geovalin

A Thai national has been arrested for the knife murder of a compatriot in Sihanoukville yesterday On March 26, 2023, at 11:36 AM, Preah Sihanouk Provincial Police received information that a murder had occurred at Room 10, 3rd floor of Lan Kui Fang Company Building. Located in Village 6, Sangkat 4, Preah Sihanouk Province. Immediately after receiving the information, the specialized force of the criminal police work plan, in cooperation with the force of the Municipal Police Inspectorate and the specialized force of the Technical and Scientific Police Office, went to the scene to inspect and conduct research. The victim was named as TONSRI SAKNARONG, male, Thai nationality, born on 24-12-1983, holding passport number ADO 541328, an employee living in Room 10, 3rd floor of Lan Kui Fang Company. As a result, the police brought a suspect to the Sihanoukville Provincial Police for questioning. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501262950/foreigner-murders-compatriot-in-sihanoukville/

The EU has threatened to raise tariffs if Cambodia doesn’t release Kem Sokha, improve rights record. Prime Minister Hun Sen declared that Cambodia does not need foreign aid or preferential trade agreements because its economy is strong enough to survive on its own. The remarks, which came at a ceremony Monday to launch the country’s fourth phase of its financial management reform program, which will last from 2023 to 2027, were in response to a European Union resolution. It called on Cambodia to release jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha, improve its human rights situation and hold free and fair elections this year – or risk further suspension of its participation in the regional bloc’s “Everything But Arms” scheme, or EBA, which allows Phnom Penh access to the European market without tariffs. The EU already withdrew about 20 percent of the EBA scheme in 2020, equivalent to about $1.1 billion of the country’s Europe-bound exports. In this Dec. 12, 2019 photo, garment factory workers walk after leaving work in Kampong Speu province, Cambodia. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP) Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985, repeatedly said that Cambodia can still survive without EBA status, but critics told RFA’s Khmer Service that it is an indication that he does not care about Cambodian workers and their rights. “When Mr. Hun Sen says he does not need EBA status, that means he does not need to respect human rights or women’s rights,” said Mu Sochua, the vice president of the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, which was the country’s main opposition party prior to its dissolution by the Supreme Court on unsubstantiated claims of election fraud in 2017. Mu Sochua said that losing EBA status completely would result in catastrophically high unemployment in Cambodia and would disproportionately affect women, who make up the majority of factory employees. “Not only would factory workers lose their jobs, but also farmers and their families, small food vendors, and grocery stores around the factories, they would all lose their businesses too,” she said, adding that the female workers would then have to look for jobs in the entertainment sector or risk their lives looking for jobs abroad. Reforms sparked survival At Monday’s reform launch, Hun Sen also said that after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, Cambodia carried out major political and economic reforms under his leadership to restore the country without waiting for any assistance from abroad, and that is the reason it has survived until now. “In my life, I have encountered countless risks all the time,” he said. “Not only when I risked my neck for the survival of the people by leaving the Khmer Rouge regime, and not only when I risked my neck for peace that UNTAC was not able to attain, but I also risked my neck for reforms when I acquired formal post as the prime minister.” Following the 1970 coup d'etat that installed Prime Minister Lon Nol as Cambodia’s head of state, Hun Sen joined the Khmer Rouge and fought what he considered to be foreign interference for the next five years. When internal purges in the Khmer Rouge regime started in 1977, Hun Sen fled with many of the soldiers under his command to Vietnam, returning with the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia that defeated the Khmer Rouge. He was installed as deputy prime minister of the Vietnamese backed People’s Republic of Kampuchea in 1979, then in 1985, the national assembly elected him as prime minister. With the Khmer Rouge still in control of parts of the country, Hun Sen was instrumental in the 1991 Paris Peace Talks that would broker a ceasefire and an end to the Cambodian-Vietnamese War and and brought in the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia, or UNTAC, to keep the peace as the country held elections in 1993. When the elections favored another party over his Cambodian People’s Party, Hun Sen threatened to secede with seven provinces. It was then that UNTAC and the other party agreed to allow him to serve as second prime minister until 1997, when he led a coup that installed an interim first prime minister until elections the following year where his party was successful enough that it was able to elect him as the country’s lone prime minister, the office he holds today. Praise and criticism Hun Sen on Monday also accused the United States of supporting the 1970 coup and supporting the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot. He also took the opportunity to praise Vietnam, saying that the presence of Vietnamese troops in Cambodia during the earlier years of his reign not only helped to overthrow and prevent the return of the Khmer Rouge, it also helped Cambodia advance in its political, economic and social relations. Social development researcher Meas Ny told RFA that Hun Sen's remarks reflect the reality of post-war political turmoil in Cambodia. However, he said that the current sanctions on Cambodia are a result of Phnom Penh’s lack of respect for human rights and unwillingness to follow the path of democracy in accordance with the principles of international law. Meas Ny said that although Cambodia claims to be able to survive without foreign aid, its development and economy may be sluggish compared to other countries in the region. “At the present, every country needs commercial and economic relations with other countries,” said Meas Ny. “If we lose part of a relationship, it could lead us to an abnormal economic situation and we will be unable to catch up with other countries.” In this June 27, 2018 photo, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen poses for pictures with garment factory workers during an event in Kampong Chhnang province, Cambodia. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP) Former CNRP lawmaker Oum Sam An dismissed Hun Sen's claims as overly political fabrications of facts intended to draw votes in this year’s elections, scheduled for July. He said reforms invoked by the People’s Republic of Kampuchea between 1978 and 1992 focused only on strengthening party power, and because of its adherence to the Marxist-Leninist ideology, it made the country’s economy reliant on the aid of communist allies like Vietnam and the Soviet Union. This made Cambodians suffer from hunger and hardship. “If the international community left Cambodia alone and let Cambodians depend on the economic reforms of Hun Sen, our Khmer people would still be living in misery and Cambodia would not have a bustling garment factory industry like today,” said Oum Sam An. “The livelihood of Cambodian people would have been the same as it was back in the 1980s.” Translated by Sok Ry Sum. Written in English by Eugene Whong. Edited by Malcolm Foster. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/hun_sen-03212023163907.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

