Home Blog Page 74

Smackdown on O’Smach: Cambodia’s Path Out of Tier 3?

The Diplomat
-
0
Smackdown on O’Smach: Cambodia’s Path Out of Tier 3?

Each year, the U.S. State Department publishes its Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report which ranks every country on a descending 1-3 scale in terms of demonstrated commitment to combatting human trafficking. The review period for the 2024 report is now well underway. Despite the continued flourishing of a state-facilitated industry of human trafficking-enabled scamming and money laundering in Cambodia, sources within U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh are signaling publicly and privately their desire to see the “Kingdom of Wonder” upgraded.

Certainly, this is not due to any legitimate or tangible reform. Reports of trafficking into Cambodia’s massive scam industry are on the rise with instability rocking Myanmar’s adjacent industry, and criminal investors seeking a more stable operating environment. Police are re-trafficking “rescued” victims en masse. The National Committee for Counter-Trafficking has devolved into an ineffectual spin shop – alternately denying the scale of the issue and petitioning donors for money to combat it.

In full: https://thediplomat.com/2023/12/smackdown-on-osmach-cambodias-path-out-of-tier-3/

Kissinger in Cambodia

Jacobin
-
0
Kissinger in Cambodia

From the mid-1960s through 1991, Cambodia suffered a devastating series of violent episodes. These included a civil war that pitted the Cambodian government against communist insurgents (the Khmer Rouge); heavy US aerial bombardment that killed thousands of civilians and destabilized the country; the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge, which led to the deaths of some 1.7 million people (21 percent of the population); and a decade-long Vietnamese occupation that saw continuous fighting between the Vietnamese-installed government and Khmer Rouge guerrillas (who were supported by numerous outside powers, including the United States and China).

In his roles as national security advisor and secretary of state during the Nixon and Ford administrations, Henry Kissinger bears significant responsibility for the destruction of Cambodia. It was Kissinger who administered the bombing campaign, which not only killed thousands of people (and still kills people to this day through “unexploded ordnance” — bombs that did not detonate at the time), but also spurred the Khmer Rouge into power.

In full: https://jacobin.com/2023/11/kissinger-in-cambodia

Rosalynn Carter helped me, and thousands of other Cambodian refugees, survive

WBUR
-
0
Rosalynn Carter helped me, and thousands of other Cambodian refugees, survive

I never got the chance to meet former first lady Rosalynn Carter in person, but our paths have crossed more than I could have imagined. I wouldn’t be in the U.S. today if it weren’t for Carter, nor would 150,000 other Cambodian refugees who resettled here after surviving the Khmer Rouge genocide that killed 2 million Cambodians.

In 1979, Carter first saw me. She saw me in the thousands of people who came in waves to the border of Thailand; injured, sick or dying Cambodians who fled the fall of the Khmer Rouge. It was five years before I was born, but her actions laid the groundwork for my family to find shelter, to have something to eat when we were hungry, or medicine when we were sick.

In full: https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2023/12/01/rosalynn-carter-death-cambodian-refugees-thailand-soreath-hok

Cambodian PM Affirms Ban on Mekong Hydropower Projects

The Diplomat
-
0
Cambodian PM Affirms Ban on Mekong Hydropower Projects

Cambodia’s prime minister has stated that the country will not develop any hydropower dams on the Mekong River, reaffirming a moratorium on mainstream dam projects announced in 2020.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a 150-megawatt hydropower dam in the southern province of Koh Kong, Prime Minister Hun Manet said that constructing dams on the mainstream of the Mekong would have “a huge impact” on the river’s ecology.

“The 7th-mandate Royal Government will not build dams on the Mekong River, no matter what the benefits are,” he said, according to a report on the website of the Cambodian People’s Party.

