Cambodia

• tropical;
• rainy, monsoon season (May to November);
• dry season (December to April);
• little seasonal temperature variation

agricultural land:

32.1%;

• arable land 22.7%;
• permanent crops 0.9%;
• permanent pasture 8.5%

forest:

56.5%

other:

11.4% (2011 est.)

• monsoonal rains (June to November);
• flooding;
• occasional droughts

• illegal logging activities throughout the country and strip mining for gems in the western region along the border with Thailand have resulted in habitat loss and declining biodiversity (in particular, destruction of mangrove swamps threatens natural fisheries);
• soil erosion;
• in rural areas, most of the population does not have access to potable water;
• declining fish stocks because of illegal fishing and overfishing

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified:

Law of the Sea

noun:

Cambodian(s)

adjective:

Cambodian

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.02 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

0.98 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

0.96 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

0.65 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.6 male(s)/female

total population:

0.94 male(s)/female (2016 est.)

degree of risk:

very high

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne diseases:

dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis, and malaria (2016)

name:

Phnom Penh

geographic coordinates:

11 33 N, 104 55 E

time difference:

UTC+7 (12 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

• previous 1947;
• latest promulgated 21 September 1993;
• amended 1999, 2008, 2014 (2016)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of Cambodia

dual citizenship recognized:

yes

residency requirement for naturalization:

7 years

chief of state:

King Norodom SIHAMONI (since 29 October 2004)

head of government:

• Prime Minister HUN SEN (since 14 January 1985);
• Permanent Deputy Prime Minister MEN SAM AN (since 25 September 2008);
• Deputy Prime Ministers SAR KHENG (since 3 February 1992), SOK AN, TEA BANH, HOR NAMHONG (all since 16 July 2004), BIN CHHIN (since 5 September 2007), KEAT CHHON, YIM CHHAI LY (since 24 September 2008), KE KIMYAN (since 12 March 2009)

cabinet:

Council of Ministers named by the prime minister and appointed by the monarch

elections/appointments:

• monarch chosen by the 9-member, Royal Council of the Throne from among all eligible males of royal descent;
• following legislative elections, a member of the majority party or majority coalition named prime minister by the Chairman of the National Assembly and appointed by the monarch

description:

bicameral Parliament of Cambodia consists of the Senate (61 seats; 57 indirectly elected by parliamentarians and commune councils, 2 indirectly elected by the National Assembly, and 2 appointed by the monarch; members serve 6-year terms) and the National Assembly (123 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote; members serve 5-year terms)

note: two seats will be added to the National Assembly in 2018, for a total of 125

elections:

Senate - last held on 4 February 2012 (next to be held in 2018); National Assembly - last held on 28 July 2013 (next to be held in July 2018)

election results:

• Senate - percent of vote by party - CPP 77.8%, SRP 22.2%;
• seats by party - CPP 46, SRP 11;
• National Assembly - percent of vote by party - CPP 48.8%, CNRP 44.5%, other 6.7%;
• seats by party - CPP 68, CNRP 55

highest court(s):

• Supreme Council (organized into 5- and 9-judge panels and includes a court chief and deputy chief);
• Constitutional Court (consists of 9 members);
• note - in 1997, the Cambodian Government requested UN assistance in establishing trials to prosecute former Khmer Rouge senior leaders for crimes against humanity committed during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime;
• the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts in Cambodia (also called the Khmer Rouge Tribunal) were established and began hearings for the first case in 2009;
• court proceeding were ongoing in 2016

judge selection and term of office:

• Supreme Court and Constitutional Council judge candidates recommended by the Supreme Council of Magistracy, a 17-member body chaired by the monarch and includes other high-level judicial officers;
• judges of both courts appointed by the monarch;
• Supreme Court judges appointed for life;
• Constitutional Council judges appointed for 9-year terms with one-third of the court renewed every 3 years

subordinate courts:

• Appellate Court;
• provincial and municipal courts;
• Military Court

chief of mission:

Ambassador CHUM BUN RONG (since 3 August 2015)

chancery:

4530 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20011

telephone:

[1] (202) 726-7742

FAX:

[1] (202) 726-8381

chief of mission:

Ambassador William A. HEIDT (since 2 December 2015)

mailing address:

Unit 8166, Box P, APO AP 96546

telephone:

[855] (23) 728-000

FAX:

[855] (23) 728-600

• three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (double width), and blue with a white three-towered temple representing Angkor Wat outlined in black in the center of the red band;
• red and blue are traditional Cambodian colors

note: only national flag to incorporate an actual building into its design

name:

