Civil society

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 ...

The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) on Friday voiced its support for Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government as anti-government protests have intensified in recent weeks. “The RCAF vows to support the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen in the fifth term government,”the Ministry of Defense ...

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,” ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said Thursday most of its 559 factories would continue to be closed due to security concerns after six pro-opposition trade unions led striking workers to destroy factories’ properties and forced workers to join their protests. “Because of the current ...

A weeklong strike by Cambodian garment workers turned deadly Friday as police shot and killed at least four people and wounded several others in an attempt to break up a protest for higher wages. The violence came after weeks of escalating political and labor unrest marked ...

A United Nations independent human rights expert urged restraint by all sides today after military police opened fire on striking garment workers in Phnom Penh, reportedly killing at least four people, as high social and political tensions in Cambodia boiled over into deadly clashes. In statement ...

Prominent activist monk But Buntenh, head of the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice, was arrested in Preah Vihear province on Thursday, along with another monk and three NGO staffers who had traveled to the province to support a group of ethnic Kuoy villagers protesting ...

Seven police officers and an NGO staffer in Mondulkiri province escaped a potentially violent confrontation with illegal loggers on Wednesday, while a soldier who was accompanying the group claimed he received death threats from military police connected to the logging operation. Khleuv Krak, 40, a Royal ...

A village chief in Kompong Thom province has begun collecting signatures on a petition to remove the opposition-aligned head monk of his local pagoda, whom he has accused of embezzling the pagoda’s money. Kheang Khean, the chief of Krachab village in Stung Sen city’s Achar Leak ...

About 200 monks from Phnom Penh’s Wat Lanka on Thursday called off a protest against the planned construction of an electricity distribution substation on the pagoda’s land by state electricity provider Electricite du Cambodge (EdC), pending negotiations with the company. Having assembled to make banners for ...

Union leaders and striking workers on Wednesday said they would not agree to a minimum wage of $100 per month and would continue demonstrations until a higher wage is set. Government officials say they are willing to raise the minimum wage from $80 to $100 ...

Cambodia’s capital on Thursday, arresting five monks and 10 others in a display of force that has been described by a rights group as unprecedented. The soldiers from Special Command Unit 911 were deployed to crush the demonstration over minimum wages near the Yak Jin ...

Concerned about ongoing protests in Cambodia which have virtually shut down the garment industry, the United Nations labor agency has called for an end to violence and destruction of property, as well as the swift reopening of the factories. “The risks arising out of the current ...

The Interior Ministry on Wednesday threatened to revoke the license of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association (CITA) if it goes ahead with a planned demonstration next week seeking higher wages for the country’s educators. An official at the ministry said that the move to revoke the ...

Motorcycle-taxi and tuk-tuk drivers led a motorized rally of about a thousand people through Siem Reap City on Wednesday to call for lower petrol prices and a ban on the use of electric cars in the Angkor Archaeological Park. The rally, organized by the Phnom Penh-based ...

Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong said that authorities will not use forces to crack down on protesters. The governor met with Phnom Penh officials to clarify the government’s position on how to deal with protests led by Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). Pa Socheatvong added the ...

Tens of thousands of workers protested in front of the Ministry of Labor on Monday, after negotiations between labor leaders and the government failed to find a resolution to demands of higher wages in the face of a rising cost of living. Labor Minister Ith ...

As mass demonstrations by garment factory workers continued Monday, the government laid out plans to bring an end to the labor unrest within the next three days, including suing union leaders in the courts and mobilizing security forces to take unspecified action. Signed by Council ...

The Cambodian government said Monday that a law on access to information will be adopted in three years. Cambodia has spent more than a decade working on this draft law. The formation of a new government in July committed to reforming all the government’s bodies ...

Tuk-tuk, motorbike and taxi drivers were among hundreds of workers from Cambodia’s “informal economy” who called on the government yesterday to cap fuel prices at 4,000 riel ($1) per litre, amid claims that the current 5,000 riel price leaves them unable to cover any more ...

Beehive Radio director Mam Sonando said yesterday that he was forced to postpone a planned demonstration in support of his bid for a television license as he had given authorities insufficient notice of what he hoped would be an ongoing protest. On Friday, Sonando – whose ...

The Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) on Sunday said all of the country’s 400-plus garment factories will remain closed until the government and striking trade unions can guarantee the safety of the factories and all employees who want to work. The decision, outlined in an ...

Tens of thousands of Cambodian opposition supporters, backed by striking garment-factory workers, rallied on Sunday to demand long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen step down and call an election. The garment workers have in recent days joined the opposition protests to press their demand that the government ...

An increasing number of Cambodians see themselves faring worse, a Gallup polls suggests. In a global survey released earlier this month, the US-based firm ranked Cambodia near the very bottom in terms of life satisfaction, and it found that 34 percent of surveyed Cambodians consider themselves ...