Social development
Human rights
UN wants probe into Cambodian violence
The UN human rights agency urged Cambodia to launch an investigation into the “disproportionate” use of force by security forces last week against garment factory workers striking over pay. Military police opened fire on workers protesting outside a factory in Phnom Penh on January 3 and ...
Peninsula On-line News Staff
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/asia/267595/un-wants-probe-into-cambodian-violence
Strikers fired in Svay Rieng
Factories in Svay Rieng province’s Manhattan Special Economic Zone have fired or suspended more than 200 workers – and are pursuing legal action against some – for participating in a strike last month that saw some 30,000 walk off the job. An accountant at Kingmaker (Cambodia) ...
Mom Kunthear and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strikers-fired-svay-rieng
Khmer Krom targetted, says NGO
The leader of an organisation of monks from Kampuchea Krom, the part of southern Vietnam that once belonged to the Khmer Empire, accused security officials at the recent crackdowns at Freedom Park and last Thursday’s garment protest of singling out Kampuchea Krom monks for arrest ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/khmer-krom-targetted-says-ngo
SL protester, 15, released after months
A juvenile suspect held on charges of violence and criminal damage for his part in the SL Garment workers strike last November has been released on bail. The 15-year-old suspect was released under court supervision yesterday, after an appeal was launched against his pre-trial detention. ...
Lieng Sarith
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sl-protester-15-released-after-months
South Korean Embassy Denies Role in Strike Suppression
The South Korean Embassy on Wednesday denied a news report that it had lobbied Cambodian military authorities to “crack down on protesters” in a bid to shield Korean investments in the garment industry, prior to Friday’s killing of five protesters and the wounding of more ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/south-korean-embassy-denies-role-in-strike-suppression-50364/
Silence broken at last
Notification that her son is being detained at Correctional Centre 3 in Kampong Cham came as a relief to Touch Sart yesterday, after spending nearly a week wondering whether he was even alive. Since her son, Theng Saroeun, was arrested along with 22 others at demonstrations ...
May Titthara and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/silence-broken-last
Workers Vow To Continue Wage Strike
Union leaders say workers will continue to strike over low wages, despite a violent crackdown by authorities last week and threats this week from factories who say they will be forced to move to other countries if strikes continue. Five different union say their workers will ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/workers-vow-to-continue-wage-strike/1825142.html
Police still mum on protesters
The whereabouts of 23 people arrested last week during a crackdown on demonstrations in Por Sen Chey district remained unknown yesterday, with prison officials and police refusing to divulge the information to family members and rights groups. ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/police-still-mum-protesters
Rights Groups Condemn Killing of Protesters
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), along with local rights groups Licadho and Adhoc, denounced the Friday shooting of protesting garment workers by police in a joint statement released in Paris on Monday. “The killing of demonstrators by government authorities is totally unacceptable. The government ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-groups-condemn-killing-of-protesters-50315/
Firm has soldiers in pocket, say villagers
Hundreds of families in Banteay Meanchey province’s Thma Puok district filed a complaint yesterday to rights group Adhoc, claiming their community farmland is being bulldozed by a company under the protection of soldiers. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/firm-has-soldiers-pocket-say-villagers
‘Stubborn’ furniture firm vexes villagers
Twenty families from Ratanakkiri’s Kon Mom district are seeking intervention after a private company allegedly encroached on 10 hectares of their land. The unnamed company produces furniture from wood acquired from embattled Vietnamese concessionaire Hoang Anh Andong Meas, and over the course of the last two ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98stubborn%E2%80%99-furniture-firm-vexes-villagers
Unions Tell Garment Workers to Suspend Strike
Unions behind last week’s garment factory strikes said their members had largely gone back to work this week, although they have not ruled out resuming protests for a higher minimum wage later this month. Tens of thousands of workers went on strike starting on December 24 ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/unions-tell-garment-workers-to-suspend-strike-50299/
GMAC Defends Use of Force Against Striking Workers
A senior member of the Garment Manufacturer’s Association in Cambodia (GMAC) on Sunday endorsed the use of deadly force by military police against striking garment workers, which left five dead and more than 20 with gunshot wounds. “GMAC condemns the use of violence, period,” he ...
Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/gmac-defends-use-of-force-against-striking-workers-50136/
Government Blasted for Eviction of Freedom Park
The U.N. and local human rights groups have condemned the government’s violent eviction of CNRP supporters from Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Saturday, as well as its indefinite ban on public protests in the city. On Saturday, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court also summonsed opposition leaders ...
Colin Meyn and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-blasted-for-eviction-of-freedom-park-50132/
Five Killed During Protest Confirmed as Garment Workers
The five people killed by AK-47 gunfire from military police at a protest along Pur Senchey district’s Veng Sreng Street on Friday were all striking garment factory workers, a union official confirmed Sunday. Military police officers opened fire on the factory-lined street on Friday morning during ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/five-killed-during-protest-confirmed-as-garment-workers-50141/
Picking up the pieces
The sight of traffic moving easily and people milling about along Veng Sreng Boulevard in the capital’s Meanchey district yesterday was a far cry from two days earlier, when the street was occupied by makeshift roadblocks, bonfires and military personnel carrying automatic rifles. While visible evidence ...
May Titthara, Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/picking-pieces
Exodus follows violent clash
Garment workers have begun leaving the area surrounding embattled Veng Sreng street en masse, following the outbreak of clashes early on Friday morning. An estimated 80 per cent of the more than 10,000 workers who live and are employed in the Meanchey district suburb have vacated ...
Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/exodus-follows-violent-clash
Protesting villagers in hiding
Two ethnic Kuoy villagers in Preah Vihear province’s Tbeng Meanchey district are in hiding after rumours circulated yesterday that police were seeking to arrest them for participating in a protest against two Chinese plantation firms last week. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/protesting-villagers-hiding
After Park Cleared, CNRP Leaders Called to Court
At 11:30 a.m. Saturday, municipal security guards and men in plainclothes, wielding steel bars, metal pipes, batons, sticks and axes, forcibly cleared hundreds of demonstrators from Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park, where the opposition CNRP has been protesting against the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen ...
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/security-guards-police-clear-freedom-park-50086/
Borei Keila Families Mark Anniversary Of Eviction
About 100 former residents of the Borei Keila community on Friday morning marked their violent eviction two years ago by authorities from their former neighborhood and demanded that their homes be rebuilt. “We are the families of Borei Keila, and with this ceremony we mark the ...
Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/borei-keila-families-mark-anniversary-of-eviction-50070/
Cambodia calls for calm as protests banned after deadly clash
The Cambodian Ministry of Interior on Saturday called for the people to stay calm as all forms of demonstrations were prohibited so as to restore social security and public order after a deadly clash on Friday. “The ministry urges all the people to keep calm and ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-01/04/c_133018723.htm
Cambodian Opposition Leaders Go Into Hiding Amid Protest Crackdown
Cambodia’s opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha went into hiding Saturday as the government stepped up its crackdown on protests against Prime Minister Hun Sen following deadly violence. A day after police shot dead four people during workers’ protests for higher wages, the government ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/clampdown-01042014123656.html
US urges 'Restraint' in Cambodia after violence
The United States on Friday appealed for peaceful dialogue and denounced violence in Cambodia after police opened fire on protesting garment workers, killing three people. “The United States deeply regrets the recent loss of life in Cambodia during violent clashes between protesters and government security forces,” ...
AFP News Staff
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iy83VmwV8EjDuptYbUme3o9-vdPw?docId=a4c09c59-b109-4dc0-9015-bbce4fa08a63
Official Says Logging-Related Deaths Down
The number of people shot dead while illegally logging luxury wood in Thailand decreased significantly in 2013 compared to 2012, although a Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) official provided numbers much lower than provincial police officials, whose number also differed from human rights groups. Brigadier General ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/official-says-logging-related-deaths-down-50068/