Human Rights Watch is calling for new legal protections for the thousands of Cambodians who work in Malaysia as domestic workers. Rights workers say both countries must do much more to prevent an array of abuses including physical and sexual violence
Rights groups and other officials say the government has not gone far enough in drafting a law on acid attacks, by failing to include provisions for the treatment of victims or to ascribe punishments to those who hire attackers. Acid attacks are a common form of retribution in Cambodia, often ordered by powerful men or women and carried out by hired assailants. Rights groups say about half of the draft’s 27 articles need to be improved before the law is passed.
More than 100 Cambodian-Americans gathered in Alexandria, Va., on Oct. 21 and Oct. 22 to commemorate the anniversary of the Paris Peace Accords, but participants said that two decades later, Cambodia still struggles with issues of human rights, democracy and the encroachment of neighboring Thailand and Vietnam
Following the visit of the UN’s top legal representative to Cambodia last week, the Khmer Rouge tribunal is facing increased pressure to regain its credibility, court observers say. Patricia O’Brien, flew to Phnom Penh last week to warn Cambodian officials to refrain from speaking against two cases before the investigating judges. The office of investigating judges is now facing accusations that its judges, Siegfried Blunk and You Bunleng, altered documents for controversial Case 003, among other irregularities
As America continues to struggle with unemployment, a Cambodian economist says a jobs act proposed by President Barrack Obama could both help the economy and the incumbent’s presidential bid next year.
The office of investigating judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal is currently considering two controversial cases that would require five more indictments. The investigating judges, Siegfried Blunk and You Bunleng, have said they have doubts as to whether the suspects are “most responsible” for atrocity crimes of the Khmer Rouge
[Editor’s note: Mental trauma remains one of the main issues for Cambodia, a legacy of the Khmer Rouge and the country’s conflicts. Ka Sunbaunat, a psychiatry professor and dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of Health Sciences, in Phnom Penh, spoke to VOA Khmer recently. He says the lingering problem should be a top priority in a developing country like Cambodia.] Cambodians suffered severely during the Khmer Rouge, so how does this affect the people and society today