Human rights

The last of 16 shacks that once clung to the edge of a mammoth development project in Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva district were demolished by the Overseas Cambodia Investment Corporation (OCIC) on Monday. Seven families in Doeum Kor 2 village—where marshlands are quickly being pumped full ...

Some 3,000 workers protested in front of a garment factory in Prey Veng province Monday, calling for larger bonuses and better working conditions, according to unionists and factory representatives. Employees of the Chinese-owned Komchay Mear Trading factory, which produces clothing for U.S. brand Gap, have been ...

Six Cambodian women trafficked to China to become brides and seven Cambodian victims of labor exploitation in Saudi Arabia will be repatriated by the end of the month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Monday. ...

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has distanced itself from Australia’s still unsigned deal to transfer refugees from the Nauru refugee detention center for resettlement in Cambodia, one of Southeast Asia’s poorest nations. First raised in February, the cash-for-refugees deal is believed to be imminent. ...

Authorities in western Cambodia have detained 11 activists after they tried to stop further studies for a planned Chinese-built dam. About 30 local villagers and environmental activists in the Areng Valley went to the area Monday to protect barricades they had erected earlier this year to ...

The National Assembly’s Human Rights Committee has laid out its plan to mediate negations to settle a more than decade-long land dispute between villagers and a powerful development company in Kompong Chhnang province’s Lor Peang village. The bipartisan committee announced early this month that it would ...

More than 100 workers who were fired by a Taiwanese-owned garment factory this week for striking over demands for further benefits will meet with union leaders “as soon as possible” to discuss potentially launching protests, a union representative said Tuesday. The workers were fired by the ...

A plan floated in Thailand to cut state educational support to migrant workers’ children has drawn the ire of rights groups, which say thousands of Cambodian youths could be denied their basic right to education. According to Thai media, Kamol Rodklai, secretary-general of the Office of ...

About 50 villagers living along the Mekong River in Phnom Penh’s Chbar Ampov district protested outside their local pagoda Sunday to demand that authorities take action against a company illegally dredging sand from the riverbed. ...

The government this weekend hit back at criticism of its embassies in China, Malaysia and Thailand, insisting that they are helping migrants in need. ...

Evictees from the Borei Keila community protested in front of City Hall on Friday to demand their inclusion in a working group that has been tasked with resolving the long-running dispute in which a development firm failed to provide decent housing for hundreds of people ...

Cambodian labor unions this week lowered their demands for a 60 percent increase to the country’s $100 minimum wage, as talks loom next month on setting a new wage.Unions agreed to call for $150 a month during a meeting with officials from the Garment Manufacturers’ ...

Kompong Chhnang provincial authorities on Thursday urged villagers locked in a land dispute with KDC International to accept compensation from the development firm, promising to request that a social land concession be granted to them. ...

The Yakjin Trading Corporation, a South Korean company whose factory was at the center of major demonstrations earlier this year, has begun a review of its operations. ...

A human rights group on Thursday urged authorities in Cambodia to end the prosecution of six trade unionists accused of stoking violent clashes between protesting workers and security forces, calling the case against them “politically motivated.” New York-based Human Rights Watch said prominent activists Pav Sina, ...

The government has finished calculating the additional compensation it will pay out to some of the families forced to move for a $143 million railway rehabilitation project being funded mostly by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), according to a new report. The report, released this week ...

Thirty-three Cambodian nationals were arrested for illegally logging rare rosewood trees in Thailand, where they are currently awaiting trial, officials said Wednesday. The arrests marked a long-called-for shift in tactics by Thai authorities: In the past, Thai soldiers and border police have often dealt with illegal ...

Thousands of employees from two Taiwanese-owned factories continued striking for better working conditions yesterday. ...

More than 30 activists from two communities impacted by land-grabbing demonstrated together in front of Phnom Penh City Hall on Monday to demand that authorities intervene in their cases. ...

Two more Cambodian women who were trafficked to China as brides are being assisted by officials at the Kingdom’s embassy in Beijing and will soon be repatriated, the government said yesterday. ...

Last month, Prime Minister Hun Sen was mocked for claiming in a speech on August 18 that he was unaware of a land dispute in Kratie province’s Snuol district over which villagers had repeatedly petitioned his cabinet. But Mr. Hun Sen’s admission that he was unaware ...

More than 5,000 workers from a footwear factory in Kompong Cham province went on strike Monday, calling on factory management to increase their benefits. The lively crowd rallied outside the Taiwanese-owned Juhui Footwear factory in Choeung Prey district, dancing to music pumped out of loudspeakers as ...

Around 300 workers from a Taiwanese-owned Xin Fang (Cambodia) Garment Manufacturing Co., Ltd marched Monday to Ministry of Labor to seek intervention in their working conditions. ...

About 100 villagers marched through Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel district on Saturday, handing out leaflets in an effort to inform the public about their land dispute with Thailand’s Khon Kaen Sugar Industry Limited (KSL). ...