Human rights

Cambodia presented its human rights report before the United Nations Office in Geneva amid growing allegations that abuses are being systematically committed by state forces. The UN committee acknowledged that Cambodia has introduced some reforms in recent years, in particular land reform and registration of ...

A Cambodian-American man was convicted by a U.S. federal jury in Alaska on Monday of attempting to travel to Cambodia to have sex with underage girls, U.S. media reported. ...

A Ukrainian lawmaker accused of raping a minor in Phnom Penh in 2011 had escaped the country before the courts could catch up with him, the head of the Interior Ministry’s anti-human trafficking department said Tuesday. ...

Botum Sakor national park is one of Cambodia’s biodiversity hotspots, where indigenous tribes have long lived in harmony with the forest and its wildlife, writes Rod Harbinson. But now they are being violently evicted as the park is being sold off piecemeal to developers for ...

Authorities in Prey Veng province are searching for a group of rogue military police officers who shot at, tied up and beat two local truckers who drove through a pair of checkpoints without stopping while transporting a load of rice along National Road 11 on ...

Nearly a week after Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report detailing systemic labour rights abuse in Cambodia’s garment sector, the country’s garment manufacturers association fired back, criticising the study’s methodology and alleged omissions. ...

Sitting in Geneva before a panel of international experts chosen by the UN, Cambodian delegates yesterday did their best to dodge a series of pointed questions regarding the Kingdom’s adherence to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Phrases such as “I don’t know ...

First Lady Michelle Obama embarks on a five-day Asia trip Wednesday to launch the Obama Administration’s initiative “Let Girls Learn,” promoting the education of millions of girls worldwide. Ahead of her stops in Japan and Cambodia, Obama and her husband said the inability of an ...

The Siem Reap Provincial Court on Friday charged a Swiss national with having sex with three underage boys in Siem Reap City earlier this year, according to police and anti-pedophile NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE). ...

Keo Chkriya was pregnant when she was sentenced to prison, on charges of drug distribution. By the time she left, she had been caring for her son in a cell for nearly two years. ...

A United Nations human rights expert has called for a speedy solution to the situation of the Montagnards from Vietnam still hiding in the forests of northeastern Cambodia, after crossing the border to escape alleged persecution. About 13 of the 50 Montagnards—Christian indigenous people from ...

The Koh Kong Provincial Court has agreed to a request to delay the questioning of an anti-dam activist accused of illegally felling trees to build a community center in the Areng Valley. Ven Vorn—an ethnic Chong who has joined local protests organized by the NGO Mother ...

The founder of Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), Thierry Darnaudet, this week dismissed child sex abuse claims made against him by the anti-pedophile NGO’s former director, Hang Vibol, and said their feud had created a quandary for the organization when it was asked to investigate ...

About 70 villagers representing hundreds of families living in Battambang City’s Prek Preah Sdech commune protested outside the provincial hall Tuesday over fears that local authorities intend to evict them to make way for military families. ...

The former chief of anti-pedophile NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), who was jailed Friday by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on charges of indecently assaulting children, claimed the allegations were fabricated by APLE founder Thierry Darnaudet as revenge for reporting his ex-boss to authorities ...

As police closed in on Montagnard asylum seekers hiding in the forests of Ratanakkiri province last week, Klan Hoeun, 42, said Wednesday that he knew he had to at least try to get the group to Phnom Penh, to safety. ...

Following a bail hearing for CNRP information department chief Meach Sovannara at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the opposition party’s spokesman said he was “optimistic” that the court would decide to release the official when it announces a verdict on March 11. ...

The government has failed to meet its obligations in upholding civil and political rights, human rights groups have alleged. A report, released yesterday ahead of a UN Human Rights Committee session later this month, documents what the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and local rights ...

About 50 people with claims to land being developed in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva peninsula protested in front of City Hall on Monday and delivered a petition on behalf of more than 100 families demanding intervention in their dispute with the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation ...

Local rights group Licadho yesterday praised the government’s plan to release a number of incarcerated women who are pregnant or have their children with them in prison within the next week, but said deeper reforms are needed. In a statement, the NGO said it welcomed an ...

The Cambodian government will provide legal representation to three citizens who were shot at and arrested by Thai soldiers last week while allegedly smuggling drugs across the border. ...

Thirteen Vietnamese Montagnards have been recommended for refugee status by Cambodian authorities, pending approval by the Minister of the Interior. Spokesman Khieu Sopheak added that the refugee status for the remaining 13 now will be considered for official confirmation. ...

A Cambodian national who was allegedly arrested on Thursday alongside dozens of Montagnard asylum seekers remained missing yesterday, while those sent back to Vietnam were reportedly abused by authorities for their attempted escape. Forty-two-year-old Dy Heun, an ethnic Jarai from Ratanakkiri province, was officially reported missing ...

Phnom Penh anti-human trafficking police prevented an accused sex trafficker from boarding a plane on Saturday along with five women—including a teenager—she was planning to sell into the sex trade in Malaysia, officials said Sunday. ...