Social development
Human rights
Armed Man at Rally Claimed to Be ‘Samdech Bodyguard’
A man apprehended by participants at a rally in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Sunday after he was spotted carrying a concealed pistol, signed himself into Calmette Hospital by listing his occupation as “Samdech Bodyguard,” in apparent reference to one of the three leaders of ...
Mech Dara and Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/armed-man-at-rally-claimed-to-be-samdech-bodyguard-45091/
Chaotic Scene as Gun Seized During Teachers’ Rally
A small gathering to mark World Teachers’ Day at Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park briefly descended into chaos Sunday when a crowd of rally-goers wrested a concealed gun from a man working for the Ministry of Information after he forced his way to the front of ...
Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chaotic-scene-as-gun%E2%80%88seized-during-teachers-rally-44997/
Locals’ Internet Access Doesn’t Equal Freedom
An increasing number of Cambodians have access to the Internet due to ownership of smartphones, tablets and the expansion of wireless broadband to rural areas of Cambodia, but access does not mean freedom from restrictions, according to a new report by New York-based Freedom House. In ...
Lindsey Peterson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/locals-internet-access-doesnt-equal-freedom-44939/
Unicef Says Girls’ Access to Education Limited
Despite progress having been made in recent years to improve girls’ access to education, there is still a gender-based inequality, particularly in rural areas, children’s rights experts said on the International Day of the Girl Child on Friday. “At the moment there is still a slight ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unicef-says-girls-access-to-education-limited-44937/
Posthumous award for slain environmentalist
The Prey Lang Community Network of anti-logging activists announced yesterday that late last month it had accepted the Alexander Soros Foundation’s $25,000 Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Environmental and Human Rights Activism on behalf of slain environmental crusader Chut Wutty. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/posthumous-award-slain-environmentalist
Anti-Eviction Protesters Clash With Security Forces
Protesters, including a band of angry monks, clashed with military and riot police on Thursday in Phnom Penh as authorities tried to prevent a local housing rights group from carrying out a rally against forced evictions. Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF), a coalition of five local ...
Alex Willemyns and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anti-eviction-protesters-clash-with-security-forces-44882/
City Hall Denies Teachers’ Day, International Habitat Day Rallies
Phnom Penh City Hall has turned down two requests by non-governmental groups to hold rallies and marches to mark both International Teachers’ Day and the international day for housing rights. Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF), a local NGO, was denied permission to organize a rally at ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-denies-teachers-day-international-habitat-day-rallies-44785/
Minister Says Challenges Remain in Achieving Gender Equality
Women’s Affairs Minister Ing Kantha Phavi on Tuesday defended the government’s policies on promoting gender equality and preventing discrimination against women, but conceded that challenges remain in achieving principles set out in the U.N.’s convention to stop discrimination against women. Speaking in Geneva to the U.N. ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/minister-says-challenges-remain-in-achieving-gender-equality-44708/
Tougher laws for recruiters
A new set of prakases tacked onto a law that regulates overseas employment recruitment agencies is a “step in the right direction” towards protecting some of Cambodia’s most vulnerable citizens from scams and abuse, local and international NGOs said yesterday. But some remain unconvinced that the ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tougher-laws-recruiters
Villagers in Land Row Complain of Death Threat
Four representatives of villagers locked in a land dispute with the well-connected KDC company have filed a complaint with the Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court after they received death threats. “The anonymous letter was a threat against our lives,” said Reach Seima, one of the representatives, adding ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-in-land-row-complain-of-death-threat-44714/
Top cop told to catch Bandith
Minister of Interior Sar Kheng sent a letter to the National Police last week asking it to step up its search for Chhouk Bandith, the former Bavet town governor convicted of shooting three garment workers at a factory protest last year. Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak ...
May Titthara and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/top-cop-told-catch-bandith
Activists seek UN monitors
Anti-logging activists wrote to the United Nations yesterday to call for the monitoring of a lawsuit in which they accuse hundreds of officials in Kampong Speu province’s Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary of illegal deforestation. The Natural Resource and Wildlife Preservation Organization (NRWPO) listed 241 officials it ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/activists-seek-un-monitors
Tep Vanny—From Boeng Kak Protester to Globe-Trotting Advocate
On the morning of September 23, anti-eviction champion Tep Vanny was grappling with a legion of security guards blocking the entrance of the Daun Penh district offices while fellow protesters dismantled a razor-wire barricade nearby. The next day, she was on a plane to Washington ...
