Land
Land classifications
Cambodian Villagers Express Helplessness to Protect Forest
Prey Lang is one of Cambodia’s few remaining large forests, covering approximately 3,600 square kilometers across four northern provinces. The forest is home to about 200,000 mostly indigenous people, who depend on it for their livelihoods, according to the Prey Lang Community Network. But, the ...
Say Mony
http://www.voanews.com/content/illegal-logging-in-cambodian-forest-worries-natives/1928013.html
Fight to save B’bang heritage finds new allies
When an old building formerly owned by the state was demolished on the outskirts of Battambang City in February, for some, it was the last straw. The giant, freestanding colonial-era mansion with the round windows, the blue shutters and the cracking yellow paint had become one ...
Matt Blomberg and Sek Odom
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/fight-to-save-bbang-heritage-finds-new-allies-59105/
Court temporarily halts lease transfer for victory beach
Russian businessmen Nikolai Doroshenko and Sergei Polonsky are locked in a legal dispute over Sihanoukville’s Victory Beach following Mr. Polonsky’s release from prison last month, according to copies of court documents obtained Monday. The Preah Sihanouk provincial court has temporarily prevented Mr. Doroshenko from transferring the ...
Joshua Wilwohl
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/court-temporarily-halts-lease-transfer-for-victory-beach-58598/
Cambodian rights worker faces death threats over land dispute
A worker with the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) has been intimidated and received death threats while trying to document the plight of three families involved in a bitter land dispute with a developer in the country’s capital, according to the center. The worker, Vann ...
Radio Free Asia Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/threats-05122014162650.html
No clubs near schools, Council of Ministers says
The Council of Ministers on Friday passed a sub-decree on the management of adult entertainment clubs and a draft of a new national housing policy to promote home ownership, a cabinet official said. The new Sub-Decree on Management of Adult Entertainment Places, consisting of 25 articles, ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-clubs-near-schools-council-of-ministers-says-58464/
Lead-up to poll saw SLCs spike
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 2012 ban on the allocation of economic land concessions was supposed to halt the unpopular practice of turning over large swaths of property to developers. And going by the numbers last year, it worked. But in the vacuum, according to local rights ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lead-poll-saw-slcs-spike
ADB says aid plan for railway evictees still under negotiation
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday insisted that the Cambodian government has not turned down any of its recommendations for helping thousands of families hurt by a bank-funded project, claiming that talks over how to compensate and support the families were still underway. Last week, ...
Zsombor Peter and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/adb-says-aid-plan-for-railway-evictees-still-under-negotiation-57859/
Villagers say Pailin Governor gave orders to clear land in 1999
A villager involved in a dispute over 684 hectares of land with Pailin provincial governor Y Chhien claimed Thursday that in 1999 Mr. Chhien and a senior military officer distributed axes and farm tools to the families now on the land. Pailin Provincial Court on Wednesday ...
Families file complaint over Pailin governor
The 19 families in Pailin province who were told by police and military police on Saturday to vacate their land filed a complaint with Adhoc on Monday, the provincial coordinator for the NGO said. Authorities told the families to move on Saturday from the 95-hectares they ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-file-complaint-over-pailin-governor-53443/
Kratie villagers block road after officials torch homes
Police and military police in Kratie province’s Snuol district on Wednesday burned to the ground 56 homes they said were on protected land, causing displaced villagers to block National Road 76 in protest for four hours, officials said. Snuol district Governor Kong Kimny said Thursday that ...
Aun Pheap and Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kratie-villagers-block-road-after-officials-torch-homes-52232/
Authorities Burn 60 Homes in Pursat Province
More than 60 wooden homes in Pursat province were burned to the ground Wednesday by officials in Veal Veng district, who claimed that the owners were living on state land, rights group Licadho said. “On Wednesday morning, police, military police, RCAF soldiers and the deputy provincial ...
Ben Sokhean and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/authorities-burn-60-homes-in-pursat-province-52093/
Borei Keila residents ‘occupy’ unfinished apartment block
Residents embroiled in a long-running land dispute in the Borei Keila area of Phnom Penh’s Prampi Makara district on Wednesday tore down three metal fences and occupied an unfinished apartment block at the site. The fences were felled with axes by irate residents, who took the ...
