Social development
Human rights
Travel Restrictions in Cambodian Province Ahead of Mass Protest
Authorities in Cambodia have imposed unusual travel restrictions in a southeastern province ahead of a planned opposition mass protest against election results this weekend, residents and non-governmental groups said Tuesday, criticizing the move as a violation of freedom of movement. Some of them suspect that the ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/travel-09032013234418.html
Calls for Boeung Kak Activist’s Release Renewed on One-Year Anniversary
Cambodian and international rights groups have renewed their calls for the release of Phnom Penh housing rights campaigner campaigner Yorm Bopha one year after her arrest, urging the public and national leaders not to forget her during the country’s current political deadlock. Global watchdog Amnesty International ...
Radio Free Asia
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/yorm-bopha-09032013201419.html
Thai fishing industry under spotlight
Far stricter monitoring of the recruitment and employment of Cambodians and other migrant labourers is needed to ensure the future of the Thai fishing industry, a new study by the International Labour Organization warns. Two and a half per cent of the 241 Cambodians interviewed ...
Abby Seiff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/thai-fishing-industry-under-spotlight
Parties urged to resume talks
Citing a lack of public confidence in the official post-election irregularity resolution process – namely, the Constitutional Council’s opening of vote packages – a coalition of leading civil society groups yesterday appealed to the two main political parties to swiftly come back to the negotiating ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/parties-urged-resume-talks
Garment grievances to be aired
Calls for big-name apparel brands to take more responsibility for working conditions in Cambodian garment factories are growing louder as representatives of retail companies ranging from H&M to Wal-Mart arrive in Phnom Penh for a semi-annual buyers’ forum this week. Since it began three years ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/garment-grievances-be-aired
Prosecutors Meet to Discuss Treatment of Incarcerated Minors
The judiciary has signed off on a new set of guidelines designed to regulate the work of prosecutors in many areas, including the rights of minors in the judicial system. Ouk Savuth, general director of the Court of Appeal, signed off on the guidelines on August ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prosecutors-meet-to-discuss-treatment-of-incarcerated-minors-41526/
NEC opens safety ballot boxes from Siem Reap
The National Election Committee (NEC) on Friday opened the safety ballot boxes from Siem Reap province to search for and verify any supposed election irregularities contained in documents 1102 and 1108, on Friday. The opening of ballot boxes from the 12 voting stations was held at ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=ZDVlNjIyMzA3MDk
Rainsy Evokes Gandhi as Example for Opposition
CNRP leader Sam Rainsy on Thursday publicly announced the opposition’s intention to conduct a campaign of civil disobedience in line with peaceful demonstrations organized by the charismatic leader of Indian nationalism Mahatma Gandhi, who helped win independence from Great Britain. Mr. Rainsy made the remarks at ...
Colin Meyn and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/rainsy-evokes-gandhi-as-example-for-opposition-41429/
Journalist claims he was beaten
A local Pursat province journalist filed a lawsuit yesterday against a group of wood traders who he alleges beat him up on Tuesday. According to [Krouch] Non [Santre commune police chief], Nhok Yern, a reporter for Prum Bayon newspaper, and another journalist confronted men trafficking wood by cart. ...
Lieng Sarith
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/journalist-claims-he-was-beaten
Embassies Warned CNRP Wants Coup
The government has informed foreign embassies in the country that the opposition’s threatened demonstrations over the election results are intended to illegally overthrow the elected CPP-led government, a ministry spokesman said Wednesday. Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said that letters were ...
Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/embassies-warned-cnrp-wants-coup-41248/
NEC checks continue
Acting on the orders of the Constitutional Council, the National Election Committee yesterday opened the packages containing ballots and original documents used to tally votes from eight Battambang province polling stations. In contrast to a similar examination of 13 “Safety Packages A” from Kratie on Sunday ...
