Tonle Bassac dredging necessary, say officials

In order to aid waterway transport, sand-dredging – largely banned since a 2011 decree – will soon begin reappearing at dozens of locations along the Tonle Bassac river, a spokesman from the Ministry of Mines and Energy confirmed yesterday. According to Meng Saktheara, at the behest of local authorities and the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, the government has identified some 30 to 40 spots stretching from the southeastern outskirts of Phnom Penh all the way to the Vietnamese border that require dredging to ease transport along the river.

Government Achieved Less Than 40 Percent of 2015 Policy Targets

The government fully achieved 6 out of 16 measureable policy targets last year, according to a re­port re­leased by the Committee for Free and Fair Elections (Com­frel) on Tuesday.

More protests as Capitol bus unionists denied bail

About 300 demonstrators gathered in front of Prey Sar Prison and Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday to protest the continuing imprisonment of two union members who were arrested after being attacked and beaten during a February 6 protest. Former Capitol Bus Company driver Norn Vanna and Cambodia Labour Confederation member Ros Siphay were arrested after their protest – part of an ongoing strike by Capitol drivers – was attacked by members of the Cambodia for Confederation Development Association, which represents tuk-tuk drivers and motodops. None of the alleged attackers were arrested.

Opposition Casts Doubt on NEC Leadership, Staff

The National Election Committee (NEC) yesterday appointed Tep Nytha to another term as secretary general, in a selection process that civil society and opposition party members have criticized as fraudulent and closed from public scrutiny. Along with Mr. Nytha’s appointment, Mao Sophearith, Sorn Sorida, Ny Chakrya, and Mok Dara were voted into office as deputy secretary generals, and another 350 people who formerly worked as part-time NEC employees have been made civil servants and put on the government’s payroll.

ពលរដ្ឋ​នៅ​ខេត្ត​ព្រះវិហារ​បារម្ភ​អំពី​ការ​កាប់​​ព្រៃឈើ​នៅ​សហគមន៍​ជាំពេន

Gov’t Names Illegal Logging Profiteers, but Courts Won’t Prosecute

More than a month has passed since National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) named the people it suspects of profiting from the trade in illegal timber, but not a single arrest warrant or court summons has been issued since. As perpetrators continue to go unpunished, the illegal logging trade is continuing apace, the spokesman for the committee said. After a broad investigation that included raids on timber warehouses around the country, the NADC sent 26 complaints to courts in three provinces, naming the people it believed were participating in the illegal logging trade.

Task Force for Illegal Logging Begins Sending Cases to Court

An ad hoc task force set up by Prime Minister Hun Sun last month to go after illegal timber stocks in eastern Cambodia has started sending cases to the pro­vincial courts for prosecution, Na­tional Police spokesman Eng Hy said on Monday. Police and Forestry Admin­is­tra­tion officials have been combing through piles of logs inside ware­houses, on rubber plantations and in forests across the eastern prov­inces since the prime min­ister an­nounced the task force’s creation on Jan­uary 15.

Labour Ministry eyes minimum wage law

The Ministry of Labour is eyeing the creation of a draft law that would codify the sometimes-nebulous process that determines the garment industry’s minimum wage, attendees at the ministry’s annual meeting were told last week. While thin on specifics, ministry spokesman Heng Sour said yesterday that the law would provide greater detail than the current prakases and sub-decrees on the issue and clarify the mechanisms for wage setting.

New Anti-Deforestation Committee ‘Successful’

Over a month after launching, the National Anti-Deforestation Committee (NADC) has claimed that deforestation crimes across the country have dropped significantly, with the majority of illegal deforestation occurring in Mondulkiri, Kratie and Tbong Khmum provinces. Speaking after a meeting reviewing the committee’s results yesterday, the Military Police and National Anti-Deforestation spokesman Eng Hy touted the committee’s success while withholding the actual number of crimes his committee had cracked down on.

Company’s work halted to protect mangroves

Environmental authorities shut down a private company’s activities in Preah Sihanouk province late last week, after they discovered hectares of mangrove forest had been uprooted and filled in with soil. Nharl Sithorn, owner of the eponymous company, had cleared a large tract of land and indiscriminately destroyed the homes of a vast array of marine wildlife, according to Sihanouk province’s Fishery Administration director Nen Chamroeun.

Labor Minister Takes Shot at Unions

Labor Minister Ith Samheng has accused some unions of inciting garment workers to violate the Labor Law without making them aware of the benefits they stand to lose in doing so for the personal benefit of their leaders. Mr. Samheng said during a congress at the Cambodia National Inheritance Confederation over the weekend that some union officials were not acting in the interest of workers, who join unions on trust and faith, or considering the viability of the companies that employ them.

