Social development
Human rights
Another Military Official Accuses Opposition Party of Causing Chaos
General Neang Phat has become the second senior military official to wade into the current political impasse between Prime Minister Hun Sen’s CPP government and the CNRP, accusing the opposition party of trying to destabilize the country, according to a local media report. Gen. Phat, who ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/another-military-official-accuses-opposition-party-of-causing-chaos-51101/
Alleged Violent Protest Provocateur Charged
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday charged a man with committing violence under aggravating circumstances after he was detained by protesters at a demonstration in Phnom Penh on Sunday and handed over to police on suspicion of instigating violence at the rally near Freedom ...
Eang Mengleng
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/alleged-violent-protest-provocateur-charged-51106/
Restore Free Assembly, UN Rights Council Says
Cambodia’s human rights record was assessed Tuesday by the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 47 member states in Geneva, many of which cited concerns about the recent violent suppression of protests by the government, and a judiciary beholden to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling CPP. The U.N. ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/restore-free-assembly-un-rights-council-says-51097/
New Cambodian Ambassadors Told to Counter CNRP ‘Distortion’
CPP National Assembly President Heng Samrin has ordered Cambodia’s newest ambassadors to Asia and Europe to go on a public relations offensive against mounting news abroad that the country’s respect for democracy and human rights is slipping. Cambodian security forces have shot dead seven people ...
Sek Odom and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/new-cambodian-ambassadors-told-to-counter-cnrp-distortion-51099/
Sesan Dam Construction to Start Next Month
Construction of the Lower Sesan 2 dam will begin early next month, residents and authorities said after a meeting in Stung Treng province on Monday. Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem for the first time gave a time frame for the construction of the dam ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sesan-dam-construction-to-start-next-month-51080/
Union reps fired after strike
Despite Cambodia’s labour law forbidding employers from taking action against workers for engaging in union activity, more than 100 labour union representatives have been fired from at least 12 factories this month for encouraging workers to strike for a $160 monthly minimum wage. The firings came ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-reps-fired-after-strike
New deadlock but old tactics, analysts say
Ahead of today’s hearing on Cambodia’s record at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, opposition figures and analysts said the ruling Cambodian People’s Party has reverted to familiar tactics of post-election suppression. Analysts yesterday said that the breaking up of Cambodia National Rescue Party-led protests ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/new-deadlock-old-tactics-analysts-say
Developer, soldiers ‘destroyed 29 homes’
Representatives of Chinese company Tianjin Union Development Group, backed by soldiers, annihilated crops and burned the homes of 29 families in Koh Kong’s Botum Sakor district last week, rights groups say. According to a report given to the Post yesterday, a two-day fact-finding mission spearheaded by ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/developer-soldiers-%E2%80%98destroyed-29-homes%E2%80%99
Ministry Questions Unions Over Role in Kandal Garment Protest
The Interior Ministry has summoned six union representatives for questioning following a complaint from Jack Liu, director-general of Tainan Enterprises (Cambodia) Co., Ltd., alleging that they incited violence at his Kandal province garment factory in late December. A letter dated Thursday, signed by the Interior Ministry’s ...
Processing violent crackdowns
In the past four weeks, authorities in Phnom Penh have shot dead at least four people, injured and arrested dozens more and banned public gatherings. As Twitter feeds have gone into overdrive with eyewitness accounts of crackdowns – as happened yesterday with events at Freedom Park ...
Chhay Channyda and Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/processing-violent-crackdowns
Sonando next to test capital ban
Beehive Radio president Mam Sonando has said he and his supporters will defy the capital’s ban on demonstrations at the Ministry of Interior this morning after the government refused to issue his station a licence for increased bandwidth. ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/sonando-next-test-capital-ban
UN asked to ‘address crisis’
Amnesty International and rights group Licadho in a joint statement yesterday called on UN member states to “address the country’s human rights crisis” at a UN Human Rights Council hearing in Geneva on Tuesday. The statement, which was sent to foreign embassies, the Cambodian government and ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/un-asked-%E2%80%98address-crisis%E2%80%99
Officers queried on shootings
Military police officers involved in the clash on Veng Sreng Boulevard that led to the deaths of at least four protesters earlier this month have been questioned in connection with the shootings, though none will face charges, a military police spokesman said yesterday. The five officers, ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officers-queried-shootings
Labor Leaders Say Negotiations Should Continue
International trade leaders say Cambodia’s workers and managers should continue to negotiate for an increase in wages, despite a deadly crackdown on worker protests earlier this month. Workers want a raise in the minimum wage to $160 per month to keep up with the rising cost ...
