Land
Relocation deals unfair, say families
More than 400 families in Kampong Cham province’s Chup commune had filed a complaint yesterday to local authorities over relocation orders issued last week, villagers said. Hom Hon, 55, a retired rubber plantation worker and former employee of Sopheak Nika Investment Group Company, said that on ...
Petition timed to Hu’s visit stymied by police
Two villagers from Koh Kong province involved in a land dispute with a Chinese company were detained for questioning on Saturday afternoon, halting their plans to file a petition with the Chinese embassy during President Hu Jintao’s visit. Thirty-three other villagers who had planned to deliver ...
China reaps concession windfalls
About half of the land concessions granted since 1994 are in the hands of Chinese companies, according to data released yesterday by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. Ouch Leng, CCHR land reform project coordinator, said that from 1994 to 2012, the Cambodian government granted 4,615,745 ...
Protesters Block Highway Over Alleged Land Grabs by Firms
About 500 protesters erected barricades on National Road 76a in Kratie province’s Snuol district on Saturday to protest the loss of their farmland and homes to encroachment by three agro-industry firms: Sovann Rithy, Samnang Angkor and Dai Nam Cambodia, officials said yesterday. The protest, which remained ...
Chinese Embassy Petitioners Sent Packing
Just hours before Chinese President Hu Jintao landed in Phnom Penh on Friday, a group of dismayed Koh Kong province villagers whose land is under threat from a sprawling Chinese tourism project were escorted onto a bus and sent back home before they were able ...
Two SEZ Shooting Victims Questioned Yesterday
The Svay Rieng Provincial Court yesterday questioned two of the three female garment factory workers who were shot during a protest at a special economic zone (SEZ) in Bavet City in February, the provincial prosecutor said yesterday. Keo Nea, 18; Bun Chenda, 21; and Nuth Sokhorn, ...
Tonle Sap water project to help Siem Reap town
The Japanese government sealed the deal yesterday on an agreement to provide Cambodia with a US$86 million loan for a project that will supply Siem Reap town residents with water from the Tonle Sap lake and alleviate their need for water drawn from wells. The 40-year ...
Court Rejects Joint Complaint Against Minister’s Wife, Again
The Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court yesterday once again declined to receive a joint complaint from villagers in Kompong Tralach district embroiled in a land dispute with the wife of Industry Minister Suy Sem. Chhuon Siven, provincial clerk director, said that the court could not take the ...
EU Launches Food Security Program Aimed at Minorities
The European Union has launched a $4.5 million program aimed at increasing food security among indigenous minorities in Ratanakkiri province, including those whose land has been affected by the growing number of economic land concessions in the area. Speaking on the sidelines of the launch in ...
Borei Keila Residents File Land Transfer Complaint
One hundred and thirty-five families evicted from the Borei Keila community filed a complaint with the Council of Ministers and Finance Ministry yesterday against Phnom Penh Municipality for trying to transfer to the Phanimex company land belonging to the community, a resident said. ...
Villagers take sawmill to task
Kampong Thom province Villagers patrolling Prey Lang forest claimed yesterday that about 600 resin trees they found inside a sawmill in the Kampong Thom province had been cut down illegally – an allegation government officials quickly denied. After resistance from police and soldiers monitoring their actions this ...
Activists arm with fire, photos
Kampong Thom province Villagers patrolling Prey Lang forest on motorbikes yesterday defended their decision to burn more than 360 cubic metres of timber, tear down 10 huts used by “illegal loggers” and confiscate a chainsaw, a villager representative said. “All the villagers who provide evidence about ...
Villagers Seize Large Hauls of Illegal Timber
Hundreds of villagers patrolling Prey Long forest for illegal logging discovered and burned more than 370 cubic meters of wood during the first four days of their campaign, an organizer said yesterday. About 400 villagers from Kompong Thom, Kratie, Stung Treng and Preah Vihear provinces who ...
Villagers Protest Gov’t Plans To Turn Farmland Into SEZ
About 50 people protested in front of Pailin Provincial Hall yesterday against a government plan to turn their farmland in Sala Krao district into a special economic zone (SEZ), villagers and officials said. “It is the villagers that abuse the government land. They took the ...
Police to ‘monitor’ activists
Kampong Thom province Police and soldiers have been deployed to Prey Lang forest to monitor the activities of about 500 villagers patrolling for illegal loggers, a police official said yesterday. The police and military officers gathered along a road leading to the CRCK rubber company, which has ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032755262/National-news/police-to-monitor-activists.html
Authorities nab loggers at border
Cambodia border police arrested 12 people last week who attempted to cross illegally from Preah Vihear province into Thailand to log rosewood, officials said yesterday. .. ...
Blind eye to forest's plight
Rangers paid by an internationally funded conservation organisation have been directly profiting for years from the very trade they are supposed to be preventing in southwest Cambodia, documents obtained by the Post allege. Former Conservation International (CI) staff members say when they spoke up about endemic ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032655247/National-news/blind-eye-to-forests-plight.html
One Killed and One Injured While Logging Across Borders
One man was killed and one injured in two separate shooting incidents that took place last week at the borders with Thailand and Laos, officials said yesterday. In both cases, the Cambodians are believed to have been shot while illegally logging highly coveted luxury rosewood in ...
Prey Lang villagers on patrol
Kampong Thom province About 500 frustrated villagers, citing the authorities’ inaction as their motivation, rode some 250 motorbikes into Prey Lang forest over the weekend in yet another effort to combat illegal logging they say is decimating the area. The villagers from four provinces surrounding Prey Lang ...
Laos logging incident sees man shot, injured
A Cambodian man was injured last week after Lao authorities shot him while he was illegally logging rosewood in Laos’ Champasak district, near Stung Treng province, authorities said yesterday. Siem Pang district police chief Var Sophan told the Post yesterday that 27-year-old Sarin Da was accompanied ...
Drugs: our man in Cambodia
The inquiry that targeted Hun To, dubbed Operation Illipango, investigated the shipment of heroin into Australia from Cambodia in loads of timber. Hun To, a nephew of Prime Minister Hun Sen, is a powerful and feared figure in Cambodia. He was once considered a close business ...
http://www.theage.com.au/national/investigations/drugs-our-man-in-cambodia-20120325-1vsiz.html
Violence in Land Disputes Up, Rights Group Says
A total of 36 protests involving economic land concessions ended with violent intervention from armed authorities last year, according to data released this week by local rights group Adhoc. More than a fifth of the cases involved the long-simmering Boeng Kak lake evictions, in which ...
The great land giveaway
More than 2 million of the Kingdom’s nearly 18 million hectares of land – roughly 12 per cent – was given out to 225 private companies in economic concessions last year, according to an annual report released by rights group Adhoc yesterday. The concessions put 606 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012032355211/National-news/the-great-land-giveaway.html
60,000 Evicted in 2011 Alone; Majority From Phnom Penh
Nearly 60,000 people were forcibly evicted from their homes last year alone, often being moved to inadequate relocation sites where they face unemployment and rising debt levels, according to a report by rights group Adhoc released yesterday. A total of 59,904 people from 127 communities were ...