Two Tycoons Sued on Illegal Logging Allegations

Villagers are suing Oknas Kna and Knha, also known as Lim Bonna and Buth Buneng, for allegedly destroying forests and burning land on some 3,210 hectares belonging to Russei Keo commune in southwestern Kratie. The complaint, signed and fingerprinted by 34 villagers of the commune, was filed to the court on January 18, just after the government’s illegal logging crackdown began. Now, over a month later, five women and one man are being summoned to Kratie Provincial Court for questioning.

Lawmakers hit road over land disputes

A bipartisan commission of National Assembly lawmakers arrived in Battambang province yesterday to investigate three unresolved land disputes before going on to Banteay Meanchey to investigate six more over the next two days. The director of the body’s human rights commission, Eng Chhay Eang, said the assembly had previously urged local authorities to solve the nine cases, but after months of inaction, the commission is taking matters into its own hands.

S’Ville Beach Vendors Come to Phnom Penh to Protest Eviction Order

With the clock ticking down to a possible eviction on March 13, about 150 vendors and small business-owners from Sihanoukville’s Otres, Ochheuteal, and Damnak Sdech beaches submitted a petition yesterday asking the government to provide them with an alternate place to work. The Ministry of Land Management has promised to respond within a week, said Ek Vithean, one of the leaders of the petitioners. “I hope that there will be a solution soon, so that we can continue to do business and support our families,” added Nhim Cheatha, a vendor from Otres who was also in Phnom Penh yesterday.

World Bank Project in Trouble Before It Starts

Between 2008 and 2015, the World Bank and German aid agency GIZ spent $13 million setting up eight social land concessions for thousands of the poorest Cambodians, doling out small farms they could use to pull themselves out of poverty and, after a few years, own outright. Soon, the Bank hopes to start spending another $25 million on phase two, building up the eight sites—plus five others set up with help from Japan—and adding a new site in the north of Kompong Thom province.

NGO’s Discuss Cooperation with National Anti-Deforestation Committee

Representatives from six international NGOs that have worked for 17 years on the conservation of nature and forests met with the National Anti-Deforestation Committee yesterday during a meeting where they also requested the committee’s cooperation in cracking down on deforestation crimes. Chhit Sam Ath, country director of the World Wide Fund for Nature, said that the representatives of the six NGOs met with the president of the National Anti-Deforestation Committee to get more information regarding the committee’s actions since its creation, and to discuss cooperative strategies in order for them to coordinate their efforts.

Beachfront Business Owners Protest Impending Eviction

Following an order from the government this week for businesses on O’Tres and O’Chheuteal beaches in Preah Sihanouk prov­ince to shut down, about 100 business owners and vendors protested in Phnom Penh on Thursday, calling for the decision to be overturned. On Tuesday, provincial officials an­nounced that all bars, guesthouses and restaurants on O’Tres beach, and some on the southern end of neigh­boring O’Chheuteal beach, would have until March 13 to close be­fore being destroyed by authorities. The officials cited en­vironmental concerns in their decision.

NGOs, military police join forces in logging crackdown

Six prominent conservation groups yesterday vowed to help a military police task force fight illegal logging near the eastern border yesterday. However, scepticism persists that the highly publicised operation, which has resulted in few arrests, is merely for show. Leaders from Wildlife Alliance, WWF-Cambodia, Wildlife Conservation Society, Conservation International, Fauna & Flora International and Birdlife International met with military police chief Sao Sokha, the leader of the anti-logging task force created last month by Prime Minister Hun Sen, at national military police headquarters in Phnom Penh yesterday morning.

Former KR Leader Lashes out at Tribunal

Former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan defended his actions during the last day of his appeal hearing yesterday in one of the longest speeches he has given in his six-year trial at the court. Raising his voice to a shout, Mr. Samphan accused the trial chamber of using forged documents to convict him, and insisted that he played no role in the deaths of millions of Cambodians. “In the pretrial, the trial chamber had already made its decision that I am guilty,” he said. “After making their decision they selected and faked documents to fit their decision...I have to shout strongly that I have never agreed with any policy that was against the people of Cambodia...I never agreed with any policy that involved crimes against humanity.”

Mondolkiri Governor Replaced Amid Local Discontent

Eng Bunheang, the much-crit­icized governor of Mondol­kiri province, will be replaced by his deputy today in a ceremony pre­sided over by Interior Min­ister Sar Kheng, according to officials. While the government maintains that Mr. Bunheang is only being replaced because he has reached retirement age—he is 60—-activists and rights workers sus­pect his removal is related to dis­content he has created among in­digenous communities and his failure to curb rampant illegal logging in the eastern province.