Social development

Ethnic minorities and indigenous people

HRW: rights of Indigenous Chong residents violated in Southern Cardamom carbon offset project

A new report alleges that conservation NGO Wildlife Alliance forcibly evicted, arrested and mistreated members of the Indigenous Chong community who live in the Cardamom Mountain National Park in the name of a carbon offset scheme. ...

Leila Goldstein and Soeung Nimol
https://cambojanews.com/hrw-rights-of-indigenous-chong-residents-violated-in-southern-cardamom-carbon-offset-project/

New M’kiri airport to boost tourism, economy but deforestation concerns linger

The government has permitted private firm Focus Trans Global Venture Co Ltd (FTGV) to study the construction of a new airport in Mondulkiri province, northeast of Cambodia, as well as invest in a build, operate and transfer (BOT) model, the Office of the Council Minister ...

Khuon Narim
https://cambojanews.com/new-mkiri-airport-to-boost-tourism-economy-but-deforestation-concerns-linger/

From Clearing Farmland in Preah Vihear

M’lou Prey II commune authorities, of Preah Vihear’s Chheb district, submitted documentation Tuesday to the district regarding alleged encroachment on land farmed by Indigenous Kuy people following a protest earlier this month. ...

Eung Sea
https://cambojanews.com/indigenous-kuy-people-block-outsiders-from-clearing-farmland-in-preah-vihear/

Forty percent of indigenous children in a Ratanakiri commune addicted to drugs

Local authorities and indigenous villagers in a commune in Ratanakiri are gravely concerned over the high percentage of their children being involved in drugs, with the propensity of becoming worse with time. ...

An Vicheth
https://cambojanews.com/forty-percent-of-indigenous-children-in-a-ratanakiri-commune-addicted-to-drugs/

Experts discuss conservation, development of Cambodia’s UNESCO-listed Preah Vihear

The International Coordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Preah Vihear (ICC-Preah Vihear) held its eighth plenary and technical session in northwest Cambodia on Monday. ...

Khmer Times Staff
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501405425/experts-discuss-conservation-development-of-cambodias-unesco-listed-preah-vihear/

Kampong Thom Provincial Court sentences two indigenous people to one year in land dispute

Kampong Thom Provincial Court sentences two indigenous representatives to one year in prison on “Violence against real estate owners” in connection with a land dispute with a rubber plantation developer. ...

Va Sopheanut
https://khmer.cambojanews.com/kampong-thom-provincial-court-sentences-two-indigenous-people-to-one-year-in-prison-over-land-dispute/

Financial education for ethnic minorities

For Seoung Lort, understanding financial literacy is crucial, especially among ethnic communities with limited access to education due to their remote, mountainous dwellings, far from public schools. ...

May Kunmakara
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/financial-education-for-ethnic-minorities

Digital campaign launched to protect Cambodia’s forests

A digital campaign, #ShowMeYourTree, has been launched to increase awareness about the importance of biodiversity, fantastic landscape views, and the crucial roles of the protectors, especially indigenous communities, in rainforest conservation.  ...

Mao Sreypich
https://kiripost.com/stories/digital-campaign-launched-to-protect-cambodia-forests

‘I am afraid I will kill myself, like my husband’: spotlight on loan firms in Cambodia after Indigenous suicides

Kwak Nga was still reeling from her husband’s suicide when his microfinance creditors showed up at her home to remind her that they still expected the approximate $170 (£140) monthly interest payments the couple had struggled to make. ...

Jack Brook
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/oct/23/cambodia-microfinance-loan-firms-indigenous-people

Years-long mediation leaves Bunong farmers indebted to multinational rubber firm

More than a decade after subsidiaries of multinational rubber firm Socfin Group forcibly cleared and seized the farms, burial grounds and sacred forests of Bunong indigenous communities in Mondulkiri province, the company now seeks to collect tens of thousands of dollars from these farmers for ...

Jack Brook and Khuon Narim
https://cambojanews.com/years-long-mediation-leaves-bunong-farmers-indebted-to-multinational-rubber-firm/

Illegal logging claims in Preah Vihear sanctuary denied

Local authorities have refuted claims by a Kuy ethnic minority group in Preah Vihear province that forest crimes persisted in Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary. ...

