Land
Public land lease
Poipet to see new economic zone
Japanese investors will put $56 million into a joint venture with local company Sanco Investment Group (SIG) to build a new special economic zone in Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet town, officials said yesterday. Chhour Vichet, executive director of SIG, said Thailand’s labour shortage, Cambodia’s ongoing political ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/poipet-see-new-economic-zone
Developer, soldiers ‘destroyed 29 homes’
Representatives of Chinese company Tianjin Union Development Group, backed by soldiers, annihilated crops and burned the homes of 29 families in Koh Kong’s Botum Sakor district last week, rights groups say. According to a report given to the Post yesterday, a two-day fact-finding mission spearheaded by ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/developer-soldiers-%E2%80%98destroyed-29-homes%E2%80%99
New protection for giant ibis
A newly demarcated wildlife and forest protection zone designed to safeguard Cambodia’s national bird, the giant ibis, along with a number of other endangered species, has been approved after more than 10 years in the making. A government sub-decree approving a protection zone spanning 66,932 hectares ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-protection-giant-ibis
Community Marks Fifth Anniversary of Violent Eviction
About 150 members of the former Dey Krahorm community in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district marked the fifth anniversary on Friday of the day mechanical excavators, security guards and authorities destroyed their homes to make room for a real estate project. Much like on past anniversaries, ...
Khuon Narim and Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/community-marks-fifth-anniversary-of-violent-eviction-51017/
Koh Kong families claim homes torn down
Representatives of Chinese company Tianjin Union Development Group, backed by soldiers, began tearing down villagers’ houses in Koh Kong province yesterday, community representatives and a district governor said. Botum Sakor district governor On Phearak said yesterday that company representatives had come to clear the residents’ ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/koh-kong-families-claim-homes-torn-down
Governor Pledges to Help Evicted Families
Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong on Friday visited evicted residents of the Borei Keila community, now living in a slum atop piles of garbage near their former homes, and promised, yet again, to build proper housing for the 150 families who refuse to move from ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/governor-pledges-to-help-evicted-families-50888/
US House passes B Kak bill
A draft US law that would require the World Bank to regularly report to congress about the condition of families displaced or still living in the Boeung Kak lake area was approved Wednesday by the House of Representatives. The bill includes language that specifically requires the ...
Sean Teehan and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/us-house-passes-b-kak-bill
Villagers in Land Dispute Detain Workers, Confiscate Equipment
Villagers involved in a land dispute in Battambang province on Monday temporarily detained six men working for an agribusiness firm who were preparing the disputed land to be cleared, residents and police said. The six workers were using mine detectors to check for unexploded ordnance in ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-in-land-dispute-detain-workers-confiscate-equipment-50594/
Hotel with foreigners in mind set for PPSEZ
A hotel catering to foreign investors and expatriate employees is being built inside the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ), management confirmed yesterday. The project will be constructed through a joint venture between PPSEZ and the Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed Tama Home. ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/hotel-foreigners-mind-set-ppsez
Adhoc Workers Say They Were Targeted by Driver
A provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc claimed Thursday that a representative of a company the group was investigating attempted to crash his car into him and two of his colleagues in Mondolkiri province. Sok Ratha said he had received a complaint in December about a ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adhoc-workers-say-they-were-targeted-by-driver-50407/
Svay Rieng garment workers fired, suspended
Factories in Svay Rieng province’s Manhattan Special Economic Zone have fired or suspended at least 50 workers – and are pursuing legal action against some – for participating in a strike last month that saw some 30,000 walk off the job. Heads of the Collective Union ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/svay-rieng-garment-workers-fired-suspended
Strikers fired in Svay Rieng
Factories in Svay Rieng province’s Manhattan Special Economic Zone have fired or suspended more than 200 workers – and are pursuing legal action against some – for participating in a strike last month that saw some 30,000 walk off the job. An accountant at Kingmaker (Cambodia) ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strikers-fired-svay-rieng
Borei Keila Families Mark Anniversary Of Eviction
About 100 former residents of the Borei Keila community on Friday morning marked their violent eviction two years ago by authorities from their former neighborhood and demanded that their homes be rebuilt. “We are the families of Borei Keila, and with this ceremony we mark the ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/borei-keila-families-mark-anniversary-of-eviction-50070/
After Protest, Government Speeds Up Land Titles for Kratie Families
Government officials have agreed to speed up the delivery of land titles promised to some 1,500 families in Kratie province after about 200 of them, angered by the months-long delay, protested outside their local commune office Monday. The protesters said they had their land measured in ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-protest-government-speeds-up-land-titles-for-kratie-families-49768/
UN rights expert calls for calm amid growing demonstrations in Cambodia
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Surya P. Subedi, on Friday reiterated his call for calm and restraint as demonstrations are now taking place daily in Phnom Penh. “Demonstrations such as those of recent days and weeks are a ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/27/c_133002304.htm
Cambodia Police, Garment Workers Clash Amid Strike
Police clashed Friday with a group of striking garment workers on the outskirts of Cambodia’s capital, leaving about 20 people injured, police and workers said. The incident occurred when thousands of striking workers-marching from a province bordering the capital-tried to get into the Phnom Penh Special ...
