Civil and political rights

Human rights groups and former opposition officials have expressed concerns over the impact of the recent sale of the Phnom Penh Post newspaper to a Malaysian investor with historical ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

All but a handful of foreign journalists on staff at The Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia’s last remaining independent daily newspaper, resigned on Wednesday. Citing differences over the meaning of “editorial independence,” they quit within days after new owners fired its editor-in-chief who refused to remove a published ...

Kay Kimsong was fired on Monday after representatives of the new owner ordered senior staff to remove an article about the sale from its website, claiming factual inaccuracies.​ ...

Saturday’s announcement by Post Media CEO Bill Clough identified the buyer of the English-language Phnom Penh Post as Sivakumar G., who was described as having an experienced journalist’s background and representing a strong investment group from Malaysia. No price was given. ...

Saturday’s announcement of the sale of The Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia’s oldest and most respected newspaper, came as no surprise to many who had been following recent events in the country. Rumors had circulated for months about the fate of the country’s last independent English-language ...

Minister of Women’s Affairs Ing Kantha Phavi’s admission last week that she was unable to name a Cambodian woman journalist sparked a minor controversy on social media, with current and former journalists taking to social media to criticise her remarks. ...

As the world celebrated Press Freedom Day on Thursday, the mood among Cambodian journalists was subdued following a months-long crackdown on dissent in the media. The theme of this year’s event was “Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and The Rule of Law”, and special attention ...

Cambodia has become more autocratic and its government’s claim of stable economic development rests on uncertain basis, according to a comprehensive new report. The Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index (BTI), published on Thursday, claims that the quality of Cambodia’s democracy, market economy and governance performance has ...

A gathering in Svay Rieng province of some 40 villagers led by a farmers’ organisation was shut down by local police on Thursday because the group allegedly had not requested permission, though provincial authorities had been notified the week before. ...

The International Federation for Human Rights has urged the European Union to pressure the Cambodian government to cease its crackdown on civil society and the political opposition. ...

Telecommunications officials have raised the possibility that a series of hacks against government officials and ministries could have been so-called SS7 attacks, a recently discovered hacking method that involves taking over a person’s cellphone number. At a meeting with local cell companies on Tuesday, officials ...

Shrinking political and civic space in the Kingdom is highlighted in a new report from the United Nations’ human rights commissioner and secretary-general ahead of a UN Human Rights Council discussion this month on Cambodia. ...

Cambodia’s Ministry of Information has chalked up 2017 as a “huge success for the government”, saying supporters of jailed journalists were “killing” democracy and the closure of multiple media outlets was necessary. ...

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday published a batch of communications held with the Cambodian government since June last year, showing that the international body has voiced its concern about a range of issues from the arrest of ...

The Candlelight Party yesterday held its congress to change some articles in its statute to comply with the amended Law on Political Parties to allow it to request dissolution from the Interior Ministry if necessary. ...

Media outlets in Cambodia have came under increasing threat over the past year, according to a new report by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), though the Ministry of Information, responding to a similar recent report, has insisted freedom of expression and the press is ...

The Ministry of Interior has officially registered a newly created “Kem Ley Foundation Association” after months of processing the application. Chhim Kan, director of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Associations and Political Parties, yesterday confirmed the association’s registration had been successful. ...

The “façade of media freedom” in the Kingdom “collapsed” last year, with journalists reporting a sharp drop in their hopes for independent press, according to the results of a new survey launched yesterday. The Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM) study surveyed 75 journalists from ...

Six officials have filed a complaint to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court asking for their Funcinpec membership to be reinstated after they were removed from the party by its leader, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, at the end of last month. ...

The Council of Ministers released a no-holds-barred book about its efforts to root out a purported foreign-backed “colour revolution” in Cambodia yesterday, lashing out at superpowers like the United States for supposedly trying to cause “immeasurable catastrophe” in the country.​ ...

Cambodian opposition figures seeking asylum in Thailand have been visited by Thai police in recent days, fuelling fears they may be deported back to the Kingdom. Scores fled Cambodia after the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party was forcibly dissolved following the arrest of its president, ...

Cambodia’s government has ordered internet service providers to block online access to The Cambodia Daily newspaper, which closed last year amid a widespread crackdown on media and civil society groups criticizing Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party.​ ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday took a swipe at a recent democracy report that labelled his regime “authoritarian”, before declaring no one is capable of “toppling Hun Sen besides Hun Sen”. ...

The state of democracy in Cambodia has declined to the point where it is now led by an outright “authoritarian” regime, according to the latest Democracy Index from the Economist Intelligence Unit. The Democracy Index 2017, released yesterday, ranked Cambodia 124th out of 167 countries, ...