Civil society
Associations and other membership groups
Activists launch smartphone apps to protect women
Three free smartphone applications designed by Cambodian women to help reduce gender-based violence in the country were launched by The Asia Foundation on Monday. ...
Janelle Retka
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/activists-launch-smartphone-apps-to-protect-women-92398/
Gov’t and NGOs join to settle land dispute
Environment Minister Say Sam Al and a group of NGOs on Monday agreed to cooperate to resolve a years long dispute between hundreds of families in Koh Kong province and a Chinese company they accuse of stealing their land. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-and-ngos-join-to-settle-land-dispute-92392/
Mother nature continues court rally
The protest for the release of three activists from the environmental NGO Mother Nature entered its sixth day yesterday, with another rally in front of Koh Kong provincial court – where some members of the youthful NGO have been camping out. ...
Pav Suy
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/14872/mother-nature-continues-court-rally/
Rural organizer runs afoul of impending NGO law
Not long ago, Sim Pov, a representative of 69 families from Kratie province, came to Phnom Penh to meet with urban housing rights protesters. He wanted to learn from them how he could organize his own community, which is locked in a land dispute with ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/rural-organizer-runs-afoul-of-impending-ngo-law/2925542.html
Police summon three Koh Kong anti-sand-dredging activists
Three activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature were summoned to appear at the Botum Sakor district police station in Koh Kong province on Friday to answer for their involvement in a campaign to chase off a sand-dredging company accused of destroying the environment, officials said. ...
Khuon Narim
https://cambodia.opendevelopmentmekong.net/wp-admin/post-new.php
Constitutional Council accepts contentious NGO law
The Constitutional Council has officially accepted the contentious Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations, which would tighten regulations on thousands of organizations in the country in what critics fear could mean a major crackdown on basic freedoms and government criticism. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/constitutional-council-accepts-contentious-ngo-law/2914974.html
Constitutional Council, Rescue Party to meet over draft NGO law
The Constitutional Council will meet with a group of opposition lawmakers on Wednesday over a controversial draft law to regulate NGOs, as it prepares to review the bill and send it to the king to be signed into law. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/constitutional-council-rescue-party-to-meet-over-draft-ngo-law/2913537.html
The Constitutional Council talks on the constitutionality of the NGO law
The Constitutional Council of Cambodia (CCC) held a meeting today on the “constitutionality” of a newly-approved law on the Association and Non-governmental Organization. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150806000061&cid=1201
Rape cases up 64% in first half of 2015, Adhoc says
Rights group Adhoc recorded 131 rape cases in the first six months of the year, compared to 80 cases in 2014—a nearly 64 percent increase—due to the influence of “uncontrolled foreign cultures” such as pornography, according to a report released by the NGO on Wednesday. ...
Janelle Retka and Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rape-cases-up-64-percent-in-first-half-of-2015-adhoc-says-90906/
Fishermen kept from sand dredging forum
Police in Koh Kong province on Tuesday prevented about 50 locals from joining a public forum on a controversial sand-dredging operation on the grounds that the group did not live close enough to where the firm is operating to participate. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fishermen-kept-from-sand-dredging-forum-90760/
Lawmaker, NGO want gov’t to probe dredging
As an environmental NGO held a press conference in Phnom Penh on Monday to present evidence against a company it accuses of illegally extracting sand from an estuary in Koh Kong province, opposition lawmaker Son Chhay called on Prime Minister Hun Sen to order an ...
Aun Pheap and Chris Mueller
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawmaker-ngo-want-govt-to-investigate-sand-dredging-90588/
Ministry claims NGO’s land dispute numbers misleading
The Ministry of Land Management has again accused rights group Licadho of spreading false data that shows that the number of families embroiled in new or intensifying land disputes jumped threefold last year. ...
Kang Sothear
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ministry-claims-ngos-land-dispute-numbers-misleading-90425/
NGOs ask king not to sign NGO law
A group of 26 local NGOs submitted a letter to King Norodom Sihamoni on Thursday calling on him to refuse to sign off on a controversial law regulating non-governmental groups in the country. ...
Janelle Retka
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngos-ask-king-not-to-sign-ngo-law-90398/
Lawmakers urge Constitutional Council to amend NGO law
A group of opposition lawmakers has urged the Constitutional Council to amend a contentious law on regulating NGOs in the country. Prum Nhean Vicheth, a spokesman for the Constitutional Council, confirmed receipt of the petition and said the Council will be considering the draft law ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/lawmakers-urge-constitutional-council-to-amend-ngo-law/2886994.html
Bar association accuses rights monitor of legal interference
The Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia on Tuesday wrote to local rights group Adhoc accusing its head of monitoring, Ny Chakrya, of flouting legal practice by ordering the NGO’s lawyers to hand over for examination all documents relating to cases they defend. ...
Khy Sovuthy
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bar-association-accuses-rights-monitor-of-legal-interference-89831/
NGOs call for review of LANGO by Constitutional Council
Opponents of the controversial draft law on associations and NGOs (LANGO) hope that the Constitutional Council can succeed where protests and vote boycotts have failed. ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13763/ngos-call-for-review-of-lango-by-constitutional-council/
Six arrested, released over NGO law protest
Authorities in Phnom Penh on Sunday arrested and released six people dressed in prison uniforms and chained together by their legs for protesting outside the National Assembly against a recently approved law that threatens to muzzle NGOs critical of the government ...
Mech Dara
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/six-arrested-released-over-ngo-law-protest-89467/
Arrests made at Cambodia NGO law protest
Six demonstrators were briefly detained as they protested against the recent passage of a law under which critics say the law will hinder the ability of NGOs to operate in the nation. ...
Channel News Asia News Staff
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/arrests-made-at-cambodia/2009242.html
CPP senators approve NGO law as hundreds protest
As hundreds of protesters rallied outside the Senate Friday morning, 44 ruling party senators voiced their support for the controversial NGO law before approving it unanimously and sending it on to the Constitutional Council. ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cpp-senators-approve-ngo-law-as-hundreds-protest-89448/
Senate passes NGO law amid boycott
Cambodia’s Senate today gave its expected approval to the controversial law on associations and non-governmental organisations (LANGO), amid street protests and a boycott from opposition representatives.All 44 Cambodia People’s Party senators present voted unanimously to endorse the draft legislation, which will next week head to ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/senate-passes-ngo-law-amid-boycott
Gov’t, civil society butt heads as LANGO goes to senate
The Senate is scheduled to vote Friday on the controversial Law on Associations and Non-Governmental Organizations (LANGO), despite a boycott by the opposition party and heated opposition from civil society. ...
Jonathan Cox
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13640/gov---t--civil-society-butt-heads-as-lango-goes-t
Land disputes down in 2015 due to ELC freeze
Although the number of land disputes across the country decreased in the first six months of the year—largely due to a freeze on the granting of economic land concessions—little has been done to resolve existing disputes, according to a report released Wednesday by rights group ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/land-disputes-down-in-2015-due-to-elc-freeze-89260/
Cambodian opposition party senators refuse to debate NGO draft law
Senators from Cambodia’s opposition party will not participate in a debate on controversial legislation passed by the lower house of parliament earlier this month on the regulation of nongovernmental organizations that operate in the developing country, an opposition Senate lawmaker said. ...
RFA Khmer News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/opposition-party-senators-refuse-to-participate-in-ngo-draft-law-debate-07222015162125.html
Facebook battle over NGO law
The National Assembly may have approved the contentious Law on Associations and NGOs (LANGO), but some young people are still urging the government to scrap it. ...
Chea Takihiro
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/13552/facebook-battle-over-ngo-law/