A 10 year old boy has died and a woman is seriously injured after a crazed man opened fire on his ex-wife’s family yesterday The fatal shooting took place at around 8:45 pm on March 27, 2023 in an unnamed location in Kampong Thom province. According to the victim’s uncle, the assailant, who was his nephew-in-law, fired a shotgun at his niece, who was the wife of the assailant. He killed his 10-year-old nephew and seriously injured his wife while the victim’s wife was seriously injured. The victim’s uncle said that he did not know why the perpetrator was so angry The victim’s uncle added that his niece and the perpetrator are currently divorced, but not yet separated. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501264023/over-200-prisoners-died-due-to-chronic-illnesses-last-year/

Yim Sinorn’s Facebook comments last week had resulted in an incitement charge. An opposition activist who was jailed after posting comments on Facebook about the government and Cambodia’s constitutional monarch was released on Tuesday after he apologized to Prime Minister Hun Sen and King Norodom Sihamoni. The Phnom Penh Municipal Court released Yim Sinorn after he posted a video and a statement from prison apologizing for last week’s messages about the king. The messages drew a lot of attention from online commentators, which prompted the court to charge Yim Sinorn with incitement and with insulting the king. He posted a comment on Facebook on Tuesday that he didn’t intend to insult the king. “I take this occasion to ask for forgiveness from the king and apologize to Samdech Hun Sen publicly with honesty,” Yim Sinorn said. In his message last week that led to his address, Yim Sinorm wrote: “According to the people at the coffee shop, today we clearly know who is truly the king.” Yim Sinorm seemed to be highlighting Sihamoni’s political powerlessness, which is mandated by a requirement in Cambodia’s 1993 Constitution that he reign as a national figurehead while leaving governing to the National Assembly and the prime minister’s Council of Ministers. A second activist, Hun Kosal, is still being held by authorities. Hun Kosal later wrote that it has been sad “to see they have hurt the king’s heart and degraded the king’s power in all aspects,” a reference to how Hun Sen’s government has interacted with Sihamoni, who took the throne in 2004. Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni [left] talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen during the country’s 68th Independence Day celebration in Phnom Penh on Nov. 9, 2021. Credit: Associated Press Appeals to the king Sihamoni, a European-educated former dance instructor, has preferred to remain in the shadows as king. But some in the opposition have called on him over the years to challenge Hun Sen’s repression of their ranks. Recently, Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party have been working to silence and intimidate opposition figures ahead of the July general elections. “As a politician of the new generation, I am determined to use all my ability to join forces with Kem Sokha to protect the power and the throne of the king,” Hun Kosal wrote in another one of his messages last week. Earlier this month, opposition leader Kem Sokha was sentenced to 27 years in prison for treason. He continues to deny the charges that led to his arrest in 2017, which was made several months after the Cambodia National Rescue Party – which he led – had made large gains in local commune elections. Yim Sinorn has previously worked as an activist for the now-banned CNRP. Last week, the prime minister exchanged comments with his own supporters on Yim Sinorn’s Facebook page, suggesting that Yim Sinorn and Hun Kosal were already guilty. “It would be weird if they are not guilty because [what they said] is not an expression of opinion, but it is a distortion of the truth with an intent,” he wrote. “Whatever it is, leave it for the court to decide.” After Yim Sinorn released his apology statement on Tuesday, Judge Yi Sok Vouch issued an order to the Prey Sar Prison Department to release him on bail. The order did not give an explanation behind the release. Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/activist-released-03282023130507.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

Cambodia Airways has launched its first direct flight between Phnom Penh and Beijing, aiming to meet rising travel demand between the two destinations, the airline operator said in a press release on Tuesday. An inaugural flight KR991 landed at Beijing Daxing International Airport on Monday, the press release said, adding that the first flight KR991, operated by an Airbus-A320 aircraft, departed from Phnom Penh International Airport in the morning and landed at Beijing Daxing International Airport in the afternoon. On the same day, the return flight KR992 departed from Beijing in the afternoon and arrived in Phnom Penh in the evening, it added. “Prior to the departure, Cambodia Airways was determined to make the trip memorable for our passengers by preparing some special souvenirs to be distributed at the boarding gate,” the press release said. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501264238/cambodia-airways-launches-phnom-penh-beijing-direct-flight/

