Human rights

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong is in China this week for official talks aimed at strengthening trade and security ties. ...

Human Rights Watch (HRW), long one of the most strident critics of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling party, again slammed the government on Wednesday for its failure to uphold human rights in Cam­bodia, with the release of its World Report 2016. ...

Cambodian democracy regressed last year, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2015 Democracy Index, which indicates that the Kingdom is “on the cusp of the ‘authoritarian regime’ category”. ...

Ahead of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s planned visit to Cambodia this week, local and international NGOs have urged Mr. Kerry not to sign any new bilateral agreements unless Cambodia vows to improve its human rights and democracy efforts. ...

Riot police and municipal security guards shunted a group of would-be mourners around Phnom Penh’s southern industrial precinct on Sunday morning as they attempted to mark the second anniversary of the day military police marched along Veng Sreng Boulevard firing assault rifles into crowds of ...

 In September 2015, a Facebook page bearing the name of Prime Minister Hun Sen notched up its millionth “like.” Until then, the long-serving Cambodian leader had denied ever using social media, making fun of political rivals, like opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who were active online. ...

More than 160 families in Kratie province’s Snuol district have alleged that the Memot Rubber Plantation company has been using excavators to clear their land. ...

A small group of human rights advocates and other Cambodian-Americans met recently in Virginia to discuss Cambodia’s ongoing problems with human rights abuse.Participants discussed the difficulty in promoting human rights and democracy in Cambodia, where political pressure and powerful individuals often intervene. ...

Close to 2,000 people, including monks, NGO workers and citizens, marched peacefully to the Ministry of Justice yesterday morning, defying City Hall’s ban on the Human Rights Day protest.Demonstrators from 16 different provinces marched from three separate locations – the Senate, Chenla Cinema and Wat ...

Authorities in Siem Reap yesterday blocked a march celebrating International Human Rights Day (IHRD), as officials in Phnom Penh reiterated their threat to shut down a planned mass rally in the capital on Thursday.As IHRD, officially on December 10, approaches, associated demonstrations across the Kingdom ...

With at least four Cambodians killed in recent years trying to uncover environmental crimes, the country ranks as the “deadliest” place in the world to conduct such reporting, according to a new report.  ...

Rights and development groups say a draft law on access to information will be more useful to the public if it has input from outside the government.A number of civil society organizations met in Phnom Penh this week to discuss the law, in hopes of ...

A leading rights group in Cambodia, LICADHO, said it was forced to cancel its annual International Human Rights Day events in the country’s prisons for the first time in 20 years because of prohibitive conditions imposed by the government. ...

In July, an estimated 2.9 million Cambodians were on Facebook, up from 1.7 million a year earlier.The social networking website Facebook has grown increasingly popular with government officials, who use it to communicate with their constituents and to push their political positions to a younger ...

Cambodian TV news anchor Soy Sopheap has again stepped into the role of political peacemaker in an effort to end the feud between Prime Minister Hun Sen and exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy which threatens to ignite political conflict. ...

On Nov. 13, Cambodia’s dictatorial prime minister Hun Sen ousted opposition leader Sam Rainsy, stripping him of his seat in parliament and calling for his arrest. These latest actions against Rainsy are representative of Cambodia’s long muddle through a sort of unfree democracy. ...

Experts warn that Cambodia still faces the prospect of violence and atrocities, as human rights abuse and other social injustices persist.But Cambodia’s leaders still have the “responsibility to protect” the country’s citizens, according to standards issued by the UN. ...

Parliament urges Cambodia to drop all charges brought against opposition leader Sam Rainsy and Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) members; calls on the Bangladesh authorities to restore the full independence of the media; and appeals to the government of Afghanistan to intensify cooperation with the ...

Cambodia’s increasingly fractious political situation is pushing the country towards a “dangerous tipping point”, the UN rights envoy to the kingdom said on Tuesday (Nov 24).The country has been plunged into a bitter political crisis after an arrest warrant was issued for Sam Rainsy, Cambodia’s ...

A U.S. State Department official told the country’s Senate on Thurs­day that recent political events in Cambodia, including the beatings of lawmakers outside the Nation­al Assembly and the removal of opposition officials from their seats and positions in parliament, were a cause for “grave concern.” ...

Cambodian sex workers are often thought of as victims of trafficking. And that may be true for some. For others, however, work in the country’s entertainment sectors offers financial security, and sex work becomes a choice. ...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday that an arrest warrant issued against Cambodia’s opposition leader Sam Rainsy was a worrisome development and called for dialogue. He called for dialogue and encouraged all political players to “refrain from violence, intimidation and harassment.” ...

For the second time in three weeks the United Nations has expressed concern over increasing tensions between Cambodia’s Government and opposition, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today calling the arrest warrant issued against opposition leader Sam Rainsy “worrisome.” ...

The victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s movement in Burma after years of military rule and repression is already starting to unnerve autocrats nearby. Last week, Sam Rainsy, an opposition leader in Cambodia, declared that the democrats’ “resounding” victory “has created panic among the last ...