Chea Sokny
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/illegal-logging-claims-preah-vihear-sanctuary-denied

Indigenous people in a village in Ratanakiri province cut down trees at risk to pay off debts

Residents of a village in O’Yadao district, Ratanakiri province, due to debt, went to cut down trees in the community, transported them across the border and sold them to Vietnam in order to repay the bank, according to village and community authorities. ...

An Vichet
https://khmer.cambojanews.com/indigenous-people-in-a-village-in-ratanakkiri-province-cut-down-trees-at-risk-to-pay-off-debts/

Ethnic Kuy put curse on environment officials building cow stable in wildlife sanctuary

Kuy indigenous peoples in Preah Vihear province’s Chheb district invoked ancestral spirits and held a “curse ceremony” to hex powerful people, including department of environment officials who they say are violating their land rights. ...

Seoung Nimol
https://cambojanews.com/ethnic-kuy-put-curse-on-environment-officials-building-cow-stable-in-wildlife-sanctuary/

Digital learning in Ratanakiri to get drop-outs back to school

Plan International in cooperation with Ratanakiri’s provincial department of Education, Youth and Sport conducted teaching sessions for 5,400 drop out students to attend school and access formal education through the project “Enhancing Quality Learning for Out of School Children in Northeastern Cambodia (EQUAL)” by accessing ...

Tith Kongnov
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501348210/digital-learning-in-ratanakiri-to-get-drop-outs-back-to-school/

Two Kraol indigenous people accused of encroaching on Ministry Land fail to appear in court

The Kratie Provincial Court summoned two Kraol indigenous people from Srae Chis commune to appear in court for questioning this week for allegedly illegally encroaching on protected areas, but the two villagers did not show up. ...

Seoung Nimol and Hel Komsan
https://cambojanews.com/two-kraol-indigenous-people-accused-of-encroaching-on-ministry-land-fail-to-appear-in-court/

Environment Ministry asks Kraol indigenous people to apologize for burning down building

Two weeks after the Kraol indigenous community set fire to an Environment Ministry station in Kratie, the ministry invited local authorities and indigenous people to a meeting on Wednesday and requested that the indigenous community apologize. Only one indigenous person invited attended. ...

Seoung Nimol and Hel Komsan
https://cambojanews.com/environment-ministry-asks-kraol-indigenous-people-to-apologize-for-burning-down-building/

Indigenous communities concerned new environment code undermines their rights

The Environment and Natural Resources Code officially passed into law last month, but the term “indigenous” has been removed from key sections, leaving indigenous communities concerned that the code undermines their rights. ...

Seoung Nimol
https://cambojanews.com/indigenous-communities-concerned-new-environment-code-undermines-their-rights/

Mondulkiri students learn about digital literacy

Hundreds of high school students, including those from indigenous backgrounds, in Mondulkiri province learned about digital literacy, including fact-checking and being secure online, at a workshop. ...

Yatt Malai
https://kiripost.com/stories/mondulkiri-students-learn-about-digital-literacy

Bokator Master hospitalised, concerned his documentation work won’t be completed

Master San Kim Sean, the founder of the Cambodia Bokator Federation and the Cambodia Bokator Academy, expressed yesterday his concern about completing his documentation of the martial art, as his health is deteriorating daily. ...

Khmer Times Staff
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501343561/bokator-master-hospitalised-concerned-his-documentation-work-wont-be-completed/

Indigenous organisers call for land registration

Indigenous communities in Cambodia marked the 29th World Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Day – the 19th in Cambodia – with celebrations across the country. Their aim was to promote cultural identity preservation and growth, while urging the new government to expedite the collective land registration process ...

Long Kimmarita
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/indigenous-organisers-call-land-registration

CARE Cambodia provides hope for Indigenous culture and language in Cambodia

Nang Chhok* is nine years old. She attends a multilingual primary school in the O’chum district, Ratanakiri province, in Cambodia, where she learns in both Khmer and her Indigenous Krueng language. ...

Khmer Times staff
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501340283/care-cambodia-provides-hope-for-indigenous-culture-and-language-in-cambodia/

World Bank project advances despite occupying indigenous burial grounds

Indigenous Bunong people from Roya Leu village offered rice wine and pork to a shrine, asking forest spirits to protect their land from the World Bank. ...

Andrew Califf, Sovann Sreypich, and Eung Sea
https://cambojanews.com/world-bank-project-advances-despite-occupying-indigenous-burial-grounds/

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