PHNOM PENH/SIEM REAP — Everywhere you look in Cambodia’s capital are signs of the top two leaders of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) with the slogan “Thank You, Peace.” The same signs show up on highways and street corners across the country. It’s a message that floods the Facebook page of Prime Minister Hun Sen, one of the longest-ruling leaders in the world. “Peace provides opportunity for people to live in a prosperous society. When there is peace, there is everything – all lives flourish, politically, economically, socially, and culturally, with peace,” said Sok Eysan, a ruling party senator and spokesman. Yet this prosperity and opportunity is not accessible to many in Cambodia, and this year’s election — despite the kneecapping of Hun Sen’s opposition — will offer some insight into how thankful Cambodian voters are for the ruling party’s version of “peace.” Hun Sen boasts of ending war and bringing economic stability to the country, but his government also has a well-recorded track record of violating human rights, silencing dissent and shuttering independent media. A Cambodian People's Party's sign displays an image of the top two leaders, Heng Samrin (left) and prime minister Hun Sen (right), at the party's headquarter in Phnom Penh, on Monday, March 20, 2023. (Ten Soksreinith/VOA Khmer) “We want a livable wage, as citizens of this country that is so proud of peace!” said Nam Sivonn, a former employee of the NagaWorld casino and resort in Phnom Penh, where unions accuse officials of complicity in union busting and cracking down on peaceful protests. “So then allow your workers to have peace and provide them with a livable income.” Nam Sivonn was among the 1,329 employees who were laid off in April 2021, a move the company argued was due to a loss of profit during the pandemic, while the workers called it brazen retaliation against demands for better benefits from the union led by Chhim Sithor, who remains jailed and awaiting trial on criminal charges. Chan Sreyrath, who has also joined the NagaWorld protests that began in December 2021, asked why the prime minister — often referred to by his honorific “Samdech” — had not demanded peace for workers at the casino not far from his Phnom Penh residence. “Every issue circulating on social media, Samdech knows and gets involved. Why doesn’t Samdech take any actions when it comes to our problem? Don’t you really know? Or you just pretend you don’t know?” she asked. Come July, Nam Sivonn and more than 9 million eligible voters in Cambodia will have their opportunity to convey their dismay or approval when the country holds its seventh national election, on July 23, 2023 — 30 years since the first post-war election in 1993. “We are all going to vote. We are not afraid to choose anyone who has the willingness to find a solution to our problem. We’ll vote for you, regardless of our political tendency,” said Nam Sivonn. Unionized workers — particularly in Cambodia’s garment sector — were a key voting block to the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party’s (CNRP) success in 2013, when it narrowly lost to the ruling CPP. The ruling party has aggressively pursued a two-pronged strategy in the decade since — closing down the space for opposition and dissent, while increasing engagement with young Cambodians who make up an ever-growing share of the electorate. The CNRP has been banned, and in its place are a handful of small opposition parties with familiar faces, but without their leaders, Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, who are in exile and under house arrest, respectively. In June last year, after five years of absolute control at the commune level, prime minister Hun Sen’s CPP was challenged by the Candlelight Party, an offshoot of the CNRP, which won about 22% of the popular votes and 2,176 commune council seats after campaigning on issues of social injustice, corruption, and abuse of power. While the Candlelight Party is not expected to pose a serious challenge to the CPP this year — if it’s allowed to compete at all — its vote share could offer an indication of whether it is gaining traction or losing momentum. And a few seats in the National Assembly could provide a national platform the opposition currently lacks. Ou Virak, found of the Future Forum think tank, said he sees the Candlelight Party as a “temporary vehicle” for the opposition that’s likely to disappoint its supporters in the upcoming election. “They can’t pull it off. Then they’re going to lose momentum,” he said. However, he also said that the ruling party’s formula for “peace” at all costs created its own complications. “The question is actually when you are trying to force peace at all costs, even without justice, even facing injustice that people must accept it — I think it is going to be problematic,” he said. read more (very long article) https://www.voacambodia.com/a/peace-is-on-cambodia-s-ballot-however-voters-define-it/7012963.html

Cambodia became Asia’s most dollarised economy, while dollarisation in neighbouring Lao P.D.R., Mongolia and Vietnam was either declining or broadly stable, a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said a decade ago. Ten years later the grim reading remained unchanged compared to other economies in the region. Since Cambodia’s economy has been substantially dollarised, there are a large amount of foreign currency deposits in the banking system, which is reflected in the ratio of foreign currency deposits to total deposits in all currencies or the ratio of foreign currency deposits to broad money — total money in circulation in the economy. According to the Annual Report of NBC for 2022, the ratio of foreign currency deposits to broad money stood at 84.1 percent last year, which increased 1.1 percent compared to 83 percent in 2021, while Riel in circulation stayed at 7.7 percent compared to broad money, deposits and loans in Riel was 8.9 percent of total deposits and 11.2 percent of the total loan portfolio in Cambodia. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501258350/cambodias-dollarisation-peaks-among-neighbouring-countries/

Long-tailed macaques at risk of being killed, or laundered or re-trafficked if returned to Cambodia, animal welfare groups say More than a thousand Cambodian monkeys at the center of a US government investigation into wildlife trafficking are at risk of being killed or returned to their country of origin, laundered and re-trafficked, animal welfare groups say. The monkeys’ plight first came to light last year when the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) asked the animal rights organization Peta about finding a sanctuary for 360 monkeys. Born Free USA, and the US Department of Justice (DoJ) later joined the discussions and the number of monkeys increased to over 1,000 as talks progressed. Last week, however, discussions stalled when Peta learned on 13 March that the monkeys would instead be flown out of the US. Under US law the monkeys can only return to their country of origin, Cambodia, said Dr Lisa Jones-Engel of Peta, but neither the DoJ nor the FWS has confirmed this. The 1,000 or so juvenile long-tailed macaques are understood to be at a primate center in Houston, Texas, owned by Charles River Laboratories, a US company that buys, sells and tests on animals. read more https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/20/trafficked-lab-monkeys-cambodia-us-investigation

