting and auditing help promote business opportunity and development, finance experts say. Socheat Chum, a senior associate auditor for KPMG, a professional accounting service, told “New Voices” on Monday that companies with “solid” financial statements will “attract more business partners and be able to borrow ...

The government has ordered the SL Garment factory to rehire 19 worker representatives, following a brutal crackdown on demonstrators outside the home of Prime Minister Hun Sen last week. In a letter to the company, Khun Chinken, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Labor, said ...

US Ambassador William Todd on Thursday urged the Cambodian government to strengthen the skills of its laborers, in order to meet the needs of an integrated Asean in 2015. The 10 Southeast Asian countries that comprise Asean are all moving toward an integrated economic block, which ...

Cambodian opposition supporters have wrapped up three days of peaceful protests against the results of this year’s parliamentary elections. Led by opposition leader Sam Rainsy, an estimated 20,000 cheering demonstrators marched to several foreign embassies in Phnom Penh asking for international intervention in the Cambodian political ...

As demonstrations continued in Phnom Penh, Cambodian-Americans in Washington said this week that the international community can no longer stay out of Cambodian affairs, lest the political deadlock turn to violence. At a discussion at the National Press Club in Washington, held by the Khmer People’s ...

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Tuesday reaffirmed his party’s commitment to three days of mass demonstrations starting on Wednesday, in response to the government’s failure to address widespread irregularities in July’s national elections. Returning from a trip abroad, where he had urged Western states not to ...