Social development
Human rights
City Hall wants World Bank, NGOs to compensate evicted families
Representatives of some of the 3,000 families evicted from Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak neighborhood in recent years said Thursday that municipal government officials, who were ultimately responsible for the mass evictions, told them they would be inviting the World Bank and NGOs to help compensate ...
University bans women’s day event, says it’s too political
Phnom Penh’s Panha Chiet University has informed the local NGO Silaka that it cannot hold a meeting on women’s rights planned for today because the event might deal with political issues. Silaka had rented a conference room at the university for the meeting, intended to mark ...
Khy Sovuthy And Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/university-bans-womens-day-event-says-its-too-political-53675/
Cambodia has floor in Oz parliament debate
A spirited debate on human rights in Cambodia was heard in the Australian parliament this week after an opposition Labor Party MP introduced a motion calling on the government to condemn state violence against striking garment workers and ask authorities to release detained protesters. Clare O’Neil, ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodia-has-floor-oz-parliament-debate
Democracy, rights NGOs face tough conditions, report finds
NGOs working in democracy, human rights and transparency all say they face a lack of cooperation from Cambodian authorities, especially in the provinces, a new report finds. The Cooperation Committee for Cambodia conducted research on Cambodia’s overall climate for civil society organizations, finding that those dealing ...
Suy Heimkhemra
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/democracy-rights-ngo-face-tough-conditions-report-finds/1865609.html
Cambodia to meet Malaysia over maids MoU
The Ministry of Labor said Wednesday that the government has agreed on a final draft of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia regarding sending Cambodian maids to work there, but that no timeframe for the signing of the agreement has been set. Following reports of ...
Denise Hruby and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cambodia-to-meet-malaysia-over-maids-mou-53635/
Obfuscation reigns over ban on demonstration
The government can’t seem to agree on whether or not Prime Minister Hun Sen has lifted the ban on the constitutional right to freedom of assembly. Last week, Mr. Hun Sen said in a speech: “I will not prevent [demonstrations] because everyone has equal rights,” which ...
Kuch Naren and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/obfuscation-reigns-over-ban-on-demonstration-53621/
UN Envoy Cautious Over Cambodian Political Settlement Prospects
A U.N. rights envoy to Cambodia on Wednesday expressed “cautious optimism” that the parties of Prime Minister Hun Sen and opposition leader Sam Rainsy would move toward ending their seven-month political deadlock following an agreement achieved this week between the two sides on a set ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/surya-subedi-03062014183612.html
City hall denies unions permission for Freedom Park forum
A group of 18 labor unions and associations said they will proceed with plans for a public forum in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Saturday, despite City Hall’s rejecting their request, citing public security concerns. The unions, who are organizing a nationwide strike in the garment ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/city-hall-denies-unions-permission-for-freedom-park-forum-53525/
End right to unionize, businesses ask Hun Sen
Prime Minister Hun Sen told business leaders and government officials Tuesday that he will not tolerate “illegal” labor strikes that harm investment, but avoided judgment on a request to withdraw ratification of a U.N. convention protecting workers’ rights to unionize. Speaking at the 17th Government-Private Sector ...
Hul Reaksmey and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/end-right-to-unionize-businesses-ask-hun-sen-53516/
‘Like animals in a cage’
A day after union leader Vorn Pov was violently arrested during garment strikes in early January, he was driven to an unknown location and told by armed officers to get out of the vehicle. The union leader said his group of co-accused share a cell ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98-animals-cage%E2%80%99
Daun Penh guards seize protest drum, scuffle with activists
Two political activists were injured by district security guards outside the Daun Penh district office Monday morning after a protest to free 21 protesters beaten and imprisoned during a strike in January turned into an effort to reclaim a confiscated protest drum. The protesters, dressed in ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/daun-penh-guards
Families file complaint over Pailin governor
The 19 families in Pailin province who were told by police and military police on Saturday to vacate their land filed a complaint with Adhoc on Monday, the provincial coordinator for the NGO said. Authorities told the families to move on Saturday from the 95-hectares they ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/families-file-complaint-over-pailin-governor-53443/
Cambodian workers to be hardest-hit victims of wage unrest
Cambodian workers will be the ultimate victims if minority and violent unions continue to put the garment and shoe industries under the state of uncertainty and unpredictability by continuing to demand for further wage hikes that the industry cannot afford, an employers’ association said in ...
