Human rights
Civil and political rights
Press freedom ranking low but rising
Cambodia ranked 128th in Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) 2015 ranking of press freedom in countries across the world, the watchdog said yesterday on its website. ...
Jonathan Greig
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/24031/press-freedom-ranking-low-but-rising/
Wanted monk says Sweden granted him asylum
Soeung Hai, a dissident former monk wanted for arrest by the government, said on Tuesday that he had been living in Sweden since February after the U.N.’s refugee agency helped him secure political asylum there. ...
Ben Sokhean and Alex Willemyns
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/wanted-monk-says-sweden-granted-him-asylum-111498/
Former SRP president slams arrest of Um Sam An
As the opposition marked the 41st anniversary of the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge, one of its senior officials yesterday lashed out at the imprisonment of a CNRP lawmaker for criticising the government’s handling of the Vietnamese border issue. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/former-srp-president-slams-arrest-um-sam
UN asked to help imprisoned rights activists
Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, the outspoken director of the environmental group Mother Nature, has written to the U.N.’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders to request that he pressure the government to release three Mother Nature activists imprisoned on charges stemming from an anti-sand ...
Kuch Naren and George Wright
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/111370-111370/
US report critical of government’s treatment of opposition
The U.S. State Department’s annual Human Rights Report, released on Wednesday, highlights poor treatment of Cambodia’s political opposition in 2015, and raises concerns about the judiciary’s “broad interpretation” of the crime of incitement. ...
Peter Ford
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-report-critical-of-governments-treatment-of-opposition-111340/
Cambodian political repression meets American human rights law in Long Beach
Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, is the President of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), the country’s ruling party since 1979. In recent years, when an opposition party, the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), started gaining momentum and making their voices heard, Sen’s government found ...
Mary Wald
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-wald/cambodian-political-repre_b_9657752.html
Women’s day bike ride blocked by police, security guards
More than 200 activists attempting to cycle from the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to the National Assembly in Phnom Penh to mark International Women’s Day were penned in by authorities Tuesday morning after pedaling less than 100 meters. ...
Sek Odom
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/109648-109648/
PM pulls no punches on US arrival
In a wide-ranging speech to ruling Cambodian People’s Party supporters in California yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen slammed the US government as well as the opposition, and said his presence at the US-ASEAN Summit at Rancho Mirage was no different than that of US President ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21430/pm-pulls-no-punches-on-us-arrival/
US weighs in on anti-Hun Sen protest
Amid fears of a potential reprise of anti-opposition violence that flared in October, a US Embassy spokesman yesterday called on the government “to ensure that no one is threatened, punished, or harmed in Cambodia” if a planned anti-Hun Sen rally takes place as scheduled next ...
Brent Crane
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/us-weighs-anti-hun-sen-protest
US, ASEAN urged to push rights in Cambodia
Twelve civil society organizations submitted a joint statement asking the US government and heads of democratic ASEAN members to raise issues of human rights violations in Cambodia and the misuse of courts to stifle the opposition at next week’s US-ASEAN Summit in California, in order ...
Taing Vida
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/21239/us--asean-urged-to-push-rights-in-cambodia/
NGO notes uptick in gov’t ‘threats’ against online posters
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights released a public notice on Monday noting a “substantial increase” in the number of people being charged for making anti-government or anti-Hun Sen comments in social media. ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngo-notes-uptick-govt-threats-against-online-posters
With connectivity boom, Cambodia's political battles shift online
In September 2015, a Facebook page bearing the name of Prime Minister Hun Sen notched up its millionth “like.” Until then, the long-serving Cambodian leader had denied ever using social media, making fun of political rivals, like opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who were active online. ...
Sebastian Strangio
http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/With-connectivity-boom-Cambodia-s-political-battles-shift-online
Report calls Cambodia ‘deadliest’ country for environmental reporting
With at least four Cambodians killed in recent years trying to uncover environmental crimes, the country ranks as the “deadliest” place in the world to conduct such reporting, according to a new report. ...
