Human rights

Families living occupying cemeteries in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district are showing reluctance in moving to a new location offered by City Hall, saying that the new houses are inadequate. ...

Representatives of 187 families in Kampong Chhnang province and Phnom Penh gathered at the Land Management Ministry and the Prime Minister’s cabinet office yesterday seeking help to resolve their years-long land disputes ...

Some 116 organisations and associations have urged Cambodian officials to dismantle the new inter-ministry working group that was recently set up to monitor social networking sites, claiming it is an “abuse on the rights and freedom of expression via the internet”. ...

Hundreds of residents locked in a land dispute with the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district yesterday submitted a petition to the Land Management Ministry. ...

The government has announced the approval of a feasibility study to be conducted in Koh Kong province, signalling to demonstrators who have been rallying in front of the Land Management Ministry office in Phnom Penh that their land dispute may come to a close. ...

The governor of Samrong city, Oddar Meanchey province, issued a letter on Tuesday, ordering villagers to remove huts, houses and other structures from the Roluos Thom Natural Eco Tourist Site, after allegedly moving onto the land illegally. ...

About 70 people representing thousands of Kampong Speu province households yesterday gathered once again in front of the Land Management Ministry to appeal to the authorities to take action against three rubber plantations and a sugar cane plantation over more than 2,000 hectares of disputed ...

The Land Management Ministry on Friday announced that it will solve a land dispute in the province following a weeks-long demonstration by hundreds of villagers who descended upon the ministry’s office in Phnom Penh. ...

Around 300 people representing hundreds of families in Koh Kong province, who were evicted from their homes to make way for a sugar company owned by businessman and CPP Senator Ly Yong Phat, blocked the road that leads to the Ministry of Land Management on ...

The rights group, HRW, had called for the release of Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin, two Radio Free Asia reporters who were jailed on treason charges for allegedly continuing to work for RFA after it had left the country under government pressure. ...

The lawmakers were set to discuss the Cambodia Democracy Act and an amendment that could see Phnom Penh handed further sanctions over its crackdown on the opposition, civil society, and independent media. ...

About 100 security personnel were deployed yesterday to evict 600 residents who have been occupying Wat Chas pagoda in Chroy Changva district after they refused to retreat pending a Land Management Ministry decision on a petition to solve land disputes in three provinces. ...

More than 100 Koh Kong province villagers returned to the Land Management Ministry office in Phnom Penh demanding that the authorities speed up the distribution process of three hectares of land owed to each family as compensation in two districts after authorities declared it had ...

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Cambodian authorities to end “baseless” convictions of former opposition officials and activists ahead of this year’s general election. The prominent US-based rights group said in a statement on Monday that the authorities should throw out the cases against 11 ...

Human rights groups and former opposition officials have expressed concerns over the impact of the recent sale of the Phnom Penh Post newspaper to a Malaysian investor with historical ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

All but a handful of foreign journalists on staff at The Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia’s last remaining independent daily newspaper, resigned on Wednesday. Citing differences over the meaning of “editorial independence,” they quit within days after new owners fired its editor-in-chief who refused to remove a published ...

Kay Kimsong was fired on Monday after representatives of the new owner ordered senior staff to remove an article about the sale from its website, claiming factual inaccuracies.​ ...

Ten representatives of Banong ethnic villagers from five districts in Mondulkiri were questioned for more than an hour by police on Tuesday for their attempt to seek intervention from Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet over the loss of sacred land to 11 families. ...

Saturday’s announcement by Post Media CEO Bill Clough identified the buyer of the English-language Phnom Penh Post as Sivakumar G., who was described as having an experienced journalist’s background and representing a strong investment group from Malaysia. No price was given. ...

Saturday’s announcement of the sale of The Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia’s oldest and most respected newspaper, came as no surprise to many who had been following recent events in the country. Rumors had circulated for months about the fate of the country’s last independent English-language ...

Minister of Women’s Affairs Ing Kantha Phavi’s admission last week that she was unable to name a Cambodian woman journalist sparked a minor controversy on social media, with current and former journalists taking to social media to criticise her remarks. ...

As the world celebrated Press Freedom Day on Thursday, the mood among Cambodian journalists was subdued following a months-long crackdown on dissent in the media. The theme of this year’s event was “Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and The Rule of Law”, and special attention ...

King Norodom Sihamoni, in an opening speech on Monday to Cambodia’s newly minted Senate, urged the legislative body to uphold human rights and justice. King Sihamoni warmly congratulated the 62-member Senate on its new mandate following almost a year of what observers have described as ...

Twenty years ago, on April 15, 1998, Pol Pot, the leader of Cambodia’s genocidal government during the late 1970s, died in his sleep at the age of 73. Born Saloth Sar, Pol Pot was never held accountable for the crimes committed during the three years, eight ...