[JURIST] International donors urged Cambodia Monday to finally pass an anti-corruption law that has been in the works for more than a decade. US Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph Mussomeli [official profile] expressed disappointment on behalf of donors such as Japan, France and the United States that Cambodia [JURIST news archive] has failed to enact the long-delayed anti-corruption law. The law is still under review by the government's Council of Ministers and has been cited as being in contradiction with Cambodia's complicated legal system. Mussomeli, however, urged Cambodia to keep its promise to enact the law as soon as possible, saying that it is past time to pass the law.

In its country study report [PDF text] of Cambodia in December 2006, Transparency International (TI) [advocacy website] concluded that "although the government shows some signs of political will against corruption, after a decade of cautious political peace and billions of US dollars in aid, the systems in place to promote integrity and prevent corruption are still weak and lack the capacity to carry out their functions properly. " TI found that corruption has pervaded almost every sector of the country [press release] and urged that the government demonstrate its political will to fight corruption by enacting and implementing the anti-corruption law. AFP has more.