Aun Chhengpor
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/report-calls-cambodia-deadliest-country-for-environmental-reporting/3093238.html
Groups hope for continued input on draft Law on Information Access
Rights and development groups say a draft law on access to information will be more useful to the public if it has input from outside the government.A number of civil society organizations met in Phnom Penh this week to discuss the law, in hopes of ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/groups-hope-for-continued-input-on-draft-law-on-information-access/3093543.html
Government officials increasingly on Facebook
In July, an estimated 2.9 million Cambodians were on Facebook, up from 1.7 million a year earlier.The social networking website Facebook has grown increasingly popular with government officials, who use it to communicate with their constituents and to push their political positions to a younger ...
Socheata Hean
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/government-officials-increasingly-on-facebook/3084608.html
TV anchor seeks to be Cambodia's political peacemaker to avoid conflict
Cambodian TV news anchor Soy Sopheap has again stepped into the role of political peacemaker in an effort to end the feud between Prime Minister Hun Sen and exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy which threatens to ignite political conflict. ...
Prak Chan Thul
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/11/30/cambodia-politics-idINKBN0TJ2O220151130
US slams gov’t over recent political turmoil
A U.S. State Department official told the country’s Senate on Thursday that recent political events in Cambodia, including the beatings of lawmakers outside the National Assembly and the removal of opposition officials from their seats and positions in parliament, were a cause for “grave concern.” ...
George Wright
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-slams-govt-over-recent-political-turmoil-101119/
Man briefly detained over criticism of gov’t
A man in Kampong Speu’s Oral district was briefly placed under house arrest yesterday, following his public criticism of the government and prime minister at a town hall meeting.Ung Ny, Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) Oral district executive director, said that 45-year-old Hay Hoeun, a ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/man-briefly-detained-over-criticism-govt
UN rights office voices concern at clampdown on political activism in Cambodia
The United Nations human rights office expressed concern today over a worsening climate for opposition politicians and activists in Cambodia, and stressed that the right to peaceful assembly and to freedom of expression belongs to all. ...
Big News Network Staff
http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/238122383/un-rights-office-voices-concern-at-clampdown-on-political-activism-in-cambodia
Defense minister says soldiers can take part in demonstrations
Defense Minister Tea Banh says Cambodia’s soldiers should have the right to support demonstrations.Speaking at the airport as he waited for Prime Minister Hun Sen to arrive from an official visit to France, Tea Banh said his troops have a right to “express their opinion.” ...
Hul Reaksmey, Neou Vannarin
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/defense-minister-says-soldiers-can-take-part-in-demonstrations/3026380.html
Cambodian police arrest student for Facebook threat to blow up deputy PM
A Cambodian University student, who was arrested by provincial police in Siem Reap after he threatened to kill Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng on social media, has confessed to the plot to throw a grenade at the government official during the school’s graduation ceremony, the ...
Khe Sonorng and Samean Yun
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/cambodia-threat-09292015132421.html
New UN envoy wraps up first mission to Cambodia with call for judicial reform
The new United Nations envoy to Cambodia concluded her first official visit to the country Thursday by calling on Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government to ensure the independence of the judiciary amid a host of land and labor disputes she said are encroaching on the ...
Yeang Socheametta
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/envoy-09242015151717.html
Kem Sokha meets new UN special rapporteur
Vice president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Kem Sokha held talk with visiting new UN Human Right Envoy Rhona Smith at the National Assembly today. ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/kem-sokha-meets-new-un-special-rapporteur-8982
Hun Sen says he will ‘dismantle’ threats to government
Prime Minister Hun Sen says he will continue to “dismantle” groups that are a threat to the government.In a letter to coincide with the International Day of Peace on Monday, Hun Sen said Cambodian democracy and human rights are making progress, but he also said ...
Hul Reaksmey and Ten Soksreinith,
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/hun-sen-says-he-will-dismantle-threats-to-government/2972231.html