The Daily Star News Staff
http://www.thedailystar.net/business/cambodian-workers-to-be-hardest-hit-victims-of-wage-unrest-13761
Pailin governor orders 19 families to move off his land
More than 60 police and military police informed 19 families farming on a plot of land in Pailin province’s Sala Krao district on Saturday that they would have to move as they were growing crops on state land. However, Prak Sophima, provincial coordinator for rights group ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pailin-governor-orders-19-families-to-move-off-his-land-53397/
Cambodia rejects US report on human rights abuse
Cambodia rejected a report of the US State Department, which attacked the government of Prime Minister Hen Sen for widespread abuse against human rights. The 31-page report highlighted a flawed and poorly managed electoral process in July’s general election process. The report raised a number of ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=ZmQ5NGRjZWRmMDI
US reports long list of human rights concerns in Cambodia
The U.S. State Department on Friday released a damning assessment of the conduct of Cambodia’s elections and also took note of the “arbitrary and possibly unlawful” killing of a bystander by government forces and other human rights concerns in a report on human rights around ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-reports-long-list-of-human-rights-concerns-in%E2%80%88cambodia-53386/
Three convicted over clash with police on Monivong Bridge
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday sentenced three men of six suspects to prison terms for their role in the September 15 clashes on Monivong Bridge between police and stone throwing youths, during which a man was killed and several were wounded by police ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/three-convicted-over-clash-with-police-on-monivong-bridge-53388/
Union representatives detained for distributing strike leaflets
Two union representatives said that they were detained and “educated” Thursday for distributing leaflets calling on workers to participate in a nationwide strike next month. Yin Saroeun, secretary-general of the National Trade Unions Coalition, said police detained him and his colleague, Chuob Noek, at about 11 ...
Verdict due today for Kbal Thnal six
A Phnom Penh municipal judge is expected to announce a verdict this morning for six people arrested in connection with a September clash at the Kbal Thnal overpass, a week after the verdict was originally expected. Authorities took the six men into custody at the overpass ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/verdict-due-today-kbal-thnal-six
Labor Ministry denies it has stopped recognizing unions
The Labor Ministry in a statement Thursday insisted that unions were still free to register as entities recognized by the government, a day after a ministry spokesman said that union registration had been effectively suspended for the foreseeable future. Free Trade Union (FTU) president Chea Mony ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/labor-ministry-denies-it-has-stopped-recognizing-unions-53319/
Complaints against rubber company to be assessed, World Bank Office says
The World Bank’s ombudsman office says it will assess a complaint from indigenous groups in Ratanakkiri province that a bank-supported company has damaged the forest and surrounding communities. Seventeen different groups joined in the complaint, claiming the Hoang Anh Gia Lai rubber company, which receives ...
Mass faintings occur at two garment factories in Cambodia
At least 104 workers at two Cambodian factories fainted on Thursday morning due to exposures to chemical substances, the country’s union and factory officials said. Soeun Kea, head of the Free Trade Union at the Shimano factory in Kampong Speu Province, said that at least ...
Shanghai Daily News Staff
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=203520
Gov’t suspends freedom of association for unions
Following a complaint from the Free Trade Union (FTU) over the Ministry of Labor’s refusal to register 10 local branches of its organization, a ministry official said Wednesday that the constitutional right to freedom of association has been suspended until a new trade union law ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-suspends-freedom-of-association-for-unions-53271/
Environment minister visits UDG; Villagers disappointed
Environment Minister Say Sam Al failed to meet the villagers locked in a long-running land dispute with the Chinese-owned company Union Development Group (UDG) on Wednesday, despite visiting company officials in Koh Kong province, according to a rights worker and a provincial official. Mr. Sam Al ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/environment-minister-visits-udg-villagers-disappointed-53277/