Human rights

The Abbott government wants to send some asylum seekers to Cambodia, at a time when the country’s strongman prime minister, Hun Sen, is overseeing a brutal crackdown on dissent in one of south-east Asia’s poorest nations. Facing growing opposition after decades of authoritarian rule, Hun Sen ...

The Minority Rights Organization and the Cambodian Center for Human Rights on Friday condemned the racist mob killing of a 28-year-old ethnic Vietnamese man in Phnom Penh this week, which came after the destruction of Vietnamese shops last month and months of anti-Vietnamese rhetoric from ...

Lawmakers-elect from the Cambodia National Rescue Party are scheduled today to visit families in Koh Kong province affected by a long-running land dispute with Union Development Group, just weeks after the company destroyed dozens of homes there. Rights groups say that Chinese-owned Union Development has burned ...

A coalition of 18 labor unions and associations is today set to begin the first phase of a nationwide labor strike in the garment sector by calling on workers in about 100 factories to boycott working overtime, according to union leaders. Despite efforts by the government ...

Trade Union Workers Federation of Progress Democracy (TUWFPD) on Sunday appealed to workers in garment sector not to attend strikes called by other union leaders, saying that the strikes would adversely affect the workers themselves. The strikes are scheduled for March 12. ...

Some 800 workers from a Taiwanese-owned Yu Da Garment Industry (Cambodia) Co., Ltd protested Saturday to demand better working condition and pay. ...

The Court of Appeal on Friday overruled a decision by the Municipal Court ordering the company 7NG Group to provide a total of $195,000 in compensation to 13 families whose houses were destroyed during the violent eviction of the Dey Krahorm community in 2009. “The Court ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday said it would delay issuing a scheduled verdict against six people tried for intentional violence against police and property damage during an opposition protest on Phnom Penh’s Kbal Thnal overpass in September, saying that the case was very ...

The high-ranking government officials and global clothing brand representatives who took part in a meeting in Phnom Penh on Wednesday both raised concern​s​ about the media coverage of last month’s lethal repression of a nationwide strike by garment workers and its aftermath. The meeting was called ...

In anticipation of today’s scheduled Municipal Court verdict for six men facing charges of violence and property damage in connection with a September clash on Phnom Penh’s Kbal Thnal overpass, rights groups yesterday called for their acquittal. A statement from Human Rights Watch (HRW) released yesterday ...

A man who intended to release birds at Freedom Park yesterday as a way of calling for those wrongfully imprisoned to be freed was himself detained on the way to the ceremony, rights group Adhoc said. The man, identified as Pheakdey, 35, was among nine people ...

Protests and strikes led by opposition party, associations and labor unionists negatively affected security and public orders, and livelihoods of residents as well as the Nation’s economy, according to brief report of Ministry of Interior. The 83-page report said 842 protests and strikes took place in ...

Although human-trafficking cases dealt with by the Ministry of Interior decreased significantly in 2013, suggesting progress was being made in tackling the crime, trafficking in persons continues to be a major challenge for the government, the ministry said in its annual report on Tuesday. According to ...

A 41-year-old prisoner died of a heart attack in Prey Sar prison’s Correctional Center 1 on February 15, but only after he spent more than two hours stuck in his overcrowded cell waiting for medical treatment, his fellow prisoners allege. CC1 administrator Khuth Vuthy, who confirmed ...

High-ranking government officials expounded on the detrimental effect political and labour demonstrations are having on Cambodia’s security during an annual meeting of police officials yesterday. In a speech to about 500 police in leadership positions, Interior Minister Sar Kheng said demonstrations, which have exploded since July’s ...

Several dozen families in Banteay Meanchey province involved in land dispute were given 100 hectares of replacement land in O’Chrou district yesterday, but have refused to accept it because it is already claimed by more than 230 other families, two village chiefs said. The provincial government ...

Twelve Preah Vihear villagers were called to court this week regarding an ongoing land dispute they claim has resulted in the bulldozing of their family land and livelihood. The villagers are among some 67 families in Kulen district’s Srayong Cheung village who say the government sold ...

Forty villagers on Tuesday were forcibly removed from outside the Pursat provincial office, where they have been camping for the past five days to protest what they say was the burning down of their homes by district officials, villagers and a rights group said. “This morning, ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday began the trial of six people for their involvement in clashes that broke out between civilians and police near Monivong Bridge after a protest on September 12. The six men were all charged with intentional violence with aggravating circumstances ...

The Asian Human Rights Commission has launched an online petition to pressure the Cambodian government to release 21 union activists and workers charged in connection with labor protests last month. Twenty-three workers were arrested in a violent crackdown by government police and security forces early January, ...

Anti-human trafficking police in Phnom Penh arrested three Cambodians and two Chinese nationals after the group tried to traffic two young women—who had been promised wealthy husbands—to work as prostitutes in China, police said Monday. Keo Thea, chief of the municipal anti-human trafficking police, said the ...

The World Bank says it will investigate reports from indigenous groups in Cambodia that a company funded by the bank’s International Finance Corporation is involved in deforestation and land grabs. The bank’s Office of the Compliance Adviser Ombudsman, or CAO, will first examine the credibility of ...

Two residents of the Borei Keila community remained hospitalized Sunday after a Valentine’s Day clash with authorities on Friday that left 19 people injured, a community representative said. Although most of the 19 were only slightly injured, two women were more severely hurt and are still ...

As lawyers for 21 defendants denied bail by the Court of Appeal last week wait for the Supreme Court to respond to their appeals, the most high-profile of the detainees is speaking out via social media. On Friday night, Prak Sovannary, wife of Vorn Pov – ...