Land tenure and land titling

Prosecutors yesterday recommended that the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court drop charges against two human rights activists and a radio reporter accused in 2009 of inciting villagers involved in a land dispute against agro-business firm DM Group. Deputy prosecutor Ros Saram told the Post that because he ...

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) has arrested two employees of a local company linked to a British biofuel firm currently under investigation by the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), an official said Friday. ACU President Om Yentieng said that International Green Energy (IGE) director Oum Sam­nang, and ...

More than 8,000 hectares of land was cut from economic and forest land concessions owned by some of the country’s biggest tycoons and awarded to villagers last month, according to documents from the Council of Ministers. Four sub-decrees signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen order that ...

Cambodian and Thai officials are having trouble resolving tensions over border checkpoints in Oddar Meanchey, Cambodian authorities said yesterday. Following a verbal request from Thai border police that their Cambodian counterparts rejected last week, Thai officers submitted a letter last Friday asking Cambodian authorities to move ...

One hot day in June, 2009, Ven Samin, a member of the ethnic Suoy minority in Kampong Speu province, grabbed her digital camera and headed out of the house. The 44-year-old arrived at a collection of damaged rice paddies in Oral district and began taking photos. ...

Phnom Penh’s anti eviction protesters yesterday staged a 100 strong demonstration outside the CPP Headquarters on Norodom Boulevard, calling for the ruling party to release a jailed community activist and help families acquire land titles. They also requested that the government include 61 families left ...

The convicted ringleader of a so-called secessionist movement in May in Kratie province, who is currently in self-imposed exile to avoid a 30-year prison sentence, has said that he will soon return to Cambodia to organize a large-scale demonstration against the government. Bun Ratha—who was sentenced ...

About 80 families travelling to Phnom Penh from Kampong Chhnang province for a land dispute-related protest yesterday were blocked on their way to the capital and told to resolve the matter locally. The villagers are locked in an unusual land feud with an agricultural firm, ...

Hundreds of families in Ratanakki­ri province have asked rights group Adhoc to intervene, saying local authorities in Bakeo district’s Laminh commune are illegally forcing them from their homes. Village representative, Ek Orm, 52, said that authorities were forcing villagers to relocate to make way for a ...

Energy supplies will be more secure once territorial disputes between Thailand and Cambodia are resolved, Department of Mineral Fuels director-general Songpob Polchan said on Friday. Mr Songpob said that the sooner Thailand and Cambodia are able to work out their differences, the sooner they can exploit ...

BANGKOK, 9 January 2013 The cross-border tension between Thailand and Cambodia escalates as both countries prepare to make legal submissions to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the disputed area around the Preah Vihear temple in 3 months. In Surin province, security has tightened ...

First, agricultural company DM group displaced them, now a recently arrived commercial farmer has threatened their lives and chased them off their new land, said representatives of 12 families engaged in a long-standing land dispute in Ratanakkiri province. On Wednesday, the 12 Tampuon ethnic minority families ...

A Vietnamese rubber company in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district yesterday agreed to pay $4,000 in compensation to an ethnic Jarai community whose traditional graveyard was bulldozed by the firm last week, local officials said. During a meeting at the Paknhai commune police station, representatives of the ...

The government’s Human Rights Committee has visited villagers in a long-running land dispute in Battambang province to find out whether members of their community have been unfairly imprisoned in recent years for land encroachment, local authorities and villagers said yesterday. Officials from committee, which is headed ...

In a sign that they no longer have faith in the court system, more than 100 villagers in Kampong Chhnang province placed their fates in the hands of a higher power yesterday, and prayed for misfortune to rain down on a company with whom they’ve ...

More than seven months after government security forces violently evicted hundreds of people living in Kratie province’s Broma village to quell a so-called secessionist movement, more than 70 families are still being prevented by patrolling soldiers from returning to the site of their former homes, ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday told the newly appointed Thai Ambassador Touchayoot Pakdi that border checkpoints between the two countries need to remain open in order to promote trade and tourism and combat border crimes. Mr. Hun Sens remarks to Mr Pakdi came during a ...

Cambodian politicians have begun a public campaign to defend their records on land policies, as they prepare for the run-up to July elections. Politicians from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, as well as the opposition Sam Rainsy and Human Rights parties, have said they will give ...

Even as the skyline of Phnom Penh grows with the symbols of modern architecture, Cambodia’s economy still faces a host of challenges. On the surface, Cambodia’s economy is certainly improving. In September, the IMF raised its 2012 GDP growth forecast from 6.3 to 6.5 percent ...

A group of ethnic Kreung families living in Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat district have accused a wealthy plantation owner of destroying their crops and threatening to evict them from their homes, local officials and villagers said yesterday. Soeun Sarath, a representative of 13 indigenous families living in Kaleng ...

The chief of 120 students spearheading the government’s land-titling program in Pursat province has filed a report with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s second son, Hun Manith, to find a solution for villagers who say local officials in the area have confiscated their registration documents. ...

Residents of property development site Boeung Kok gathered Monday in front of Phnom Penh Municipal Court to put a curse on court officials. Representative Heng Mom asked the court to review the case of Youm Bopha, sentenced to three years in prison for attempted violence on ...

Forestry Administration officials and police yesterday discovered a stockpile of more than 1,000 logs that ethnic Jarai villagers in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadaw district claim have been illegally cut by the Vietnamese owners of a rubber concession, a district official said. The 4,000-hectare concession was granted to ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday encouraged Cambodians to strive for Chinese-style millionaire status as he inaugurated a sugar refinery located inside two controversial plantations belonging to CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat and his wife in Kompong Speu province. “I have one clear policy in strengthening the ...