Human rights

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed Australia is working on an agreement with Cambodia that would see refugees currently on Nauru resettled there. But Human rights lawyer David Manne, who launched a successful High Court challenge to the former government’s proposal to resettle refugees in ...

Cambodian officials, led by Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon, on Monday met with a 18-member delegation representing global brands and trade unions to discuss garment worker rights and wages. It was the second round of talks between Cambodian government officials and representatives of major brands ...

About 150 garment workers turned out to the Phnom Penh of­fices of the United Sisterhood Alliance NGO on Sunday to watch a politically charged fashion show entitled “Beautiful Clothes, Ugly Reality.” Aimed to highlight “the income gap between Cambodian garment workers and the selected CEOs of ...

The Takeo Provincial Court charged eight union representatives with incitement Sunday for taking part in a garment factory strike, bringing to 17 the number of unionists charged this month alone. The latest in the spate of recent arrests came just ahead of today’s high-level meeting between ...

Four days after Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report criticizing Washington for supporting Cambodia’s “abusive armed forces,” a Facebook page containing photos cited in the report has been removed from the Internet. According to the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, the Facebook page titled “Angkor ...

Human remains that an opposition activist claims are those of missing teen Khim Saphath, who disappeared after a crackdown on Veng Sreng Boulevard on January 3, will be brought to the Cambodia National Rescue Party’s headquarters in the capital today. Although no tests have been carried ...

A forest activist in Kampong Thom province yesterday claimed to have been threatened with a knife by a soldier after reporting that the officer was behind a number of forest crimes in the area. Pen Bunkear, a soldier with the Kampong Thom military research unit, yesterday ...

American national and orphanage director Daniel Stephen Johnson was tried on Friday at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on charges that he sexually abused five boys last year. The court heard that Johnson, 36, the director of the Hope Transitions Christian orphanage in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey ...

Cambodians are worried about an influx of immigrants as the government nears a deal with Australia to accept refugees in return for cash. The two countries have been in discussion since February over plans to resettle an unspecified number of refugees in Cambodia. “Our country’s economy is ...

Australia has signaled that it is about to cut a deal with Cambodia to resettle refugees now in Nauru, media reported Thursday. It comes after both Nauru and Papua New Guinea determined the refugees status of some asylum seekers sent to each country by Australian authorities. ...

Despite presenting no hard evidence against defendants throughout the two trials of 23 men arrested during a strike that turned deadly in early January, a prosecutor used his closing statement yesterday to up the charges against union leader Vorn Pov. The final day of two trials ...

A group of about 200 farmers from Kratie province refused on Thursday to leave a pagoda in Phnom Penh—their home base for protests against their eviction at the hands of a Vietnamese rubber company—as the city’s deputy governor warned them that the municipal government would ...

Two union leaders narrowly escaped arrest yesterday morning when employees on strike at a Phnom Penh garment factory forced their release from police and security guards, fellow union officials said. Seang Sambath, president of the Worker Friendship Union Federation, said WFUF vice president Mao Vannak and ...

A rights group worker has earned a court summons for monitoring villagers who were embroiled in a Preah Vihear land dispute with a Chinese company. Lut Sang, the Khmer Ponlok employee scheduled to appear in provincial court today, said that he was only a passive observer ...

The single-party National Assembly sat for the third day of its third plenary session Thursday, with a senior ruling party lawmaker calling on Information Minister Khieu Kanharith to examine whether journalists who call the Assembly “single party” can be punished under law. Sixty-four of the 68 ...

A group representing Cambodia’s indigenous communities traveled to New York this week, meeting with UN officials and other minority groups from 70 countries. Cambodia’s minorities face a host of problems, particularly as they try to maintain a way of life that relies on traditions and the ...

In the past, Chhoeurng Rachana had a boyfriend, but now she loves a woman instead. The 27-year-old says she just realized who she really loved, after trying to figure out her own feelings toward men four years ago. “Back in 2010, I tried having a boyfriend ...

During his second day under questioning on charges of inciting violence and property damage at a January 2 protest, union leader Vorn Pao was presented with photographs showing his tuk-tuk packed with rocks, and a video of him calling on low-ranking police to turn their ...

Families forced to leave their homes to make way for a railway rehabilitation project funded by the Asian Development Bank and the Australian government have told the bank that a draft compensation plan it has drawn up to remedy their situation is inadequate. On Monday, Inclusive ...

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said that radio journalist Lay Samean, who was badly beaten by district security guards on May 2 while covering a planned opposition rally, may have provoked the violence by calling the guards “yuon’s dogs”, among other insults. The minister added, however, that ...

Trials against 23 labor activists continued in Phnom Penh on Wednesday, with union leader Von Pov addressing the court to defend himself. The activists are charged with inciting violence in mass demonstrations in January. The court was shown three video clips on Wednesday, in which Von Pov ...

Villagers from forest communities in nine provinces called on the government yesterday to take action after alleging that “the rich and powerful” are causing the “serious destruction” of their livelihoods. The villagers, with the support of two NGOs – the Children’s Development Association and Community Peace-Building ...

U.S.-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday released a report claiming that Washington’s ongoing support for Cambodian security forces is inconsistent with U.S. Congress directives regarding aid to Cambodia. HRW charges that last month’s 10-day Angkor Sentinel military exercise, undertaken by members of the ...

Taking the stand for the first time since his arrest at a garment worker protest that turned violent in early January, union leader Vorn Pao told the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday that he went to the protest only to make peace and was ...