Social development
Ethnic minorities and indigenous people
Chainsaws destroyed by M’kiri minorities
More than 100 villagers from eight ethnic communities in Mondulkiri province on Friday symbolically burned two chainsaws allegedly used to illegally log community forest before delivering four others they had confiscated to the provincial forestry administration, participants and Adhoc said yesterday. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/chainsaws-destroyed-m%E2%80%99kiri-minorities
Protesting villagers in hiding
Two ethnic Kuoy villagers in Preah Vihear province’s Tbeng Meanchey district are in hiding after rumours circulated yesterday that police were seeking to arrest them for participating in a protest against two Chinese plantation firms last week. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/protesting-villagers-hiding
Activist Monks, NGO Workers Held After Preah Vihear Protest
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 ...
Julia Wallace and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/activist-monks-ngo-workers-held-after-preah-vihear-protest-49962/
CNRP backers' names taken
Indigenous Jarai people from Ratanakkiri province who attended the opposition’s mass protests in the capital in recent weeks have had their names taken by provincial police, raising concerns that they could face threats and intimidation. The names of 81 pro-Cambodia National Rescue Party Jarai from O’Yadav, ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-backers-names-taken
Indigenous woes probed
Ethnic minority groups in Ratanakkiri province are facing widespread human rights violations, land loss and the exploitation of their natural resources, an indigenous peoples conference was told yesterday. More than 300 villagers from the province’s Tum Poun, Kreng, Prov, Kavet, Jarai, Kachok and Lun communities hosted ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/indigenous-woes-probed
Rights Group Reaffirms Stance on Use of ‘Yuon’
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) on Wednesday released a statement seeking to clarify an open letter it issued on December 12, which accused CNRP President Sam Rainsy of making comments that are “both derogatory and discriminatory, againstpeople of Vietnamese origin.” The original letter, signed ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-group-reaffirms-stance-on-use-of-yuon-49477/
Way of life vanishing: villagers
Since 2011, an estimated 3,000 resin trees have been illegally razed by rogue loggers and a land concessionaire operating in Mondulkiri’s Sen Monorom district, villagers claimed yesterday. Resin trees are a vital source of income for the Phnong ethnic community in Sokdom commune, according to Thleuk ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/way-life-vanishing-villagers
Cambodia Opposition Leader Urges Halt to Forest Land Concessions
Cambodia’s opposition leader called Wednesday for a halt to land concessions granted by the government to foreign companies in the country’s vast Prey Lang Forest, calling for greater protection of one of Southeast Asia’s last remaining lowland evergreen woodlands. Cambodia National Rescue Party President Sam ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/prey-lang-12112013181039.html
Villagers Ask Chinese Embassy to Intervene Against Dam Investors
Communities threatened by the planned construction of three hydropower dams in Stung Treng and Ratanakkiri provinces will today submit to the Chinese Embassy a petition demanding that the embassy intervene against Chinese companies investing in the dams. The petition, to be presented in Chinese, Khmer and ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-ask-chinese-embassy-to-intervene-against-dam-investors-49144/
Advocacy Group Calls to End Mistreatment of Khmer Krom
A local minority-rights advocacy group has called on the government to end the mistreatment of Khmer Krom people and recognize their rights as citizens of Cambodia as the world marks International Human Rights Day on Tuesday. The Khmer Krom, or “lower Khmer,” refers to ethnic Khmer ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/advocacy-group-calls-to-end-mistreatment-of-khmer-krom-48967/
Bunong Living on Land Concession Evicted
An indigenous Bunong minority community in Mondolkiri province’s Keo Seima district on Wednesday filed a complaint claiming that authorities had destroyed their homes, but authorities allege that the villagers are living on land owned by a private company. Villagers claim that since November, 37 homes in ...
Mech Dara and Ben Sokhean
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bunong-living-on-land-concession-evicted-48732/
Cambodia 'Still in Block A talks with Chevron'
The Royal Cambodian government is continuing talks with US major Chevron regarding the delayed Block A offshore project that would be the Asean member nation’s first indigenous hydrocarbon development. In August 2010, eight years after being awarded the block, Chevron issued a declaration of commerciality and ...
