Before casting their ballots, residents in three communes in Kulen district carefully mulled their options. On one hand, many have found themselves locked in a land dispute with the government – forced to farm their land in secret from the forestry administration. On the other, ...

As monthlong flooding that has so far left 122 dead slowly subsides, officials and relief agencies were on Sunday concerned that a powerful typhoon approaching Vietnam may bring more heavy rain and the risk of more floods to provinces where tens of thousands of families ...

When the Supreme Court hears land-rights activist Yorm Bopha’s final appeal this morning, familiar cries for justice will come from Boeung Kak women on the streets outside. Much has been written about the housewives of Boeung Kak who have risen up against the government and developers ...

In 2009, a railway project official arrived at 45-year-old Ry Preng’s home in Por Sen Chey district and spray-painted “1.042” in red on the side of his house. He wasn’t sure what it meant, but was told that at some point he would need to ...

A coalition of 18 labor unions and associations is today set to begin the first phase of a nationwide labor strike in the garment sector by calling on workers in about 100 factories to boycott working overtime, according to union leaders. Despite efforts by the government ...

After a monthlong test run saw 10 buses often filled with passengers, a Chinese-owned company promised in early March to inject millions into the project and add hundreds of new buses. But Global Trade Development left the project last month after the municipality refused to grant ...

International trade leaders say Cambodia’s workers and managers should continue to negotiate for an increase in wages, despite a deadly crackdown on worker protests earlier this month. Workers want a raise in the minimum wage to $160 per month to keep up with the rising cost ...

Teng Khorn’s living room is under a tree, his bedroom in a boat hauled up on a slipway for caulking beside the mangroves that lead to his source of income: the sea. His choice of abode is also his act of defiance against the monolithic Chinese ...

Siv Mao, 25, just had a caesarian operation. She feels some discomfort but is smiling. Her newborn baby is sleeping fitfully beside her and she says: “They saved our lives and I’m happy.” Ms. Mao encountered complications in her pregnancy and doctors knew she could not ...

 Hundreds of families living along both sides of the so-called “94 canal” and facing relocation to make way for a new airport in Kandal province called for authorities to give them land titles, on-site development and an end to intimidation, during a public forum in ...

Nean Narin, a humble man and father of three children, says his family is going hungry. Narin lives in the village of Boeung Kak, situated on the edge of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh. For years, he and other villagers relied on the Boeung Kak Lake ...

When the ruling Cambodian People’s Party promised civil servants a pay rise earlier this year, some suggested it was also trying to give them a reason to vote for it in July’s national election. The 20 per cent increase came amid the opposition Cambodia National Rescue ...

Protesters, including a band of angry monks, clashed with military and riot police on Thursday in Phnom Penh as authorities tried to prevent a local housing rights group from carrying out a rally against forced evictions. Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF), a coalition of five local ...

A woman was killed and at least six others shot yesterday morning when police fired live ammunition into a crowd of hundreds of rioting garment workers in the capital’s Stung Meanchey district. UN reports said police also arrested 37 people, including seven monks, as a result ...

Cambodian political analysts said Prime Minister Hun Sen needs to make “serious and deep reforms” over the next five years to restore his popularity after his party survived with a slim majority in July’s disputed general election. Sok Touch, deputy director of the Royal Academy ...

Swedish clothing giant H&M recently announced a program to boost wages for garment workers in its sub-contractor factories around the world, including in Cambodia, where the company is a leading buyer. H&M’s announcement comes at the end of a turbulent year in the garment sector ...

The building that housed USA Fully Field Garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district stands empty now. The grounds are littered with garbage and boxes full of dusty brand labels that were stitched onto clothes by almost 400 workers before the factory owner fled in ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 2012 ban on the allocation of economic land concessions was supposed to halt the unpopular practice of turning over large swaths of property to developers. And going by the numbers last year, it worked. But in the vacuum, according to local rights ...

The Lower Sesan II dam project is a microcosm of the carving up of Cambodia. In one of the world’s most diverse river ecosystems, the ground burns. Whole forests are felled with scant regard for the law, while the project is backed by the country’s ...

Just weeks after the country’s only independent teachers’ association staged a strike for higher wages, Phnom Penh’s education chief told teachers this week that they must stop taking bribes to comply with the government’s promised reform agenda. Speaking to about 500 educators, mainly school directors, from ...