Law and judiciary
Cambodia's labour law delayed after protests
The government has agreed to delay the passage of a controversial law governing the trade union sector, announcing it would set up a national workshop to work out the legislation’s thornier clauses on 15 December. The decision comes after repeated protestations from a coalition of 23 ...
Last group of rescued migrants in limbo
Bangladesh and Myanmar remain at odds over 28 people who were among more than 900 rescued at sea in May, after being abandoned by human traffickers. Following the repatriation of 48 Bangladeshi nationals on 2 December, the Bangladesh embassy in Yangon said in a statement that ...
Polish activist not among prisoners to be pardoned in Laos this year
A Polish citizen of Lao heritage jailed in Laos for criticizing the government online will not be among hundreds of prisoners granted pardons by the end of the year because he “does not meet the proper criteria,” according to a public security official. Lao authorities arrested ...
One thousand prisoners released on Laos' anniversary year
Over 1,000 prisoners were released nationwide this year, according to Laos’ Ministry of Public Security on 2 December. Officials from the Prison and Rehabilitation Police Department of the Ministry of Public Security reported to Vientiane Times that across the country they released about 1,029 prisoners, including 232 ...
Rainsy hit with third court case in three weeks
National Assembly President Heng Samrin has become the latest government official to accuse opposition leader Sam Rainsy of defamation, with a lawyer for the ex-president filing a complaint against Mr. Rainsy over false claims that the 1980s communist regime sentenced King Norodom Sihanouk to death. Mr. ...
Vietnam gives Cambodia encryption lessons
The Vietnamese military has begun training Cambodia police in cryptography and encryption techniques as part of a national plan to protect “state secrets”. Em Sam An, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, signed a new agreement between the ministry’s cryptography department and the ...
Thai traffickers exposed by campaign group investigating fishing industry
A three-year investigation into slavery on Thailand’s fishing boats has uncovered a well-oiled system of trafficking, abuse and exploitation in the southern port of Kantang, leading to eight arrests this month, a campaign group said on 30 November. The owner of a fishing company, three enforcers ...
Rape victims failed by corrupt system: report
Countless rape victims, many of them children, have been failed by widespread flaws in Cambodia’s justice system, which have led to a “disturbingly low” number of convictions, a new study by the rights group Licadho has found. In its report, Getting Away With It: The Treatment ...
Youths call for faster passage of alcohol law
A Cambodian youth group has urged the government to end its foot dragging over a law to impose an age limit on consuming and buying alcohol and other restrictions aimed at reducing drinking. Keep reading ...
Relatives of landslide victims urged to reject compensation
A Kachin civil society group is urging relatives of those killed in a landslide near a Hpakant jade mine on 21 November to reject an offer of K600,000 compensation for each victim, and has reiterated threats to press charges against those involved in the mining ...