News
Climate change targets aim high
The Ministry of Environment submitted an ambitious national climate change plan to the United Nations on 1 October ahead of scheduled climate talks in Paris (COP 21), though observers questioned the plan’s feasibility given a lack of both funding and political will. According to Sao Sopheap, spokesperson ...
Almost 2,000 deported from Cambodia so far this year: report
Nearly 2,000 people have been deported from Cambodia – the vast majority of them Vietnamese – in the first nine months of 2015, according to new government figures. From January through September, 1,919 people were expelled from the Kingdom, a report issued by the General Department ...
Refugee group shrinks by two
Despite a recent government announcement that four more refugees on the Pacific island of Nauru had agreed to move to Cambodia, Interior Minister Sar Kheng yesterday revised that number downward, saying two who had reportedly shown interest had backed out after meeting with Cambodian officials. In ...
Vietnam a top investor in Cambodia
Vietnam was among Cambodia’s top five investors as of last April with US$3.2 billion in 171 projects. It is also Cambodia’s third largest trade partner with bilateral trade topping $3.3 billion as of 2015, Vietnamese Commercial Counselor Nguyen Bao said. Keep reading ...
Cambodia's road deaths up almost 15%
A national road safety action plan established in 2011 is severely off target and road deaths could surpass 3,200 by 2020 unless drastic action is taken, the National Road Safety Committee (NRSC) warned on 30 September. In total, 2,226 people were killed in 4,645 recorded traffic ...
Unions balk at floated figure
Garment worker unions on 30 September decried a preliminary, government-suggested increase to the minimum wage as being far too close to what they perceive as a lowball offer from employers. As tripartite wage talks continue, unions said officials from the government’s Labour Advisory Committee had on 29 ...
Positive early results for Cambodia ‘back to school’ push
Some 14,000 school drop-outs have returned to class under a $19 million scheme launched last year by a coalition of education groups, the organisations said on 30 September. Out-of-school kids include children from poor and remote communities, ethnic minorities, kids over-age for their grade level, street ...
Cambodian migrant workers demand passports, money
About 50 migrant workers who were part of a group that was abandoned at the Thai border by a recruitment agency last week gathered outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on 29 September to ask for the return of their passports and the fees they paid ...
Situation ripe for strikes: study
Short-sightedness, weak adherence to the law and poor working conditions in Cambodia’s garment sector are creating a fertile field for strikes to prevail over negotiations, a recent study released by the Arbitration Council Foundation, an independent labour mediator, has found. According to the study, incidents of ...
Unions agree on minimum wage target
Following weeks of quarrelling, Cambodia’s garment unions on 29 September agreed to demand a monthly industry minimum wage of $168 – only to find themselves miles apart from employers who are refusing to consider an increase beyond the rate of inflation. Leading up to ongoing tripartite minimum-wage ...