Social development
Human rights
Workers’ strike delayed, rescheduled for post-Khmer New Year
Labor unions and associations have suspended their strike plan scheduled for March 12 following the request by garment workers, according to a union leader. The suspension came after the meeting between the union leaders from a coalition of 18 labor unions and associations today. The unionists ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NmU5MTVjY2ExZTQ
New look at Vichea murder
Phnom Penh Municipal Court has reopened an investigation into the high-profile slaying of union leader Chea Vichea in 2004, a court official said yesterday. Prosecutor Sok Roeun said the court’s head prosecutor began reinvestigating the case early last month in response to an order from the ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-look-vichea-murder
Sand rises as villagers wait
Thirteen families in Phnom Penh’s O’andoung village, who have been locked in a long-running dispute with tycoon Sok Kong’s Sokimex company, say their land is being flooded with sand as they wait for a response to a complaint filed with Prime Minister Hun Sen earlier ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sand-rises-villagers-wait
A refined approach?
Hundreds of trucks hauling sugarcane queue up along the dusty roads that cut a path through a plantation in Kampong Speu province. Their destination: Cambodia’s most advanced sugar refinery. Its owners say the landmark project, run by the Phnom Penh Sugar Company and its president, ruling ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/refined-approach
Protest ban firmly in place on Women’s Day
Freedom Park was placed under lockdown and a march by land rights activists was blocked Saturday morning as Phnom Penh’s security officials were out in force to ensure that peaceful rallies on International Women’s Day could not go as planned. Prime Minister Hun Sen on February ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/protest-ban-firmly-in-place-on-womens-day-53745/
Municipal Court calls 10 witnesses in racist mob killing case
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has summoned 10 witnesses, including several police officials and one reporter, as it begins investigating the brutal murder of Nguyen Vann Chean, an ethnic Vietnamese man who was beaten to death by an angry mob in Meanchey district last month. The ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/municipal-court-calls-10-witnesses-in-racist-mob-killing-case-53754/
Families in Boeng Kak asked to give up land for titles
Families still waiting for promised land titles in Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood said Sunday that the municipal government is offering to give them their long-awaited tenure rights only if they agree to give up part of their land. About 100 Boeng Kak families were left ...
Zsombor Peter and Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-in-boeng-kak-asked-to-give-up-land-for-titles-53749/
Cambodian union activists banned from entering Freedom Park
Hundreds of opposition-aligned trade union activists and workers terminated their outlawed rally on Saturday after heavy security forces had been deployed in and around the capital’s Freedom Park to prevent them from entering the Park to hold a forum on the International Women’s Day. “Those activists ...
Authint Mail News Staff
https://www.authintmail.com/article/asia/cambodian-union-activists-banned-entering-freedom-park
Rehab Options Needed for Female Inmates
As International Women’s Day is marked around the world on Saturday, calls are being made for more rehabilitative opportunities to be made available to female prisoners in Cambodia and, separately, for cultural norms that rank women below men to be challenged and overcome. Local rights group ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rehab-options-needed-for-female-inmates-53733/
Cambodia offers best practices against trafficking
Cambodia has provided examples of “best practices” in the fight against human trafficking for a forthcoming Asean convention against the trafficking of people, experts said Friday at the close of a two-day conference in Phnom Penh on irregular migration and human trafficking. The Asean region is ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-offers-best-practices-against-trafficking-53731/
Cambodian anti-riot police conduct exercise in preparation for future protests
The Phnom Penh Municipal Police held a special training at the capital’s Olympic Stadium on Thursday afternoon in preparation for any future demonstrations. More than 2,000 policemen, armed with shields and batons, joined the half-day training, Gen. Chuon Sovann, chief of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police, ...
The Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/846812.shtml#.UxlFfD-Sylt
NGOs to lobby EU for 'urgent action' against Cambodia
The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) says it has prepared a “briefing paper” ahead of a European Union meeting with Cambodia in Brussels next week. In a statement late Thursday, the Paris-based group said the paper “documents the deteriorating situation in Cambodia and make(s) recommendations ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=NWRjNGQ5MWFjMTk
Union reps must prove clean criminal records
The government now requires union leaders to prove that they have no criminal record before registering new branches of their organization, according to a statement from the Ministry of Labor, a decision that comes less than a week before planned nationwide strikes in the garment ...
