News

A code of Conduct governing the South China Sea remains only an “eventual” prospect, Prime Minister Hun Sen said yesterday, despite it dominating discussions during this week’s ASEAN Summit. From the beginning of Monday’s Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, the question of China’s potential involvement in the drafting ...

Another Cambodian maid died in Malaysia last week, and starvation by her employers is the likely cause, Malaysian police said yesterday. Speaking to the Post by phone, Penang state police chief deputy commissioner Datuk Wira Ayub Yaakob said 24-year-old domestic worker Mey Sichan’s employer had called ...

Maybank launched yesterday its locally incorporated company in Cambodia, Maybank (Cambodia) Plc, and will also build a 10-storey corporate office with the aim of becoming one of the top five banks there by 2015. Currently ranked seventh in terms of assets among 33 banks operating ...

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), one of Malaysia’s largest banks, plans to transition its Cambodian branch into a subsidiary in a bid for larger market share in the Kingdom’s crowded Cambodian banking sector. The bank, which opened as a branch in 1993, received a local incorporation licence ...

Rights groups pushed for increased employment of disabled Cambodians and the ratification of a UN convention on their rights at the launch of the ASEAN Disability Forum yesterday. Ngin Saorath, executive director of the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organisation, said groups will draft a declaration over the ...

Protecting human rights, especially those of Cambodian migrant workers traversing borders to countries such as Malaysia, dominated discussions at yesterday’s ASEAN Peoples’ Forum, one of two competing pre-summit forums that claim to be giving a voice to Cambodians. Speaking at yesterday’s forum, Seng Sakda, director-general ...

Parents of four girls sent to work as maids in Malaysia filed a complaint with Adhoc yesterday in Preah Vihear province saying they had not heard from their daughters for anywhere from two to nearly five years. Prak Leat, 41, said her daughter had left for ...

Cambodian women have the most to lose from the planned 2015 ASEAN integration, a coalition of more than 100 Cambodian women said yesterday at the Cambodian Women Forum. Because Cambodian women are so poorly educated, when the job market opens up, competition from other countries like ...

It was the grimmest of homecomings yesterday for the family of Ouk Sakan as the body of the 40-year-old domestic worker was repatriated from Malaysia, ending a bleak vigil that began with her death more than four months ago. Na Rith said his cousin had worked ...

A mother from Kampong Chhnang’s Rolea Ba’ier district filed a complaint with the rights group Adhoc yesterday, claiming her daughter, a maid in Malaysia, was being forced to take drugs and work without enough food. Im Meoun, 52, said her daughter Phon Sophea, 20, had been ...

The negotiations between Cambodia and Malaysia over a bilateral agreement on improved working conditions for Cambodian migrant maids are slowly progressing as both governments are exchanging draft agreements, according to officials from both countries. Ministry of Labor Secretary of State Othsman Hassan said that Cambodia recently ...

Big Asian retailer Dairy Farm Group has formed a joint venture with Cambodia’s Lucky Market Group, the operator of Lucky Supermarket and Lucky Burger, according to an announcement yesterday. LMG, which opened its first supermarket in 1993, will join a stable of brands already controlled by ...

The number of families claiming to have lost contact with relatives working overseas has seen a significant increase in recent months, three human rights groups said Thursday. Local rights groups Adhoc and Licadho and the legal aid association Cambodian Legal Education Center (CLEC), said that ...

Rubber production in early 2012 increased 21 per cent when compared to the end of 2011, according to Mak Kim Hong, president of the Cambodian Rubber Association. He said yesterday that the price of one tonne of good-quality rubber rose to US$3,800 in early 2012, ...

One garment worker was killed and 30 others seriously injured on Wednesday when the truck in which they were travelling crashed in Kandal province’s Ang Snuol district, a police official said yesterday. Free Trade Union (FTU) President Chea Mony said all 58 women were workers ...

The number of migrant workers abused by their foreign employers abroad more than doubled in 2011, rights group Adhoc announced yesterday before calling on the government to improve its efforts to protect both migrant and repatriated workers. “It’s a dangerous sign,” said Adhoc president Thun Saray ...

More than 60 Cambodian and international human rights groups and trade unions yesterday called on Cambodia and Malaysia to reach a bilateral agreement that would guarantee strong labor rights and working conditions for Cambodian maids employed in Malaysia. “The time is ripe for the Cambodian ...

Almost 120,000 Cambodians who illegally crossed into neighbouring countries in search of work were repatriated during 2011, new figures from the Ministry of Interior have revealed, prompting a senior ministry official to call for a re-evaluation of how Cambodian workers are treated abroad. Chou Bun Eng, ...

After a year of mounting concern over the treatment of migrant workers both within and outside Cambodia, the Ministry of Labor, NGOs and recruitment agencies yesterday reached an agreement on standardized contracts aimed at minimizing the possibility for exploitation. The groups agreed on a contract between ...

Government authorities are investigating the death of a migrant domestic worker in Malaysia after her family and rights groups raised questions about the stated cause of death from a lung infection, a relative of the deceased woman said yesterday. Na Rith, 42, said his cousin Ouk ...

About 177,000 Cambodian men and women were working abroad as of the end of 2010, and about $180 million was remitted to Cambodia from 126,000 migrant workers in Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea last year, according to a letter written by Prime Minister Hun ...

Malaysia-based Air Asia will begin offering travel services in Cambodia, and may expand its flights to neighbouring countries, company officials said. The airline launched its first Air Asia Travel and Service Center in Phnom Penh yesterday. Air Asia will partner with tour operator Mekong Discovery. So Mara, ...

The government has approved Qatar as a destination for the growing number of Cambodian labourers seeking employment overseas. Workers will not be recruited for housekeeping services, however, private sector officials said. The abuse of maids in Malaysia – many of whom were reportedly under-aged – has ...

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia has for the first time agreed to open an inquiry into the death of a Cambodian maid, opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua said yesterday, calling the investigation “a positive sign.” Ms Sochua said that while she had in the past sent ...