Pointing to the murky waters of the Tonle Sap, Si Vorn fights back tears as she recalls her four-year-old daughter dying from diarrhoea after playing in the polluted lake. Her family of 12 is among 100,000 people living in floating houses on Cambodia's vast inland waterway, and while their village has 70 houses and a primary school, it has no sanitation system. Now a local social enterprise, Wetlands Work (WW), is trying to tackle the problem by rolling out "floating toilets" to filter waste, but the high cost of installation means for now they are available to only a lucky few. For generations, villagers whose livelihood depends on fishing have defecated directly into the water that they use for cooking, washing and bathing -- risking diarrhoea and even more severe water-borne diseases such as cholera. "We use this water, we drink this water, and we defecate into this water. Everything!" Si Vorn, 52, told AFP, saying her family fell ill all the time. "Every day, I worry about my health. Look at the water, there is no sanitation. I'm so worried but I don't know what to do." read more https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230320-floating-toilets-help-cambodia-s-lake-dwelling-poor

Exercises underline deepening relationship between Phnom Penh and Beijing, which has expansive claims in the South China Sea. China and Cambodia have begun their first-ever naval drills in Cambodian waters. The Chinese Ministry of National Defence said the drills — dubbed China-Cambodia Golden Dragon 2023 — involving personnel from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Military Command began on Sunday. The Chinese navy ship Jinggangshan, which brought the troops to Cambodia, carried out an exercise with two patrol boats of the Royal Cambodian Navy and established communications before practising coordinated navigation in different formations, the Chinese state-run Global Times reported on Monday, citing the PLA command. The Jinggangshan is a Type 071 landing ship that travelled to Cambodia from Zhanjiang in southern China. “In the two-hour navigation and communication exercise with the Cambodian navy, our organisation and command were precise, coordination was close, and communications were smooth,” Captain Xu Jinfeng, the commanding officer of the Jinggangshan, said in a report by state-run China Central Television (CCTV). read more https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/20/china-and-cambodia-hold-first-naval-drills-in-cambodian-waters

General Hun Manet, who is serving as the Commander of the Cambodian Army and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, has been promoted to full General by the King, This is according to a Royal Decree signed by King Norodom Sihamoni and obtained by Khmer Times today. “Samdech Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, is responsible for the execution of the this Royal Decree from the day it was signed onward,” the King wrote. General Manet, 45, has been endorsed by Prime Minister Hun Sen as the next prime minister candidate, which means he will have to resign from his military position when it is time for him to become the party candidate, according to the Constitution. https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501257230/hun-manet-promoted-to-general-2/

4 Thai men have been arrested on charges of raping a 17 year old Thai girl in Poipet Authorities said that at 13:39 on March 15, 2023, the Poipet City Gendarmerie Base Force led by Brigadier General Nuon Ninaro, Poipet City Gendarmerie Base Commander detained the 4 Thai suspects for an aggravated rape, committed at 1:00 AM on March 10, 2023 in Samaki Meanchey Village, Sangkat O’Chrov, Poipet City. After being arrested and interrogated, the four suspects replied that they had indeed raped the victim. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501256973/4-foreigners-arrested-for-rape-of-compatriot/

