Human rights

Rights groups want Cambodia’s parliament to hold a consultation with civil society about a controversial draft law on nongovernmental organizations approved Friday by the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, which has long demonstrated animosity toward organizations outside of state control. ...

A controversial draft law to regulate Cambodia’s NGOs has passed a major hurdle and will be moved on to the National Assembly for legislative debate. Om Chandara, a spokesman for the council, told VOA Khmer that two articles were withdrawn at the behest of Prime ...

The Cambodian government has been taken to task in a lengthy report by Amnesty International for two years of “violent repression.” Researchers for the human rights organisation found that between Nov. 2013 and May of this year, people’s basic rights to assemble were stifled, excessive and ...

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scott Busby, who heads the Bureau of Democracy, Human rights and Labor, is on a two-day trip to Cambodia. ...

A senior US diplomat has raised concerns over a proposed law to govern NGOs in Cambodia. Hor Namhong told reporters Tuesday the draft law is not meant to impose undue burdens on NGOs. Civil society will have a chance to comment on the draft when ...

A group of activists and villagers from southwestern Cambodia’s Koh Kong province petitioned outside the country’s parliament Thursday, calling on lawmakers to intervene against a sand dredging company they say is operating in the area without a license. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday convicted a British national of purchasing child prostitution and committing indecent acts against minors, sentencing him to eight years in prison and ordering him to pay a total of $5,000 in fines and compensation. ...

About 3,000 union representatives, teachers and senior officials from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party gathered at a ceremony on Koh Pich yesterday to mark the 129th International Labour Day – as well as to bolster support for the ruling party, one official noted. ...

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says Australia is violating the rights of children being sent from Nauru to Cambodia under the refugee transfer agreement. In the coming week, possibly as early as Monday, a charter plane is expected to fly out from Nauru with ...

The United Nations Children’s Fund is voicing concern about the decision by Australia to transfer asylum seekers detained on the Pacific island of Nauru to Cambodia, possibly as early as Monday. UNICEF’s concerns come amid growing refugee protests in Nauru and protests over transfers of ...

Five months behind bars has done nothing to deter Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak activists from taking their demands to the streets. Just one day after their release from the capital’s Prey Sar prison, the female activists – often at the helm of Phnom Penh demonstrations – ...

The Mondolkiri Provincial Court on Saturday charged a man with having sex with an underage girl, but a rights worker and the girl’s father said Sunday that the allegations were fabricated in retaliation for the man’s involvement in recent protests against a Vietnamese rubber plantation. ...

The Our Home center in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district has reopened under interim management after its director, Hang Vibol, was jailed last month and charged with abusing boys at the organization’s orphanage, which housed more than 50 children but was shuttered and will remain closed. ...

Villagers in Ratanakkiri province discovered yesterday that a corpse previously believed to be a Vietnamese Montagnard was a local man, as they reportedly met with a United Nations official to discuss the fate of asylum seekers still hiding in the area. A group of ethnic Jarai ...

About 100 women’s rights activists were prevented from riding tuk-tuks to the National Assembly and the Phnom Penh headquarters of the ruling CPP on Tuesday, but successfully delivered a petition to the opposition CNRP demanding female representation on the reformed National Election Committee. ...

The Australian government ignored allegations of physical and sexual abuse of asylum seekers held on the Pacific island of Nauru for more than a year without taking action, staff at the detention centre have alleged. ...

According to a new survey, land disputes in Cambodia lead to employment insecurity, causing poverty, food insecurity, and increasing physical and psychological insecurity. The survey found that most expressed a desire for the government to eliminate land disputes and set a clear policy to address ...

Cambodia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the region, and despite UN goals set up for the end of 2015, that number has remained high. There, only 75 percent of women giving birth were attended by trained health workers in 2012, according ...

After 11 more Montagnard asylum seekers from Vietnam reportedly arrived in Ratanakkiri province late on Sunday evening, the United Nations yesterday said it was looking into unconfirmed reports from local villagers that eight others had been found dead in the province. While it was impossible ...

Workers from Myanmar, laos, Cambodia and Vietnam now get better coverage. Migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam can now buy healthcare insurance and enjoy healthcare benefits that are on par with what Thais get via the country’s universal healthcare scheme. ...

Workers from Myanmar, laos, Cambodia and Vietnam now get better coverage. Migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam can now buy healthcare insurance and enjoy healthcare benefits that are on par with what Thais get via the country’s universal healthcare scheme. ...

A global risk-analysis firm has released a grim – albeit partial – snapshot of Cambodia, noting that the Kingdom’s overreliance on essential resources from other countries leaves it vulnerable to instability, and that it is at “extreme risk” of a communicable-disease pandemic. The Global Risks and ...

Three imprisoned land activists intentionally injured themselves on Friday in an alleged suicide attempt after being confined in their cell for two days, according to their families and a fellow inmate. Tep Vanny, Kong Chantha, and Bor Chorvy – all from Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak community ...

Child protection NGO Friends International said this week it will contest being officially cited as the originator of allegations of sexual misconduct at Our Home orphanage that led to the center’s closure last month and to the imprisonment of its director, Hang Vibol, on suspicion ...