Social development
Human rights
Persecution of Montagnards on rise, report says
An intensified campaign of religious and political persecution of Montagnards by security forces in Vietnam is responsible for more than 150 of the group fleeing to Cambodia, while authorities in both countries are working together to track down asylum seekers crossing the border, Human Rights ...
George Wright
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/persecution-of-montagnards-on-rise-report-says-86712/
Cambodian police detain activists, rights monitor at sand dredging protest
Authorities in Cambodia on Thursday briefly detained three activists who protested in front of parliament, and a local rights group official who monitored the demonstration, calling on the government to stop a Vietnamese sand dredging company from polluting the environment in Koh Kong province. ...
Um Raingsy
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/detention-06252015181117.html
World Bank urged to speak up for bullied protesters
Human Rights Watch says the World Bank is not doing enough to help people in Cambodia and elsewhere who are facing government harassment for speaking out against Bank-funded projects gone bad. ...
Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/world-bank-urged-to-speak-up-for-bullied-protesters-86186/
Border dash for asylum seekers
A total of 23 Montagnard asylum seekers, including one female, were transported to Phnom Penh between late April and mid June after hiding out in the forests of Ratanakkiri for months, an anonymous source said yesterday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/border-dash-asylum-seekers
EU diplomat welcomes Cambodia's disputed draft NGO bill
Outgoing ambassador of the European Union to Cambodia Jean-Francois Cautain on Tuesday welcomed the Cambodian government’s decision to establish a law on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Associations, according to a Cambodian government official. ...
Shanghai Daily News Staff
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=287873
Cable shows cartel’s reach
A sex-trafficking network that included “high-ranking” government officials and had infiltrated Cambodian law enforcement agencies and NGOs for years worked to cover up Vietnamese sex rings and collect payoffs from illegal prostitution establishments in Phnom Penh. However, four years after a court finally convicted the police ...
Daniel Pye, Taing Vida and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cable-shows-cartels-reach
Child sex trade on decline: org
A new study by the International Justice Mission (IJM) has asserted that Cambodia’s child sex trade – long a hot-button issue that has for years drawn international attention – has been reduced to a tiny fraction of its previous size. A statement from IJM that accompanied ...
Ethan Harfenist
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/child-sex-trade-decline-org
NGOs call for a chance to comment on regulations
With the approval last week of a draft NGO law by Cambodia’s Council of Ministers, many pro-democracy and rights advocates say they should now have a chance to add their comments on the bill, before it goes to the National Assembly for debate. ...
Sok Khemara
http://bit.ly/1Gciimj
Montagnard numbers swell in Phnom Penh
More Montagnard asylum seekers from Vietnam arrived in Phnom Penh over the weekend, bringing the number waiting to apply for refugee status to 109, according to the United Nations. Vivian Tan, regional spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), said the Montagnards – an indigenous group ...
Alice Cuddy and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/montagnard-numbers-swell-phnom-penh
Beaten handcart-puller files complaint against military police
A handcart-puller who was knocked unconscious by military police during a May 26 protest in Poipet City—sparking an attack on the local customs office—on Friday filed a court complaint requesting $10,000 in compensation from his attackers, a rights monitor said Sunday. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/beaten-handcart-puller-files-complaint-against-military-police-85145/
Rights groups seek consultation with Cambodian parliament on NGO draft law
Rights groups want Cambodia’s parliament to hold a consultation with civil society about a controversial draft law on nongovernmental organizations approved Friday by the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, which has long demonstrated animosity toward organizations outside of state control. ...
RFA Khmer News Staff
http://bit.ly/1B2pPVJ
Draft law to regulate NGOs passes council meeting
A controversial draft law to regulate Cambodia’s NGOs has passed a major hurdle and will be moved on to the National Assembly for legislative debate. Om Chandara, a spokesman for the council, told VOA Khmer that two articles were withdrawn at the behest of Prime ...
