The National Assembly passed a law to reform prisons on Monday, but critics say its wording remains unclear and that one section that allows prisoners to work for private companies should not have been included.
Cambodia’s history shows that a lack of freedoms and equal rights have led to unrest in the past, a pattern that could repeat itself, a leading political analyst said Thursday, adding that Cambodia today is lacking in morals, making it harder for the country to develop. “There is a gap between rights, or equity, stipulated in the constitution and the implementation,” said Lao Monghay, an independent analyst and monthly contributor to “Hello VOA.” “Practical application is impossible, one can’t exercise one’s rights, and there is abuse of power.” “What appears is resistance, and that causes everyone’s destruction,” he said. A similar situation led to the rise of the Khmer Rouge, civil war and ultimately the presence of foreign troops, he said
US federal employees have begun a fundraising campaign for 2011, in a drive to collect money for local and international organizations. The Combined Federal Campaign is undertaken each year and allows US government employees to deduct money from their incomes to go toward thousands of different organizations, including charities and NGOs. “I donate to a lot of humane societies: Crime Solvers organization, the Red Cross,” said Brandon Garner, an administrative assistant at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a US agency that oversees VOA.
The Cambodian Embassy in Washington is helping to raise funds for floods victims in Cambodia, following weeks of inundation that has left thousands of families stranded. At a gathering in Washington Sunday, the embassy collected around $6,500 from some 200 Cambodian-Americans, the ambassador, Hem Heng, told VOA Khmer. At least 250 people have died in the floods, which began in August and continued through September
[Editor’s note: On Oct. 26, Andrew Cayley, the international prosecutor for the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, gave a lecture at Rutgers University, in Newark, New Jersey. Cayley, who came to the court in 2009, has been closely involved in the prosecution of two contentious cases at the court, called 003 and 004.
The National Assembly on Friday passed a law to against acid attacks, providing long-term recovery costs for victims and a sentence of up to 30 years for assailants.
More jobs at home and better skills training could keep Cambodia’s poor from being exploited as migrant workers, a leading opposition lawmaker says. An increasing number of workers are seeking jobs abroad, but the work can be rife with danger, including slave labor on fishing vessels, sex trafficking and others. Women are especially at risk, with the problem of migrant labor underscored last month when Cambodia banned workers from traveling to work as maids in Malaysia, pending an investigation into abuses there and the practice of the hiring of underage girls by recruitment firms.