Human rights

They represented 6,822 families on a total area of more than 19,145 hectares of land in Tbong Khmum, Svay Rieng, Kandal and Preah Sihanouk provinces. They submitted petitions to the National Assembly, Council of Ministers and Ministry of Land Management. ...

UN special Rapporteur Rhona Smith’s request to meet with jailed opposition leader Kem Sokha in a Tbong Khmum prison was rejected by an investigating judge who cited “important tasks” that needed to be completed before outsiders were allowed such access. ...

Clashes between villagers protesting a land dispute and security officers erupted in gunfire yesterday in Kratie province, with a rights official initially reporting six killed, and villagers at the scene confirming at least two dead – while authorities provided a starkly different account, saying that ...

About 100 residents from Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel and Botum Sakor districts gathered to protest and block the road of Koh Kong Sugar Industry to demand the company, local authorities and relevant ministries expedite a resolution to end their land dispute. ...

Shrinking political and civic space in the Kingdom is highlighted in a new report from the United Nations’ human rights commissioner and secretary-general ahead of a UN Human Rights Council discussion this month on Cambodia. ...

Residents of the Boeung Kak community yesterday submitted a petition to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet, asking the premier to seek a royal pardon to release their jailed representative Tep Vanny, and also solve their outstanding land dispute. According to the petition by eight Boeung Kak ...

Cambodia’s Ministry of Information has chalked up 2017 as a “huge success for the government”, saying supporters of jailed journalists were “killing” democracy and the closure of multiple media outlets was necessary. ...

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday published a batch of communications held with the Cambodian government since June last year, showing that the international body has voiced its concern about a range of issues from the arrest of ...

The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union yesterday adopted a set of conclusions condemning “recent worrying political developments and the continuing deterioration of democracy” in Cambodia, though some politicians expressed regret about a missed opportunity to take concrete measures. The conclusions, passed by the European ...

The Candlelight Party yesterday held its congress to change some articles in its statute to comply with the amended Law on Political Parties to allow it to request dissolution from the Interior Ministry if necessary. ...

Media outlets in Cambodia have came under increasing threat over the past year, according to a new report by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), though the Ministry of Information, responding to a similar recent report, has insisted freedom of expression and the press is ...

The Ministry of Interior has officially registered a newly created “Kem Ley Foundation Association” after months of processing the application. Chhim Kan, director of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Associations and Political Parties, yesterday confirmed the association’s registration had been successful. ...

The “façade of media freedom” in the Kingdom “collapsed” last year, with journalists reporting a sharp drop in their hopes for independent press, according to the results of a new survey launched yesterday. The Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM) study surveyed 75 journalists from ...

UN rights experts yesterday urged the government to reconsider constitutional amendments, including a law that forbids insulting the monarchy, saying the changes were too vague and failed to meet international standards. Parliament last week adopted a law that forbids insulting the monarchy, along with other amendments ...

A group of 35 international labour and human rights advocacy groups yesterday called for charges against a trio of Cambodian civil society activists to be dropped. “We, the undersigned global unions and international human rights and workers’ rights organizations, call for the charges against Cambodian human ...

Six officials have filed a complaint to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court asking for their Funcinpec membership to be reinstated after they were removed from the party by its leader, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, at the end of last month. ...

The Council of Ministers released a no-holds-barred book about its efforts to root out a purported foreign-backed “colour revolution” in Cambodia yesterday, lashing out at superpowers like the United States for supposedly trying to cause “immeasurable catastrophe” in the country.​ ...

Representatives of more than 400 families in Kratie’s Snuol district protested yesterday following the temporary detention of two fellow community members at a demonstration the day before, when locals blocked a road to demand the government find a solution to their land dispute with a ...

Cambodian opposition figures seeking asylum in Thailand have been visited by Thai police in recent days, fuelling fears they may be deported back to the Kingdom. Scores fled Cambodia after the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party was forcibly dissolved following the arrest of its president, ...

Cambodia’s economic freedom score dropped seven ranks in the annual Economic Freedom Index released by the Heritage Foundation, a US-based, conservative-leaning think tank. The 0.8 point dip in the score from last year put Cambodia’s economy in the “Mostly Unfree” category, ranking 101 out of ...

In an apparent reversal, Stung Treng province authorities on Friday said they would build public infrastructure for the 83 households from Srekor and Kbal Romeas villages who were displaced by flooding from the reservoir of the controversial Lower Sesan II Dam but declined to move ...

Violence in Cambodia has escalated in recent months with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s attempts to quash competition ahead of the upcoming elections on July 29, 2018. Security and surveillance measures have been strengthened, media outlets have been closed down, protests have been met with violence and mass ...

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a 30-month sentence for land activist Tep Vanny on charges relating to a 2013 protest outside Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house that turned violent, leaving the Boeung Kak resident to serve out more than a year of her remaining ...

Two more families have accepted compensation to leave the Borei Keila area to make room for development, as the long-running land dispute creeps ever closer to an end. ...