Land
Journos claim officials are involved in logging
A group of local journalists in Preah Vihear province allege, in a complaint filed with a rights group, that authorities are involved in the sale of illegally logged timber. Seven journalists, who asked that their names and respective outlets not be identified for fear of retribution ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/journos-claim-officials-are-involved-logging
Barges Impounded for Breaking Sand Dredging Ban in Kandal
The Ministry of Water Resources impounded five barges in Kandal province on Saturday for flouting a government ban on sand dredging on the Mekong River, an official said Sunday. Chan Youttha, cabinet chief for Water Resources Minister Lim Kean Hor, said the minister personally led a ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/barges-impounded-for-breaking-sand-dredging-ban-in-kandal-49567/
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
Four alleged loggers shot by Thai soldiers
At least four people were injured, one seriously, after Thai soldiers shot them as they allegedly illegally logged the Thai side of the Preah Vihear border on Wednesday. The injured men were part of a group of eight from Preah Vihear province’s Choam Ksan district, provincial ...
Sen David and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/four-alleged-loggers-shot-thai-soldiers
Svay Rieng Workers Strike Again, Throw Rocks
Police briefly detained 13 garment factory workers on Thursday after about 20,000 workers, some throwing rocks, continued a strike that began Monday in Svay Rieng province’s Bavet City over wages and working conditions, a union official and police said. Union leaders had on Wednesday evening agreed ...
Aun Pheap and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/svay-rieng-workers-strike-again-throw-rocks-49506/
Special Economic Zone Strike in Svay Rieng Ends—For Now
An estimated 30,000 garment factory workers will resume work this morning after three days of strike action ended Wednesday when Svay Rieng provincial officials promised to help the strikers achieve their demands from factory owners. The mass strike led the owner of the Tai Seng Special ...
Aun Pheap and Phann Ana
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/special-economic-zone-strike-in-svay-rieng-ends-for-now-49469/
Three New Districts in Phnom Penh Approved
The Ministry of Interior has approved the creation of three new districts in Phnom Penh following a proposal from City Hall to create five new districts before district and city council elections are held in May. Sak Setha, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-new-districts-in-phnom-penh-approved-49424/
Pursat Villagers Get No More Compensation
A representative of the Try Pheap Group said Tuesday that villagers in Pursat province who attempted to march to a public forum on Monday to ask authorities to intervene in a land dispute would not receive any further compensation after losing the right to the ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pursat-villagers-get-no-more-compensation-49418/
Economic zone may go public
The Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone (PPSEZ) plans to raise money to fund an expansion through an initial public offering, a senior official from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) said yesterday. If successful, PPSEZ could become one of the few companies to list on ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/economic-zone-may-go-public
Boeung Kak awaits justice
More than 30 families in the capital’s Boeung Kak community are still waiting for official land titles six weeks after City Hall officials measured ground at the site of a years-long land dispute, villagers have said. The Phnom Penh Municipality began measuring land in villages 6, ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/boeung-kak-awaits-justice
Court Picks Up Land Dispute Involving Senator
The Kompong Speu Provincial Court has summoned for trial a married couple accused of encroaching on land excised from a plantation belonging to CPP Senator and businessman Ly Yong Phat, and has issued more than two dozen other summonses and arrest warrants in the past ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-picks-up-land-dispute-involving-senator-49414/
An unsettling prospect
Resettlement studies are being carried out at the site of the proposed Stung Cheay Areng hydropower dam in Koh Kong province, officials said yesterday, amid suggestions that yet another Chinese company is now involved in the controversial project.Tou Savuth, Thma Bang district governor, said staff ...
Shane Worrell and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unsettling-prospect
NGO alleges bribery over titles
An environmental protection NGO is preparing to file a lawsuit with the Kampong Speu provincial court and a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Unit against an Agriculture Department official who was allegedly paid by a development firm to issue land titles to villagers squatting on state ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngo-alleges-bribery-over-titles
Luxury wood stash seized in R’kiri raid
A house in Ratanakkiri owned by a provincial deputy police chief was raided on Saturday, yielding seven cubic metres of luxury timber. Ratanakkiri Provincial Court and Forestry Administration officials carried out the raid on the property where the deputy police chief is the landlord, but he ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/luxury-wood-stash-seized-r%E2%80%99kiri-raid
Government Drops Challenge to Official Forest Cover Figure
The Forestry Administration on Thursday said it could not comment on the accuracy of new, satellite-generated maps that suggest the government has been vastly overstating the country’s forest cover. Open Development Cambodia, an open data website, on Wednesday published a series of maps using U.S. satellite ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-drops-challenge-to-official-forest-cover-figure-49264/
Land-title program ‘Ineffective’
Land certificates handed out by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s youth volunteers have been seized by local authorities in some parts of the country and sold on to companies, a forum on land rights was told yesterday, amid reports of rising numbers of land conflicts. Speaking at ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/land-title-program-%E2%80%98ineffective%E2%80%99
Rainsy ‘Twisting Facts’: Vietnamese embassy
The Vietnamese embassy fired back yesterday at opposition party leader Sam Rainsy’s claim that Vietnamese companies granted economic land concessions in Prey Lang forest are turning the area into a Vietnamese “colony”. On Wednesday, Rainsy visited the forest and claimed that CRCK, a Vietnamese firm granted ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rainsy-%E2%80%98twisting-facts%E2%80%99-vietnamese-embassy
Way of life vanishing: villagers
Since 2011, an estimated 3,000 resin trees have been illegally razed by rogue loggers and a land concessionaire operating in Mondulkiri’s Sen Monorom district, villagers claimed yesterday. Resin trees are a vital source of income for the Phnong ethnic community in Sokdom commune, according to Thleuk ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/way-life-vanishing-villagers
Credit Suisse’s HAGL holdings drawing fire
Credit Suisse, a financial services firm based in Switzerland, has been accused of aiding land grabbing in Cambodia by becoming a major shareholder in Vietnamese rubber giant Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) Group. In a statement released today, Global Witness (GW), an NGO based in England, ...
Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/credit-suisse%E2%80%99s-hagl-holdings-drawing-fire
Debate on land reform takes place in absence of the CPP
Civil society groups held a workshop in Phnom Penh on Thursday in which government officials and lawmakers were invited to discuss post-election land grabs and land-based conflict, although the ruling CPP failed to turn up to the event. Though incidents of land-grabbing appeared to decrease ahead ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/debate-on-land-reform-takes-place-in-absence-of-the-cpp-49282/
Summonses for 30 in Ly Yong Phat spat
Thirty people locked in a land dispute with ruling party senator and sugar tycoon Ly Yong Phat received summonses yesterday to appear in Kampong Speu provincial court. Although the summonses don’t list a complainant, some of those called to appear in court next Tuesday said they ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/summonses-30-ly-yong-phat-spat
Cambodia Opposition Leader Urges Halt to Forest Land Concessions
Cambodia’s opposition leader called Wednesday for a halt to land concessions granted by the government to foreign companies in the country’s vast Prey Lang Forest, calling for greater protection of one of Southeast Asia’s last remaining lowland evergreen woodlands. Cambodia National Rescue Party President Sam ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/prey-lang-12112013181039.html