Agro-industrial production
Economic land concessions and plantations
MPs Urge Child Labor Action
A group of opposition lawmakers have written to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen urging action against a sugar factory owned by a ruling party official accused of exploiting child labor and grabbing land from villagers. Six Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) parliamentarians sent a letter dated Jan. ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/children-01292013174957.html
As China Builds, Cambodia's Forests Fall
China’s demand for natural resources is being felt in a big way in Cambodia. Illegal logging and economic land concessions are threatening Cambodia’s dwindling forests, which now echo the sound of chainsaws. Prey Lang forest — an eight-hour journey north and east of the capital, Phnom Penh ...
http://capeandislands.org/post/china-builds-cambodias-forests-fall
Land laws not properly implimented
Laws protecting ethnic minorities’ communal land rights are good, but their implementation has a long way to go, said participants in a forum of minorities from Mondulkiri and Kratie provinces yesterday. After July’s parliamentary elections, legislators should take the opportunity of a newly constituted government to ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013013061073/National/land-laws-not-properly-implimented.html
Chinese Sugar Firms Accused of Land Grabbing
More than 100 villagers in Preah Vihear province have accused a group of Chinese-owned sugar plantations of encroaching on their farms and community forests since mid-2012 and say they are still waiting for a resolution. Sen Som, a rice farmer in Chheb district, said Heng Rui ...
Jarai Accuse Firm of Planning to Drain Lake
Ethnic Jarai families living in Ratanakkiri province’s Borkeo district have accused a Vietnamese rubber company of digging a channel to drain a lake the indigenous villagers use for fishing and irrigation, a local official and rights worker said yesterday. Rochom Vin, Yeak Som village chief, said ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/jarai-accuse-firm-of-planning-to-drain-lake-8470/
Opposition Questions Shortcoming in Government Revenue
The National Assembly on Friday passed a law approving the government’s revenue and spending in 2011, drawing criticism from the opposition, which claimed the amount taken in by the government during the period was too low. All 77 CPP lawmakers present voted in favor of the ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/opposition-questions-shortcomings-in-government-revenue-8468/
Cambodia's 'worst year’ for land disputes
More than 200 people were arrested while defending their land in 2012 – a year human rights groups described yesterday as Cambodia’s “worst” for land disputes. Of the 201 people arrested – a figure that more than doubled the 2011 total – 29 were imprisoned, mostly ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013012460955/National/cambodia-s-worst-year-for-land-disputes.html
A road runs through them
UP AND down a 4km stretch of highway on the northern outskirts of Phnom Penh, about 3,000 of Cambodia’s Cham minority have built a life. Their distinctive Muslim culture thrives in conditions of close-knit community, a stark contrast to the shattering days the country endured ...
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/01/cambodia%E2%80%99s-cham
Activists call on government to adopt forest law
Members of the Prey Lang Community Network yesterday called on the government to approve a forest preservation sub-decree that has been in draft form since 2011. Hoeun Sopheap, representative of the Kampong Thom provincial Prey Lang community, said the sub-decree would help protect the biodiversity of ...
Group Wants Changes to Prey Long Forest Protected Plan
A local conservation group yesterday called for several changes to a draft sub-decree meant to turn Cambodia’s Prey Long Forest into a protected area, concerned it could end up harming, rather than conserving, the forest. ...
Khuon Narim and Saing Soenthrith, P.20
http://www.cambodiadaily.com
Chinese Mining Firm Plans Siem Reap Extraction
A Chinese conglomerate headed by an adviser to Senate President Chea Sim plans to begin extracting gold and copper in Siem Reap province in two months, the firm’s chairman said yesterday. Khmer Holding, a group of companies that claims vast mineral interests in Cambodia, opened an ...
