Low pay fuels anger among Cambodia’s garment workers
March 14th, 2013, AFP, Channel News Asia, Business & Commercial Development, Foreign Investment, Garment Industry, Industry, Labor, News Source, Textiles, Trade
As night falls thousands of weary workers stream from textile factories that fan out across Phnom Penh’s outskirts.
The clothing industry’s desire for cheap labour having created an abundance of jobs but as the number of international clothes companies tapping into Cambodia’s workforce grows, so does anger at the low wages and tough conditions that come with such employment in the global garment industry. …
Overwork, malnutrition and poor ventilation are to blame for staff fainting in factories since 2010, according to Moeun Tola, program manager at the Community Legal Education Centre, which provides advocacy for workers. …
AFP
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1259888/1/.html
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1259888/1/.html
Malaysia frees 105 foreign maids ‘held against will’
December 3rd, 2012, AFP, International Relations, Social Concerns
Malaysian authorities have freed 105 mostly Indonesian maids who were forced to work without pay by day and held against their will at night, local media reported on Monday.
The women were freed Saturday in a raid on a building near the capital Kuala Lumpur where they had been held by their employment agency, said the reports, in a case sure to feed anger among Malaysia’s neighbours over recurring reports of foreign maids being abused in the country.
The 95 Indonesians, six Filipinas and four Cambodians had entered Malaysia in recent months on social visit passes that do not confer the right to work legally in the country, leaving them vulnerable to abuse, officials were quoted saying. …
Greenpeace Catches ‘Black Market’ Fish
November 15th, 2012, AFP, Agriculture & Agri-business, Environment & Natural Resources, Environmental change, Fishing, Industry, International Relations
Fishing vessels registered in the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia have been filmed “laundering” illegally caught tuna, environment activist group Greenpeace International said Thursday….
Two Indonesian vessels and one Philippine ship were transferring their hauls on to the Cambodian boat so that the location of their catches would remain secret, according to Greenpeace oceans campaigner Farah Obaidullah.
“This is a huge trans-shipment, the hold (of the Cambodian vessel) was the size of a basketball court and it was knee-deep in tuna,” Obaidullah told AFP. …
Pentagon chief to visit Australia, Thailand and Cambodia
November 9th, 2012, AFP, Business & Commercial Development, International Relations, News Source
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will travel to Australia, Thailand and Cambodia next week as part of America’s strategic tilt to the Asia-Pacific, even as crises in the Middle East demand the Pentagon’s attention and resources.
In a week-long trip starting Sunday, Panetta will head to Perth, for an annual US-Australia meeting of ministers that will include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the US military’s top officer, General Martin Dempsey, and the head of Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, officials said Thursday. …
After Australia, Panetta will fly to Thailand, the first visit by a Pentagon chief since 2008, before heading to Cambodia where he will join 10 counterparts at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). …
Cambodia creates safe zones for Mekong dolphins
August 24th, 2012, AFP, Environmental change, Fishing, Lakes/Rivers, Protected Areas, Tourism
The Cambodian government on Friday said it will limit fishing in a zone in the Mekong River to protect critically endangered freshwater dolphins…
The Irrawaddy dolphin conservation area will cover a 180-kilometre-long (110 miles) stretch of river from eastern Kratie province to the border with Laos, the government said after the measure was approved in the weekly cabinet meeting.
Fishing will still be allowed inside the zone but the use of floating houses, fish cages and gill nets will be banned as they risk endangering the dolphins.
The government estimates there are between 155 and 175 Irrawaddy dolphins left in Cambodia’s stretch of the Mekong River, while WWF last year put the figure at just 85.
The newly created zone “will serve the eco-tourism sector and sustainably preserve dolphins,” the statement said…
Agence France-Presse
http://news.xin.msn.com/en/regional/cambodia-creates-safe-zones-for-mekong-dolphins-2
Cambodia PM vows to fix land disputes
June 14th, 2012, AFP, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Land Tenure, Social Concerns
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday gave authorities six months to end a spate of land disputes pitting developers against villagers that have sparked increasingly violent protests.
Hun Sen ordered officials to visit contested areas and issue deeds to families facing illegal evictions, a move he said would bring “harmony” to the country, amid growing criticism of Cambodia’s handling of the problem. …
AFP
http://www.brecorder.com/world/southeast-asia/62295-cambodia-pm-vows-to-fix-land-disputes-.html
Cambodian girl killed in land row: rights groups
May 16th, 2012, AFP, Disputed Land, Economic Land Concessions, Foreign Investment, Land Tenure, Social Concerns
A Cambodian girl was shot dead on Wednesday when security forces clashed with a village protest over an alleged land grab, rights groups said, in the latest territorial dispute to descend into violence.
Details not unclear but campaigners said the teenager was shot when hundreds of villagers involved in a long-running conflict with a private firm squared off against military officers and police in the eastern province of Kratie.
