Land
Areng Valley group, villagers to visit Mines Ministry
The Ministry of Mines and Energy invited the head of an NGO battling to stop construction of a highly criticized dam in a remote area of Koh Kong province to meet with ministry officials Friday. Signed by Mines Minister Suy Sem and dated April 25, the ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/areng-valley-group-villagers-to-visit-mines-ministry-57870/
Uneasy calm in Bavet as factories ordered shut
BAVET CITY, Svay Rieng province – The government has ordered all factories here to shut down until Thursday at the earliest in a bid to keep escalating strikes from spiraling out of control and spreading nationwide. “[Provincial] Governor Chieng Am said in a meeting yesterday [Monday] ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/uneasy-calm-in-bavet-as-factories-ordered-shut-57723/
Village stoning breeds fears
Ever since some 500 people laid siege to the home of traditional healer pov Sovann, dragged him out and brutally stoned him to death over the course of eight hours on Sunday, two opposing sets of fears have gripped members of his community in Takeo ...
Vong Sokheng and Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/village-stoning-breeds-fears
Government agrees to review of railway evictees
The government has agreed to review its resettlement agreement with families relocated from railways as part of an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded rehabilitation project, but has refused a recommendation to set up a debt-relief scheme for the evictees, according to an action plan released by ...
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-agrees-to-review-of-railway-evictees-57745/
Anti-Phanimex roadblock causes traffic snarl
About 200 villagers blocked National Road 5 in Kandal province’s Ponhea Leu district for about two hours Tuesday, lighting fires with wood and tires and causing a large traffic jam as they called for authorities to intervene in their ongoing land dispute with the Phanimex ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anti-phanimex-roadblock-causes-traffic-snarl-57772/
Villagers protest after sand dumped on land
About 30 villagers in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district staged a protest Tuesday morning against tycoon Sok Kong, whom they accuse of piping dredged sand into their farmland and fishing ponds. Fourteen families occupying 21 hectares of land in Prek Pra commune have been locked in a ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-protest-after-sand-dumped-on-land-57736/
ANZ needs to step up its risk assessment: Oxfam
ANZ’s financing of ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat’s controversial sugar plantation has come under fire once again, this time in an investigation by NGO Oxfam into Australia’s big four banks and their links to rights abuses in developing countries. In a report titled “Banking on ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/anz-needs-step-its-risk-assessment-oxfam
Strike closes most Bavet factories
All but four garment factories in Svay Rieng province were closed yesterday, as a strike of thousands of workers there continued into its second week, a labour union official said. The strike, estimated to involve about 20,000 people across the province’s Tai Seng and Manhattan special ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strike-closes-most-bavet-factories
M’kiri villagers petition over illegal logging
Nearly 200 people from 25 different communities converged on the Mondolkiri Provincial Hall Monday to file complaints and petitions calling for an end to illegal logging and environmental degradation. The action comes two days after armed commune police blocked 16 rights workers and journalists from visiting ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mkiri-villagers-petition-over-illegal-logging-57612/
Cobra house family again accuses security guards of arson
A family locked in a longstanding land dispute with a powerful real estate tycoon claims company guards late on Sunday night once again attempted to burn down their Tuol Kok home. The alleged attempted arson is the latest in a slew of bizarre attacks on the ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cobra-house-family-again-accuses-security-guards-of-arson-57606/
Villagers questioned over land dispute
Five men in Koh Kong province could be prosecuted for stealing from a construction crew after the group allegedly seized tools in January, preventing the construction team from building fences in their village. Police summonsed the villagers from Kiri Sakor district’s Prek Khsach commune for questioning ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-questioned-over-land-dispute
ADB report finds gov’t shirking duty
The government is refusing to compensate up to 1,000 families forced to wait for income restoration measures after being relocated from their homes for an Asian Development Bank-funded railway rehabilitation project, a previously unreleased action plan from the ADB reveals. The ADB Management Action Plan, released ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/adb-report-finds-gov%E2%80%99t-shirking-duty
Former Boeng Kak activists protest at City Hall
About 50 residents evicted from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood in 2008 and 2009 to make way for a senator’s real estate project once again protested in front of City Hall Monday to demand better compensation. They are among some 3,000 families who were forced ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/former-boeng-kak-activists-protest-at-city-hall-57647/
Deaths raise new questions on ANZ funding of Cambodian sugar projects
First Sum Tea lost her farm. Then she lost her son. Sum Tea is one of hundreds of farmers who lost her small landholding in 2006 when the Cambodian government granted Phnom Penh Sugar, a company owned by Cambodian tycoon and ruling party senator Ly Yong ...