Anti-Corruption Unit Arrests Staff at UK Biofuel Firm
The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has arrested two employees of a local company linked to a British biofuel firm currently under investigation by the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), an official said Friday. ACU President Om Yentieng said that International Green Energy (IGE) director Oum Samnang, and ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anti-corruption-unit-arrests-staff-at-uk-biofuel-firm-7972/
Disputed land to be returned to villagers
More than 8,000 hectares of land was cut from economic and forest land concessions owned by some of the country’s biggest tycoons and awarded to villagers last month, according to documents from the Council of Ministers. Four sub-decrees signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen order that ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013012160890/National/disputed-land-to-be-returned.html
Mesco, Angkor to mine gold
Mesco Gold, an associated company of India-based Mesco Steel, will sign an agreement with Angkor Gold to mine the Phum Syrang prospect on one of its economic land concessions in Ratanakkiri province. “We’ve been exploring the area since 2006. We’ve been drilling holes and there’s ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011860848/Business/mesco-angkor-to-mine-gold.html
Forestry Officials Confirm Illegal Logging by Vietnamese Firm
During a joint investigation with police and military police last week, the Forestry Administration found evidence of large-scale illegal logging by the Vietnamese owners of a rubber concession in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district, officials said yesterday. ...
Aun Pheap and Ben Woods, P.18
http://cambodiadaily.com
Families say eviction forced
Hundreds of families in Ratanakkiri province have asked rights group Adhoc to intervene, saying local authorities in Bakeo district’s Laminh commune are illegally forcing them from their homes. Village representative, Ek Orm, 52, said that authorities were forcing villagers to relocate to make way for a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011460762/National/families-say-eviction-forced.html
Embattled villagers fight on
First, agricultural company DM group displaced them, now a recently arrived commercial farmer has threatened their lives and chased them off their new land, said representatives of 12 families engaged in a long-standing land dispute in Ratanakkiri province. On Wednesday, the 12 Tampuon ethnic minority families ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011160746/National/embattled-villagers-fight-on.html
Firm Compensates Jarai After Ruining Graves
A Vietnamese rubber company in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district yesterday agreed to pay $4,000 in compensation to an ethnic Jarai community whose traditional graveyard was bulldozed by the firm last week, local officials said. During a meeting at the Paknhai commune police station, representatives of the ...
Soldiers Keep watch over Broma Villagers
More than seven months after government security forces violently evicted hundreds of people living in Kratie province’s Broma village to quell a so-called secessionist movement, more than 70 families are still being prevented by patrolling soldiers from returning to the site of their former homes, ...
Victory claimed in land dispute
More than a month after halting construction around a disputed land concession in Ratanakkiri province, a Vietnam-based company has reportedly gone a step further and agreed to return 30 hectares of razed forest, a village representative and commune chief maintained yesterday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/victory-claimed-land-dispute
Forestry Officials Investigate Vietnamese Firm
Amid mounting calls for government intervention to stop the destruction of indigenous land by a Vietnamese rubber company in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district, the Forestry Administration has begun investigating claims that the firm is logging illegally and clearing land outside of its concession, officials said ...
Aun Pheap and Ben Woods, P.19
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/forestry-officials-investigate-vietnamese-firm-7450/
Adhoc Requests Cancellation of 2 Vietnamese Land Concessions
Rights group Adhoc has requested that the government cancel economic land concessions held by two Vietnamese companies in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district, on the grounds that the firms are logging and exporting wood illegally. “Adhoc calls on the Royal Government of Cambodia to immediately cancel the ...
With Election on the Horizon, Politicians Defend Land Policies
Cambodian politicians have begun a public campaign to defend their records on land policies, as they prepare for the run-up to July elections. Politicians from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, as well as the opposition Sam Rainsy and Human Rights parties, have said they will give ...
Thousands More Logs Found on Company's Land
Ethnic Jarai villagers and a local rights worker yesterday discovered about 3,000 more logs that have been illegally cut by the Vietnamese owners of a rubber concession in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district, according to rights group Adhoc. The logs were found stockpiled in dense forest inside ...