Neou Vannarin
http://bit.ly/1KOXgv6
Amnesty calls for reform of law enforcement in Cambodia
The Cambodian government has been taken to task in a lengthy report by Amnesty International for two years of “violent repression.” Researchers for the human rights organisation found that between Nov. 2013 and May of this year, people’s basic rights to assemble were stifled, excessive and ...
Lauren Crothers
http://bit.ly/1ANKXiG
US official for labor, rights on two-day visit
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scott Busby, who heads the Bureau of Democracy, Human rights and Labor, is on a two-day trip to Cambodia. ...
Neou Vannarin
http://bit.ly/1AKBJ6x
Senior diplomat calls NGO law unnecessary
A senior US diplomat has raised concerns over a proposed law to govern NGOs in Cambodia. Hor Namhong told reporters Tuesday the draft law is not meant to impose undue burdens on NGOs. Civil society will have a chance to comment on the draft when ...
Neou Vannarin
http://bit.ly/1MjhDl7
Cambodian activists, villagers petition lawmakers over Koh Kong sand dredging
A group of activists and villagers from southwestern Cambodia’s Koh Kong province petitioned outside the country’s parliament Thursday, calling on lawmakers to intervene against a sand dredging company they say is operating in the area without a license. ...
RFA Khmer News Staff
http://bit.ly/1KbKEOD
Briton gets 8 years for sexually abusing girls
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday convicted a British national of purchasing child prostitution and committing indecent acts against minors, sentencing him to eight years in prison and ordering him to pay a total of $5,000 in fines and compensation. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/briton-gets-8-years-for-sexually-abusing-girls-82227/
Labour day: Unions, CPP promote factory ties
About 3,000 union representatives, teachers and senior officials from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party gathered at a ceremony on Koh Pich yesterday to mark the 129th International Labour Day – as well as to bolster support for the ruling party, one official noted. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://bit.ly/1P3pXHC
Australia violating rights of refugee children by sending them to Cambodia, says Unicef
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says Australia is violating the rights of children being sent from Nauru to Cambodia under the refugee transfer agreement. In the coming week, possibly as early as Monday, a charter plane is expected to fly out from Nauru with ...
The Guardian News Staff
http://t.ly/1D4BHAR
Australia-Cambodia resettlement agreement raises concerns
The United Nations Children’s Fund is voicing concern about the decision by Australia to transfer asylum seekers detained on the Pacific island of Nauru to Cambodia, possibly as early as Monday. UNICEF’s concerns come amid growing refugee protests in Nauru and protests over transfers of ...
Ron Corben
http://bit.ly/1O5QDdL
Boeung Kak protesters freed but defiant
Five months behind bars has done nothing to deter Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak activists from taking their demands to the streets. Just one day after their release from the capital’s Prey Sar prison, the female activists – often at the helm of Phnom Penh demonstrations – ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/boeung-kak-protesters-freed-defiant
Protest leader jailed over alleged sex with minor
The Mondolkiri Provincial Court on Saturday charged a man with having sex with an underage girl, but a rights worker and the girl’s father said Sunday that the allegations were fabricated in retaliation for the man’s involvement in recent protests against a Vietnamese rubber plantation. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mondolkiri-protest-leader-jailed-over-alleged-sex-with-minor-81940/
NGO at center of abuse claims reopens with new management
The Our Home center in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district has reopened under interim management after its director, Hang Vibol, was jailed last month and charged with abusing boys at the organization’s orphanage, which housed more than 50 children but was shuttered and will remain closed. ...
Simon Henderson and Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngo-at-center-of-abuse-claims-reopens-with-new-management-81794/
Ratanakkiri corpse is not from VN: villager
Villagers in Ratanakkiri province discovered yesterday that a corpse previously believed to be a Vietnamese Montagnard was a local man, as they reportedly met with a United Nations official to discuss the fate of asylum seekers still hiding in the area. A group of ethnic Jarai ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ratanakkiri-corpse-not-vn-villager