News

A group of eight Cambodians held for ransom on a Thai fishing boat were freed over the weekend after their families paid 1,000 baht (US$32) per person to a human trafficker in Thailand who is still holding another nine victims, victims and police said yesterday. The ...

A law on the management of farmland currently being drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture is a threat to private landowners as it imposes criminal penalties for farmers who do not abide by new powers the government would have to demarcate land, a human rights ...

The number of new land disputes reported in the first six months of this year decreased by 38 percent compared to the same period in 2011, according to data released by rights group Licadho last week. According to the figures, which represent 15 of the country’s ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen has fiercely defended his right to grant economic land concessions after issuing a moratorium on the leases in May, pointing to a loophole in the ban which exempts ELCs that already had in principle approval. Hun Sen attacked the Post and the ...

Villagers from Chum Kiri commune in Banteay Meanchey province appealed to Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday to intervene in a land dispute concerning roughly 30 hectares of land they say was taken by district soldiers. Doeu Chay, a representative of 25 local families, said that land ...

A lawyer representing the three victims of the Feb. 20 shooting of workers at a special economic zone (SEZ) in Svay Rieng province has written to investigators asking to be allowed to participate in the case. Chin Lyda, a lawyer for human rights group Licadho who is representing the three ...

Two new witnesses have been summonsed in the case against former Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith, as the victims’ lawyer tries to prove he intentionally shot three female protesters outside a shoe factory in February. Nouth Bopinnaroath, Svay Rieng provincial co-ordinator for the rights group Licadho, ...

More than 1,000 people marched in Sihanoukville yesterday to raise awareness of the exploitation of child labour, said rights workers. Kong Socheat, child rights advocacy co-ordinator for Licadho, said the province had been chosen for its high rate of child labour, especially in the fishing sector ...

Imprisoned Boeung Kak lake villagers, some crying, motioned to human rights representatives and Post reporters through a chain-link fence at Prey Sar prison on Tuesday. Their efforts to talk to the visitors were futile, however, as two guards stopped anyone from approaching the 13 women sentenced ...

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a conviction against a staffer from the rights group Licadho for allegedly distributing leaflets insulting government leaders and the king, but changed the charge against him from disinformation to incitement. Leang Sokchouen was convicted in August 2010 for allegedly distributing ...

Three more witnesses have been summonsed for questioning over the fatal shooting of prominent environmentalist Chut Wutty and military police officer In Rattana, rights groups said yesterday. In Kongchit, Koh Kong provincial coordinator for rights group Licadho, said yesterday that deputy prosecutor Srey Mak Ny had ...

After a three-day blockade, soldiers pulled out over the weekend from the Kratie province village where a teenage girl was shot dead last week by government security forces, officials said yesterday. However, human rights workers denied a report by a provincial official that freedom of ...

The village in Kratie province where a teenage girl was shot dead by government security forces on Wednesday remained completely sealed off to independent observers on Friday, drawing concerns from human rights workers that the government had imposed a state of martial law in the ...

Kratie city – Soldiers and military police yesterday blocked all access to a village where a 14-year-old girl was shot dead by security forces on Wednesday while the authorities launched a massive operation to evict hundreds of families from the area under a cloak of ...

One of the journalists on the scene when environmentalist Chut Wutty was gunned down last month appeared in a Koh Kong provincial court yesterday to answer questions about the shooting incident, which also led to the death of military police officer In Rattana. According to human ...

Lawyers for the three women injured in a Feb. 20 shooting at a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Svay Rieng province were prevented from visiting the site of the shooting, allegedly on orders from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC), a lawyer and ...

It took angry motorists rather than government officials or police officers to persuade more than 200 protesting villagers to clear road 48 in Koh Kong province yesterday morning after they blocked it for almost 24 hours, a human rights group representative said. The villagers, involved in ...

Prisoners still face being exploited for labour, despite the government’s March prakas banning goods made behind bars from being exported, rights group Licadho has said. Although Licadho believes the prakas will help protect the image of Cambodia’s garment industry, it says inmates still face exploitation under ...

The U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia, Surya Subedi, was in Ratanakkiri province yesterday as part of his weeklong visit to the country to investigate the impact land concessions have on local communities. Some rights groups have singled out land concessions as the premier human rights ...

A group of NGOs on Friday called on Australia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to suspend work and funding for a government-led project to rehabilitate the country’s railway system should authorities in Poipet City follow through on an eviction notice delivered to 22 families ...

About 100 residents of Kampong Speu’s Omlaing commune will accompany five fellow villagers to the provincial court today after  receiving summonses last week. ...

Three villagers who were evicted last year to make way for the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s railway—part of a $142 million project paid for by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and AusAid—were hospitalized early Friday morning after they were attacked with rocks and sticks at a ...

Forty families from Kandal province’s Chroy Snor village filed a complaint with Licadho yesterday, accusing district fishery officials of keeping an illegal fishing lot open and renting it to businessmen.   ...

Nine non-governmental groups issued a statement late last week urging the country’s National Election Committee (NEC) to enforce laws that bar political parties from using state resources. “The NEC has to punish the politicians and parties who use the state resources,” said Yong Kim Eng, ...