Tycoon back in firing line
For the second time in as many weeks, an NGO has accused tycoon Try Pheap of facilitating illegal logging in a protected forest during the election campaign and post-election period, and with the protection of authorities. In a report set to be released today by the ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tycoon-back-firing-line
Cambodian Court Acquits Two in Slaying of Journalist
A Cambodian provincial court today dropped charges against a military police officer and his wife accused of murdering a reporter investigating the country’s illegal timber trade, drawing protests from the journalist’s wife and from human rights and environmental advocacy groups. Hang Serei Oudom, a ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/acquits-08282013145944.html
Verdict Due in Case of Brutally Slayed Reporter
A verdict in the brutal slaying last year of an investigative journalist in Ratanakkiri province is due to be handed down by the provincial court today following a reinvestigation into the case. Hang Serei Odom, 42, a reporter for the Virakchun Khmer Daily, was found hacked ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/verdict-due-in-case-of-brutally-slayed-reporter-41062/
Groups seek UN help on health rights issues
Legalisation of same-sex marriage, comprehensive sex education and non-discriminatory guidelines for health workers treating LGBT people and those living with HIV/AIDS are among a handful of ways to bolster human rights in Cambodia, according to a submission delivered to the United Nations ahead of the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/groups-seek-un-help-health-rights-issues
Still at Large, Chhouk Bundith Has Case Sent to Appeal Court
Although the Svay Rieng Provincial Court announced the ex-governor’s sentence in June and ordered his immediate arrest, he has remained elusive to the authorities. His lawyers filed an appeal in July to the Appeal Court challenging the provincial court’s verdict. Sun Bunnarith, Chhouk Bundith’s lawyer, claimed ...
Khy Sovuthy and Dene-Hern Chen
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/still-at-large-chhouk-bundith-has-case-sent-to-appeal-court-40914/
NGOs Raise Concern Over Freedom of Expression to UN
Seven NGOs have raised their concerns that the government is using the law, media and Internet to further stifle freedom of expression, ahead of Cambodia submitting its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of human rights to the U.N. The UPR is the process through which Geneva’s ...
Lauren Crothers and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngos-raise-concern-over-freedom-of-expression-to-un-40748/
NGOs Raise Concern Over Freedom of Expression to UN
Seven NGOs have raised their concerns that the government is using the law, media and Internet to further stifle freedom of expression, ahead of Cambodia submitting its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of human rights to the U.N. The UPR is the process through which Geneva’s ...
Lauren Crothers and Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngos-raise-concern-over-freedom-of-expression-to-un-40748/
Legal Body Calls for Bar Association to Ensure Independence
The Bar Association of Cambodia should consider stricter standards on admission to the bar, make lawyers take regular mandatory training and set up a new disciplinary committee in order to ensure that Cambodia’s legal professionals are independent, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has said. The ...
Simon Lewis and Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/legal-body-calls-for-bar-association-to-ensure-independence-40802/
NEC examines ballots
The National Election Committee, acting on orders from the Constitutional Council, yesterday examined ballots and original documents taken from 13 polling stations in a Kratie province commune, but the opposition and observers quickly questioned the process’s validity due to apparent irregularities. Despite the fact that “Safety ...
CPP Threatens Legal Action Against CNRP
The CPP on Tuesday threatened legal action against the CNRP if it did not cease its “defamatory rhetoric” regarding the ruling party’s relationship with the National Election Committee (NEC), which the opposition accuses of rigging July’s election in order to keep the CPP in power. The ...
Matt Blomberg and Neou Vannarin
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/cpp%E2%80%88threatens-legal-action-against%E2%80%88cnrp-40389/
UN Rights Envoy Subedi Says Electoral Reform Inadequate
Nearly all of the recommendations regarding electoral reform made by U.N. human rights envoy to Cambodia Surya Subedi were not put into place ahead of last month’s national election. In his latest report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, released last week, Mr. Subedi ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/un-rights-envoy-subedi-says-electoral-reform-inadequate-40195/
Cambodian Authorities Coerce Ruling Party Support in Capital Village
Villagers in Cambodia’s capital are being coerced into signing a petition supporting preliminary results issued by the country’s electoral body declaring a victory for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party in recent elections, despite opposition claims of widespread poll irregularities, a rights group said Monday. The ...
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/coercion-08192013172208.html
Subedi: There is room for reform
Despite the government indicating it was open to parliamentary reform, the dismissal of opposition lawmakers in June was a disturbing shift away from a commitment to protecting human rights, UN human rights envoy Surya Subedi says in his latest report on Cambodia. Obtained on Friday, the ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/subedi-there-room-reform