Upstream Online Staff
http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article1345016.ece
Collusion alleged in logging
Ethnic Jarai villagers in Ratanakkiri’s O’Yadav district have accused border officials of not only allowing illegal Vietnamese loggers to cross the border unimpeded, but also of taking their side in negotiations with a community forest patrol. Members of the patrol in Paknhai commune’s Lam village said ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/collusion-alleged-logging
Felling illegal: villagers
A private agro-industrial company has come under fire from villagers in Ratanakkiri province who say it has illegally felled resin-producing trees that are their main source of income. More than 1,000 trees in the Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary in Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat district are under threat, the villagers ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/felling-illegal-villagers
Ex-Environment Minister Says Deforestation Exaggerated
Former Environment Minister Mok Mareth on Tuesday accused the media of having “twisted the truth” in reporting on illegal logging in Ratanakkiri province, where rights groups and independent forestry monitors say the natural environment is being pillaged and ethnic minority communities impoverished by illegal loggers ...
Ben Woods and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ex-environment-minister-says-deforestation-exaggerated-47930/
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/
VN Rubber Company Says It Improves Forest
The Vietnamese Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) company, the majority shareholder of several economic land concessions in Ratanakkiri province, on Friday rebuffed accusations that it had logged forests and forced evictions, claiming that its activities improved the environment and the livelihoods of locals. Through several companies, ...
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/vn-rubber-company-says-it-improves-forest-47771/
16 Tumpoun villagers accused of logging
The Forestry Administration fined 16 ethnic Tumpoun villagers $400 each for allegedly logging within the Yak Oum tourism site in Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat district on Wednesday, said Chhay Thy, an investigator for the rights group Adhoc. The villagers were accused of logging after clearing a patch of ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/16-tumpoun-villagers-accused-logging
ELC in Nature Preserve Is Illegal, Government Spokesman Says
An “unofficial” land concession granted earlier this year to an agro-industry firm that has logged luxury hardwood in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat Wildlife Sanctuary is in violation of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 2012 moratorium on new economic land concessions (ELCs), a government spokesman said Tuesday. Phay Siphan, ...
Aun Pheap and Ben Woods
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/elc-in-nature-preserve-is-illegal-government-spokesman-says-47379/
Banks Urged to Divest From Ratanakkiri-Based Rubber Firm
Environmental campaign group Global Witness on Thursday called on the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Deutsche Bank to divest immediately from a Vietnamese firm whose rubber plantations in Cambodia are accused of rampant illegal logging and forced evictions of indigenous communities. The call came exactly six ...
Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/banks-urged-to-divest-from-ratanakkiri-based-rubber-firm-47045/
Ethnic minorities to receive bilingual education: gov’t
The government affirmed its commitment to bilingual education for ethnic minority children in Cambodia’s northern provinces at a UNESCO conference in Bangkok last week. Speaking at the fourth International Conference on Language and Education: Multilingual Education for all in Asia and the Pacific, Ton Sa Im, ...
Emily Wight
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/lifestyle/ethnic-minorities-receive-bilingual-education-gov%E2%80%99t
As mosques are replaced, Cham minority could see heritage fade
Cambodia is home to some 400,000 Cham Muslims. The ethnic group, like many others, suffered terrible losses during the Khmer Rouge regime. Lives were lost and cultural landmarks destroyed. Now, as mosques and heritage sites around the country are demolished to make way for more ...
Poppy McPherson and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/7days/mosques-are-replaced-cham-minority-could-see-heritage-fade
Family evicted after ‘Death threats’
An ethnic Jarai family has been evicted from their Ratanakirri province village where they say they received death threats over a land dispute. This is the third time the family has abandoned their home after they field a lawsuit against three commune authorities in 2011, alleging ...
Phak Seangly, P.6
http://www.phnompenhpost.com
Try Pheap Bulldozers Return to Clear Land, Stopped by Protesters
About 100 villagers in Preah Vihear province’s Rovieng district on Saturday turned out in protest for the second time this week to prevent a bulldozer that belongs to well-known businessman Try Pheap from clearing their land next to his rubber plantation, local officials and residents ...