Freedom Park open as city ‘returns to normal’
The razor-wire was removed, riot police departed and Freedom Park was opened to the public for the first time in seven months Wednesday morning as City Hall declared that Phnom Penh had “returned to normal” following the swearing-in Tuesday of the CNRP’s 55 lawmakers. “Because security, ...
Mech Dara and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/freedom-park-open-as-phnom-penh-returns-to-normal-65893/
LGBT rights need to be addressed, says report
Due to discrimination, sexual minorities in the country face high poverty, bullying and elevated dropout rates, with the government’s ambiguous stance on LGBT issues worsening the situation, a UN report says. “Laws and policies in Cambodia are silent on LGBT people and rights,” states Being LGBT ...
Charles Rollet and Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lgbt-rights-need-be-addressed-says-report
Residents say 7NG is buying up White Building
After the development company 7NG completed the violent eviction of more than 1,400 families from Phnom Penh’s dey Krahorm community in 2009, it set its sights on the adjacent White Building. The historic apartment block, which was built as a low-cost housing project under then Prince ...
Chan Cheuk Yin, Sun Heng and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/residents-say-7ng-is-buying-up-white-building-67136/
Villagers say dredging a danger, disturbance
About 50 villagers living along the Mekong River in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district protested outside their local pagoda Sunday to demand that authorities take action against a company illegally dredging sand from the riverbed. ...
Ouch Sony
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-say-dredging-a-danger-disturbance-67660/
Child labourer injuries rife
Over 85 per cent of child domestic workers in Phnom Penh are injured in the course of their employment, research into child labour released yesterday revealed. The Cambodian Development Research Institute and World Vision International are jointly examining child labour practices in the Kingdom, and the ...
Laignee Barron and Sen David
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/child-labourer-injuries-rife
Monk to use court platform
An activist monk set to face trial today on widely disputed charges of incitement alongside a so-called “terrorist” leader vowed yesterday to use the hearing to preach to the judiciary. In a statement released Sunday, 16 NGOs called for authorities to drop the charges against ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/monk-use-court-platform
Med students furious over coming fee hike
Medical students are up in arms about a tuition hike that would double costs and prevent some from gaining their degree, they told the Post yesterday. The University of Health Sciences announced Friday that students wishing to pursue a specialty beyond the general medical degree would ...
Chhay Channyda
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/med-students-furious-over-coming-fee-hike
Gov’t advises to bundle up
As Cambodia braces for a cold snap expected to last through early January, the Ministry of Health on Sunday evening urged citizens to take precautions against common winter maladies. In a joint statement with the World Health Organization (WHO), the ministry warned that the Kingdom is ...
Pech Sotheary
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/gov%E2%80%99t-advises-bundle
Cambodia: death highlights detention center abuses
The Cambodian government should promptly close all centers arbitrarily detaining people outside the criminal justice system, Licadho and Human Rights Watch said today. The abusive nature of these centers was highlighted by the death on November 26, 2014, of a man who was arbitrarily detained ...
Human Rights Watch News Staff
http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/12/06/cambodia-death-highlights-detention-center-abuses
Where squalor’s the norm
Abuse, discrimination, exploitation and corruption are endemic in Cambodia’s prisons, spurred on by judicial and penal systems “driven by nepotism”, according to a new report from local rights group Licadho. The report, Rights at a Price: Life Inside Cambodia’s Prisons, which was released yesterday, details a ...
Alice Cuddy and May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/where-squalors-norm
Bunong villagers upset at industrialist’s silence
Ethnic Bunong communities in Mondulkiri’s Bousraa commune will soon hold protests that will call on French industrialist Vincent Bollore to honour promises his firm made during a meEting with them in Paris in October, a representative has said. His Bollore investment group is a shareholder in ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/bunong-villagers-upset-industrialists-silence
Villagers in Ratanakkiri prevent company from clearing land
About 100 villagers prevented a company from clearing part of its land concession in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district on Saturday in the latest confrontation in a long-running dispute in the Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary, according to a villager and a local official. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-in-ratanakkiri-prevent-company-from-clearing-land-77219/
Insult ban won’t affect free speech, parties say
The electoral reform working groups from the ruling CPP and opposition CNRP resumed talks Monday after canceling their meetings last week, with officials from both parties again defending their controversial push to ban NGOs from “insulting” parties during election campaigns. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/insult-ban-wont-affect-free-speech-parties-say-77262/
Indigenous rights ‘denied’
Despite Cambodia’s indigenous peoples being legally recognised and protected unDer the country’s Forestry and Land Laws, limited implementation combined with a lack of coordination have resulted in many indigenous communities being Denied their land and legal rights, according to a report released this month by ...
Ethan Harfenist
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/indigenous-rights-denied
Maternal mortality rates remain high, despite UN goals
Cambodia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the region, and despite UN goals set up for the end of 2015, that number has remained high. There, only 75 percent of women giving birth were attended by trained health workers in 2012, according ...
Men Kimseng
http://bit.ly/1CvJJCo
New plan for low-cost housing
Cambodia’s Ministry of Land Management is in the initial phase of a project to build affordable housing for the Kingdom’s low-income population. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-plan-low-cost-housing
Unlicensed blood-test clinic shuttered in SR
A blood-testing lab in Siem Riep was closed down yesterday morning after it was discovered to be operating without a licence. ...
Thik Kaliyann
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unlicensed-blood-test-clinic-shuttered-sr
Vietnam troops hinder CNRP-led trip to border
Armed Vietnamese soldiers on Monday tried to prevent more than 300 people led by CNRP lawmakers from visiting a disputed border area in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district, a lawmaker and a rights worker said. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/vietnam-troops-hinder-cnrp-led-trip-to-border-85212/
Leaked draft of law fuels fear among NGOs
A leaked copy of the contentious draft law on associations and NGOs is fuelling fears among its many critics that its purpose is to stifle criticism of the government by giving it broad powers to shut down both foreign and domestic associations and NGOs. ...
Donald Lee and Va Sonyka
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/12287/leaked-draft-of-law-fuels-fear-among-ngos/
Opposition hopes to kill draft NGO Law at National Assembly
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy says his party will do its best to prevent the passage of a controversial draft law to regulate NGOs. Chheang Von, a lawmaker for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the National Assembly’s spokesman, said Sam Rainsy was only making promises ...
Neou Vannarin
http://bit.ly/1Gk4ST7