Government blames the Ukraine war, but experts point to partial loss of preferential trade agreements. More than 50,000 Cambodian garment workers have lost their jobs as struggling companies have made cutbacks to try to stay afloat while others have closed, Radio Free Asia has learned. To date, 10 Cambodian factories have completely shut down and 500 others have suspended production since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Dec. 2019. The government has cited the war between Russia and Ukraine as the main reason for the industry’s inability to recover from downturns it experienced during the pandemic and other woes. But experts say a better explanation is because Cambodia has lost some of its preferential trade advantages with the European Union due to human rights concerns – which means higher tariffs on exports – and that the country risks losing more. In response to the company closures and layoffs, the Cambodia’s National Employment Agency, under the Ministry of Labor, held a career expo Friday in the southwestern province of Kampong Speu, where it invited jobseekers to apply for work at five different factories. The plan is to hire at least 5,250 people, the ministry said in a statement. Kem Sopeng, a garment union representative who has been fired from his job for the past three months told RFA’s Khmer Service that he will not apply for those jobs because he thinks the new factories are not stable and they likely won’t respect workers’ rights. “The working conditions in garment factories have not improved over the past 10 years,” he said, adding that he has been working in the sector for the past seven years, and has been abused and exploited. “I just made enough to get by. If I couldn’t work, I would starve,” he said. “The work is just enough to live another day.” Huge pool of workers Ath Thun of the Cambodian Labour Confederation said he welcomed the government’s efforts to get the laid off workers back into factories, but he urged the ministry of expenditures to provide more employment opportunities to agricultural workers too. "It is very difficult to seek employment because too many people are out of jobs,” he said. “They are trying to work in illegal establishments and the entertainment sector.” Many rural Cambodians also venture to large cities like Phnom Penh in search of work, only to quickly burn through their meager savings and take on debt, said Ath Thun. He said the government should also fix its issues with the U.S. and the European Union so they can be in good standing with their respective preferential trade status schemes. Cambodian garment workers buy clothing during their lunch break, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, March 12, 2015. Credit: Associated Press Cambodia’s Labor Minister Ith Samheng said in a statement Wednesday that the government and the factories will pay laid off workers between US$25 and $70 depending on how long they have been unemployed. The ministry will provide payments to garment and bag factories that have permission from the ministry to suspend operations from April 1 onward. "Based on Hun Sen's recommendation to help stabilize workers’ living standards and safeguard businesses due to low production during this global financial crisis, the factories should discuss with workers to take turns coming to work if they are being laid off temporarily," the statement said. Trade status Garment factory workers, meanwhile, told Radio Free Asia they were concerned about an EU resolution that would further suspend Cambodia from its Everything But Arms, or EBA, status, which Cambodia needs to maintain preferential trade advantages in Europe. The regional bloc, concerned over the human rights situation in Cambodia, withdrew about 20 percent of the EBA scheme in 2020, equivalent to about $1.09 billion of the country’s Europe-bound exports On Friday, the European parliament adopted a resolution calling for the immediate and unconditional release of opposition leader Kem Sokha who was recently sentenced to 27 years in prison and is currently serving his term under house arrest. The resolution also called for the country to hold free and fair general elections next year and called for further EBA suspension if the elections “deviate from international standards” or if rights violations in Cambodia continue. Link between politics and trade Meach Piseth, a garment worker, told RFA that the partial removal of EBA status has already impacted his life. He said he is worried the election will not be free and fair, and Cambodia will lose EBA status completely. "I urge the government to try to respect democratic principles so that the EU and U.S. will return our EBA and GSP,” he said, the latter acronym referring to the Generalized System of Preferences used in the United States. “The government must understand this difficult time. I hope that the government will fully respect freedom of expression and political parties," he said. Keo Boeun, another garment worker, said he was among many that have been laid off and have fallen into debt traps laid by predatory banks. He said the government should stop violating human rights. “I want Samdech to follow the [EU resolution] requests,” he said, using an honorific title to refer to the country’s leader Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia since 1985. “If they ignore it, we won’t have buyers to export to.” Katta Orn of the government-backed Human Rights Committee said that the government is not afraid of losing EBA status because Cambodia sooner or later will lose its status anyway. He said that the EU has already removed 20 percent of EBA from Cambodia but it has not had any effect on Cambodia. Katta Orn also said he expects the upcoming elections will be totally fair. "Cambodians enjoy peace and freedom, and other political parties can work freely and the upcoming election results will respect the people’s will," he said. Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/garments-03172023202746.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

Centuries-old cultural artifacts that had been illegally smuggled from Cambodia are being welcomed home PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Centuries-old cultural artifacts that had been illegally smuggled out from Cambodia were welcomed home Friday at a celebration led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who offered thanks for their return and appealed for further efforts to retrieve such stolen treasures. Many, if not all, of the items displayed at the government’s offices Friday had been looted from Cambodia during periods of war and instability, including in the 1970s when the country was under the brutal rule of the communist Khmer Rouge. Through unscrupulous art dealers, they made their way into the hands of private collectors and museums around the world. A statement from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts described the returned artifacts as embodying the “priceless cultural heritage and the souls of generations of Khmer ancestors.” read more https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cambodia-celebrates-return-priceless-stolen-artifacts-97934206

The US remained the biggest market for Cambodia with a share of 34.4 percent even though the Kingdom’s exports to the country decreased by 20.2 percent to reach $1.12 billion in the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 2022, showed the latest trade data of the General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE). For the last two months of 2023, Vietnam remained the second biggest market for Cambodia, with exports to the country reaching $491 million, registering a growth of 36.1 percent year-on-year. Vietnam now accounts for 15 percent of Cambodia’s total exports. The Kingdom’s exports to China, another traditional market for the country, registered a decline of 5.5 percent for January and February and accounted for $198 million. China has a share of six percent in the exports from the Kingdom and is now only the fifth biggest market for the Kingdom after Japan and Thailand. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501255716/us-remains-cambodias-biggest-market-despite-declining-exports/