The Cambodian government has faced mounting criticism from the UN and rights groups over a string of increasingly violent land conflicts, with security forces accused of using live rounds against activists in at least four cases. …
National police spokesman Kirt Chantharith told AFP he had no information about the fatality but said armed forces had been deployed to the area to prevent villagers “trying to control the land illegally”.
The Kompong Domrey residents have long been embroiled in a disagreement with the Casotim company, which owns a concession to produce rubber in the area, with both sides laying claim to the forest land. …
AFP
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20120516-346295.html
Cambodia closes probe into activist’s shooting
May 6th, 2012, AFP, Disputed Land, Forests, Land Tenure, Protected Areas, Social Concerns, Timber/Wood
The Cambodian government on Saturday said it had closed its investigation into the fatal shootings of a well-known activist and a military police officer after the arrest of a security guard.
Ran Boroth accidentally shot dead In Rattana, a military policeman who had just gunned down anti-logging activist Chhut Vuthy during an argument in a remote forest on April 26, a government spokesman said.
“This is the clear and true result confirmed by witnesses at the scene,” spokesman Tith Sothea told reporters in the capital Phnom Penh.
“Now we have shown the truth to the public,” he said of the government probe. “So our work is closed for now.”
The findings contradict earlier claims by the military police that In Rattana fired two bullets from his AK-47 into his own chest, after shooting dead the prominent activist.
Vuthy’s death shocked the country and prompted international calls for an impartial investigation. …
Agence France Presse
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jLjKkNTYZkMtK8Iyu96DAiWBzVEg?docId=CNG.11cf93f1247225bf43d65a3332f9a23c.761
Malaysian couple charged with Cambodian maid murder
April 16th, 2012, AFP, Labor, News Source
A Malaysian couple were charged Friday with the murder of their Cambodian maid, who police suspect may have died of prolonged starvation.
The alleged abuse case of Mey Sichan, who would have turned 24 in September, is one of many that have caused both Cambodia and Indonesia to suspend sending maids to Malaysia…
…Mey Sichan was found dead by paramedics called by her employers on March 31. When found, she weighed 26 kilogrammes (57 pounds). She also had bruises on her body.
Police said she died from acute gastritis and ulcers likely due to lack of food over a long period. The maid had been working for the family for eight months…
Hundreds fall ill at Cambodian garment factory
October 25th, 2011, AFP, Business & Commercial Development, Industry, Labor
PHNOM PENH — Hundreds of workers were hospitalised after falling ill on Monday at a Cambodian garment factory — the latest in a string of such incidents in the industry, police and union officials said.
Nearly one thousand employees at the Anful Garments Factory (Cambodia) Ltd in the southern province of Kampong Speu described feeling weak, nauseous and dizzy during their shift, Free Trade union leader Chea Mony told AFP.
“I am investigating the case,” he said, adding that many of them had lost consciousness in the incident, which happened after the plant had been sprayed with insecticide over the weekend.
Provincial police chief Keo Pisei confirmed that scores of workers at the factory had passed out, but he said the number was “less than one thousand”.
It was not immediately clear which clothing brand the factory supplies.
There have been around a dozen reported incidents of mass fainting spells in Cambodian garment factories this year.
They are mostly blamed on workers’ poor health, bad ventilation in the workplace or exposure to dangerous chemicals.
Cambodian ‘Avatars’ Rally to Save Forest
August 18th, 2011, AFP, Environment & Natural Resources, Land Tenure, Technical Assistance
More than one hundred villagers dressed as the forest people from the hit film “Avatar” protested in the Cambodian capital Thursday against the destruction of the country’s Prey Lang forest…They say the forest, which is a source of livelihood for some 200,000 mainly indigenous people, is under threat from illegal logging and a spate of concessions granted for rubber plantations and mineral exploitation…Prey Lang covers about 3,600 square kilometers (1,400 square miles) in northern Cambodia. It is home to dozens of rare plant species and endangered animals including sun bears, tigers and Asian elephants.
WWF calls for action to save Mekong dolphins
August 17th, 2011, AFP, Environment & Natural Resources
Conservation group WWF on Wednesday called for urgent action to prevent the extinction of freshwater dolphins in the Mekong River, including the creation of special conservation zones. Entanglement in fishing nets, low calf survival rates and a steady degradation of the creature’s habitat are threatening the estimated 85 Irrawaddy dolphins left in Cambodia and Laos, WWF said. “Evidence is strong that very few young animals survive to adulthood, as older dolphins die off and are not replaced,” Li Lifeng, director of WWF’s freshwater programme, said in a statement. “This tiny population is at high risk by its small size alone. With the added pressures of gill net entanglement and high calf mortality we are really worried for the future of dolphins.” The group urged the Cambodian government to consider a ban on gill nets. But the Cambodian official tasked with caring for the country’s Irrawaddy dolphins criticised the group’s research methods and insisted there remained “about 155 to 175″ of the animals in the Mekong.