In full: https://thediplomat.com/2023/12/cambodian-pm-affirms-ban-on-mekong-hydropower-projects/

Indigenous land rights are key to conservation in Cambodia (commentary)

Mongabay
-
0
Indigenous land rights are key to conservation in Cambodia (commentary)

While Indigenous peoples comprise just 6% of the global population, they manage or have tenure rights over at least 38 million km2 in some 87 countries. In many places Indigenous peoples are effective custodians of biodiversity, lands, and seas while sustaining distinct cultural, social and economic values of their communities. Upholding the rights of these communities is therefore increasingly at the center of international climate and biodiversity commitments and agreements.

The Cambodian Government has one of the strongest legal frameworks on the protection of such rights within the Mekong region, uniquely recognizing the rights of Indigenous peoples to manage land collectively. The government should be proud of this and further its implementation. These titles protect community lands in perpetuity and provide specific protections for lands held in common, such as forests where rotational farming is practiced, and where the spirits of buried ancestors are said to reside.

In full: https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/indigenous-land-rights-are-key-to-conservation-in-cambodia-commentary/

Cambodian PM says won’t develop dams on Mekong River

AFP
-
0
Cambodian PM says won’t develop dams on Mekong River

Cambodia’s leader said today that the country will not build dams on the Mekong River, after scrapping a US$1.5 billion (RM6.7 billion) coal project in a protected reserve.

Cambodia has come under fire for allowing companies to clear hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest — including in protected areas — for everything from rubber and sugar cane plantations to hydropower dams.

Prime Minister Hun Manet said building dams on the mainstream of the Mekong would have “a huge impact” on the environment and ecology in the river itself and the Tonle Sap lake, South-east Asia’s largest freshwater lake and a key source of fish for Cambodians.

In full: https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2023/11/30/cambodian-pm-says-wont-develop-dams-on-mekong-river/105129

Structural Transformation for Inclusive Growth in Cambodia

Fulcrum
-
0
Structural Transformation for Inclusive Growth in Cambodia

Cambodia has a tragic history but has recovered remarkably since the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements and continues to harbour great aspirations. It aims to become an upper-middle-income country by 2030 and a high-income country by 2050.

To realise these aspirations, Cambodia must address various constraints to achieve more inclusive growth that is also sustainable and resilient. This type of growth should be driven by, as well as generate, decent paying and sustainable jobs in the formal and informal sectors.

To do this, Cambodia needs a new phase of structural transformation. So far, the limited amount of diversification of its economy has not affected the rapid pace of growth but only its quality and inclusiveness.

In full: https://fulcrum.sg/structural-transformation-for-inclusive-growth-in-cambodia/

Kissinger’s Legacy Still Ripples Through Vietnam and Cambodia

New York Times
-
0
Kissinger’s Legacy Still Ripples Through Vietnam and Cambodia

Henry A. Kissinger’s decision to authorize the secret carpet bombing of Cambodia, his efforts to negotiate the American exit from the Vietnam War and his role in the U.S. rapprochement with China have rippled through Southeast Asia in the decades since.

RELATED

Mr. Kissinger, who died on Wednesday, shared the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the peace accords that ended American involvement in the Vietnam War. But some critics accused him of needlessly prolonging the war when a framework for peace had been available years earlier.

The fighting between North Vietnam and U.S.-backed South Vietnam did not end until the North’s victory in 1975. Some observers have said that was the inevitable result of a cynical American policy intended to create space — “a decent interval,” as Mr. Kissinger put it — between the American withdrawal from the country in 1973 and the fall of Saigon two years later.

In full: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/world/asia/kissinger-cambodia-vietnam-war-crimes.html

Anthony Bourdain always wanted to punch Henry Kissinger over Cambodia

Washington Post
-
0
Anthony Bourdain always wanted to punch Henry Kissinger over Cambodia

“Henry Kissinger and a penguin walk into a bar …”

RELATED

Anthony Bourdain had a joke for his guests while filming an episode of “Parts Unknown” in Indonesia. When the subject turned to the United States supporting the decades-long dictatorship of Indonesian President Suharto, who had the support of Kissinger when he was secretary of state, Bourdain loved the punchline in a joke that was more desire than jest. The punchline packed a literal punch.

