Cambodian authorities unlawfully detain hundreds of drug users and others deemed “undesirable” in centers where they face torture, sexual violence, and forced labor, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch called for the immediate closure of the country’s eight detention ss='cambodia-color'>...

Opposition leader sam Rainsy, along with the rest of his party, condemned the opening of the National Assembly yesterday, saying in a speech delivered in siem Reap that the action violated the constitution and had reverted the country to “communist” rule. Even as rumours swirled about ss='cambodia-color'>...

Nearly all of the recommendations regarding electoral reform made by U.N. human rights envoy to Cambodia surya subedi were not put into place ahead of last month’s national election. In his latest report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, released last week, Mr. subedi ss='cambodia-color'>...

Energy demand in SoutheaSt ASia iS expected to increaSe by more than 80 per cent by 2035, fuelling Some $240 billion in oil Spending, a new report from the International Atomic Energy ASSociation (IAEA) ShowS. In itS “SoutheaSt ASia Energy Outlook” publiShed yeSterday, the PariS-baSed IAEA SS='cambodia-color'>...

A national legal aid system is imperative and must be established to offset a widening gap between those who can afford justice and those who cannot, the representative for the U.N.’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Cambodia said on Friday. In ss='cambodia-color'>...

At least 41 new land disputes were reported in Cambodia last year despite a government moratorium on the widespread grant of so-called economic land concessions, a rights group said Thursday. The new cases in 17 locations—including the capital Phnom Penh—added to the 223 land conflicts previously ss='cambodia-color'>...

A government committee charged with assessing damage from the garment worker protests in December and January has put the value of the destruction at over $250,000. It places blame squarely on the opposition CNRP and a trio of union leaders. That committee’s report, released Thursday, ss='cambodia-color'>...

A court in Phnom Penh put off for the second time Tuesday the trial of 23 Cambodians arrested during a deadly worker strike crackdown, drawing criticism from rights groups who said the move was politically motivated. After a five-hour hearing, with hundreds of riot police manning ss='cambodia-color'>...

Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister sar Kheng became the latest senior member of Prime Minister Hun sen’s CPP government to accuse the opposition CNRP of attempting to “topple” the government though what he claimed is a “constitutional coup.” In a posting to the Interior Ministry ss='cambodia-color'>...

Environment Minister say sam Al failed to meet the villagers locked in a long-running land dispute with the Chinese-owned company Union Development Group (UDG) on Wednesday, despite visiting company officials in Koh Kong province, according to a rights worker and a provincial official. Mr. sam Al ss='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodian authorities have charged nearly half as many villagers in land dispute cases in the first three months of this year as they did in all of 2013, a local rights group said Thursday, adding that most of the rows stemmed from government-granted land concessions. Following ss='cambodia-color'>...

The David Kato Vision & Voice Award has announced that the 2014 award will go to Cambodian transgender activist sou sotheavy. Now 75 years old, she has spent the last two decades working to establish a national network of organizations to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, ss='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia’s steadily declining rubber prices have hit critically low levels that are destined to only get worse as Thailand prepares to offload huge rubber stocks, the secretary-general of the Association for Rubber Development of Cambodia said Thursday. As the price of natural rubber has paralleled a ss='cambodia-color'>...

When an old building formerly owned by the state was demolished on the outskirts of Battambang City in February, for some, it was the last straw. The giant, freestanding colonial-era mansion with the round windows, the blue shutters and the cracking yellow paint had become one ss='cambodia-color'>...

Petrol prices have jumped by 150 riel (Us$0.03) a litre, much to the dismay of Cambodia’s poor, as NGOs appealed to the government to take action. Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), issued a letter dated August 16 appealing to Prime Minister Hun ss='cambodia-color'>...

Cambodia has knocked off Ivory Coast to become Vietnam’s biggest supplier of raw cashew nuts. Earlier it was the African nation that held the position. The General Department of Customs of Vietnam made the announcement on saturday.   ss='cambodia-color'>...

Compensation for Phnom Penh villagers set to be displaced by railway reconstruction may be insufficient due to a “systematic downgrade” of the value of their homes by the government, a report released yesterday said. The report, issued by the NGO sahmakum Teang Tnaut, said the ss='cambodia-color'>...

Thai government proposals to pay above market prices to rice farmers could complicate Cambodia’s goal of becoming a major milled rice exporter, according to industry insiders. Pheu Thai party leader Yingluck shinawatra has announced plans to buy rough rice for a guaranteed price of 15,000 ss='cambodia-color'>...

Following “tough discussions” with Phnom Penh’s deputy governor  yesterday, Angkor Beer promoters agreed to suspend their protest for one week starting today.  Ou Tep Phally, vice-president of the Cambodian Foods and service Workers’ Federation, said five beer promoters and one union representative negotiated with officials. ss='cambodia-color'>...

The second mass fainting to hit a factory in Kampong Chnnang that supplies knitwear for H&M this week has prompted intervention from provincial labour officials and an investigation by the swedish-based company. The International Labour Organisation, which monitors the M&V factory where as many as ss='cambodia-color'>...