Human rights

Civil society organizations, unions and citizens celebrated Human Rights Day in Phnom Penh on the weekend, but were not permitted to march through the streets and many opted to hold their celebrations in Freedom Park. On Saturday, Yang Kim Eng, the chairman of the Cambodian Human ...

Boeung Kak land activists have called on the government to release one of their most prominent representatives, Tep Vanny, who was charged with intentional violence related to a protest outside Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house in 2013, a case reactivated after she was arrested during ...

Civil society organizations and youth groups have called for young people to be more involved in human rights and the environment. They also demanded greater protection for young activists who have suffered threats, violence and court action. The call was made in a youth forum on young ...

More than 50 people representing 253 families from Preah Vihear province’s Choam Ksan district resubmitted a petition to the Interior Ministry yesterday, asking authorities to expedite a resolution of their land dispute. ...

Cambodia fell four spots in a 2016 ranking of internet freedom across the world released yesterday, with the organization behind it tying the drop to a spate of arrests for nothing more than Facebook posts and a much-maligned telecommunications law that critics say gives the ...

The United Nations is standing behind Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) country representative Wan-Hea Lee after a letter signed by Foreign Minister Prak Sokhon accused her of failing to respect Cambodia’s sovereignty.​ ...

More than 100 former Boeung Kak and Borei Keila residents submitted petitions to the premier and various ministries in Phnom Penh yesterday, asking for intervention in their respective land disputes and making various other requests. ...

Companies should embrace the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in their operations and encourage a positive impact through their activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public, said an NGO official yesterday. “CSR-focused businesses would proactively promote public ...

Pen Sovann, Cambodia’s first prime minister after the Vietnamese invasion in January 1979 that swept the Khmer Rouge from power and a serving opposition member of parliament, passed away at his home in Takeo province’s Duan Keo town on Saturday evening aged 80. ...

After her third UN fact-finding mission to Cambodia, special rapporteur Rhona Smith issued a searing review of the human rights situation in the country, stating that the days of the government evoking the troubles of the past century as an excuse for its present shortcomings ...

A little-publicized sub-decree signed in July and discovered by the Post yesterday in an NGO database raises questions as to whether the eviction on Saturday of six ethnic Kuoy families in Preah Vihear was in contravention of an order by Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...

Six ethnic Kuoy families were violently evicted from their homes in Preah Vihear over the weekend, according to eyewitnesses, with further evictions threatened for another 13 families this morning. ...

The UN’s special rapporteur for human rights yesterday told Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn that Cambodia is the top ranking country in terms of freedom of expression in the Asean region, but must improve in other areas of human rights which have been raised by the ...

Days after signing a statement welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping to Cambodia, opposition leader Sam Rainsy took to Radio Free Asia to slam China for enabling human rights abuses in the Kingdom with no-strings-attached loans.​ ...

Rights groups say families being forced off their land by development projects recently revealed to have World Bank Group backing could probably file successful complaints against the institution, effectively forcing it to help the families save their homes or at least win better compensation. ...

Rhona Smith, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia, who is on a three-day trip to the Kingdom, yesterday voiced her concern about overcrowding in prisons caused by an increase in temporary detentions before trials. Ms. Smith, on her third visit to Cambodia, raised ...

Rhona Smith, the UN special rapporteur for human rights in Cambodia, will start her 10-day visit to the Kingdom today, with plans to meet government officials, opposition party activists and civil society workers. Am Sam Ath, a senior coordinator for rights group Licadho, said he was ...

About 1,000 activists are planning to gather at the former Dey Krahorm neighborhood in central Phnom Penh this morning before marching to the Ministry of Land Management in protest of land and housing evictions, according to those involved, who dismissed City Hall’s ban of the ...

The Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) yesterday asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia for help in writing reports and educating law enforcement officials. ...

Twenty Cham villagers from Kratie province’s Snuol district yesterday visited the Ministry of Land Management and Urban Planning to demand authorities resolve their community’s seven-year-old land dispute with two rubber companies. ...

A memorandum of understanding between Cambodia and the United Nations has been stalled for almost 10 months thanks to the government’s insistence that an updated version include pointed references to the concept of “non-interference” lifted from the UN charter, the Post has learned. ...

A new paper from the International Criminal Court laying out a shift in focus to crimes linked to environmental destruction and the unlawful dispossession of land has rekindled the debate over whether the court will launch an investigation into a case highlighting land-grabbing in Cambodia. ...

Cambodia’s ambassador to the United Nations pulled no punches in his response to a joint statement from almost 40 countries condemning the government’s recent actions and threats against peaceful protests, implying in his own letter that the opposition party was participating in “unlawful and anarchic ...

In a joint statement released yesterday, 38 nations came together to express their concern about the political situation in Cambodia and demanded the government ensure a safe environment for human rights defenders and civil society groups. The statement, delivered by United States Ambassador to the UN ...