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/labor-leaders-say-negotiations-should-continue/1837064.html
Community Marks Fifth Anniversary of Violent Eviction
About 150 members of the former Dey Krahorm community in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district marked the fifth anniversary on Friday of the day mechanical excavators, security guards and authorities destroyed their homes to make room for a real estate project. Much like on past anniversaries, ...
Khuon Narim and Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/community-marks-fifth-anniversary-of-violent-eviction-51017/
Interior Ministry Says No to Freedom Park Rally
The government will consider a planned union rally on Sunday of several thousand people at Freedom Park in Phnom Penh an attempt to “overthrow the government,” Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said on Friday. Phnom Penh municipality rejected the request to hold the rally, but ...
Sinary Sany
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/interior-ministry-says-no-to-freedom-park-rally-51032/
Legal actions to be taken against protest leaders: Interior Ministry
Ministry of Interior warned that legal measures would be taken against those who would hold protests, defying a ban imposed by the government. The warning was made yesterday after the leaders of nine labor unions insisted that they would hold protests, which are scheduled for January ...
The Cambodia Herald
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=NTdmZGU2OGFmMmR
Unions to Proceed With Mass Rally in Freedom Park Despite Ban
Unions planning a mass rally at Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Sunday to call for the release of 23 detainees and a higher minimum wage in the garment industry say they will proceed with the event despite City Hall’s decision Thursday to deny permission. The nine ...
Rainsy eyes seat at UN rights review meeting
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy left for Europe yesterday evening to attend a UN Human Rights Council review on Cambodia in Geneva and to lobby European Union officials to take a stronger stance against the government, he said before departure. Rainsy plans on attending the Universal Periodic ...
Meas Sokchea and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rainsy-eyes-seat-un-rights-review-meeting
Civil society groups appeal for international intervention for the release of 23 protesters
181 national and international non-governmental organizations handed over their petitions to foreign embassies on Thursday to seek the release of 23 people who were arrested in protest crackdowns. A group of some 50 representatives marched along the streets and submitted the petitions to the German, Sweden ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=MzYwOTcwZDY5ZjV
Union leader violates protest law: Phnom Penh official
Phnom Penh official on Wednesday said that union leader Chea Mony violated the protest law and protest ban which was imposed by the government recently for the security concern. The Deputy Governor made the comment after Chea led march along the streets to mark the ...
The Cambodian Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=M2MxNjBiZGRhZWU
Impoverished Cambodians for sale
Many Cambodian women arrive in South Korea or China for marriage, only to find themselves being chosen as mistresses, say labour rights activists. While young Cambodian men, who travel to Thailand to work on fishing boats, often fall prey to drug abuse. Loss of land, debt, ...
Michelle Tolson
http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/01/impoverished-cambodians-sale/
More Plots Readied for Land Titles at Boeng Kak
Phnom Penh deputy governor Khuong Sreng oversaw the demarcation of five more plots of land Thursday in the city’s Boeng Kak neighborhood, where at least 48 families are still fighting for formal land titles. Some 3,000 families have been evicted from the neighborhood since the city ...
Mech Dara and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/more-plots-readied-for-land-titles-at-boeng-kak-51002/
ANZ sugar fallout broadens
Shareholders will want answers from ANZ bank after it was revealed this week that the banking giant’s joint venture in Cambodia financed ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat’s controversial sugar plantation, the Responsible Investment Association Australia (RIAA) said yesterday. Environmental audit documents obtained by the Post on Tuesday ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/anz-sugar-fallout-broadens