“I’m not asking what you’d do, but would it displease you if I walked over and punched Henry Kissinger in the face? Would you find that entertaining?” he said in a 2018 episode that aired months after Bourdain, 61, died by suicide. “Would you feel that justice is, in some small way, served?”

In full: https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/11/30/henry-kissinger-anthony-bourdain-cambodia/

Henry Kissinger’s bombing campaign likely killed hundreds of thousands of Cambodians − and set path for the ravages of the Khmer Rouge

The Conversation
-
0
Henry Kissinger’s bombing campaign likely killed hundreds of thousands of Cambodians − and set path for the ravages of the Khmer Rouge

Henry Kissinger, who died on Nov. 29, 2023 at the age of 100, stood as a colossus of U.S. foreign policy. His influence on American politics lasted long beyond his eight-year stint guiding the Nixon and Ford administrations as national security adviser and secretary of state, with successive presidents, presidential candidates and top diplomats seeking his advice and approval ever since.

But his mark extends beyond the United States. Kissinger’s policies in the 1970s had immediate impact on countries, governments and people across South America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Sometimes the fallout – and it was that – lasted decades; in some places it continues to be felt today. Nowhere is that more true than Cambodia.

I’m a scholar of the political economy of Cambodia who, as a child, escaped the brutal Khmer Rouge regime with four siblings, thanks in large part to the cunning and determination of my mother. In both a professional and personal sense, I am aware of the near 50-year impact Kissinger’s policies during the Vietnam War have had on the country of my birth.

In full: https://theconversation.com/henry-kissingers-bombing-campaign-likely-killed-hundreds-of-thousands-of-cambodians-and-set-path-for-the-ravages-of-the-khmer-rouge-209353

There has been an increase in the abuse and trafficking of prescription drugs along the Vietnam-Cambodia border.

Saigon Giai Phong
-
0
There has been an increase in the abuse and trafficking of prescription drugs along the Vietnam-Cambodia border.

Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Vien, head of the Drug-related Crimes Investigation Police Department (C04) under the Ministry of Public Security made a statement at a conference on attacking and suppressing drug criminals along the Vietnam-Cambodia border that was held on November 29 in HCMC.

Criminals have taken advantage of convenient travel and trade between the two countries, and difficulties and loopholes in inspection and control work to illegally transport narcotics from the Golden Triangle through Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia to Vietnam.

In addition, foreigners disguised as tourists enter Vietnam for travel, family visits, business, investment, and others to collude with local people to set up fake companies for Illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs.

In full: https://en.sggp.org.vn/drug-trafficking-increases-along-vietnam-cambodia-border-post106639.html

Cambodian PM’s First 100 Days Show Real Transfer of Power Yet to Come

The Diplomat
-
0
Cambodian PM’s First 100 Days Show Real Transfer of Power Yet to Come

Hun Manet’s first 100 days as prime minister show that Cambodia’s leadership has no vision for the future and that an effective transfer of power has yet to take place.

The new prime minister took over from his father Hun Sen on August 22. His lack of credibility was immediately clear when he addressed the United Nations General Assembly in September, claiming that the national elections held in July were free, fair, and credible.

As was the case in 2018, no recognized opposition party was allowed to run. Hun Manet has no democratic mandate and embarrassed himself internationally by pretending that he does. His father gave him his job on a plate because Hun Sen needs to ensure his own impunity from prosecution. Democratic countries refused to send observers to the July “elections” because there was nothing to observe.

In full: https://thediplomat.com/2023/11/cambodian-pms-first-100-days-show-real-transfer-of-power-yet-to-come/

Exclusive: Cambodia scraps coal power project to build gas-fired plant, import LNG

Reuters
-
0
Exclusive: Cambodia scraps coal power project to build gas-fired plant, import LNG

Cambodia has abandoned plans to build a $1.5 billion 700 megawatt (MW) coal-fired power project in a protected reserve along the southwestern coast and will build an 800 MW natural-gas fired plant instead, its energy minister told Reuters.