"Nokoreach" (Royal Kingdom)

lyrics/music:

CHUON NAT/F. PERRUCHOT and J. JEKYLL

note: adopted 1941, restored 1993; the anthem, based on a Cambodian folk tune, was restored after the defeat of the Communist regime

agriculture:

48.7%

industry:

19.9%

services:

31.5% (2013 est.)

lowest 10%:

2%

highest 10%:

28% (2013 est.)

general assessment:

• adequate fixed-line and/or cellular service in Phnom Penh and other provincial cities;
• mobile-cellular phone systems are widely used in urban areas to bypass deficiencies in the fixed-line network;
• mobile-phone coverage is rapidly expanding in rural areas

domestic:

• fixed-line connections stand at about 2 per 100 persons;
• mobile-cellular usage, aided by competition among service providers, has increased to over 130 per 100 persons

international:

• country code - 855;
• adequate but expensive landline and cellular service available to all countries from Phnom Penh and major provincial cities;
• satellite earth station - 1 Intersputnik (Indian Ocean region) (2015)

• mixture of state-owned, joint public-private, and privately owned broadcast media;
• 9 TV broadcast stations with most operating on multiple channels, including 1 state-operated station broadcasting from multiple locations, 6 stations either jointly operated or privately owned with some broadcasting from several locations, and 2 TV relay stations - one relaying a French TV station and the other relaying a Vietnamese TV station;
• multi-channel cable and satellite systems are available;
• roughly 50 radio broadcast stations - 1 state-owned broadcaster with multiple stations and a large mixture of public and private broadcasters;
• several international broadcasters are available (2009)

number of registered air carriers:

4; inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 10

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

1,103,880

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

2,301,260 mt-km (2015)

total:

642 km

narrow gauge:

642 km 1.000-m gauge

note: under restoration (2014)

country comparison to the world: 108

total:

44,709 km

paved:

3,607 km

unpaved:

41,102 km (2010)

country comparison to the world: 88

major seaport(s):

Sihanoukville (Kampong Saom)

river port(s):

Phnom Penh (Mekong)

Royal Cambodian Armed Forces:

• Royal Cambodian Army, Royal Khmer Navy, Royal Cambodian Air Force;
• the Royal Cambodian Gendarmerie is the military police force responsible for internal security;
• the National Committee for Maritime Security performs Coast Guard functions and has representation from military and civilian agencies (2016)

• Cambodia is concerned about Laos' extensive upstream dam construction;
• Cambodia and Thailand dispute sections of boundary;
• in 2011 Thailand and Cambodia resorted to arms in the dispute over the location of the boundary on the precipice surmounted by Preah Vihear Temple ruins, awarded to Cambodia by ICJ decision in 1962 and part of a UN World Heritage site;
• Cambodia accuses Vietnam of a wide variety of illicit cross-border activities;
• progress on a joint development area with Vietnam is hampered by an unresolved dispute over sovereignty of offshore islands

current situation:

• Cambodia is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking;
• Cambodian men, women, and children migrate to countries within the region and, increasingly, the Middle East for legitimate work but are subjected to sex trafficking, domestic servitude, or forced labor in fishing, agriculture, construction, and factories;
• Cambodian men recruited to work on Thai-owned fishing vessels are subsequently subjected to forced labor in international waters and are kept at sea for years;
• poor Cambodian children are vulnerable and, often with the families’ complicity, are subject to forced labor, including domestic servitude and forced begging, in Thailand and Vietnam;
• Cambodian and ethnic Vietnamese women and girls are trafficked from rural areas to urban centers and tourist spots for sexual exploitation;
• Cambodian men are the main exploiters of child prostitutes, but men from other Asian countries, and the West travel to Cambodia for child sex tourism

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List – Cambodia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• however, it is making significant efforts to do so;
• the government has a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• authorities made modest progress in prosecutions and convictions of traffickers in 2014 but did not provide comprehensive data;
• endemic corruption continued to impede law enforcement efforts, and no complicit officials were prosecuted or convicted;
• the government sustained efforts to identify victims and refer them to NGOs for care, but victim protection remained inadequate, particularly for assisting male victims and victims identified abroad;
• a new national action plan was adopted, but guidelines for victim identification and guidance on undercover investigation techniques are still pending after several years (2015)

• narcotics-related corruption reportedly involving some in the government, military, and police;
• limited methamphetamine production;
• vulnerable to money laundering due to its cash-based economy and porous borders