VOA Khmer

The Cambodian government will allow UN representatives to seek out a group of Montagnards reportedly in hiding in Ratanakkiri province. Interior Minister Sar Kheng gave the green light for UN offices of human rights and refugees to look into the case, where at least 13 Montagnards ...

Chan Soveth, a longtime human rights defender, died of a heart attack on Wednesday. Colleagues say he was returning from celebrations to mark International Human Rights Day. He was 51. ...

The four-nation Mekong River Commission (MRC) this week holds public consultations on the development of a large hydropower dam in southern Laos. The project is one of a series of planned dams in the Mekong River Basin that environmentalists say could harm an ecosystem critical ...

As Cambodia prepares for a regional meeting over a contentious Lao dam on the Mekong River, fishing communities in Stung Treng province have appealed to Laos to cancel the project. The Don Sahong dam would be built on the Mekong, two kilometers from the Cambodian border. ...

The Vientiane-based Mekong River Commission will hold a regional public consultation on a controversial dam project in Laos later this month. The Don Sahong dam discussion will allow civil society and other relevant stakeholders to voice their concerns over the dam’s impacts, the commission said in ...

A deal between the ruling party and opposition in July may have ended a yearlong political deadlock, but some rights workers now worry the compromises will not be worth the long-term costs to Cambodian democracy. But Ou Virak, chairman of the board at the Cambodian ...

Social media has emerged to play a crucial role in providing many Cambodians with information that could mean better governance, an expert says. Ok Serei Sopheak, a good governance specialist, told “Hello VOA” that sites like Facebook help people get information quickly and easily, and can ...

Election monitors and other organizations in Cambodia are urging the country’s political parties to accept a number of principals in the reform of the National Election Committee. The Cambodian People’s Party and Cambodia National Rescue Party came to a compromise in July and have been working ...

Eight land activists put in prison last month after a swift trial say they will hold a hunger strike if they are not released. The eight activists were part of a roundup in November for street protests against city officials and a development project at ...

The murder case of tycoon Oeung Meng Cheu last week has led to a careful watch in many groups of Facebook and the general public in Cambodia. What has left after the incident is a worrisome feeling of a personal safety among small- and medium-side ...

The International Republican Institute is urging the ruling party and opposition work toward political reform. Jessica Keegan, the group’s Cambodia country director, told VOA Khmer in an interview in Washington that the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the Cambodia National Rescue Party should seek common ground ...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is trying to ease concerns over the social and economic costs of the country’s plan with Australia to receive refugees. U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has called for the deal to be halted until Cambodia improves its refugee support system. Hun Sen ...

Cambodians in Washington raised more than $15,000 for the Kantha Bopha Hospital on Saturday, at an event sponsored by the Cambodian Embassy. ...

Cambodian unions say they will not agree to a minimum wage proposed by the Cambodian government. Union leaders say the government’s proposed minimum wage of $128 per month will not be enough for workers to keep up with the rising cost of living in the country. ...

USAID has announced a regional project to train hundreds of instructors and students to be more competitive for Asean integration at the end of next year. Many young Cambodians say they fear the impending competition from an EU-like economic integration that would free up goods and ...

A new voter registration system that could eliminate irregularities would cost about $17 million, an election monitor said Thursday.  A new system would eliminate duplicate names and improperly spelled names, but would also be based on the old registry, Koul Panha, head of the monitoring group ...

Local rights workers say they fear ongoing protests by the Khmer Krom minority in front of the Vietnamese Embassy could be putting demonstrators at risk of a blacklisting. ...

Mao Monivann, a parliamentarian for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, says he has not received a response from top government officials on whether they are addressing the construction of a road from Vietnam into Mondolkiri province. ...

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank issued a report on Tuesday, urging Cambodia to improve its electricity supply and workforce in order to be competitive. Intermittent electricity, informal payments and a low-skill labor force are all major constraints to doing business in Cambodia, the ...

An opposition lawmaker says the Cambodian government is allowing the construction of roads near the Vietnam border that is encouraging encroachment there. ...

Forestry activists say at least 55,000 tons of luxury wood were sent from Cambodia to China this year alone. Activists from communities that live near or among some of Cambodia’s last forests told reporters Wednesday that illegal logging is ravaging their homelands, part of a “systematic” ...

Rights workers fear for the safety of Cambodia’s vulnerable children once Asean joins in an economic community next year. Children could also face more risk from economic pulls, experts warn. That includes families sending their children to work in other countries, where they will be ...

A provincial court has determined it will hold three men accused of murdering a journalist on Sunday. Kratie court officials say they will detain La Narong, Kem Pheakdy and Pin Heng while an official investigation into the crime takes place. International media advocates condemned the ...

A British lawyer has filed new documents against senior Cambodian officials at the International Criminal Court, accusing them of systematic land grabs that constitute human rights abuses. A communication filed on Oct. 7 claims that over the last 14 years, an estimated 770,000 Cambodians, or ...