RELATED

As part of the project, Cambodia is exploring construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to import the super-chilled fuel and re-gasify it for use in the power plant, Energy Minister Keo Rottanak told Reuters.

The planned LNG terminal, likely to be a fixed land-based facility, would be Cambodia’s first and would make it a new import market in Southeast Asia. Vietnam and the Philippines took their first shipments this year.

In full: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cambodia-scraps-coal-power-project-build-gas-fired-plant-import-lng-2023-11-29/

Cambodia’s Water Festival returns after 3-year hiatus due to pandemic

Xinhua Net
-
0
Cambodia’s Water Festival returns after 3-year hiatus due to pandemic

The annual Water Festival, Cambodia’s grandest festival, returned on Sunday after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reported Xinhua.

RELATED

Boat race is the centerpiece of the three-day festival, which sees tens of thousands of oarsmen and spectators from across the Southeast Asian nation flocking to the riverfront in the capital Phnom Penh.

Bou Chumserey, vice chairman of the boat-racing technical control committee, said some 337 boats with about 20,417 crew members took part in this year’s regatta.

In full: https://thesun.my/world/cambodia-s-water-festival-returns-after-3-year-hiatus-due-to-pandemic-JO11794278

Cambodia’s big bet on the dirtiest fossil fuel faces major delays

Japan Today
-
0
Cambodia’s big bet on the dirtiest fossil fuel faces major delays

The skeletal exterior of one of the newest coal power plants in Cambodia sat silent among farmland in Oddar Meanchey province on a still afternoon in June. Weeds entangling brick stacks, cement mixers and truck tires showed construction had long been paused.

Locals toasting to happy hour down the road from the front gate complained of months of delayed pay for the site’s security guards, adding there was no set date for operations to resume. There was little more information at the Ou Svay commune hall.

“Maybe the plan changed to complete construction by 2025?” questioned Roeun Phearin, who was a commune consultant for the Han Seng power plant. “The construction is now paused and we don’t know the reason because it is the internal information of the company.”

In full: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/environment/2023/11/26/resources/cambodia-coal-push-stalls/

In Cambodia, Foreigners Cannot Own Land. Or Can They?

The Diplomat
-
0
In Cambodia, Foreigners Cannot Own Land. Or Can They?

It’s unclear what reform Prime Minister Hun Manet announced – or whether there was an announcement at all. He’s adamant on what hasn’t happened: his government isn’t about to start selling land to foreigners. But it sounds a lot like that’s exactly what is happening.

As things stand, the Constitution doesn’t allow non-Cambodian nationals to own land or ground-floor property. Foreigners can buy condominium apartments as long as less than 70 percent of the units aren’t foreign-owned, and many do actually “own” land by putting it in the name of a trusted Cambodian but then signing a side contract that guarantees them rights to re-sale and possession. There are Cambodians who own dozens of properties on behalf of foreigners. It pays to be trustworthy. Or foreigners can purchase land or property through a trust, again using a Cambodian as a frontman and, while the trust formally owns the property, it cannot be sold without the permission of the foreign investor.

But speaking after the Government-Private Sector Forum earlier this month, Hun Manet noted that foreigners can also lease land or ground-floor villas and houses for up to 50 years. “This long-term leasing mechanism is a strategic move by the government, designed for stability and growth, eliminating the need for constitutional amendments,” Hun Manet reportedly said, insinuating that it’s a new policy.

In full: https://thediplomat.com/2023/11/in-cambodia-foreigners-cannot-own-land-or-can-they/

Cambodia’s economy to grow 5.4% in 2023: World Bank

Fibre2Fashion
-
0
Cambodia’s economy to grow 5.4% in 2023: World Bank

Cambodia’s economic growth is projected to reach 5.4 per cent in 2023, marginally down from 5.5 per cent forecast in May, and pick up to 5.8 per cent in 2024 and 6.1 per cent in 2025, on anticipated increases in infrastructure investment and benefits from regional trade agreements, as per the World Bank.

