News
No Results in Protest Shooting Investigations
At 10 a.m. on January 3, about 2,000 members of the security forces, mostly military police, advanced down Phnom Penh’s factory-lined Veng Sreng Street, spraying AK-47 assault rifle fire into a crowd of about 100 protesters who had been throwing stones and crude Molotov cocktails. ...
Khuon Narim and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/no-results-in-protest-shooting-investigations-51325/
March proceeds peacefully
Taking a markedly different approach from Monday’s violent breakup of a peaceful demonstration at Freedom Park, authorities yesterday stood back as about 100 activists marched around central Phnom Penh, delivering a petition to embassies and the United Nations. District security guards and riot police initially seemed ...
Sean Teehan and Mom Kunthear
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/march-proceeds-peacefully
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/
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 ...
Security Forces Get in Line for Chinese New Year ‘Ang Pao’ Cash
Chinese New Year is coming and crowds of uniformed police, military police, soldiers and even the stony-faced troops of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Bodyguard Unit will be queuing with expectation at the gates of the rich and powerful to receive their annual “ang pao” envelopes. In ...
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/security-forces-get-in-line-for-chinese-new-year-ang-pao-cash-51022/
Untrained guards rule at protests
Security guards that have forcibly detained protesters in the capital in recent weeks include large numbers of men who have received no government security training, Phnom Penh municipal spokesman Long Dimanche said yesterday. In an effort to recruit civilian “public order” officers, Dimanche told the Post, the ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/untrained-guards-rule-protests
Hun Sen Calls On CPP Voters To Defend His Government
Speaking two weeks after crushing opposition party demonstrations demanding his resignation, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday called on supporters of his ruling CPP to prepare to stand up against any group aiming to overthrow his government. “All of you who voted for the CPP, be ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-calls-on-cpp-voters-to-defend-his-government-50875/
US Support to Cambodian Military Under Scrutiny
As military police began a 10-day training program with the U.S. military in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, questions are being raised again over Washington’s ongoing support to Cambodian security forces involved in serious human rights abuses. On January 3, military police officers opened fire with AK-47 ...
Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/us-support-to-cambodian-military-under-scrutiny-50670/
Group Defies Government Ban to Demand Detainees’ Release
Defying a new ban on public gatherings, more than 50 activists and monks gathered outside the local U.N. human rights office Monday morning to demand the immediate release of 23 men who were arrested earlier this month during violent clashes between police and garment workers. The ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/group-defies-government-ban-to-demand-detainees-release-50483/
UN Envoy Urged to Probe Arrest of Monks
The U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia, Surya Subedi, who began his 10th fact-finding mission to Cambodia on Sunday, has been asked to investigate issues faced by ethnic Khmer Krom people after five monks were arrested for participating in garment worker protests earlier this month. In ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/un-envoy-urged-to-probe-arrest-of-monks-50489/
Opposition CNRP Leaders to Face Court Today
Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha are due to appear before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court as scheduled this morning after retaining the services of a new lawyer, a CNRP spokesman said Monday. Mr. Rainsy and Mr. Sokha, as well as union leaders Rong Chhun ...
Eang Mengleng and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/opposition-cnrp-leaders-to-face-court-today-50487/
Relatives Call On Government To Release 23 Detainees
Relatives and human rights activists on Sunday called on the government to release 23 men beaten and arrested during clashes between police and garment workers just more than a week ago, and said they would defy a ban on public gatherings if they were not. The ...
Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/relatives-call-on-government-to-release-23-detainees-50449/
Japan Asked Government to Protect Its Interests During Strike
Japan has expressed its deep concern about the situation in Cambodia following the deadly crackdown on striking garment workers last Friday, and admitted Thursday that it had contacted the government during the protests to ask for protection of Japanese citizens and companies. Military police armed with ...
Simon Henderson
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/japan-asked-government-to-protect-its-interests-during-strike-50399/
UN wants probe into Cambodian violence
The UN human rights agency urged Cambodia to launch an investigation into the “disproportionate” use of force by security forces last week against garment factory workers striking over pay. Military police opened fire on workers protesting outside a factory in Phnom Penh on January 3 and ...
Peninsula On-line News Staff
http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/asia/267595/un-wants-probe-into-cambodian-violence
Lawyer to Assess Whether Government Crimes Worthy of ICC
The opposition CNRP announced Tuesday that it had engaged lawyer Richard Rogers, former head of the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s Defense Support Section, to analyze evidence of alleged crimes committed by the CPP government and decide whether they justify filing a complaint with the International Criminal ...
Colin Meyn and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawyer-to-assess-whether-government-crimes-worthy-of-icc-50303/
Five Killed During Protest Confirmed as Garment Workers
The five people killed by AK-47 gunfire from military police at a protest along Pur Senchey district’s Veng Sreng Street on Friday were all striking garment factory workers, a union official confirmed Sunday. Military police officers opened fire on the factory-lined street on Friday morning during ...
Saing Soenthrith
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/five-killed-during-protest-confirmed-as-garment-workers-50141/
Cambodia calls for calm as protests banned after deadly clash
The Cambodian Ministry of Interior on Saturday called for the people to stay calm as all forms of demonstrations were prohibited so as to restore social security and public order after a deadly clash on Friday. “The ministry urges all the people to keep calm and ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-01/04/c_133018723.htm
Cambodia’s GMAC says factory closures continue due to ongoing strikes
The Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) said Thursday most of its 559 factories would continue to be closed due to security concerns after six pro-opposition trade unions led striking workers to destroy factories’ properties and forced workers to join their protests. “Because of the current ...
NZ Week News Staff
http://www.nzweek.com/world/cambodias-gmac-says-factory-closures-continue-due-to-ongoing-strikes-107149/
Cambodian Military Cracks Down on Striking Garment Workers
Cambodia’s capital on Thursday, arresting five monks and 10 others in a display of force that has been described by a rights group as unprecedented. The soldiers from Special Command Unit 911 were deployed to crush the demonstration over minimum wages near the Yak Jin ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/strike-01022014190125.html
Cambodian labor minister holds urgent talk with pro-opposition trade unions over strikes
Cambodian Minister of Labor Ith Samheng on Friday afternoon held an urgent talk with the representatives of six pro-opposition trade unions after they have led tens of thousands of workers off work in protest against low wage increase for 2014. As the meeting was going on, ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/27/c_133002053.htm
UN rights expert calls for calm amid growing demonstrations in Cambodia
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Surya P. Subedi, on Friday reiterated his call for calm and restraint as demonstrations are now taking place daily in Phnom Penh. “Demonstrations such as those of recent days and weeks are a ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-12/27/c_133002304.htm
Calm, mostly, prevails
Although International Human Rights Day ended in the forceful eviction of protesters from outside the US embassy last night, monks and their supporters who spent days marching to the capital met with no opposition in the morning as they defied a ban on marching to ...
Post Staff
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/calm-mostly-prevails
Armed Security Doubled for Human Rights Day Rallies
The government will deploy double the usual number of armed security personnel on the streets of Phnom Penh on Tuesday to keep control of the large number of rallies planned in the city to celebrate International Human Rights Day, a military police official said Monday. “We ...
Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/armed-security-doubled-for-human-rights-day-rallies-48954/
Complaint Lodged Against Security Chiefs Over Woman’s Shooting
A protester involved in Tuesday’s clash between SL Garment Factory workers and security forces filed a complaint yesterday against Phnom Penh’s municipal and military police chiefs, accusing them of responsibility for the death of a 49-year-old street-food vendor who was killed by police gunfire, according ...