Khy Sovuthy and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/union-reps-must-prove-clean-criminal-records-53668/
City Hall wants World Bank, NGOs to compensate evicted families
Representatives of some of the 3,000 families evicted from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood in recent years said Thursday that municipal government officials, who were ultimately responsible for the mass evictions, told them they would be inviting the World Bank and NGOs to help compensate ...
University bans women’s day event, says it’s too political
Phnom Penh’s Panha Chiet University has informed the local NGO Silaka that it cannot hold a meeting on women’s rights planned for today because the event might deal with political issues. Silaka had rented a conference room at the university for the meeting, intended to mark ...
Khy Sovuthy And Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/university-bans-womens-day-event-says-its-too-political-53675/
Cambodia has floor in Oz parliament debate
A spirited debate on human rights in Cambodia was heard in the Australian parliament this week after an opposition Labor Party MP introduced a motion calling on the government to condemn state violence against striking garment workers and ask authorities to release detained protesters. Clare O’Neil, ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodia-has-floor-oz-parliament-debate
Democracy, rights NGOs face tough conditions, report finds
NGOs working in democracy, human rights and transparency all say they face a lack of cooperation from Cambodian authorities, especially in the provinces, a new report finds. The Cooperation Committee for Cambodia conducted research on Cambodia’s overall climate for civil society organizations, finding that those dealing ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/democracy-rights-ngo-face-tough-conditions-report-finds/1865609.html
Cambodia to meet Malaysia over maids MoU
The Ministry of Labor said Wednesday that the government has agreed on a final draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia regarding sending Cambodian maids to work there, but that no timeframe for the signing of the agreement has been set. Following reports of ...
Denise Hruby and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-to-meet-malaysia-over-maids-mou-53635/
Obfuscation reigns over ban on demonstration
The government can’t seem to agree on whether or not Prime Minister Hun Sen has lifted the ban on the constitutional right to freedom of assembly. Last week, Mr. Hun Sen said in a speech: “I will not prevent [demonstrations] because everyone has equal rights,” which ...
Kuch Naren and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/obfuscation-reigns-over-ban-on-demonstration-53621/
UN Envoy Cautious Over Cambodian Political Settlement Prospects
A U.N. rights envoy to Cambodia on Wednesday expressed “cautious optimism” that the parties of Prime Minister Hun Sen and opposition leader Sam Rainsy would move toward ending their seven-month political deadlock following an agreement achieved this week between the two sides on a set ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/surya-subedi-03062014183612.html
City hall denies unions permission for Freedom Park forum
A group of 18 labor unions and associations said they will proceed with plans for a public forum in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Saturday, despite City Hall’s rejecting their request, citing public security concerns. The unions, who are organizing a nationwide strike in the garment ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-denies-unions-permission-for-freedom-park-forum-53525/
End right to unionize, businesses ask Hun Sen
Prime Minister Hun Sen told business leaders and government officials Tuesday that he will not tolerate “illegal” labor strikes that harm investment, but avoided judgment on a request to withdraw ratification of a U.N. convention protecting workers’ rights to unionize. Speaking at the 17th Government-Private Sector ...
Hul Reaksmey and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/end-right-to-unionize-businesses-ask-hun-sen-53516/
‘Like animals in a cage’
A day after union leader Vorn Pov was violently arrested during garment strikes in early January, he was driven to an unknown location and told by armed officers to get out of the vehicle. The union leader said his group of co-accused share a cell ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98-animals-cage%E2%80%99
Daun Penh guards seize protest drum, scuffle with activists
Two political activists were injured by district security guards outside the Daun Penh district office Monday morning after a protest to free 21 protesters beaten and imprisoned during a strike in January turned into an effort to reclaim a confiscated protest drum. The protesters, dressed in ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/daun-penh-guards