Social development
Civil society
‘Chemical’ barrels to be tested
Experts will begin tests today on two barrels discovered in Mondulkiri province earlier this week, which are suspected to contain chemicals used by the US in the 1970s in its war against the Viet Cong, officials said yesterday. Heng Ratana, director general of the Cambodian Mine ...
Sen David and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98chemical%E2%80%99-barrels-be-tested
Villagers find chemicals dropped by us in 1970s
Villagers in Mondolkiri province have found a pair of rusty barrels believed to date back to the early 1970s and which officials suspect hold chemicals the U.S. used in its war against the Viet Cong to defoliate trees and eliminate cover. The officials said they did ...
Saing Soenthrith and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-find-chemicals-dropped-by-us-in-1970s-62934/
Borei Keila solution talks set
A public forum will be held next month to find a solution to the Borei Keila housing crisis, city officials said yesterday. During a meeting with about 50 representatives of the community, Nhem Chanthary, deputy director of City Hall’s poor community development office, said Governor Pa ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/borei-keila-solution-talks-set
Ethnic activists targets of arrest, threats: NGO
More than 100 ethnic minority activists trying to protect community forests have been arrested, jailed, threatened and subjected to violence so far this year, a major local rights group has said. In a statement released yesterday, Adhoc condemned the “discriminatory” treatment of indigenous people who have ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ethnic-activists-targets-arrest-threats-ngo
Bunong vow to act against Mondolkiri loggers
Ethnic Bunong in Mondolkiri province’s Sen Monorom City said Tuesday that they would no longer cooperate with local officials in fighting illegal logging and that they would begin to confiscate loggers’ equipment and burn illicit timber themselves. At a press conference in Phnom Penh, representatives of ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bunong-vow-to-act-against-mondolkiri-loggers-62960/
Security guards accused of beating
Security guards working for a firm building a resort in Koh Kong province beat a woman who was trying to farm the land from which she had been evicted, she has told police. Khun Phall, 40, said that on Monday evening, she and family members returned ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/security-guards-accused-beating
SMF defends funding cuts to partner NGO
The Somaly Mam Foundation (SMF) has said its decision to cut off funding to Agir Pour Les Femmes en Situation Precaire (Afesip) came partly because of the continued involvement of embattled anti-human-trafficking activist Somaly Mam in the local NGO. In a statement on Monday, the SMF ...
Chhay Channyda and Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/smf-defends-funding-cuts-partner-ngo
Cambodia, China drafting agreement to curb bride trafficking
Cambodia and China are drafting a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to stamp out the exploitative trade of Cambodian women to China, where there have been increasing reports of women being abused by their Chinese husbands and sold into the sex trade. The diplomatic push comes in ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-china-drafting-agreement-to-curb-bride-trafficking-62940/
Life as a brokered wife
Barely able to make enough money to survive in her hometown, Sok Chenda* picked up her passport and a few belongings last year and headed to the provincial capital of Kampong Cham. It was a journey she would regret. The eldest daughter among five siblings, Chenda, 28, ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/life-brokered-wife
Laos will consult with neighbors over dam
The Lao government has agreed to a lengthy public consultation process with its neighbors before building a controversial hydropower dam on the Mekong River, within 2 km of the Cambodian border, according to the environmental group WWF. Laos announced the 256-MW Don Sahong dam last year ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/laos-will-consult-with-neighbors-over-dam-62740/
Citizen-led media gets new blog
In a bid to highlight abuses in the workplace, an NGO today will officially launch a website and hotline, allowing people to post stories as citizen journalists. The Community Legal Education Center (CLEC) will hold a ceremony this morning promoting their new project, Voice of the ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/citizen-led-media-gets-new-blog
Fishers report rampant corruption, major depletion of fisheries
Representatives of fishing communities say illegal operations are critically threatening the nation’s fisheries. Corruption and collusion between authorities and illegal fishermen are at the root of the problem, they say. More than 100 representatives from these communities met in Phnom Penh Friday, in an effort to find ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/fishers-report-rampant-corruption-major-depletion-of-fisheries/1946303.html
ADB protest lands meeting, few results
