Land
Preah Sihanouk communities protest over land conflicts
About 100 villagers representing 19 communities in Preah Sihanouk province marched to the provincial hall in Sihanoukville on Tuesday, demanding intervention in their land disputes. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/preah-sihanouk-communities-protest-over-land-conflicts-78627/
PM threatens use of rockets in Areng valley
The day after the government deported a foreign activist opposed to a proposed hydropower dam in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday invited activists in the valley to secede from Cambodia, but warned that rocket launchers could be deployed if ...
Hul Reaksmey
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/prime-minister-threatens-use-of-rockets-in-areng-valley-78609/
Opposition leader courts Muslim vote in new eastern province
Drawing on the majority-Muslim nations of Indonesia and Malaysia as examples for Cambodia to emulate for better government, opposition leader Sam Rainsy led a group of lawmakers stumping for votes in Cham Muslim villages in Tbong Khmum province on Saturday. ...
Hul Reaksmey and Alex Willemyns
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/opposition-leader-courts-muslim-vote-in-new-eastern-province-78504/
Villagers speak up as reservoir plan digs into their rice fields
Villagers in Banteay Meanchey province on Saturday protested against a local military official’s plan to build a reservoir on their land, then sell the dirt at a profit. ...
Aun Pheap
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-speak-up-as-reservoir-plan-digs-into-their-rice-fields-78502/
Licadho asked to show its data
Dismissing a recent report showing a sharp increase in land disputes, the government has said such conflicts are in fact decreasing and formally called on rights group Licadho to release its findings. Licadho reported last week that it recorded about three times as many new land ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/licadho-asked-show-its-data
Gov’t waits to deport activist with expired visa
An immigration official said Sunday that his department would wait for orders before moving to deport environmental activist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, whose visa the government refused to renew after it expired Friday. ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-waits-to-deport-activist-with-expired-visa-78500/
Gov’t spokesman says Licadho doctored land dispute report
fter rights group Licadho released a statement Thursday saying that more than 10,000 Cambodian families were newly affected last year by land disputes in the 13 provinces where it has monitors—a three-fold increase from 2013—a government spokesman on Friday slammed the NGO’s report as “baseless ...
Kuch Naren and Emily Townsend
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-spokesman-says-licadho-doctored-land-dispute-report-78470/
Land disputes surge: Licadho
The number of families newly affected by land disputes last year was three times that of 2013, according to figures documented by local rights group Licadho. In a statement released yesterday, the group “strongly expresse[d] its concern” at the surge in disputes, noting that in 2014 ...
Alice Cuddy and Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/land-disputes-surge-licadho
Families affected by land disputes in Cambodia tripled in 2014: rights group
A surge in land disputes in Cambodia affected more than three times as many families last year as in 2013, a local rights group said Thursday, urging Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government to address the issue with “long-term lasting solutions” instead of making empty promises. Rights ...
Joshua Lipes
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/families-02192015114159.html
Lawmakers ask ministry to halt UDG eviction
Parliament’s Human Rights Commission has asked the Ministry of Justice to suspend a court verdict that could see 20 Koh Kong families, who are holding out against giant Chinese firm Union Development Group, lose their homes. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/lawmakers-ask-ministry-halt-udg-eviction
Government standing by decision to not renew activist’s visa
The Ministry of Interior on Wednesday said it was standing by its decision to not renew the visa of outspoken environmental activist Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson in the face of mounting pressure from fellow activists, NGOs, unions, students and monks—even opposition leader Sam Rainsy—to reverse course. ...