If structural reforms accompany infrastructure investments and trade opportunities, growth should continue to accelerate in the medium to long term. Cambodia’s economy expanded by 5.2 per cent in 2022, according to the World Bank’s ‘Cambodia Economic Update: Accelerating Structural Reforms’.

Despite major investments in public infrastructure, the country’s limited transport and logistics capacity and unreliable energy supply continue to impose high costs on business and consumers. In the short term, overlapping negative shocks from the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and high international interest rates are expected to continue to constrain growth.

In full: https://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/announcement/cambodia-s-economy-to-grow-5-4-in-2023-world-bank-291495-newsdetails.htm

‘Just as scared’: Cyberscam victims in Cambodia find no freedom in rescue

Al Jazeera
-
0
‘Just as scared’: Cyberscam victims in Cambodia find no freedom in rescue

When Cambodian police intercepted the bus transporting Carla Ramos Miembro and 26 other Filipinos, who had been sold from one cyber slavery operation to another, she thought her nightmare was finally over.

Instead, it was the beginning of another terrifying ordeal.

“The traffickers and police treated us just as bad. We were just as scared in both places,” said Ramos Miembro, who was stopped in September as a Chinese trafficking ring was taking her from a compound in northern Cambodia to Sihanoukville, a casino town on the southern coast.

In full: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/24/just-as-scared-cyberscam-victims-in-cambodia-find-no-freedom-in-rescue

Cambodian rock via LA

Bangkok Post
-
0
Cambodian rock via LA

Los Angeles-based band Dengue Fever has released a new studio album, Ting Mong (Tuk Tuk Records, USA), their first for eight years. The release marks the Cambodian-US band’s 20th anniversary since their acclaimed self-titled debut in 2003.

Dengue Fever began after brothers Ethan (keyboards) and Zac Holtzman (guitars and vocals) independently discovered the joys of Cambodian pop and rock from the 1960s and 70s, Ethan while travelling in Cambodia and Zac from working in an indie record store. They formed Dengue to perform covers of songs by Cambodian pop stars like Sinn Sisamouth, Pen Ran and Ros Serey Sothea.

In Little Phnom Penh in Long Beach, California, they found former refugee and Khmer singer Chhom Nimol, added saxes and electric bass, and the six-member outfit was born.

In full: https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/arts-and-entertainment/2689059

Police reports lodged against Cambodian woman who claimed Malays are ‘lazy’

New Straits Times
-
0
Police reports lodged against Cambodian woman who claimed Malays are ‘lazy’

The Melaka police contingent said that they have received at least seven police reports regarding a recent viral video of a Cambodian woman who owns a business in Johor Baru, Johor, where she claimed that Malays are ‘lazy’.

Melaka police chief, Datuk Zainol Samah said that the reports were received on Nov 19 (Sunday) at the Bandar Hilir police station, the Kandang police station in the Melaka Tengah district and the Merlimau police station in Jasin from various sides and parties who took offence because of the one minute seven seconds video that has now gone viral.

According to him, they detected the video on Sunday which showed a Cambodian woman who uttered words that touched on the sensitivities of the Malay community by saying that Malays are lazy that was uploaded by a social media account on TikTok via two links.

In full: https://www.nst.com.my/news/crime-courts/2023/11/980798/police-reports-lodged-against-cambodian-woman-who-claimed-malays

1...737475...2,936Page 74 of 2,936

TOP NEWS

POPULAR POSTS

POPULAR CATEGORIES

ABOUT US

The Cambodia Daily is an independent non-profit digital news service for Cambodia and Cambodians.

Contact us: editor at cambodiadaily dot com

FOLLOW US

© 2026 The Cambodia Daily LLC