Extraction of the world's most mined mineral is having a serious impact on the biodiverse river. Sand mining in the Lower Mekong region is taking place at a far greater rate than previously reported, with an estimated 100 million metric tons (100 billion kilograms or 200 billion pounds) of sand extracted each year from Cambodia and Vietnam, experts said. Sand mining is “a pervasive activity across much of the Lower Mekong that is widespread … and yet it’s fairly unconstrained and unquantified,” Christopher Hackney, a fellow at Newcastle University, said Monday during an online seminar hosted by the Washington-based Stimson Center. According to a scientific report published in 2013, around 56 million tons of sediment were extracted in 2011 in the Lower Mekong region, including 32 million tons from Cambodia, 12 million tons from Vietnam, and 7 million tons from Laos. The figure is still considered low due to underreporting by miners and weak government monitoring capabilities. It also did not cover extraction on Mekong tributaries. “Development in Vietnam and Cambodia has grown [since 2013]. Demand for aggregates has grown,” said Hackney, who is mapping sand mining activities alongside Magdalena Smigaj, a postdoctoral researcher at Wageningen University. By 2020, the volumes from Cambodia alone exceeded the 2013 estimate for the entire Mekong basin, with 59 million tons extracted a year, he said. It does not include the 32 million tons of sand city developers said is needed to fill a reclamation project in Phnom Penh. A dredging boat pumps sand on the Mekong River in Phnom Penh, Jan. 3, 2023. Credit: AFP The duo, using satellite imagery and deep learning, did not calculate figures for other countries, though some studies in the last year have estimated sand extraction in Vietnam to be around 49 million to 50 million tons. “So combining those two [we] would come out with an estimate of about 100 million tons. That’s excluding Laos and further upstream,” Hackney said. In one of the hotspots in Cambodia, the researchers noticed the number of sand-carrying vessels increasing from around 50 per month in 2016 to 150 a month in 2020. Similarly, in Vietnam’s Dong Thap province, the duo noticed a sudden increase in traffic intensity in 2020, which then dropped in 2021. Smigaj said it was primarily due to a boom in unregulated mining since ground monitoring was nil during the country’s strict COVID-19 lockdown. The experts estimated around 10 times the natural supply of sand is being extracted from the riverbed in Cambodia alone. “That sounds to me like a big problem,” said Brian Eyler, Southeast Asia program director at the Stimson Center. “Sand mining hurts the river system,” he said, adding that it is “happening at an under-reported and mostly unregulated rate, in a way that is robbing or taking a very important component of the river’s mightiness out for other uses.” By net weight, Cambodia was the 12th largest exporter of sand in 2021, according to the U.N. Comtrade database. It exported 797,218 metric tons that year. Export data for Vietnam and Laos were not available, while Malaysia was the highest sand exporter, with 19.6 million metric tons annually. Worldwide, 50 billion tons each year Sand, an essential component of many construction materials, including concrete, asphalt, and glass, is the most mined material globally. It is essential for river systems, but excessive extraction has caused negative environmental impacts, including erosion, loss of biodiversity, and water pollution. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, usage of sand resources has tripled worldwide in the last two decades, with about 50 billion tons of sand extracted from rivers, lakes, deltas, and coasts each year, and is expected to grow. A crane moves sand from a ship on Mekong river in Hau Giang province, Vietnam Dec. 19, 2018. Credit: Reuters The world’s large rivers, including the Mekong, face reduced deposit loads due to activities like hydropower development and sediment extraction. Hackney said climate change has exacerbated the problem, with changing weather and rainfall patterns shifting away from parts of the Mekong that generate sediment. The Mekong is one of the world’s largest and most biodiverse river basins. More than 70 million people from five Southeast Asian countries depend on it for their livelihoods, primarily through fishing and agriculture. Locals and government officials say sand dredging and China’s opening and closing of upstream dams have caused significant issues, including erosion, along the Mekong. Experts estimate sand mining alone has caused the riverbed to erode up to 15 centimeters (6 inches) each year, resulting in increased tidewater extent and velocity that surges inland. There has also been a rise in salinity intrusion, a significant concern for the region’s “food basket,” with two million hectares at risk each year. “On top of that, you’re destroying benthic habitats,” Hackney said, referring to animals and plants that live at the water bottom. “You’re removing the kind of feeding grounds for a lot of the invertebrates and biodiversity within the river system.” Such deposit extraction also digs up fish breeding grounds and makes water cloudier, reducing light filtration and changing its chemistry and quality, he added. “So yeah, the impacts are quite wide-ranging once you kind of unpick all the different aspects of the industry,” Hackney said. In 2020, the Mekong River Commission, an intergovernmental body that helps coordinate river management, issued a basin development strategy to respond to increasing environmental and social pressures from climate change and development. It includes maintaining good flows and water quality and implementing a basin-wide sediment management plan. “Sediment concentrations in the mainstream are observed to be much reduced largely as a consequence of sediment trapping and sand mining,” Anoulak Kittikhoun, Chief Executive Officer at the Mekong River Commission Secretariat, said in a speech last year. He said suspended sediment concentration decreased up to 80% in some areas between 2018 and 2020. “The trend is unmistakable,” he said, adding that sediment reduction has implications for floodplain productivity and riverbank stability. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/environment/mekong-sand-03142023064512.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen hinted strongly Tuesday that he intends to step down as the country’s long-serving leader when a new government is installed after July’s general election. The 70-year-old Hun Sen has led Cambodia with an iron fist for 38 years, and during the last election in 2018 had vowed to stay in office for two more terms, until 2028. Since then, however, he has spoken often of having his eldest son, Hun Manet, succeed him and appointed him to several high profile and important positions. He explicitly declared his support in December 2021 to have Hun Manet, Cambodia’s West Point-trained army commander, take over his job but only through elections. read more https://www.thespec.com/ts/news/world/asia/2023/03/14/long-serving-cambodian-leader-hun-sen-hints-at-retirement.html

Bulging grey heads break the turbid waters of the Mekong River in Cambodia as a pod of rare Irrawaddy dolphins surfaces to breathe, drawing excited murmurs from tourists watching from nearby boats. The thrilling sight may soon be no more than a memory, as numbers of the endangered mammals dwindle despite efforts to preserve them. Cambodia has announced tough new restrictions on fishing in the vast river to try and reduce the number of dolphins killed in nets. But in a country with limited financial resources, it's a huge challenge to enforce the rules on a river hundreds of metres wide that is dotted with islets and lined with dense undergrowth. read more https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230315-the-battle-to-save-cambodia-s-river-dolphins-from-extinction

