Human rights

About 200 garment workers protested outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday after 20 colleagues were turned away when trying to enter the Smart Shirts factory earlier the same morning, union leaders said. ...

After the government deported Spanish environmental activist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson on Monday, the opposition CNRP has called on the Interior Ministry to turn its attention to thousands of Vietnamese immigrants living in the country illegally. ...

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court has postponed today’s scheduled hearing of 11 people, including senior CNRP official Meach Sovannara, who were charged with insurrection and other crimes over a bloody scuffle at Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park in July. ...

About 50 of Phnom Penh’s 270 gardeners gathered at the National Assembly and then City Hall on Monday morning to deliver petitions asking for a substantial raise to their modest monthly salaries, threatening to go on strike if they were denied. ...

A surge in land disputes in Cambodia affected more than three times as many families last year as in 2013, a local rights group said Thursday, urging Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government to address the issue with “long-term lasting solutions” instead of making empty promises. Rights ...

A new group of six Montagnards from Vietnam have arrived in northeastern Cambodia’s Ratanakiri province to seek political refuge, as a United Nations team tries to locate and assist other refugees in hiding, a villager who provided shelter to the Montagnards said. The villager, who declined ...

Thailand’s army has asked Cambodia “not to jump [to] the conclusion” that its soldiers were to blame for the deaths of three Cambodian loggers who were shot dead earlier this month while searching for rosewood across the border, according to Thai media. ...

Nearly two-thirds of surveyed survivors of human trafficking in Southeast Asia show symptoms of depression, while another 40 per cent suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a new study. ...

The Ministry of Interior on Wednesday said it was standing by its decision to not renew the visa of outspoken environmental activist Alejandro Gonzalez-Davidson in the face of mounting pressure from fellow activists, NGOs, unions, students and monks—even opposition leader Sam Rainsy—to reverse course. ...

US Ambassador William Todd has spoken out about ongoing arrivals of Montagnard asylum seekers from Vietnam, saying that the international community is concerned about their treatment and urging the government to give the fleeing Christian minority unimpeded access to “internationally accepted asylum procedures”. ...

About 50 of Phnom Penh’s 270 gardeners gathered at the National Assembly and then City Hall on Monday morning to deliver petitions asking for a substantial raise to their modest monthly salaries, threatening to go on strike if they were denied. ...

The appropriate scope of a controversial proposed ban on NGOs “insulting” political parties in election campaigns on Monday continued to divide the CPP and CNRP during talks to amend the nation’s election law, with the negotiating teams deciding to pass the issue on to their ...

The South Korean government will double the number of Cambodian migrant workers who are granted permits to take up employment in the country’s manufacturing, construction and agriculture sectors each year, officials said on Monday. ...

Opposition CNRP president Sam Rainsy on Monday weighed in on behalf of environmental activist Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, asking the Interior Ministry to reverse a decision to not renew the Spanish national’s visa over a traffic incident from September. ...

As security forces in Ratanakkiri province continued to seek the arrest yesterday of 32 Montagnards hiding there, villagers and a local rights worker said the harsh conditions had taken their toll on two of the asylum seekers. ...

Having begun life in an overcrowded cell with nowhere to play, little to eat and surrounded by abuse, when Dara* left prison at nearly 4 years old, he had not yet spoken a single word. According to the report, which was released on Saturday, Dara’s ...

Three Montagnards, including a 10-year-old girl, arrived yesterday morning at the government’s Refugee Department in Phnom Penh to process their asylum claims. ...

After negotiations between vendors and management at Phnom Penh’s Sorya Mall ended without a solution on Wednesday, hundreds of disgruntled shopkeepers shut their shops on Thursday, effectively closing one of the city’s biggest shopping centers. ...

Deputy Phnom Penh governor Khuong Sreng on Tuesday reversed course on a City Hall announcement that it was investigating Wat Samakki Raingsey over alleged anti-government behavior and secessionist designs, comments that sparked fears among its monks that the independent-minded pagoda would be shut down. During a ...

Rights group Adhoc is investigating the death of an opposition party activist this weekend in Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet town. ...

As violence against women remains pervasive throughout the country, the government on Tuesday launched a second action plan that it hopes will help give women greater protection. The National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women 2014-2018 focuses on preventing gender-based violence and aims to provide ...

Phnom Penh’s Wat Samakki Raingsey, under scrutiny by City Hall for alleged “anti-government acts,” on Friday requested three commissions of the National Assembly to accompany municipal officials to a planned inspection of the pagoda on Tuesday afternoon. “I sent the letters to request the first commission ...

Phat Sreytouch, a former beer promoter, recalls being the constant subject of harassment from the men she served in beer gardens, many who felt they were within their rights to touch her and her colleagues. In a new initiative aimed at ending such attitudes and ...

In Cambodia, three women have been recognized for work that combines technology with efforts to combat violence against women, a major problem in the Southeast Asian country. Winning the inaugural VXW Award means the women will get assistance to further promote their efforts on smartphones ...