News

Six sawmills in Preah Vihear province suspected of processing illegal timber were raided on Monday by police, military police and Forestry Administration officers who confiscated an undisclosed amount of luxury-grade wood product during their searches, an official said. ...

More than 1 million hectares of forest terrain and land leased by private companies has been put under government control since Prime Minister Hun Sen initiated a moratorium on new economic land concessions (ELCs) in May 2012, the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and ...

Six inmates busted out of Ratanakkiri Provincial Prison in the wee hours of yesterday morning, police said, adding another incident to a string of embarrassing escapes at the facility over the past two years. According to a post on the National Police’s website, authorities in Ratanakkiri’s ...

One of 11 firms that had their economic land concessions revoked by the Ministry of Environment on Friday has continued to work its former land in Banteay Meanchey province, according to local residents. ...

Police and environment officers in Mondolkiri province on Sunday confiscated more than 3,000 lengths of luxury-grade timber found inside a wildlife sanctuary but have yet to determine if it belongs to a Chinese company with a land concession in the area. ...

Long considered the friendlier and less exploitative option for overseas Cambodian migrants, South Korea is now being slammed by Amnesty International for a number of abuses afflicting its migrant-dominated agriculture sector. The 20,000 foreign workers fuelling South Korea’s farming industry regularly encounter intimidation, violence, excessive working ...

Four Vietnamese women claiming to be working for a Vietnamese company attempted to obtain residency papers reserved for Cambodian citizens by bribing authorities in Ratanakkiri’s Sre Angkrang commune last week, police and an NGO said yesterday. The news comes as the government continues a “foreigner census” ...

The wife of slain journalist Taing Try filed a complaint with the Kratie Provincial Court on Tuesday urging judicial officials to bring charges against two more men, including a local military police chief, for her husband’s murder on Sunday. ...

Activists from two local rights groups yesterday accused soldiers in Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district of seizing their cameras and stopping them from investigating a land dispute. ...

Labor officials say they plan to put together an ad hoc group to discuss the contentious minimum wage for factory workers as they move toward a final decision next month. The announcement Tuesday came after meetings between Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng and Ker Sovannaroath, ...

The three men arrested for the murder of 49-year-old journalist Taing Try in Kratie province on Sunday morning confessed to murdering the reporter after he threatened to tell authorities about their illegal logging activities, a police official said. ...

About 80 villagers locked in a land dispute in Preah Vihear province found their planned march to the National Assembly blocked by security forces in the capital’s Meanchey district yesterday. Village representative Meng Chanthorn said that the quashed march, which was ultimately abandoned without the use ...

Thai soldiers shot and seriously injured at least four illegal loggers who crossed into Thailand from Oddar Meanchey province’s Trapaing Prasat district last week, a rights worker said Sunday. A group of about 10 loggers were searching for luxury rosewood across the border in Thailand’s Sisaket ...

NGO workers interviewing evictees in Oddar Meanchey province said police pulled their car over without cause on Saturday and tried to seize one of their cameras, the third reported case of authorities in the area harassing the group’s staff in the past month. ...

A ruling party politician has pledged to not only resolve a raft of land disputes, but push a policy of “on-site development” – redevelopment that does not remove people from their communities – over mass relocations. Speaking to a crowd of about 1,000 outside the National ...

A CPP commune chief in Battambang province led more than 150 villagers in a demonstration on Friday outside the local office of rights group Adhoc after a representative of the organization accused the official of corruption for allegedly selling plots of public land to local ...

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 ...

Minority villagers from Ratanakkiri’s O’Chum district climbed up a mountain to a community forest yesterday morning to challenge a company they claim is illegally felling their trees. ...

Six economic land concessionaires in Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey provinces have had their contracts to supply the government with wood to build housing for soldiers and their families cancelled. In 2011, after the conflict with Thailand over the Preah Vihear temple, the government encouraged the ...

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

Secret storage depots for illegal timber hidden in the forest in Ratanakkiri’s O’Chum district were discovered by ethnic minority villagers on Friday, prompting a rights worker to suggest local officials were involved in the illicit trade. ...

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 ...

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. ...

The government’s countrywide census of foreigners resulted in the first deportations, as six undocumented Vietnamese workers were sent back across the border from Ratanakkiri province last week, officials said yesterday. The move prompted one provincial NGO worker to call for more deportations as part of a ...