Fire has damaged part of the provincial residence of Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni while he was abroad PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Fire damaged part of the provincial residence of Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni near a famous temple complex, officials said Monday. No injuries have been reported. The blaze broke out on Sunday night in the northwestern city of Siem Reap, damaging the roof of one of the smaller buildings in the complex. The 69-year-old king is currently in Beijing for routine medical checks. Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said there were no reports of anyone being injured. The Ministry of the Royal Palace on Monday blamed an electrical fault. Video from the state news agency AKP showed the intensity of the fire before emergency crews brought it under control and evidently prevented major damage to the main residential building. The large villa is the official home of the king when he is in Siem Reap. King Sihamoni's main residence is a palace inside a walled compound in the capital, Phnom Penh. read more https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/fire-damages-part-cambodian-kings-residence-temple-97817729

Architects, archaeologists, and workers who participated in the renovation of the Takav gate of Angkor Thom expressed their happiness after seeing this ancient gate, which showed its unique beauty and longevity. Han Mach, 66, a resident of North Sras Srang village, who has been involved in the renovation of many temples in the Angkor area with the APSARA National Authority for more than 20 years, said that initially the Takav gate was damaged in many parts, such as stones falling apart from the top of the Brahma faces, three-headed elephant statues, the statues of Deva and Asura on the causeway. She said happily that when the restoration project was completed, the Takav gate was so beautiful that it was almost unbelievable. “This work was very valuable because she has contributed to preserving our ancient Khmer temples.” Oeung Thoeun, 39, a resident of O’Torteung Village, and a worker who helped repair the Takav gate, said that after the restoration over the last three years, the Takav gate has stood strongly again. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501252928/restoration-team-expresses-happiness-after-seeing-takav-gate-of-angkor-thom-stand-strong-again/

Qatar Airways announced the resumption of its Phnom Penh flights this year. While talking at the opening day of the ITB Berlin 2023, the world’s largest international travel and tourism trade show, Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker said it would resume flights to 11 destinations, including Phnom Penh, Beijing, Birmingham, Buenos Aires, Casablanca, Davao, Marrakesh, Nice, Osaka, Ras Al-Khaimah, and Tokyo Haneda. The Phnom Penh flights are expected to commence operations from October 29 onwards, an airline industry source told Khmer Times yesterday. The airline operated its last flight to Phnom Penh in April 2020. Qatar Airways started its daily flights to Phnom Phenh in February 2013 and thus became the first Middle Eastern airline operating direct flights to the Kingdom. Its flight QR602 received a traditional water salute followed by a grand ceremony at the Phonm Penh International Airport. Qatar Airways started direct flights to the Kingdom in a bid to connect the country with scores of destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, North America and South America. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501251646/qatar-airways-to-resume-phnom-penh-flights-in-october/

But there’s a larger constellation of professionals and organizations and survivors who are still working toward justice and reconciliation — work that has no end, given the scale of pain experienced in the 1970s and passed on through the generations since. For nearly two decades, their work has revolved around the tribunal and associated foreign funding for activities ranging from education, intergenerational dialogue, psychological services, public remembrance and engagement in the judicial process. Non-profits have built out programs that not only help heal old wounds, but seek to foster a society with less hate and more capacity to resolve disputes peacefully. And the leaders of these groups aren’t sure that international partners — which have spent some $337 million on the tribunal alone — will continue to support their work now that “justice” has been served through the tribunal. “Dealing with the past context is like: Cambodia is no longer a post-conflict country so why do you have to respond to this area? So I think in terms of that particular context, there is a decline in funding support,” said Suyheang Kry, the executive director of Women Peace Makers, a Cambodian non-profit focused on inter-ethnic conflict resolution. However, her organization still sees a need for building a bridge between remaining Khmer Rouge survivors and future generations of Cambodians, to ensure that the lessons learned from the country’s dark history aren’t lost. “How are we going to ensure that the younger generations can also bring that; not just about knowing the past, but also how they can also reflect and use that as a tool for them to deal with the present…and build more non-violent types of response,” Suyheang Kry said. A number of studies have found widespread “secondary trauma” among the children of Khmer Rouge survivors — even if they grew up in the diaspora. Leakhena Nou, a sociology professor at the University of California Long Beach who has worked extensively with Khmer Rouge survivors, said she still sees signs of unresolved Khmer Rouge trauma throughout Cambodian society, including among younger generations. “The legacy of the Khmer Rouge continues to live on vicariously through behavioral manifestations like gambling, domestic violence, drug addiction,” she said, noting that violence is often present in everyday language and on social media. “It just shows that society has not truly addressed the underlying trauma,” Leakhena Nou said. read more https://www.voacambodia.com/a/6999699.html

