News

Government will start chipping away at protected areas

Between 2009 and 2012, the Ministry of Environment went on nationwide leasing spree, signing over vast swaths of the country’s nominally protected areas to private companies for rubber plantations and other agribusiness ventures.   ...

Zsombor Peter and Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-will-start-chipping-away-at-protected-areas-113127/

After criticism, Ministry restores company database

Just days after a human rights group criticized the Commerce Ministry for stripping its newly revamped website of detailed information on businesses operating in Cambodia, the ministry restored its searchable database. ...

Chris Mueller
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-criticism-ministry-restores

New Commerce Ministry website lacks facts

As the only finalist in its category at Thursday’s Cambodia Information and Communications Technology awards, the Commerce Ministry looks likely to take home first prize for its newly overhauled website. ...

Chris Mueller
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-commerce-ministry-website-lacks-facts-86466/

NGO: Data shows ‘wholesale sell-off’

Cambodia should urgently disclose all information about land ownership and rethink its “wholesale sell-off” of the country’s natural resources, a local rights group said yesterday. The call to release information about Cambodia’s land sector, including a declaration of revenues, came as Licadho released an analysis of ...

Daniel Pye and Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/ngo-data-shows-wholesale-sell

Amid overcrowding, prison numbers rise

Prison overcrowding continues to be a major issue plaguing Cambodia, Ministry of Interior officials said on Monday, as they revealed a 3 per cent increase in population at correctional facilities and prisons nationwide. In 2014, the number of prisoners rose from 14,702 in 2013 to 15,165 ...

Pech Sotheary and Sarah Taguiam
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/amid-overcrowding-prison-numbers-rise

Land disputes surge: Licadho

The number of families newly affected by land disputes last year was three times that of 2013, according to figures documented by local rights group Licadho. In a statement released yesterday, the group “strongly expresse[d] its concern” at the surge in disputes, noting that in 2014 ...

Alice Cuddy and Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/land-disputes-surge-licadho

Families affected by land disputes in Cambodia tripled in 2014: rights group

A surge in land disputes in Cambodia affected more than three times as many families last year as in 2013, a local rights group said Thursday, urging Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government to address the issue with “long-term lasting solutions” instead of making empty promises. Rights ...

Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/families-02192015114159.html

30 NGOs condemn arrest, detention of Boeung Kok land activists

Civil society groups have condemned the arrest, detention and conviction of seven Boeung Kok land activists, following their protests earlier this week outside Phnom Penh City Hall. Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday charged them with the violation of traffic law by blocking a public ...

The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/30-ngos-condemn-arrest-detention-of-boeung-kok-land-activists-7647

Three Opposition Activists Remain in Detention After July Violence

Rights groups are calling for the release of three opposition activists who have been held in detention since violent clashes with security forces in July. The activists have been held despite a political deal last month between the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the opposition Cambodia ...

Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/three-opposition-activists-remaon-in-detention-after-july-violence/2422001.html

Gov’t called upon to stamp out child labor

The government must make more of an effort to not only eradicate child labor, but also its underlying causes, and ensure that children attend school, local rights group Licadho said Thursday. In a statement released ahead of World Day Against Child Labor, the group said the ...

Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-called-upon-to-stamp-out-child-labor-61337/

Boy caught up in protests faces 11 years in jail

As several hundred garment workers from the SL Garment factory pelted police with rocks during a protest near the Stung Meanchey pagoda in November, Men Sok Sambath, a 14-year-old scrap collector, decided to join the crowd. “I saw other people throwing rocks at the [police] truck, ...

Mech Dara and George Wright
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boy-caught-up-in-protests-faces-11-years-in-jail-59934/

Rights group slams SL case

A trial for two teens charged with intentional violence from a Stung Meanchey riot in November was unfair to the defendants, a statement released yesterday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. Calling the trial “deeply flawed”, HRW said the judge in the case showed open hostility ...

Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rights-group-slams-sl-case

Concerns ahead of trial for 23

One the eve of the trial of 23 people arrested during a garment strike in January, their supporters yesterday expressed concern that politics, rather than the facts, may determine the verdict. Nearly four months after their arrests at protests on January 2 and 3 – the ...

Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/concerns-ahead-trial-23

Trial for 23 finally under way

The long-awaited trial of the 23 men arrested during strike demonstrations in early January began this morning at 8 am at Phnom Penh Municipal Court and is proceeding into the afternoon. Before the trial began, police had already blocked off the street in front of the ...

Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/trial-23-finally-under-way

Operation ‘urgent’ for strike detainee

Representatives for a detainee held since his arrest at a strike in early January say the window to operate on his broken hand is closing. Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday will hear a special temporary bail request for Sokun Sombath Piseth, 31, one of 21 ...

Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/operation-%E2%80%98urgent%E2%80%99-strike-detainee

Half a million Cambodians affected by land grabs: rights group

More than half a million Cambodians have been affected by land conflicts involving the government since 2000, with more than 2,000 families across the country subjected to largely violent land grabs during the first few months of this year, local rights group Licadho said Tuesday. The ...

Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/land-04012014170055.html

Verdict due today for Kbal Thnal six

A Phnom Penh municipal judge is expected to announce a verdict this morning for six people arrested in connection with a September clash at the Kbal Thnal overpass, a week after the verdict was originally expected. Authorities took the six men into custody at the overpass ...

Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/verdict-due-today-kbal-thnal-six

Despite illness, no bail for labour activist

Labour activist Vorn Pov, who is facing serious health issues while being held in pre-trial detention in Kampong Cham’s Correctional Centre 3 prison, has been denied bail by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. His NGO-provided lawyer, San Sokunthear, immediately filed an appeal against the bail denial ...

May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/despite-illness-no-bail-labour-activist

Silence broken at last

Notification that her son is being detained at Correctional Centre 3 in Kampong Cham came as a relief to Touch Sart yesterday, after spending nearly a week wondering whether he was even alive. Since her son, Theng Saroeun, was arrested along with 22 others at demonstrations ...

May Titthara and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/silence-broken-last

Police still mum on protesters

The whereabouts of 23 people arrested last week during a crackdown on demonstrations in Por Sen Chey district remained unknown yesterday, with prison officials and police refusing to divulge the information to family members and rights groups. ...

Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-still-mum-protesters

Government Blasted for Eviction of Freedom Park

The U.N. and local human rights groups have condemned the government’s violent eviction of CNRP supporters from Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Saturday, as well as its indefinite ban on public protests in the city. On Saturday, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court also summonsed opposition leaders ...

Colin Meyn and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-blasted-for-eviction-of-freedom-park-50132/

Poll Shows Cambodia Ranks High in ‘Global Suffering’

Cambodia ranked third worst in “global suffering” last year—behind Bulgaria and Armenia—a significant increase from 2011, when it ranked 14th worst, ac-cording to the worldwide polling group Gallup. A poll released last week on Gallup’s website says 34 percent of Cambodian respondents rated their lives as ...

Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/poll-shows-cambodia-ranks-high-in-global-suffering-49070/

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