Daniel Quinlan, Richard Baker, Nick McKenzie
http://www.smh.com.au/national/investigations/deaths-raise-new-questions-on-anz-funding-of-cambodian-sugar-projects-20140427-zr0bj.html
Government urges land concession firms to respect law
Environment Minister Say Sam Al met with private firms with land concessions last week to gauge their compliance with government rules and regulations, and adherence to their own contracts. Amid mounting local and international pressure, Prime Minister Hun Sen in mid-2012 ordered a freeze on ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-urges-land-concession-firms-to-respect-law-57474/
Ex-KR soldiers lock in land-dispute meeting
Seventy-four former Khmer Rouge soldiers fighting for land they claim the government granted them in the 1990s have agreed to meet with the military commanders who allegedly sold the parcels for personal profit. The meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, follows a week after a pair representatives for ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ex-kr-soldiers-lock-land-dispute-meeting
Bavet City garment strikes gain momentum
Trade unions may have failed to get a stay-at-home strike for higher wages off the ground after the Khmer New Year earlier this month. But a strike for bonus pay is picking up steam in Svay Rieng Province, where some 20,000 garment workers protested at ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bavet-city-garment-strikes-gain-momentum-57447/
General in land dispute with another General
A two-star army general was arrested Friday on charges of defamation because he lost a court case over a dispute with a land broker and a formerly high-ranking police official, his lawyer said. Major General Chea Dara’s lawyer, Put Theavy, said yesterday that the dispute ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/general-in-land-dispute-with-another-general-57522/
Despite dolphin-saving plan, dam threat remains
A little more than two years after signing off on a scheme aimed at improving protection of the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin, experts said last week they were concerned that Mekong dams would see wholesale destruction of the population. During a two-day workshop that closed on ...
The Cambodia Daily
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/despite-dolphin-saving-plan-dam-threat-remains-57509/
Man injured by landmine in Poipet
A 19-year-old man was seriously injured when he stepped on a landmine in Poipet commune on Wednesday as he tried to illegally sneak across the border to work in Thailand, a local official said. Ouk Borith, 19, was crossing the border with another man when the ...
Hay Pisey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/man-injured-by-landmine-in-poipet-57368/
Heritage preserved: Park status to protect ancient site
Ancient ironwork at a site in Preah Vihear province that predates the civilisation of Angkor will fall within a new national park formed by royal decree last week. More than 200 pre-Angkor era industrial sites have been discovered since 2010, but the newly created national park ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/heritage-preserved-park-status-protect-ancient-site
Boeung Kok residents petition World Bank over years-long land dispute
Residents of property development site, Boeung Kok, on Thursday gathered in front of an office of World Bank in Phnom Penh in order to present petition to the World Bank. They were seeking intervention from the World Bank to help solve years-long land dispute in their ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=YjgxMzRkNGNkZDQ
Local and foreign business interests form luxury property joint venture
A mid strong demand growth in the Grade A office sector, a joint-venture agreement signing event was held at the Sofitel Phokeethra last week, establishing an investment company, provisionally called Kingdom Luxury Development Co, which aims to build a Grade-A office tower Phnom Penh. The joint-venture ...
Evictions at airport planned
Dozens of houses have been marked for demolition near Phnom Penh International Airport as authorities say the families must be moved to bring the site in line with international standards. Civil aviation officials visited Chrey Chisark village in Por Sen Chey district’s Choam Choa commune with ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/evictions-airport-planned