Human rights

Angered by the clearing of parts of Prey Long forest, several hundred indigenous minority villagers marched on a rubber plantation here in northern Kompong Thom province yesterday night and breached its gate in order to demand that the company stop cutting down trees in the ...

For the several hundred villagers who have been camping and patrolling in a remote part of the jungle in northern Kompong Thom for several days as part of their campaign to save Prey Long forest, the strain is starting to show. Human rights workers say that ...

Labour legislation in Cambodia is so weak and so often ignored that half the Kingdom’s children between the ages of seven and 14 participate in the workforce, the world’s largest federation of unions has told the World Trade Organisation General Council in Geneva. Children, women and ...

The US is scheduled today to sign off on another $20 million in funding for aid projects in Cambodia, according to a US Embassy statement issued yesterday. One project will “strengthen the ability of civil society, the private sector, and the government to address food security ...

The Cambodian Embassy in Malaysia returned abused Cambodian maids, including women who were raped by their employers, to work at maid recruitment agencies in that country, a new report by Human Rights Watch claims. The New York-based rights group also said Cambodian police colluded with labor ...

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s yesterday lowered Cambodia’s long-term sovereign credit rating by one notch to B due to the country’s continued inability to diversify its economy and increase government spending. The decision by Standard & Poor’s comes after the agency said in September that constraints ...

The government’s proposed NGO draft law is a barrier to effective aid and development, civil society organizations said yesterday during a workshop in Phnom Penh focused on compiling a report on Cambodia’s climate for NGOs ahead of a global forum on aid effectiveness to be ...

Thirteen construction workers have filed a complaint against the Banteay Meanchey provincial branch of T&P Co Ltd – the recruitment agency at the center of allegations involving illegal detainment of trainees – officials said yesterday. The workers, who had previously worked illegally as construction workers in ...

Land evictions, poor prison conditions and the lack of an independent judiciary were among the concerns listed in the European Union’s 2010 review of human rights in Cambodia. According to the EU Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World in 2010, which charts ...

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Cambodia was due last night to present his 2011 report to the Human Rights Council in New York, where Foreign Minister Hor Namhong is attending the UN General Assembly’s annual debate. The report, first published on August 2, looks at ...

Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday sentenced the manager of job recruitment agency VC Manpower to 13 months in prison for ilegally detaining underage recruits at a Phnom Penh training center, while the firm’s foreign director was convicted in absentia to eight years’ imprisonment General Manager ...

Environmental groups that gathered at the Himawari Hotel in Phnom Penh on Friday said that tens of thousands of rural Cambodians could benefit from the development of the country’s resin industry. At a conference held by the Non-Timber Forest Products Exchange Program for South and Southeast ...

Five hundred hectares of Mondolkiri land inside a protected wildlife sanctuary have been granted to a rubber company, sparking concerns among indigenous minorities who rely on the forest. According to a sub-decree dated August 31 and signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, the government approved an ...

Opposition party members and a human rights group yesterday condemned the demolition of eight homes and businesses at Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake on Friday, calling the act a violation of the law. Two excavators belonging to Shukaku Inc tore down homes as riot police pushed ...

Open Cambodia A Mozilla/Aspiration Conference Open Web, Open Source, Open Knowledge 16-17 September 2011 Sunway Hotel, Phnom Penh Friday 16 September 8:00-8:30 Registration – Grand Mekong Hall, First Floor 8:30-10:15 Interactive Plenary 10:15-10:30 Coffee Break 10:30-12:00 Agenda Crowdsourcing: Session Development 12:00-1:00 Lunch – Provided at the Sun Café Restaurant, Ground Floor, Sunway Hotel 1:00-3:00 Break-Out I – Framing Sessions: ...

Authorities in Kompong Thom province yesterday forced a pagoda to withdraw its invitation to host a workshop about forest protection, continuing their pressure on two NGOs that provide community legal education in the province, a monk and NGO worker said. Chin Neth, chief monk at ...

Kompong Thom provincial authorities have threatened to shut down two NGOs who have been providing free legal education to poor villagers in the province, accusing the groups of fomenting rural unrest against private investors. The NGOs, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights and the Natural ...

The government should abandon its current management of Prey Long forest and shift to a plan that conserves the forst while also optimizing its economic uses, such as agriculture, carbon credits and controlled timber exploitation, according to a recent report by the US Agency for ...

Officials working in Boeng Per Wildlife Sanctuary and in nearby communities said yesterday that they were receiving new motorbikes and digital cameras from businessman Try Pheap, who in recent months received large-scale rubber concessions in the Preah Vihear province sanctuary. Earlier this week, it was ...

Ten international organizations including Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, and Global Witness have urged dozens of foreign ministers to consider freezing aid to Cambodia if the government passes the current draft of its proposed NGO law. In a letter sent Wednesday to 36 foreign ministers ...

A simmering land dispute in Kratie province’s Snuol Wildlife Sanctuary flared up Friday as hundreds of desperate villagers blocked National Road 76A for four hours in an effort to prevent the clearing of their homes and farms by a rubber company, villagers and human rights ...

Authorities in Phnom Penh briefly detained about 100 villagers yesterday who were distributing leaflets to raise awareness of the ongoing destruction of Prey Long, one of Cambodia’s largest remaining primary forests. The leaflet distributors had their materials confiscated and were escorted to six commune offices ...

Singapore-listed firm HLH Group is planning to expand its presence in Cambodia with 90,000 hectares of corn, rice and soybean plantations planned over the next decade in Kompong Speu and Koh Kong provinces, an official at the company said yesterday. HLH Group came under scrutiny ...

More than one hundred villagers dressed as the forest people from the hit film “Avatar” protested in the Cambodian capital Thursday against the destruction of the country’s Prey Lang forestThey say the forest, which is a source of livelihood for some 200,000 mainly indigenous people, ...