Land
Public land lease
PM threatens use of rockets in Areng valley
The day after the government deported a foreign activist opposed to a proposed hydropower dam in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday invited activists in the valley to secede from Cambodia, but warned that rocket launchers could be deployed if ...
Hul Reaksmey
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prime-minister-threatens-use-of-rockets-in-areng-valley-78609/
Villagers speak up as reservoir plan digs into their rice fields
Villagers in Banteay Meanchey province on Saturday protested against a local military official’s plan to build a reservoir on their land, then sell the dirt at a profit. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-speak-up-as-reservoir-plan-digs-into-their-rice-fields-78502/
Gov’t spokesman says Licadho doctored land dispute report
fter rights group Licadho released a statement Thursday saying that more than 10,000 Cambodian families were newly affected last year by land disputes in the 13 provinces where it has monitors—a three-fold increase from 2013—a government spokesman on Friday slammed the NGO’s report as “baseless ...
Kuch Naren and Emily Townsend
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-spokesman-says-licadho-doctored-land-dispute-report-78470/
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
Lawmakers ask ministry to halt UDG eviction
Parliament’s Human Rights Commission has asked the Ministry of Justice to suspend a court verdict that could see 20 Koh Kong families, who are holding out against giant Chinese firm Union Development Group, lose their homes. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/lawmakers-ask-ministry-halt-udg-eviction
Beverage companies wary of ‘blood sugar’ in supply chain
Two major US beverage companies say they are mindful of alleged human rights abuses amid sugar plantations in Cambodia and will not do business with those proven to be involved in them. Representatives from Coca-Cola and Pepsi both said in emails to VOA Khmer that they ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/beverage-companies-wary-of-blood-sugar-in-supply-chain/2647451.html
Business hub set to tackle key challenges before listing
The Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone has 77 tenants from nine countries and 80 per cent occupancy, but high electricity costs and corruption remain a drag on profits. The main issue is electricity costs, says PPSEZ chief executive Hiroshi Umaetsu. “If [electricity] goes from 19 ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business-hub-set-tackle-key-challenges-listing
Timber trader Try Pheap linked to logging racket
In a new report, U.K. environmental rights group Global Witness places Cambodian timber magnate Try Pheap at the heart of a vast illegal logging operation driving the country’s rarest tree species to the brink of extinction with the collusion of government and military officials. “The Cost ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/timber-trader-try-pheap-linked-to-vast-logging-racket-77466/
[Herald Interview] KFS seeks to boost youth employment
Korea Forest Service (KFS) has been working to promote overseas partnership with Southeast Asia countries by aiming to expand afforestation by 1 million hectares by 2050 from 314,000 hectares in 2013. It established relations with Indonesia to collaborate in planting trees on 700,000 hectares, and ...
Park Hyong-ki and Lee Kwon-hyung
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20150205000903
Cobra clan dad asked to ‘clarify’ complaint
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has invited the patriarch of a family locked in a land dispute with real estate tycoon Khun Sear to “clarify” his complaint against four officials he claims conspired to sell his home in Boeng Kak I commune without his consent, ...
Hay Pisey
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cobra-clan-dad-asked-to-clarify-complaint-77266/
Evictees demand land within their communities
About 50 protesters, mainly from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak and Borei Keila communities, demonstrated Wednesday morning outside City Hall to demand that governor Pa Socheatvong help them stay within their eviction-hit communities. ...
Mech Dara and Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/evictees-demand-land-within-their-communities-76911/
Evictees prevented from screening video to mark anniversary
About 100 former members of the Dey Krahorm community returned to the site of their brutal eviction in central Phnom Penh on Saturday afternoon to mark six years since they were forced off their land, but were prevented by authorities from screening a video of ...
Chinese firm razes homes in Koh Kong
Security guards from a Chinese firm building an airport to serve a planned resort in Koh Kong province Thursday destroyed the homes of 11 families and bulldozed 30 hectares of farmland in an area claimed by both the company and residents. The Union Development Group (UDG) ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chinese-firm-razes-homes-in-koh-kong-76557/
Villagers fight to save pond from being filled in
Villagers in Kampot town have filed a complaint against a businessman who has allegedly ordered the filling in of a pond dug during the French protectorate, which they rely on for their water supply. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-fight-save-pond-being-filled
Apsara order: Locals on ‘state land’ told to move
Some Siem Reap families are balking at the Apsara Authority’s order for them to leave their homes – which were allegedly constructed illegally – and move to a government-provided settlement by Friday. ...
Sen David and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/apsara-order-locals-state-land-told-move
Structure removed from Buddhist Institute land
A temporary structure built on the Buddhist Institute’s land by NagaCorp, which added to swirling rumors late last year that the growing casino empire was planning to develop the land and prompted hundreds of monks to march in protest, has been removed. ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/structure-removed-from-buddhist-institute-land-75808/
Union Development Group re-opens road
A Chinese-owned company embroiled in a land dispute with villagers in Koh Kong province agreed yesterday to reopen a road that it had blocked on Wednesday, sparking violent clashes. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-development-group-re-opens-road
Lawmaker asks minister to aid K Kong villagers
Opposition CNRP lawmaker Eng Chhay Eang on Thursday wrote to the environment minister urging him to ensure security guards for a Chinese firm building a $3.8-billion tourist complex in Koh Kong province do not evict some 30 families clinging to their homes in the areas. China’s ...
Khuon Narim
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmaker-asks-minister-to-aid-k-kong-villagers-75711/
Beds block busy road
About 100 villagers embroiled in a land dispute in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changvar district gathered on National Road 6A at 7am yesterday, blocking the road with wooden beds and their bodies for three hours. The protest stems from a December 15 court injunction ordering 30 villagers ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/beds-block-busy-road
Phnom Penh SEZ plans to list on Stock Exchange
The operator of Cambodia’s largest industrial park, the Phnom Penh SEZ, plans to list on the Cambodian Securities Exchange (CSX) next year in an attempt to raise $15 million to set up another economic zone in Poipet City, according to the company and media reports. ...
Kang Sothear and George Styllis
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/phnom-penh-sez-plans-to-list-on-stock-exchange-74433/
Cambodian ruling elite accused of crimes against humanity
Forty NGOs from around the world have called on the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to begin preliminary examinations into claims that Cambodia’s “ruling elite” were accused of committing crimes against humanity. On October 7, British lawyer Richard Rogers submitted ...
World Bulletin News Staff
http://www.worldbulletin.net/world/150663/israeli-army-detains-palestinian-woman-in-w-bank
Show yourself: Defendants tell tycoon to meet them
A father and daughter, arrested last month following a complaint by a powerful landowner who wants their land in Phnom Penh, called on the tycoon to engage with them face to face in a courtroom hearing yesterday. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/show-yourself-defendants-tell-tycoon-meet-them
District tells development firm to compensate flooded eateries
The governor of Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district said he has asked the Overseas Cambodia Investment Company (OCIC) to compensate the owners of two restaurants that were flooded Wednesday after the firm’s excavator ruptured a nearby levee that had been holding back a pool of ...