Human rights

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. ...

A Cambodian representative to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) said yesterday that new guidelines for hydropower development agreed to late last month don’t fully address threats to the health of the imperiled waterway. ...

Cambodia’s government has ordered internet service providers to block online access to The Cambodia Daily newspaper, which closed last year amid a widespread crackdown on media and civil society groups criticizing Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party.​ ...

Fourteen families in Koh Kong province’s Kiri Sakor district filed a court complaint today against 60 security guards employed by Union Development Group (UDG) for allegedly destroying their crops and small huts on land belonging to the development conglomerate.​ ...

Stung Treng province officials have announced they will not build public facilities for those villagers who refused to relocate to the government’s resettlement site when their villages were flooded late last year by the reservoir of the controversial Lower Sesan II Dam. ...

District authorities warned Borei Keila residents yesterday during a meeting to stop protesting lest they be arrested. On Wednesday, representatives from seven families gathered in front of the house of Suy Sophan, the owner of Phanimex, to demand what they deem just compensation for vacating their ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday took a swipe at a recent democracy report that labelled his regime “authoritarian”, before declaring no one is capable of “toppling Hun Sen besides Hun Sen”. ...

The state of democracy in Cambodia has declined to the point where it is now led by an outright “authoritarian” regime, according to the latest Democracy Index from the Economist Intelligence Unit. The Democracy Index 2017, released yesterday, ranked Cambodia 124th out of 167 countries, ...

More than 1,000 people flocked to Oudong Mountain in Kandal province yesterday to observe Meak Bochea Day, which marks the day the Buddha prophesied his own death.Nguon Nhel, second vice president of the National Assembly, presided over the ceremony accompanied by many lawmakers and government ...

A proposed access-to-information law more than a decade in the making was unveiled to the public yesterday, with just one item left to finalise – punishments for officials who refuse to disclose public information. ...

The head of a Khmer Krom advocacy association yesterday issued a statement urging his followers not to join ex-opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s newly minted Cambodia National Rescue Movement, claiming it will provoke violence. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday said on his Facebook page that the number of people celebrating Chinese New Year in Cambodia is increasing.Mr Hun Sen said Cambodia now celebrates three New Year celebrations annually, including New Year’s Eve, and the Chinese and Khmer New Year. ...

The Constitutional Council is planning to meet later this week to discuss amendments to the Constitution, including changes to an article guaranteeing the right for citizens to form organisations and political parties. The document, a letter of invitation to local media, outlines an agenda for the ...

A group of US Senators has sent a letter to Nikki Haley, the country’s ambassador to the United Nations, urging her to work with other members of the UN Human Rights Council to pass a resolution on Cambodia’s political situation.​ ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen met with members of the press yesterday, not shying away from classifying some journalists and media outlets as extortionists and tax evaders, while applauding United States President Donald Trump’s efforts to go after so-called fake news.​ ...

Cambodia’s long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen berated journalists on Sunday at a dinner his government hosted for correspondents and accused some of spreading fabricated stories. ...

Almost 20 Borei Keila families have decided to accept compensation in one of the country’s most prominent and longstanding land disputes.​ ...

The report, “Freedom in the World 2018”, released on January 16, found that 2017 was the 12th consecutive year of decline in freedom globally, with 71 of the 195 countries included in the report suffering declines, including Cambodia. ...

Borei Keila residents have continued to reject compensation in exchange for leaving their land, claiming the latest offer was inadequate. Two of the remaining 11 families met with the 7 Makara district governor in Phnom Penh yesterday to discuss compensation. ...