Mech Dara and Ben Woods
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/tep-vanny-from-boeng-kak-protests-to-globe-trotting-advocate-44583/
Inmates watch as waters near
Prisons in Banteay Meanchey and Battambang province have been seriously affected by flooding but have not yet been evacuated, according to local rights groups and prison officials. A clogged sewage system has plagued Battambang’s provincial prison, according to Bun Sorn, but extra pumps have alleviated ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/inmates-watch-waters-near
Women’s Rights Assessed by UN Committee in Geneva
Rights groups on Monday shared their concerns about the treatment of women in Cambodia with member states of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Geneva. Cambodia last updated the committee—which meets three times a year to assess how member states ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/womens-rights-assessed-by-un-committee-in-geneva-44581/
Opposition Lays Out Reform Demands at ‘People’s Congress’
Amidst an opposition boycott of the National Assembly, CNRP leaders on Sunday announced to about 10,000 supporters gathered in Phnom Penh their tentative plans to push the one-party CPP government to investigate irregularities in the July election and enact a broad slate of reforms. As patchy ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/opposition-lays-out-reform-demands-at-peoples-congress-44450/
ILO Initiative Could Unravel Cambodia’s Garment Industry: Manufacturers
A move by the International Labour Organization to name and shame garment producers in Cambodia that flout workers’ rights and safety standards could damage the industry’s reputation and result in a drastic reduction in orders from buyers abroad, according to a senior manufacturing official. Last week, ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/initiative-10042013150820.html
Cambodia: Chut Wutty's legacy creates an opportunity for land justice
In Cambodia, there is talk of change. Not just from Hun Sen, the prime minister, who has promised reforms after his party suffered a significant blow in recent elections, but from environmental activists and campaigners, who say there has never before been such an opportunity ...
Kate Hodal
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/oct/02/cambodia-chut-wutty-land
Oxfam accuses Coke and Pepsi of taking land from the poor
Land covering an area the size of Italy has been taken from indigenous communities around the world by suppliers to the biggest names in the food and drinks industry, according to a major new report. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are among the companies criticised by Oxfam for ...
Jamie Merrill
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/oxfam-accuses-coke-and-pepsi-of-taking-land-from-the-poor-8852161.html
Violence begets violence
A mob of 500 villagers beat a man to death in Kampong Cham province yesterday after he allegedly slaughtered his wife and stepdaughter with a pair of scythes and reportedly taunted the assembled crowd with his wife’s severed hand. Police said Laing Pises, 48, used the ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/violence-begets-violence
Sar Kheng Commends Armed Forces for Peaceful Election
Interior Minister Sar Kheng has commended the country’s security forces for creating a safe environment during the July 28 election and the post-election period leading up to the convening of the National Assembly last week, according to a letter received Tuesday. In his “letter of appreciation,” ...
Hul Reaksmey and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/sar-kheng-commends-armed-forces-for-peaceful-election-44161/
No motion in shooting probe
More than two weeks after the slaying of 29-year-old Mao Sok Chan in clashes at Phnom Penh’s Kbal Thnal overpass, police have yet to launch an internal investigation into the use of force, officials said yesterday. National military police spokesman Kheng Tito said he had no ...
Amelia Woodside and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-motion-shooting-probe
Grenade Attack Remembered Amid Promised Reform
Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha joined dozens of monks and hundreds of supporters on Monday for a Pchum Ben ceremony at the memorial stupa in Phnom Penh honoring the 16 people who were killed by a grenade attack on an opposition rally in ...
Aun Pheap and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/grenade-attack-remembered-amid-promised-reform-43996/
Activists Doubt Cambodia Pledge to Stop Land Concessions
Activists are skeptical that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will follow through on a pledge to stop a contentious practice of appropriating rural land for commercial use, an issue that hurt the leader and his party in elections in July. In its new five-year political platform ...
Chun Han Wong
http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-341290/