Sam Rainsy says he is backing Tea Seiha to succeed current leader Hun Sen. Exiled Cambodian opposition figure Sam Rainsy has thrown his support behind the current defense minister’s son to become prime minister four months ahead of July’s general elections. The announcement followed a report about a shakeup and power struggle within the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP, over the selection of a new leader to succeed Hun Sun, who has ruled the country since 1985. Sam Rainsy, acting president of the disbanded opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, posted a statement Friday on Facebook backing Tea Seiha, governor of Siem Reap province and the son of Defense Minister Tea Banh, as a prime ministerial candidate for the 2023-28 term. The Cambodia National Rescue Party was the previous main opposition party before Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved it in 2017. Sam Rainsy, a party co-founder, has been living in self-exile in France since 2015, when he fled a series of charges his supporters say are politically motivated. “The Cambodian people who want freedom and justice must unite around Tea Seiha, Tea Banh and Tea Vinh in order to bring about a democratic change in the country’s leadership through peaceful and nonviolent means, meaning free and fair elections,” he wrote. Tea Seiha is the son of Cambodia’s minister of defense and the provincial governor of Siem Reap. Credit: Fresh News Admiral Tea Vinh is the brother of Tea Banh and commander of the Royal Cambodian Navy. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Tea Vinh in late 2021 for corruption concerning China’s involvement in the redevelopment of Ream Naval Base in Sihanoukville province, which could give Chinese forces a stronghold in the contested South China Sea. In Transparency International’s 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index, Cambodia scored only 24 out of 100, and was ranked at 150 out of 180 countries. “Such a change will promote a new leadership which is not made up of murderers, desperately corrupt people and traitors to the nation such as Hun Sen and his family,” Sam Rainsy wrote, referring to the authoritarian prime minister who has ruled Cambodia for 38 years. July elections The move comes as Cambodia prepares to elect members of the National Assembly, now fully controlled by the CPP under Hun Sen, who also serves as the party’s president. Opposition figures, including Sam Rainsy, want the prime minister and his party out of power. In the run-up to the election, Hun Sen has repeatedly attacked members of the Candlelight Party — the current main challenger to the ruling party — in public forums, while CPP authorities have sued Candlelight members on what many observers see as politically motivated charges. Tea Banh, who has served as defense minister since the late 1980s, dismissed San Rainsy’s support for his son in a Facebook statement of his own, and stated his backing of Hun Sen’s oldest son, Hun Manet, as the future prime minister. Cambodia's Defense Minister Tea Banh attends the ASEAN Japan Defense Ministers Informal Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 22, 2022. Credit: Associated Press Hun Manet, 45, is commander of Cambodia’s army, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, and leader of the CPP’s central youth wing. Hun Sen has groomed him to be his successor. Sam Rainsy’s statement “aims at breaking national unity,” Tea Banh wrote. “My family and I still have a stand to support Hun Manet to be the next prime ministerial candidate. He added that the military will work against any foreign interference in an attempt to topple the legal government. Following the statement, many senior military officials also denounced Sam Rainsy’s backing of Tea Seiha, who is widely expected to succeed his father as defense minister when Tea Bahn retires. After Hun Sen said in December 2022 that Hun Manet would succeed him, some leaders in his government, including Tea Bahn and Interior Minister Sar Kheng, did not immediately endorse the move, though they eventually expressed support for the plan. Internal rifts? Political analyst Kim Sok said the matter is indicative of internal rifts in the CPP over prime ministerial candidates, suggesting that a faction led by Sar Kheng and Tea Banh still may not be pleased with Hun Sen’s intention to transfer power to his son. He also said Hun Sen’s concern about a possible revolution sweeping through Cambodia might not come from members of the public and young people displeased with chronic corruption within the government and growing authoritarianism, but from within the CPP itself. “Hun Sen has said that he will be the CPP president when his son is the prime minister; this means there is an internal rift,” said Kim Sok. “This is a sign of a color revolution within the party.” Hun Sen recently warned Cambodians not to attempt to stage any color revolutions — popular anti-regime protest movements and accompanying changes of government — using human rights as a pretext, but rather to protect his so-called hard-earned peace. Translated by Samean Yun for RFA Khmer. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster. https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/pm-candidate-03102023170621.html Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday said that Cambodia should not be a dumpyard for used electronic items from developing countries, and import of secondhand products into the country should be restricted. “If other countries have the latest smartphones, we must also have them. They need not sell the old products to Cambodia,” Mr Hun Sen added while addressing the closing ceremony of a review meeting of the Ministry of Health on Tuesday. Mr Hun Sen also urged authorities concerned to stop producing substandard products and goods that can affect the health of the people. “Cambodians should not be the guinea pigs for developed countries, either for medicine or technology,” the Premier said. Reacting to the Prime Minister’s comments, Meas Sok Sensan, spokesman for the Economy and Finance Ministry, said yesterday that the Ministry has put in place a number of strategic plans to work with the General Department of Customs and Excise to take legal action against the import of obsolete products. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501252328/cambodia-not-a-dumpyard-says-pm/

The government has issued a Sub-Decree requiring those who use devices with SIM cards to register their identities in order to prevent cybercrime and theft. The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPT) yesterday announced the new Sub-Decree to protect those who use smart phones, tablets and computers. Everyone has to register SIM cards and only those who stay in the Kingdom for less than 60 days are exempt. The registration system will record the identity of the owner which is useful if the device is lost or stolen, as the owner can report to the authority who will block the function of the phone, thereby rendering the device useless in the hands of a thief. The owners can turn on the function once they are back in possession of their device. Hok Arun, 40, a phone shop owner in Kandal province, said yesterday the registration system of the MPT is very important to reduce criminality, as thieves won’t be able to sell the device if it will not function correctly. “As a retailer of phones, I have to check phones carefully when I purchase a used phone or I will lose money if it is a stolen phone,” he said. read more https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501252335/new-sub-decree-requires-sim-cards-to-be-registered-to-prevent-cybercrime/