Ethnic minorities and indigenous people

The last families refusing to relocate from their homes near the Lower Sesan II dam have accused local authorities of being unwilling to settle their case. ...

Villagers from Kbal Romeas, which will soon be completely inundated by the Lower Sesan II Dam, yesterday said they are still resolved not to leave their homes, contradicting accounts of an official who said the majority of the 58 families had already relocated last week. ...

The chairman of the National Assembly’s Commission on Legislation and Justice has called for a united effort to safeguard the rights and interests of indigenous peoples. Pen Panha said Cambodia paid attention to indigenous peoples in areas such as tradition, identity, land ownership, and rights to ...

Ten representatives of 143 indigenous families affected by the development of the Lower Sesan II hydropower dam in Stung Treng province gathered yesterday to submit a petition to the Interior Ministry and the Prime Minister’s cabinet. ...

Representatives of the Pu Nong indigenous community in Mondulkiri province’s Bou Sra commune have accused the director of the Provincial Rural Development Department of forcing them to withdraw a complaint over the prevention of their indigenous peoples’ day celebration last year. ...

The Indigenous People Network and civil society organizations yesterday asked the government to speed up registration of indigenous collective lands. ...

The Cham community in Kratie province’s Snoul district is seeking aid from donors to construct a school for 100 Muslim students. ...

In an agreement mediated by the International Finance Corporation’s watchdog mechanism, a controversial Vietnamese rubber firm has reached a deal with 11 ethnic minority villages affected by its Ratanakkiri operations to return nearly 20 community “spirit mountains”, restore streams filled or polluted by its activities ...

Since Sunday, Military Police and provincial police officials have been stopping outsiders from entering Sesan district’s Srekor and Kbal Romea villages as 200 people – mostly ethnic minorities from all over Cambodia – continued to gather in defiance of the blockade for a series of events, including ...

The land concession overlaps the site of the Bunong community’s old village, their spirit forest and their burial grounds—religiously significant areas that, according to Bunong beliefs, are not to be disturbed or logged at the risk of incurring the wrath of local spirits. ...

Riot police were deployed near Phnom Penh’s Wat Chas on Monday to prevent about 30 people from marching to the National Assembly to submit a petition seeking a new national holiday marking the day the French officially handed former Kampuchea Krom provinces to Vietnam. ...

A newly elected commune chief in Ratanakkiri province has vowed to solve local problems by referring to his Jarai heritage and traditions.   ...

As Cambodians went to vote yesterday, more than 1,000 ethnic Vietnamese families living in floating houses in Kampong Chhnang province found themselves shunned by election officials on both sides of the border.   ...

UNHCR, the U.N.’s refugee agency, will question the government over its decision to deny asylum to the majority of Montagnards left in Cambodia, officials said, a month after the group was criticized for its role in repatriating some of the asylum-seekers to Vietnam. ...

Villagers from Stung Treng whose homes stand to be flooded by the Lower Sesan II dam met with representatives of the Ministry of Mines and Energy at an NGO Forum-sponsored meeting in Phnom Penh yesterday, in hopes of establishing a dialogue towards a long-awaited compromise. ...

More than 300 ethnic villagers at two separate locations in Preah Vihear province conducted traditional ceremonies yesterday beseeching the spirits for an end to their ongoing land dispute with the Chinese-owned Rui Feng sugar company. ...

Two hundred ethnic Phnong villagers in Mondulkiri’s Koh Nhek district launched a protest on Friday after the deputy district governor and an armed escort seized timber from their homes, before allegedly attempting to extort a bribe for its return. ...

An activist in Stung Treng province has been hauled before commune authorities, threatened with a defamation suit and allegedly warned he could be beaten to death for exposing land clearing in his native Thala Borivat district. ...

Ethnic Kuoy villagers in Preah Vihear’s Chey Sen district filed a complaint against Chinese sugar company Rui Feng on Tuesday after a long-simmering land dispute almost erupted into violence last week. ...

An environmental impact assessment released on Friday for a $245 million mining project slated to begin operations in Mondolkiri province next year has raised concerns about its potential effects on the environment and local communities. The project, proposed by the Chinese-owned Alex Corporation, would see a ...

Authorities in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district were thwarted in their attempt to inspect an ethnic Jarai community’s timber stocks on Tuesday, with some officials and observers ascribing the incident to a clash of cultures. ...

Cambodia’s indigenous groups populate much more of the country than was previously known, but many are also at risk of disappearing, according to yet-to-be-published research.​ ...

A little-publicized sub-decree signed in July and discovered by the Post yesterday in an NGO database raises questions as to whether the eviction on Saturday of six ethnic Kuoy families in Preah Vihear was in contravention of an order by Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

Six ethnic Kuoy families were violently evicted from their homes in Preah Vihear over the weekend, according to eyewitnesses, with further evictions threatened for another 13 families this morning. ...