Sun Narin and Chun Han Wong
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303799404579283802423278442
Boeung Kak protesters regroup
A combined group of protesters from the capital’s Boeung Kak lake community yesterday ended their blockade of Monivong Boulevard with some disappointment after Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy broke a promise to meet them at City Hall. Protesters have been blocking the road outside ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/boeung-kak-protesters-regroup
Indigenous woes probed
Ethnic minority groups in Ratanakkiri province are facing widespread human rights violations, land loss and the exploitation of their natural resources, an indigenous peoples conference was told yesterday. More than 300 villagers from the province’s Tum Poun, Kreng, Prov, Kavet, Jarai, Kachok and Lun communities hosted ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/indigenous-woes-probed
Sam Rainsy Visits Svay Rieng’s Protesting SEZ Workers
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Monday visited thousands of workers from two special economic zones (SEZs) in Svay Rieng province who have been on strike over wages and working conditions since December 16. More than 25,000 workers from 36 factories in the Manhattan and Tai Seng ...
Aun Pheap and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sam-rainsy-visits-svay-riengs-protesting-sez-workers-49605/
Anti-Eviction Protesters Burn Tires, Block City Hall
About 30 anti-eviction protesters from the Boeng Kak lake community, along with 20 Buddhist monks, blocked the gates of Phnom Penh municipal hall and burned tires Monday demanding more compensation for evicted families, and calling for the removal of governor Pa Socheatvong. During the daylong demonstration, ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/boeng-kak-anti-eviction-protesters-burn-tires-block-city-hall-49608/
Protesting monks leave City Hall after violence re-erupts: report
Hundreds of protesting monks, who participated with Boeng Kak residents in a rally held in front of Phnom Penh City Hall, left after violence re-erupts. They are demanding Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheat Vong provide more compensation to the evicted families in Boeng Kak. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=YWVkZWNmOGEwZTU
No End in Sight for Svay Rieng SEZ Strikes
A union official at the center of a strike that started last Monday and involves an estimated 30,000 workers from two special economic zones (SEZs) in Svay Rieng province said Sunday that he has no control over the strikers, and does not know when or ...
Aun Pheap and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-end-in-sight-for-svay-rieng-sez-strikes-49560/
ELC guards ‘Keep NGOs off property’
Security guards from a Chinese development firm in Koh Kong province have allegedly prevented civil society groups from gathering data they planned to use for a petition asking for compensation for evictees. ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/elc-guards-%E2%80%98keep-ngos-property%E2%80%99
Memories of a land unspoiled
The constant hum of chainsaws almost drowned out Buddhist monk Sam Kim Sath, 65, as he stood this week in a wildlife sanctuary on Oral Mountain, Cambodia’s highest peak. Forest in the Phnom Oral Wildlife Sanctuary, in the eastern part of the Cardamoms, is being “obliterated” ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/memories-land-unspoiled