Social development
Human rights
UN report highlights escalation of tensions in Cambodia
Shrinking political and civic space in the Kingdom is highlighted in a new report from the United Nations’ human rights commissioner and secretary-general ahead of a UN Human Rights Council discussion this month on Cambodia. ...
Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/un-report-highlights-escalation-tensions-cambodia
Land rights activists want royal pardon for Tep Vanny
Residents of the Boeung Kak community yesterday submitted a petition to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet, asking the premier to seek a royal pardon to release their jailed representative Tep Vanny, and also solve their outstanding land dispute. According to the petition by eight Boeung Kak ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50112023/land-rights-activists-want-royal-pardon-tep-vanny/
Information Ministry claims press freedom supporters are ‘killing’ democracy
Cambodia’s Ministry of Information has chalked up 2017 as a “huge success for the government”, saying supporters of jailed journalists were “killing” democracy and the closure of multiple media outlets was necessary. ...
Mech Dara and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/information-ministry-claims-press-freedom-supporters-are-killing-democracy
UN releases memos on concerns
The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Monday published a batch of communications held with the Cambodian government since June last year, showing that the international body has voiced its concern about a range of issues from the arrest of ...
Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/un-releases-memos-concerns
EU council condemns crackdown but stops short of concrete action
The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union yesterday adopted a set of conclusions condemning “recent worrying political developments and the continuing deterioration of democracy” in Cambodia, though some politicians expressed regret about a missed opportunity to take concrete measures. The conclusions, passed by the European ...
Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eu-council-condemns-crackdown-stops-short-concrete-action
Candlelight Party amends statute in congress
The Candlelight Party yesterday held its congress to change some articles in its statute to comply with the amended Law on Political Parties to allow it to request dissolution from the Interior Ministry if necessary. ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50110704/candlelight-party-amends-statute-congress/
Cambodian media under threat: report
Media outlets in Cambodia have came under increasing threat over the past year, according to a new report by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), though the Ministry of Information, responding to a similar recent report, has insisted freedom of expression and the press is ...
Leonie Kijewski and Rinith Taing
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodian-media-under-threat-report
Kem Ley foundation registered
The Ministry of Interior has officially registered a newly created “Kem Ley Foundation Association” after months of processing the application. Chhim Kan, director of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Associations and Political Parties, yesterday confirmed the association’s registration had been successful. ...
Yon Sineat and Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kem-ley-foundation-registered
Press freedom ‘collapsed’ in 2017, journalist survey says
The “façade of media freedom” in the Kingdom “collapsed” last year, with journalists reporting a sharp drop in their hopes for independent press, according to the results of a new survey launched yesterday. The Cambodian Center for Independent Media (CCIM) study surveyed 75 journalists from ...
Rinith Taing
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/press-freedom-collapsed-2017-journalist-survey-says
UN urges rethink of constitution changes
UN rights experts yesterday urged the government to reconsider constitutional amendments, including a law that forbids insulting the monarchy, saying the changes were too vague and failed to meet international standards. Parliament last week adopted a law that forbids insulting the monarchy, along with other amendments ...
Ven Rathavong
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/50109667/un-urges-rethink-constitution-changes/
Groups call for charges against activists to be dropped
A group of 35 international labour and human rights advocacy groups yesterday called for charges against a trio of Cambodian civil society activists to be dropped. “We, the undersigned global unions and international human rights and workers’ rights organizations, call for the charges against Cambodian human ...
Andrew Nachemson
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/groups-call-charges-against-activists-be-dropped
Former Funcinpec officials file membership complaint
Six officials have filed a complaint to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court asking for their Funcinpec membership to be reinstated after they were removed from the party by its leader, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, at the end of last month. ...
Kong Meta
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/former-funcinpec-officials-file-membership-complaint
Government unit publishes 132-page treatise on threat of ‘colour revolution’
The Council of Ministers released a no-holds-barred book about its efforts to root out a purported foreign-backed “colour revolution” in Cambodia yesterday, lashing out at superpowers like the United States for supposedly trying to cause “immeasurable catastrophe” in the country. ...
Mech Dara and Daphne Chen
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-politics/government-unit-publishes-132-page-treatise-threat-colour-revolution
Second land protest in Kratie
Representatives of more than 400 families in Kratie’s Snuol district protested yesterday following the temporary detention of two fellow community members at a demonstration the day before, when locals blocked a road to demand the government find a solution to their land dispute with a ...
Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/second-land-protest-kratie
CNRP visited by Thai officials after protester extradited
Cambodian opposition figures seeking asylum in Thailand have been visited by Thai police in recent days, fuelling fears they may be deported back to the Kingdom. Scores fled Cambodia after the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party was forcibly dissolved following the arrest of its president, ...
Ben Sokhean and Erin Handley
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-visited-thai-officials-after-protester-extradited
Cambodia’s economic freedom down slightly last year: report
Cambodia’s economic freedom score dropped seven ranks in the annual Economic Freedom Index released by the Heritage Foundation, a US-based, conservative-leaning think tank. The 0.8 point dip in the score from last year put Cambodia’s economy in the “Mostly Unfree” category, ranking 101 out of ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/cambodias-economic-freedom-down-slightly-last-year-report
Villagers displaced by Lower Sesan II Dam will get facilities: government
In an apparent reversal, Stung Treng province authorities on Friday said they would build public infrastructure for the 83 households from Srekor and Kbal Romeas villages who were displaced by flooding from the reservoir of the controversial Lower Sesan II Dam but declined to move ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-displaced-lower-sesan-ii-dam-will-get-facilities-government
The State of Human Security in Cambodia
Violence in Cambodia has escalated in recent months with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s attempts to quash competition ahead of the upcoming elections on July 29, 2018. Security and surveillance measures have been strengthened, media outlets have been closed down, protests have been met with violence and mass ...
Pascale Hunt
https://thediplomat.com/2018/02/the-state-of-human-security-in-cambodia/
Tep Vanny's sentence upheld at Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a 30-month sentence for land activist Tep Vanny on charges relating to a 2013 protest outside Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house that turned violent, leaving the Boeung Kak resident to serve out more than a year of her remaining ...
Ananth Baliga and Kim Sarom
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tep-vannys-sentence-upheld-supreme-court
More set to leave Borei Keila
Two more families have accepted compensation to leave the Borei Keila area to make room for development, as the long-running land dispute creeps ever closer to an end. ...
Kuoch Masy and Leonie Kijewski
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/more-set-leave-borei-keila
New Mekong guidelines lacking, government official says
A Cambodian representative to the Mekong River Commission (MRC) said yesterday that new guidelines for hydropower development agreed to late last month don’t fully address threats to the health of the imperiled waterway. ...
Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-mekong-guidelines-lacking-government-official-says
Cambodia blocks online access to shuttered Cambodia Daily
Cambodia’s government has ordered internet service providers to block online access to The Cambodia Daily newspaper, which closed last year amid a widespread crackdown on media and civil society groups criticizing Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party. ...
Richard Finney
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/access-02052018171458.html
Villagers file complaint against Union Development Group for razing crops, property
Fourteen families in Koh Kong province’s Kiri Sakor district filed a court complaint today against 60 security guards employed by Union Development Group (UDG) for allegedly destroying their crops and small huts on land belonging to the development conglomerate. ...
Soth Koemsoeun
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-file-complaint-against-union-development-group-razing-crops-property
Sesan holdouts will not be given public services
Stung Treng province officials have announced they will not build public facilities for those villagers who refused to relocate to the government’s resettlement site when their villages were flooded late last year by the reservoir of the controversial Lower Sesan II Dam. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sesan-holdouts-will-not-be-given-public-services