Khuon Narim and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-standing-by-decision-to-not-renew-activists-visa-78270/
Beverage companies wary of ‘blood sugar’ in supply chain
Two major US beverage companies say they are mindful of alleged human rights abuses amid sugar plantations in Cambodia and will not do business with those proven to be involved in them. Representatives from Coca-Cola and Pepsi both said in emails to VOA Khmer that they ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/beverage-companies-wary-of-blood-sugar-in-supply-chain/2647451.html
Land swap fears at hospital
More than 100 staff members of the Phnom Penh Referral Hospital and 7 Makara Health Care Center met the capital’s health director yesterday to discuss concerns about a land swap after a recent announcement that part of the hospitals lost their land title. The meeting came ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/land-swap-fears-hospital
Areng mapped in hope ecotourism can save valley from dam
A group of university students from Phnom Penh opposed to a proposed hydropower dam in Koh Kong province entered the project’s construction site on Sunday for a 10-day study aiming to highlight the area’s alternative potential for ecotourism. ...
Hul Reaksmey and Zsombor Peter
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/areng-mapped-in-hope-ecotourism-can-save-valley-from-dam-78006/
Business hub set to tackle key challenges before listing
The Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone has 77 tenants from nine countries and 80 per cent occupancy, but high electricity costs and corruption remain a drag on profits. The main issue is electricity costs, says PPSEZ chief executive Hiroshi Umaetsu. “If [electricity] goes from 19 ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business-hub-set-tackle-key-challenges-listing
Land swap in Kampot scrutinised
A group of opposition lawmakers on Wednesday began an investigation into a proposed government land swap in Kampot they fear may have questionable motivations. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/land-swap-kampot-scrutinised
After fatal border shooting, even more Cambodians return
After Thai soldiers last week shot and killed three Cambodians who entered Thailand to log luxury-grade rosewood, a district governor in Preah Vihear province thought it would be an appropriate time to warn locals of the dangers of crossing the border. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-fatal-border-shooting-even-more-cambodians-return-77901/
Opposition slams Thai gov’t
More than a dozen opposition party officials have accused Thailand of encouraging extrajudicial killings of Cambodians along the border. In a strongly worded letter sent to Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Monday, the Cambodia National Rescue Party MPs asked for an independent investigation into an ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/opposition-slams-thai-govt
Opposition slams Thai gov’t
More than a dozen opposition party officials have accused Thailand of encouraging extrajudicial killings of Cambodians along the border. In a strongly worded letter sent to Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on Monday, the Cambodia National Rescue Party MPs asked for an independent investigation into an ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/opposition-slams-thai-govt
Thai soldiers shoot dead three loggers, officials say
Thai soldiers shot and killed three Cambodian loggers and seriously injured a fourth last week after the group illegally crossed into Thailand from Preah Vihear province in search of valuable timber, officials said Wednesday. ...
Saing Soenthrith
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/thai-soldiers-shoot-dead-three-loggers-officials-say-77826/
Land dispute hearing delayed due to illness
Evictees at war with their former representative filed a complaint yesterday with the Ministry of Justice after the woman at the centre of the argument managed to put off a court hearing, allegedly going to the disputed site instead. Forty villagers went to the Justice ...
Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/land-dispute-hearing-delayed-due-illness
NGO Global Witness hits back at ministry
The government’s apparent unwillingness to take seriously evidence of continued large-scale illegal logging orchestrated by the Try Pheap Group is “disappointing”, Global Witness said yesterday. A report released last week by the UK-based group titled The Cost of Luxury detailed evidence, collected during an eight-month covert ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/ngo-global-witness-hits-back-ministry
Land feud in P Vihear heats up
A Vietnamese-owned company in Preah Vihear province has cleared land claimed by hundreds of villagers to plant crops in violation of the law, a complaint filed with rights groups alleges. The community in Rovieng district’s Ruosroan commune, comprising 127 families, claims that since January last year, ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/land-feud-p-vihear-heats
Claims by Global Witness rejected
Minister of Agriculture Ouk Rabun yesterday dismissed allegations of large-scale illegal timber smuggling by the Try Pheap Group published in a report by UK-based corruption monitor Global Witness last week. Global Witness’s report, The Cost of Luxury, identified Pheap, a prominent tycoon and former adviser to ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/claims-global-witness-rejected