ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Cambodia. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Cambodia. International donors resumed aid to Cambodia in 1999, and their grants and soft loans now make up about half of the government's annual budget. Police and soldiers routinely torture, beat, and otherwise abuse suspects in custody, according to the US State Department and the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO). Cambodia's relatively young garment industry is likely to be increasingly hurt by competition from Chinese and Vietnamese factories. Cambodia's few independent trade unions are active but are small and have limited resources.
