Land
Land policy and administration
Cambodian rights worker faces death threats over land dispute
A worker with the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) has been intimidated and received death threats while trying to document the plight of three families involved in a bitter land dispute with a developer in the country’s capital, according to the center. The worker, Vann ...
Radio Free Asia Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/threats-05122014162650.html
Government says 3.4 million land titles issued
The government has issued a total of 3.4 million land titles across the country, 500,000 of them since a renewed push personally orchestrated by Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to new figures released by the Land Management Ministry. In a notice posted to its website Friday, ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-says-3-4-million-land-titles-issued-58477/
No clubs near schools, Council of Ministers says
The Council of Ministers on Friday passed a sub-decree on the management of adult entertainment clubs and a draft of a new national housing policy to promote home ownership, a cabinet official said. The new Sub-Decree on Management of Adult Entertainment Places, consisting of 25 articles, ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-clubs-near-schools-council-of-ministers-says-58464/
Villagers in Svay Rieng angry over planned canal
More than 200 villagers from three communes in Svay Rieng province on Saturday protested against a proposal to build a huge irrigation canal through their land, a local official said Sunday. The planned canal would stretch across Kraol Kor, Svay Yea and Chhoeuteal communes in Svay ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-in-svay-rieng-angry-over-planned-canal-58480/
Groups want US help in improving transparency in extractive industries
Anti-corruption advocates say they want the US government to help them push for transparency in the extractive industries, as ongoing mining continues to disrupt the lives of many Cambodians. At least 120 companies, most of them Chinese, have obtained mining licenses in the last decade, as ...
Lead-up to poll saw SLCs spike
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 2012 ban on the allocation of economic land concessions was supposed to halt the unpopular practice of turning over large swaths of property to developers. And going by the numbers last year, it worked. But in the vacuum, according to local rights ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lead-poll-saw-slcs-spike
‘Burst’ of land disputes sees dozens of Cambodians charged: rights group
Cambodian authorities have charged nearly half as many villagers in land dispute cases in the first three months of this year as they did in all of 2013, a local rights group said Thursday, adding that most of the rows stemmed from government-granted land concessions. Following ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/land-05082014175124.html
For communities, threats routine
Two disputes involving a land developer with ties to the highest ranks of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party have once again exposed the lack of justice faced by impoverished communities in the capital, affected residents and rights groups have said. In Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district, ...
Daniel Pye and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/communities-threats-routine
Rubber company suspends projects as World Bank investigates
A World Bank-supported rubber company accused of land grabs has suspended some of its projects, as an investigation by the bank continues. The Hoang Anh Gia Lai company, which received support from the bank’s International Finance Corporation, said in a decision following an April 2 ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/rubber-company-suspends-projects-as-world-bank-investigates/1908775.html
Villagers’ crops destroyed over land dispute
Representatives of a community locked in a land dispute with a Vietnamese company in Kratie province returned home from Phnom Penh late Tuesday after failing to garner support from Prime Minister Hun Sen, while an official at the company said it had begun destroying villagers’ ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-crops-destroyed-over-land-dispute-58183/
Families petition City Hall over wall built in road
More than 170 families in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district submitted a petition to City Hall on Monday complaining about wealthy businessman Khun Sear’s decision to build a wall in the middle of a road in their neighborhood. The road in Chak Angre Leu commune is under ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-petition-city-hall-over-wall-built-in-road-58176/
Giant development in Cambodia hinges on Chinese buyers
There is an island in Cambodia that, unlike others in Southeast Asia, is not the object of an ownership dispute. But it is equally clear whom its current owners would like to land there: Chinese property buyers. If all goes according to plan, Koh Pich — ...
Chris Horton
http://www.property-report.com/cambodias-mega-development-lures-chinese-investors-34672
A way of life falls with trees
The Phnong ethnic minority in Mondulkiri province have heard the promises of development before. With increasing investment and the selling off of the region’s forests will come new roads and schools, they are told. But people in this ancient community, tired of seeing their sacred forests handed ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/way-life-falls-trees
Change airport plans: villagers
Familes living near Phnom Penh’s airport yesterday again called on civil aviation officials to drop an expansion plan that would cut into their property. Following a press conference in Por Sen Chey district’s Choam Chao commune, community leader Kao Sovann said members of 63 families will ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/change-airport-plans-villagers
City Hall security guards tear up petition at land rights protest
About 80 activists from Phnom Penh’s Borei Keila and Boeng Kak communities protested outside City Hall on Monday morning, but were confronted by municipal security guards who prevented them from delivering a petition to the governor. Sar Soun, a representative of families from the Borei Keila ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-security-guards-tear-up-petition-at-land-rights-protest-58147/
Ministry fails to settle fears over Koh Kong dam
A meeting at the Ministry of Mines and Energy on Friday about plans for a controversial hydropower dam in Koh Kong province failed to assuage fears among those trying to stop the project that construction had already been approved. During Friday’s meeting, officials from the ministry ...
Zsombor Peter and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-fails-to-settle-fears-over-koh-kong-dam-58021/
More Phnom Penh residents facing possible eviction
Dozens of villagers in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district are facing eviction after the National Cadastral Commission announced last week that a number of areas in Tuol Sangke commune are earmarked for future redevelopment. The commission’s plans for new projects, including a road widening, were posted ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/more-phnom-penh-residents-facing-possible-eviction-58031/
Villagers in land dispute with Phanimex petition authorities
Four hundred Kandal villagers locked in a land dispute in Ponhea Leu district with development company Phanimex submitted a petition Wednesday to district authorities and rights group Adhoc calling for a solution. The petition came a day after villagers blocked National Road 5 for more than ...
Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-in-land-dispute-with-phanimex-petition-authorities-57882/
ADB says aid plan for railway evictees still under negotiation
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday insisted that the Cambodian government has not turned down any of its recommendations for helping thousands of families hurt by a bank-funded project, claiming that talks over how to compensate and support the families were still underway. Last week, ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-says-aid-plan-for-railway-evictees-still-under-negotiation-57859/
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/
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/
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/