Civil society

Reading has always been a popular hobby for Cambodian children, but NGOs are now saying it is difficult for children in remote areas to access books and magazines. ...

Noun Phymean is an executive director at the People Improvement Organization (PIO). Born in Kampong Cham province, she spent over 12 years with the United Nations and other international organizations. Now, the hardworking humanitarian is focusing on helping some of the country’s most impoverished children. ...

Police in Koh Kong province on Wednesday late evening set free 17 people, including for local rights workers who were arrested over a protest in the province. ...

Police in Koh Kong province on Wednesday arrested 17 people—including four rights workers—near the provincial courthouse as protesters continued to call for the release of three jailed environmental activists, according to officials. The group was released shortly after 6 p.m. ...

Seventeen members of a Cambodian rights group and environmental NGO were briefly detained by authorities in Cambodia’s southeastern Koh Kong province Wednesday as they observed protests calling for the release of three activists held for interfering with sand-dredging operations, sources said. ...

Khemara Phoumint City deputy governor Pen Bunchhouy on Tuesday issued a letter to a group of protesters demanding that they vacate the area in front of the Koh Kong Provincial Court by Wednesday, threatening “action” if they refused. ...

In a bid to raise more money from within the country, civil society organizations are planning to launch a platform in November that will use crowdfunding via mobile phone credit to fund projects ranging from IT development to the arts. ...

The Koh Kong Provincial Court on Monday denied bail to three jailed activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature who were charged last mo nth with threatening to destroy barges operated by a sand dredging company, their lawyer said. ...

Military police attempted to arrest a group of protesters as they marched through Koh Kong province’s Khemara Phoumint City Thursday to demand the release of three jailed activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature, a rights worker and an official said. ...

Drug abuse is a widespread issue with few universal solutions. But one NGO’s methods of dealing with the problem are putting it at odds with the local community. ...

Environment and agriculture ministry officials Wednesday warned the authors of a new report accusing the government of colluding with timber magnate Try Pheap to illegally log the protected forests of northeastern Cambodia that they could be sued unless they made changes to the text. ...

When Sam Samnang’s son decided to join the ranks of environmental NGO Mother Nature, she knew he was in for trouble. ...

Three free smartphone applications designed by Cambodian women to help reduce gender-based violence in the country were launched by The Asia Foundation on Monday. ...

Environment Minister Say Sam Al and a group of NGOs on Monday agreed to cooperate to resolve a years long dispute between hundreds of families in Koh Kong province and a Chinese company they accuse of stealing their land. ...

The protest for the release of three activists from the environmental NGO Mother Nature entered its sixth day yesterday, with another rally in front of Koh Kong provincial court – where some members of the youthful NGO have been camping out. ...

An increasing number of women who are victims of violence are looking for solutions outside the country’s dysfunctional court system, the president of rights group Licadho, Pung Chhiv Kek, said yesterday. ...

Police in Koh Kong province yesterday raided a house rented by local environmental NGO Mother Nature in what its members have described as an ongoing campaign of intimidation against the group amid the detention of three of its activists. ...

Not long ago, Sim Pov, a representative of 69 families from Kratie province, came to Phnom Penh to meet with urban housing rights protesters. He wanted to learn from them how he could organize his own community, which is locked in a land dispute with ...

An NGO umbrella group will start holding workshops around the country next month to help independent organizations prepare for the implementation of the new NGO law, which has been viewed as an attempt by the government to clamp down on dissent. ...

With the end of its four-year program to fight human trafficking approaching, USAID, partner organization Winrock International and the government’s National Committee to Combat Trafficking are taking stock of their progress. ...

Activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature caused more than $100,000 in damages to a company that was legally dredging for sand in Koh Kong province, Khem Sameth, CEO of the company Direct Access, said yesterday. ...

The Koh Kong Provincial Court on Monday imprisoned three activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature after a prosecutor charged them with threatening to cause damage during their ongoing campaign against a company accused of illegally dredging at a local estuary, according to rights group Licadho. ...

Disgraced former Phnom Penh Municipal Court director Ang Mealaktei was sent to the Kandal Provincial Prison on Sunday after he was charged with embezzlement for allegedly confiscating an SUV from a drug dealer and giving it to his son, a prison official said Monday. ...

Officials in Kratie province are insisting that a small group of families involved in a local land dispute register with the Interior Ministry or be “punished.” ...