Khuon Narim and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/borei-keila-residents-occupy-unfinished-apartment-block-52083/
New districts signed into being by PM
Prime Minister Hun Sen approved the creation of three new districts for Phnom Penh on Wednesday. Four existing districts are being divided to create the new areas, dubbed Chbar Ampov, Prek Pnov and Chroy Changva. Phnom Penh City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche told the Post last ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-districts-signed-being-pm
Three New Districts in Phnom Penh Approved
The Ministry of Interior has approved the creation of three new districts in Phnom Penh following a proposal from City Hall to create five new districts before district and city council elections are held in May. Sak Setha, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-new-districts-in-phnom-penh-approved-49424/
Land-title program ‘Ineffective’
Land certificates handed out by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s youth volunteers have been seized by local authorities in some parts of the country and sold on to companies, a forum on land rights was told yesterday, amid reports of rising numbers of land conflicts. Speaking at ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/land-title-program-%E2%80%98ineffective%E2%80%99
Reports of Major Congestion at Poipet Checkpoint
Trucks and other vehicles have been backed up for up to a kilometer on either side of the Poipet border checkpoint for the past three days due to administrative changes on the Thai side, according to Cambodian officials. Khiet Bunleap, chief of staff for the Poipet ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/reports-of-major-congestion-at-poipet-checkpoint-48643/
State-Owned Properties to Be Sold, Swapped
Six prime government-owned properties in Phnom Penh and Battambang province have been reclassified as privately held state properties in order to pave the way for the land to be sold or swapped with private companies, according to a sub-decree signed November 8. Signed by Prime Minister ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/state-owned-properties-to-be-sold-swapped-48527/
Angkor’s Management Plan to Be Overhauled
Cambodia’s Apsara National Authority, which manages Angkor Archaeological Park, will this week unveil a “revolutionary” new concept for Angkor’s management that will vastly decentralize responsibility for the preservation of the temple complex, according to Anne Lemaistre, Unesco representative in Cambodia. The new Angkor Heritage Management Framework, ...
Michelle Vachon
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/angkors-management-plan-to-be-overhauled-48235/
City Hall Approves Plan for 5 New Districts in Phnom Penh
The Phnom Penh Municipal Council on Monday signed off on the creation of five new districts for the city and will now pass the proposal to the Ministry of Interior for review, municipal spokesman Long Dimanche said Tuesday. The plan for the new districts, which will ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-approves-plan-for-5-new-districts-in-phnom-penh-47932/
Ratanakkiri Temple Now in Land Concession
Like most millennium-old structures discovered in the forests of Cambodia, the locals had known all along about this one. Jarai minority villagers in this remote spot in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district not only knew about it, but they revered the red-brick temple, using it as a ...
Kuch Naren and Michelle Vachon
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ratanakkiri-temple-now-in-land-concession-47779/
Phnom Penh’s 5 New Districts Create Fears of Gerrymandering
Phnom Penh City Hall’s plans to undertake the largest redrawing of the city’s administrative boundaries in decades, by creating five new districts before May’s district and city-level council elections, is likely an effort to gerrymander voting constituencies, a senior opposition party member said Monday. Municipal government ...
Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/phnom-penhs-5-new-districts-create-fears-of-gerrymandering-47269/
Ex-Finance Minister’s Sister Buys Up More Ethnic Jarai Lands
About 50 ethnic Jarai families in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district have sold their farmland and part of the forests their culture depends on to the sister of former Finance Minister Keat Chhon, rights group Adhoc said Monday. Last year, the ethnic minority Jarai in the district ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ex-finance-ministers-sister-buys-up-more-ethnic-jarai-lands-45093/
Activists Doubt Cambodia Pledge to Stop Land Concessions
Activists are skeptical that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen will follow through on a pledge to stop a contentious practice of appropriating rural land for commercial use, an issue that hurt the leader and his party in elections in July. In its new five-year political platform ...
Chun Han Wong
http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-341290/
Complaint Lodged Against Commune Chief
Villagers have accused a CPP commune chief in Ratanakkiri province of threatening four ethnic minority Tampoun men after they filed a complaint against him for allegedly selling off community land to a local businessman. Rocham Norng, a Tampoun villager in Bakeo district, has alleged that Soeung ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/complaint-lodged-against-commune-chief-44004/