Land
Land tenure and land titling
Anti-Corruption Unit Arrests Staff at UK Biofuel Firm
The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has arrested two employees of a local company linked to a British biofuel firm currently under investigation by the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), an official said Friday. ACU President Om Yentieng said that International Green Energy (IGE) director Oum Samnang, and ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/anti-corruption-unit-arrests-staff-at-uk-biofuel-firm-7972/
Disputed land to be returned to villagers
More than 8,000 hectares of land was cut from economic and forest land concessions owned by some of the country’s biggest tycoons and awarded to villagers last month, according to documents from the Council of Ministers. Four sub-decrees signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen order that ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013012160890/National/disputed-land-to-be-returned.html
Tiffs over stalls dog border checkpoints
Cambodian and Thai officials are having trouble resolving tensions over border checkpoints in Oddar Meanchey, Cambodian authorities said yesterday. Following a verbal request from Thai border police that their Cambodian counterparts rejected last week, Thai officers submitted a letter last Friday asking Cambodian authorities to move ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013012160885/National/tiffs-over-stalls-dog-border-checkpoints.html
Ethnic groups becoming media-savvy
One hot day in June, 2009, Ven Samin, a member of the ethnic Suoy minority in Kampong Speu province, grabbed her digital camera and headed out of the house. The 44-year-old arrived at a collection of damaged rice paddies in Oral district and began taking photos. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011860869/National/ethnic-groups-becoming-media-savvy.html
Anti Eviction Activists Take Plea for Help to CPP
Phnom Penh’s anti eviction protesters yesterday staged a 100 strong demonstration outside the CPP Headquarters on Norodom Boulevard, calling for the ruling party to release a jailed community activist and help families acquire land titles. They also requested that the government include 61 families left ...
‘Secession’ Leader Says He Will Return to Cambodia, Stage Protest
The convicted ringleader of a so-called secessionist movement in May in Kratie province, who is currently in self-imposed exile to avoid a 30-year prison sentence, has said that he will soon return to Cambodia to organize a large-scale demonstration against the government. Bun Ratha—who was sentenced ...
Protesters blocked on the way to Phnom Penh
About 80 families travelling to Phnom Penh from Kampong Chhnang province for a land dispute-related protest yesterday were blocked on their way to the capital and told to resolve the matter locally. The villagers are locked in an unusual land feud with an agricultural firm, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011760831/National/protesters-blocked-on-the-way-to-phnom-penh.html
Families say eviction forced
Hundreds of families in Ratanakkiri province have asked rights group Adhoc to intervene, saying local authorities in Bakeo district’s Laminh commune are illegally forcing them from their homes. Village representative, Ek Orm, 52, said that authorities were forcing villagers to relocate to make way for a ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011460762/National/families-say-eviction-forced.html
Energy security linked to firm borders
Energy supplies will be more secure once territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia are resolved, Department of Mineral Fuels director-general Songpob Polchan said on Friday. Mr Songpob said that the sooner Thailand and Cambodia are able to work out their differences, the sooner they can exploit ...
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/330370/end-to-border-row-to-help-energy-sector
Border tension with Cambodia escalates
BANGKOK, 9 January 2013 The cross-border tension between Thailand and Cambodia escalates as both countries prepare to make legal submissions to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the disputed area around the Preah Vihear temple in 3 months. In Surin province, security has tightened ...
http://www.pattayamail.com/news/border-tension-with-cambodia-escalates-20435
Embattled villagers fight on
First, agricultural company DM group displaced them, now a recently arrived commercial farmer has threatened their lives and chased them off their new land, said representatives of 12 families engaged in a long-standing land dispute in Ratanakkiri province. On Wednesday, the 12 Tampuon ethnic minority families ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013011160746/National/embattled-villagers-fight-on.html
Firm Compensates Jarai After Ruining Graves
A Vietnamese rubber company in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district yesterday agreed to pay $4,000 in compensation to an ethnic Jarai community whose traditional graveyard was bulldozed by the firm last week, local officials said. During a meeting at the Paknhai commune police station, representatives of the ...
Rights Committee Investigates Land Dispute
The government’s Human Rights Committee has visited villagers in a long-running land dispute in Battambang province to find out whether members of their community have been unfairly imprisoned in recent years for land encroachment, local authorities and villagers said yesterday. Officials from committee, which is headed ...
Sick of courts, villagers curse
In a sign that they no longer have faith in the court system, more than 100 villagers in Kampong Chhnang province placed their fates in the hands of a higher power yesterday, and prayed for misfortune to rain down on a company with whom they’ve ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/National/sick-of-courts-villagers-curse.html
Soldiers Keep watch over Broma Villagers
More than seven months after government security forces violently evicted hundreds of people living in Kratie province’s Broma village to quell a so-called secessionist movement, more than 70 families are still being prevented by patrolling soldiers from returning to the site of their former homes, ...
Keep Checkpoints Open, Hun Sen Tells Thai Envoy
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday told the newly appointed Thai Ambassador Touchayoot Pakdi that border checkpoints between the two countries need to remain open in order to promote trade and tourism and combat border crimes. Mr. Hun Sens remarks to Mr Pakdi came during a ...
With Election on the Horizon, Politicians Defend Land Policies
Cambodian politicians have begun a public campaign to defend their records on land policies, as they prepare for the run-up to July elections. Politicians from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, as well as the opposition Sam Rainsy and Human Rights parties, have said they will give ...
Cambodia’s Economic Challenge
Even as the skyline of Phnom Penh grows with the symbols of modern architecture, Cambodia’s economy still faces a host of challenges. On the surface, Cambodia’s economy is certainly improving. In September, the IMF raised its 2012 GDP growth forecast from 6.3 to 6.5 percent ...
http://thediplomat.com/2013/01/03/cambodias-failed-trickle-down-economy/
Ethnic Kreung Accuse Businessman of Threats
A group of ethnic Kreung families living in Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat district have accused a wealthy plantation owner of destroying their crops and threatening to evict them from their homes, local officials and villagers said yesterday. Soeun Sarath, a representative of 13 indigenous families living in Kaleng ...
Students Refer Land Dispute to Hun Sen's Son
The chief of 120 students spearheading the government’s land-titling program in Pursat province has filed a report with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s second son, Hun Manith, to find a solution for villagers who say local officials in the area have confiscated their registration documents. ...
Land protestors curse court
Residents of property development site Boeung Kok gathered Monday in front of Phnom Penh Municipal Court to put a curse on court officials. Representative Heng Mom asked the court to review the case of Youm Bopha, sentenced to three years in prison for attempted violence on ...
1,000 More Logs Discovered Inside Ratanakkiri Land Concession
Forestry Administration officials and police yesterday discovered a stockpile of more than 1,000 logs that ethnic Jarai villagers in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district claim have been illegally cut by the Vietnamese owners of a rubber concession, a district official said. The 4,000-hectare concession was granted to ...
Hun Sen Encourages Cambodians to Emulate Chinese-Style Wealth
Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday encouraged Cambodians to strive for Chinese-style millionaire status as he inaugurated a sugar refinery located inside two controversial plantations belonging to CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat and his wife in Kompong Speu province. “I have one clear policy in strengthening the ...
Cambodian sugar plant leaves villagers bitter
Though the mood was congratulatory yesterday at the inauguration of ruling party Senator Ly Yong Phat’s sugar company – a gleaming, new facility nestled in between two hills in Kampong Speu province’s Omlaing commune – the mood just a few kilometres away bordered on desperation. Sitting ...