News
Constitutional council approves judicial laws, sends to king
The approval of King Norodom Sihamoni is all that is needed for three controversial judicial bills to be passed into law after they were declared constitutional this week by the CPP-stacked Constitutional Council of Cambodia (CCC). Despite an outcry from rights and legal advocacy groups over ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/constitutional-council-approves-judicial-laws-sends-to-king-63282/
Lawmaker defends rejection of human rights proposals
National Assembly spokesman Chheang Vun on Friday defended Cambodia’s decision to reject four human rights proposals and merely take note of another 38 during the adoption of its second universal periodic review report in Geneva on Thursday. In all, Cambodia accepted 163 of the 205 recommendations ...
Kang Sothear
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmaker-defends-rejection-of-four-human-rights-proposals-62697/
More ministers to be questioned in National Assembly
The National Assembly decided to summon three ministers to answer lawmakers’ questions on the work performance of their respective ministries, a lawmaker said Friday. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=N2U0NDU5NTZmYmI
National Assembly passes five-year $26.6B spending plan
The single-party National Assembly on Thursday approved the 2014 to 2018 National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP), which will cost an estimated $26.58 billion to implement. An extradition agreement between Cambodia and Vietnam was also passed. Approved earlier this month by the Council of Ministers, it is ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/national-assembly-passes-five-year-26-6b-spending-plan-62578/
Rights groups continue push to stop faulty judicial reform laws
Cambodia’s human rights groups are continuing to seek ways to prevent three draft judicial reform bills from becoming law. The drafts have already passed the National Assembly, but they have not been signed by the king. ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/rights-groups-continue-push-to-stop-faulty-judicial-reform-laws/1945553.html
Asian parliamentarians meet in Cambodia to enhance ties
Members of Parliaments (MPs) of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) gathered here on Tuesday to promote ties and draft internal regulations to strengthen APA Secretariat. Leng Penglong, Secretary General of the National Assembly of Cambodia, said the two-day meeting is participated by 29 MPs from Bahrain, ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140624/asian-parliamentarians-meet-cambodia-enhance-ties
Reform needed with new appeal courts on the way
As part of a trio of long-awaited judicial laws passed last month by the National Assembly, the country’s judicial system is set to integrate a number of new provincial appeal courts, expanding access to the appeal process to people imprisoned outside Phnom Penh. But the only ...
Lauren Crothers and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/reform-needed-with-new-appeal-courts-on-the-way-62217/
For villagers losing land, Hun Sen is last resort
Three separate communities from across the country were in Phnom Penh on Monday to petition Prime Minister Hun Sen to personally intervene to help settle their various land disputes. Communities affected by alleged land grabs in Phnom Penh and beyond often appeal directly to Mr. Hun ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/for-villagers-losing-land-hun-sen-is-last-resort-62200/
Parliament to summon 3 ministers for questioning
The National Assembly plans to summon three ministers for questioning over compensation to families who will be displaced or harmed by development projects, officials from the National Assembly said Sunday. Cheam Yeap, a senior CPP lawmaker, said the National Assembly would write to Environment Minister Say ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/parliament-to-summon-3-ministers-for-questioning-62093/
Cambodia’s parliament OKs dam compensation plan
Cambodia’s energy minister allayed concerns in parliament over inadequate compensation offered to villagers who face relocation for a proposed China-backed dam on a Mekong River tributary, saying the government has allocated to villagers more than four times the area taken over for the project. Minister of ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/dam-06192014195419.html
Energy Minister to be questioned in parliament over Se San 2 dam construction
Energy Minister Suy Sem will answer in the National Assembly (NA) on Thursday this week over the construction plan of Se San 2 dam in Stung Treng province, according to a press statement by the General Secretariat of the National Assembly. ...
