News
NGOs lay out plans for election
A coalition of watchdogs and other civil society groups yesterday announced their intention to form a “situation room” for the 2017 commune elections in order to monitor the voting process for irregularities. ...
Lay Samean
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngos-lay-out-plans-election
Maid accused of hitting baby in Singapore
Singaporean police have investigated allegations that a Cambodian woman working as a maid in the city-state assaulted an infant in her care, according to the Cambodian ambassador there and a Singaporean recruitment agency. Cheth Naren, Cambodian ambassador to Singapore, said that three Cambodian women came to ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/maid-accused-of-hitting-baby-in-singapore-64328/
Firm’s Split From Boeng Kak Project Confirmed
The Chinese firm that was financially backing an ambitious project to develop Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood has pulled out, Chinese Embassy and company officials have confirmed, and no other investor appears to have taken its place. That makes the Erdos Hongjun Investment Corporation at least ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/firms-split-from-boeng-kak-project-confirmed-64318/
Tycoon back in firing line
For the second time in as many weeks, an NGO has accused tycoon Try Pheap of facilitating illegal logging in a protected forest during the election campaign and post-election period, and with the protection of authorities. In a report set to be released today by the ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tycoon-back-firing-line
Informal lending still thriving
The expanding banking sector and the spread of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in rural areas have failed to elbow informal, unlicensed money lending out of the market, industry experts say. Fast and easy access to money – as well as the fear of “losing face” by borrowing ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013070266598/Business/informal-lending-still-thriving.html
Collapses raise concerns over emergency training
When a bridge and kiosk collapsed into a pond at a Phnom Penh garment factory last month, injuring more than 20 workers, the Prime Minister’s Bodyguard Unit and police rushed to scour the murky water for survivors. Some hours later, those forces remained unsure whether any ...
Plan to help thousands of child labourers quit
Chan Dany, 12, wants to go to school but instead, like too many Cambodian children, has been forced to sell groceries and do housework to provide for the family. At a conference in Phnom Penh set to coincide with he 12th annual World Day Against ...
New Battambang Passport Office Caters to Migrant Workers
The government announced Monday that it will open a new passport office in the northwest province of Battambang, the first such office outside Phnom Penh. In a statement, posted to the Ministry of Interior website, the ministry said that the new passport office will serve people ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-battambang-passport-office-caters-to-migrant-workers-28788/
Geopacific extends its copper zone
Geopacific Resources, an Australian mineral exploration company, said it has extended the zone of copper found in Preah Vihear province’s Kou Sa district to 18 kilometres, the company announced yesterday. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052965899/Business/geopacific-extends-its-copper-zone.html
Boost For Animal Healthcare
Cambodia’s promising animal feed sector will soon see support from a big pharmaceutical manufacturer which is now studying local demand for animal healthcare – a nearly untapped market. “We intend to introduce animal health business in Cambodia for our farm products and feed mills,” Khalid Baig, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051365566/Business/boost-for-animal-healthcare.html
Villagers Make Heady Claims Against NGO
Families living in Koh Kong province have called on the provincial governor to intervene in what they claim are ongoing land disputes with Forestry Administration authorities and conservation NGO Wildlife Alliance. Thirty-eight families from Mondul Seima and Khemarak Pumin districts have 110 hectares of land between ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013051065550/National/villagers-make-heady-claims-against-ngo.html
Energy Minister Defends Lower Sesan 2 Project
Energy Minister Suy Sem yesterday defended a draft law on the financing of a massive dam project in Stung Treng province which is slated for debate at the National Assembly on Friday. Environmental groups have called debate of the law premature, as no consultation with local ...
Eviction Protest Held Outside Donor Meeting
Anti-eviction activists from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak and Borei Keila neighborhoods, dressed as white doves, protested yesterday in front of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, where the country’s donors were meeting with top government officials to discuss the country’s reform targets. Donning paper helmets ...
Malaysia called out on MoU
Malaysia needs to start “paying attention” to a worker protection agreement with Cambodia that has languished for almost two years, a Ministry of Interior official said at a meeting yesterday. The meeting, which included officials from the ministries of Interior, Women’s Affairs, Tourism, Foreign Affairs and ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012082958343/National-news/malaysia-called-out-on-mou.html
Adhoc Rights Worker Charged With Aiding 'Perpetrator'
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has summoned Chan Soveth, a long-serving senior investigator at rights group Adhoc, over charges of aiding an unnamed perpetrator in Phnom Penh earlier this year, according to a copy of the citation obtained yesterday. Dated Aug. 9 and sent to Adhoc’s ...
Coral reef areas to gain protection in Cambodia
Cambodia’s first Marine Protection Area will be established around two emerging tourist destinations, Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloem islands, a British conservation group has announced. NGO Coral Cay Conservation said last week that it has been invited to map out a 300-square-kilometre MPA by the ...
Supporters Pray for Mam Sonando’s Release
More than a hundred supporters of imprisoned Beehive Radio owner Mam Sonando gathered at the Preah Ang Dang Keu Shrine in front of the Royal Palace yesterday morning to offer prayers for his release. Sporting shirts printed with photos of Mr. Sonando, the group lit candles ...
National Rail Project Heralded by Eviction Notices in Poipet
Poipet City authorities have given dozens of families living along a section of railway slated for renovation 10 days to move or face forcible eviction. Poipet City Deputy Governor An Vanak said that the eviction notice was sent Monday to about 40 families, only eight of ...
Controversial figure in land dispute arrested
Touch Seouly, the head of an NGO involved in a years-long land dispute that has sparked violent and sometimes fatal clashes across several provinces in the south, was arrested on Friday after villagers in Kampot province lodged a new round of complaints with authorities. Kampot provincial ...
Electric bill hike gets thumbs down
More than 200 villagers in Preah Vihear town thumb-printed a joint complaint to rights group Adhoc over the weekend asking them to appeal to provincial authorities to intervene after their private electricity company raised its prices by more than 1,000 riel per kilowatt hour, NGO ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070957295/National-news/electric-bill-hike.html
Cambodia to create its first Marine Protected Area
Cambodia will begin the creation of its first Marine Protected Area (MPA) this year, covering some 300 square kilometres of coral-rich seas around islands of Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloem in the Gulf of Thailand. This follows a successful two-year scientific survey of the area ...
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/?lid=30370§ion=35&topic=23
‘Viable’ Boeung Kak option floated
More than enough vacant plots exist within Boeung Kak lake’s 12.44-hectare concession area to house those denied land permits, a new NGO report says. Sahmakum Teang Tnaut claims to have found “a viable and practical” solution for households excluded from the unmarked land the prime minister ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012070357170/National-news/viable-boeung-kak-option.html
Satellite Shots to Help Settle Deforestation Claims
New satellite images of Oddar Meanchey province promise to help settle wildly conflicting deforestation estimates inside a 64,000-hectare area, which is set to anchor the country’s first forest-based carbon trading scheme. With the project potentially ready to sell carbon credits to foreign firms in a matter ...
Online Mapping Project for Cambodia Gets Under Way
Students, NGO workers and map enthusiasts came together Saturday in Phnom Penh to contribute information to an online map of Cambodia as part of a worldwide mapping effort, the event’s organizers said yesterday. The global project, known as the OpenStreetMap Project (OSM), uses a similar concept ...