About 60 residents from Phnom Penh and the provinces of Battambang, Banteay Meanchey and Preah Sihanouk who lost land or are in danger of losing land due to a railroad development project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) protested outside its offices Thursday morning ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-protest-lands-meeting-few-results-62593/
Gov’t rejects 4 human rights recommendations
Cambodia on Thursday rejected four recommendations for improving its human rights situation that it initially accepted earlier this year during its second universal periodic review at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. It also “noted” 38 recommendations—meaning it has not committed to implementing them—some relating ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-rejects-4-human-rights-recommendations-62584/
Rights groups continue push to stop faulty judicial reform laws
Cambodia’s human rights groups are continuing to seek ways to prevent three draft judicial reform bills from becoming law. The drafts have already passed the National Assembly, but they have not been signed by the king. ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/rights-groups-continue-push-to-stop-faulty-judicial-reform-laws/1945553.html
HAGL filled in lakes: villagers
More than 100 families living in Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat district have filed a complaint with authorities, claiming a rubber giant – already accused of illegal logging – filled in two natural lakes, provincial officials said yesterday. Villagers, along with government officials, say Vietnamese company Hong Anh Gai ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hagl-filled-lakes-villagers
Officials show Areng families relocation plan
Hundreds of families due to be displaced by the planned 108-MW Stung Chhay Areng dam were called to a meeting Tuesday with provincial authorities, who presented a plan for relocation and then distributed gifts of shrimp paste and MSG. Heng Samnang, a staffer for local NGO ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-show-areng-families-relocation-plan-distribute-food-62348/
Reform needed with new appeal courts on the way
As part of a trio of long-awaited judicial laws passed last month by the National Assembly, the country’s judicial system is set to integrate a number of new provincial appeal courts, expanding access to the appeal process to people imprisoned outside Phnom Penh. But the only ...
Lauren Crothers and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/reform-needed-with-new-appeal-courts-on-the-way-62217/
For villagers losing land, Hun Sen is last resort
Three separate communities from across the country were in Phnom Penh on Monday to petition Prime Minister Hun Sen to personally intervene to help settle their various land disputes. Communities affected by alleged land grabs in Phnom Penh and beyond often appeal directly to Mr. Hun ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/for-villagers-losing-land-hun-sen-is-last-resort-62200/
Without lawyer, Krom villagers face court trial
Arrest, detention and even an upcoming trial can’t sway 68 Khmer Krom families faced with eviction to give up a bitter land dispute over a bird sanctuary in Takeo province. After being charged in April with illegally occupying state land, three representatives from Sangkum Meanchey village ...
Laignee Barron and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/without-lawyer-krom-villagers-face-court-trial
Army creates new platoon in Areng Valley
The army created a new platoon on Monday to guard an area near the Areng Valley in Koh Kong province, where hundreds of ethnic minority residents have fiercely resisted plans by a Chinese company to build a hydropower dam that would flood their ancestral lands. The ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/army-creates-new-platoon-in-areng-valley-62198/
Wildlife trade endangering Cambodia’s fauna
In many restaurants in Phnom Penh, wild meat is readily available. Walk into one of these, and you’ll be able to order deer, wild pig or even monitor lizards. Some places sell even rarer meat, from endangered animals like the pangolin. Wildlife conservation officials say the ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/wildlife-trade-endangering-cambodias-fauna/1943063.html
Arbitration’s cost and value
The Arbitration Council Foundation, credited with helping resolve about 1,700 industrial disputes, has reached verbal agreement with a Swedish aid agency to receive funding until the end of 2016, a spokesman said yesterday. But members of the labour-dispute resolution body desire a more permanent solution that ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/arbitration%E2%80%99s-cost-and-value
Government urges NGOs to support migrant workers from Thailand
Relevant organizations have been actively cooperating with the government in providing transportation service for illegal migrant workers to return to their home after they were sent back by the junta in Thailand. The temporary estimation for the aid so far amounts to nearly 200,000$. The government ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=NDUzNzQxYjI3N2R