The Cambodia Herald New Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=ZDNlZWE0MjhjNjQ
Controversial judiciary laws pass without change
With all 11 senators from the opposition boycotting their seats, the Senate on Thursday passed three controversial judiciary laws which critics say will tighten government control of the courts. The ruling CPP’s 44 senators passed the laws without change, said CPP senator and Senate spokesman Mam ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/controversial-judiciary-laws-pass-in-senate-without-debate-61309/
Army did not move to stop CNRP: Tea Banh
The opposition yesterday accused a senior army general of having ordered plainclothes soldiers to block the party from entering the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng on Sunday, where they were set to hold a public forum. But Defence Minister Tea Banh strongly rejected the ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/army-did-not-move-stop-cnrp-tea-banh
Groups seek audience with Senate over Judicial Reform Drafts
Human rights groups and other members of civil society on Tuesday submitted a letter to Senate President Chea Sim, requesting a meeting over their concerns for three draft judicial reform laws passed last month in the National Assembly. The three drafts must be approved by ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/groups-seek-audience-with-senate-over-judicial-reform-drafts/1928506.html
Questions over spending plan
The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a new five-year National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) – the guiding policy document used by the government – requiring an estimated $26.58 billion in spending and investment, or more than $5.3 billion a year, until 2018. The plan ...
May Kunmakara and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/questions-over-spending-plan
Villagers defy ban, march to Gov’t buildings
More than 200 people from the group Land Communities for Peace marched from the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) to the National Assembly on Thursday in defiance of a ban issued by City Hall. Phnom Penh deputy governor Khuong Sreng said the protest would not be allowed after ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-defy-ban-march-to-govt-buildings-60037/
Villagers vow to defy fresh ban on marches
More than 1,500 villagers plan to march to the Anti-Corruption Unit and National Assembly in Phnom Penh on Thursday in defiance of a fresh ban issued by City Hall prohibiting them from doing so. The villagers form a group known as the Land Communities for Peace ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-vow-to-defy-fresh-ban-on-marches-59966/
ILO attacks trade union law
An International Labour Organization official yesterday called the draft of a Ministry of Labour trade union law “a step backwards” during the opening of a two-day workshop meant to hear concerns of both labour unions and employers. In a speech to worker representatives, members of the ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ilo-attacks-trade-union-law
Criticism of judicial law grows
Surya Subedi, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Cambodia, added his voice yesterday to the growing chorus of criticism aimed at three draft laws on Cambodia’s judiciary that sailed through the National Assembly last week. Subedi – who had previously championed the laws as ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/criticism-judicial-law-grows
Villager travels to Parliament over land row
A representative of villagers involved in a land dispute in Mondolkiri province appealed to the government Tuesday to address their displacement after their shelters were destroyed by police and soldiers in a forced eviction Monday. Chan Rithy stood outside the National Assembly in Phnom Penh on ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villager-travels-to-parliament-over-land-dispute-59795/
Lack of judiciary consultation on key Cambodian laws draws concern of UN rights expert
The lack of consultative process on three draft laws has set a worrying precedent for future key legislation, according to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Surya P. Subedi. “For many years in my capacity as the Special RapporteurI ...
UN News Centre
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47904#.U4WD6PmSxqV
Lawmaker blasts illegal logging in Stung Treng
Two draft laws on judicial reform were easily passed by the single-party National Assembly on Friday but the session was overshadowed by a rookie lawmaker’s attack on lax enforcement of forestry laws in Stung Treng province. On the fourth day of the third plenary session of ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmaker-blasts-illegal-logging-in-s-treng-59494/
Cambodian parliament passes judicial reform laws amid opposition boycott
Cambodia’s ruling party- controlled National Assembly has unanimously passed three laws, designed to strengthen the country’s judicial system, despite ongoing boycott of parliament by the main opposition party. The Law on the Organization of the Judiciary was adopted on Thursday, and the Laws on the Organization ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-05/23/c_133355900.htm
Journalists in CPP firing line over ‘1-party’ tag
The single-party National Assembly sat for the third day of its third plenary session Thursday, with a senior ruling party lawmaker calling on Information Minister Khieu Kanharith to examine whether journalists who call the Assembly “single party” can be punished under law. Sixty-four of the 68 ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/journalists-in-cpp-firing-line-over-1-party-tag-59430/