Economic land concessions and plantations

A day after three of their community members were arrested following a violent encounter with police, about 50 villagers from Kompong Chhnang province forged ahead with a peaceful march toward Phnom Penh on Wednesday, but were temporarily blocked by police officials in Russei Keo district. The ...

A Thai sugar company with major shares in Cambodian sugar cane is being investigated for human rights violations in operations along the border between the two countries. The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand recently investigated allegations that villagers were forced from their homes to make ...

The U.N.’s human rights representative in Cambodia visited ethnic Bunong villagers in Mondolkiri province this week, days after local authorities prevented hundreds of them from marching to mark International Day of the World’s Indigenous People. Wan-Hea Lee met with villagers in Pech Chreada district’s Bosra commune ...

Three men embroiled in a land dispute with a company owned by the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem were arrested Tuesday while marching with about 50 fellow villagers from Kompong Chhnang province’s Lor Peang village to Phnom Penh. The villagers planned to walk ...

A Vietnamese rubber plantation in Ratanakkiri province repeatedly accused of encroaching on the land of local residents agreed to stop demarcating more land Monday after being confronted by a group of villagers who accused the firm of breaching a deal the two sides reached earlier ...

The latest case of scores of villagers from Kratie province tied up in a land dispute with an ag­ribusiness firm has once again highlighted failures in the 2012 land-titling scheme launched by Prime Minister Hun Sen to settle unresolved land disputes and distribute hundreds of ...

Villagers caught in a land dispute with a minister’s wife gathered outside Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court for a third consecutive day on Thursday, demanding the release of two men jailed over a clash with workers from the well-connected agriculture firm KDC. ...

ANZ is facing calls for compensation over its funding of a Cambodian sugar mill linked to child labour, forced evictions and land grabs. Media reports on Monday said hundreds of Cambodian farmers had called on the bank to provide compensation for the land they lost due ...

About 90 villagers continued to demonstrate outside the Kompong Chhnang provincial court Wednesday, calling for the release of two men from prison and protesting the summoning of another eight over clashes last month with workers from the powerful KDC company. The rally came after about 200 ...

About 200 villagers and monks marched to the Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court on Tuesday to call for the release from jail of two villagers and protest the summoning of eight more to appear before the provincial court. The villagers are embroiled in a long-running land dispute ...

About 100 villagers locked in a land dispute with an agribusiness firm from Kratie province were blocked from marching to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house Tuesday by hundreds of military police and municipal security guards after walking from Phnom Penh’s Samakki Raingsey pagoda. The villagers, who ...

One of two Phnom Penh families involved in a long-running land dispute with a powerful real estate tycoon accepted the businessman’s latest compensation offer during negotiations Tuesday brokered by the Housing Rights Task Force, though the other family has continued to hold out. The two families, ...

Farmers from Kompong Speu province handed ANZ Royal Bank a petition on Friday insisting it still had a responsibility to help mend the damage done by a sugar plantation in has helped finance, even though the bank and plantation recently parted ways. They threatened to start ...

About 160 villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district were blocked Friday from marching on Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house to call for intervention in their ongoing land dispute. More than 20 Meanchey district security guards met the group at the gates of Samakki Raingsey pagoda, where ...

Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court has summoned eight villagers locked in a land dispute with a powerful development company for questioning next week over allegations of aggravated violence and the destruction of property during a series of clashes with workers at the site last month. ...

Five families among a community of 40 that have been fighting a powerful developer for land they live on in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district accepted compensation packages on Monday, the first cracks in a previously united community. ...

Villagers representing families in Kratie province petitioned the South Korean Embassy for help Tuesday in their dispute with a South Korean agribusiness firm, after hearing that the embassy had lodged a complaint against them. About 200 villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district are staying at the ...

In what is the government’s latest pledge to hold tycoons and foreign investors to account for their business practices, the Ministry of Environment will begin assessing existing and proposed economic land concessions (ELCs), cancelling or rejecting those that have negative social or environment impacts, a ...

A company that villagers say owns land that was illegally grabbed from them in Kandal province asked more than 100 residents of Ponhea Leu commune to leave the firm out of their dispute and focus their ire on Phanimex, which is owned by powerful businesswoman ...

Villagers from Koh Kong province delivered petitions in Phnom Penh on Friday seeking international intervention in their land dispute with powerful businessman and CPP senator Ly Yong Phat, alleging that his Koh Kong Special Economic Zone (SEZ) was encroaching on their farmland. Five representatives of the ...

Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Thursday met with U.N. and NGO representatives to discuss the ongoing dispute between the powerful Chinese-owned Union Development Group (UDG) and villagers in Koh Kong province who say they were kicked off their land and had their shelters torched. In ...

About 250 villagers protested against development firm Phanimex on Thursday as their commune chief faced questioning in Kandal provincial court over an ongoing land dispute. For the fourth consecutive day, villagers from Ponhea Leu commune rallied in front of the court, accusing Phanimex of grabbing 63 ...

About 160 villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district embroiled in a land dispute with a plantation owner are the latest evictees to take residence in Phnom Penh’s Samakki Raingsey pagoda. A spokesman for City Hall, which has made repeated efforts in recent months to prevent the ...

Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Wednesday lauded the country’s controversial sugar industry and the jobs it has created, saying that companies operating in the sector need to be defended against the widespread criticism they have been receiving. Rights groups and the opposition CNRP have undertaken ...