ការអភិវឌ្ឍសង្គម
សិទ្ធិមនុស្ស
New Draft Law Could Legalize Land Grabbing
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 ...
Supporters pray for Sonando
While Mam Sonando lay in a cramped Prey Sar prison cell yesterday, sweating out a fever, some 100 members of the Association of Democrats burned incense and kneeled in prayer at the Preah Ang Dang Keu shrine, calling for the outspoken Beehive Radio director’s release. With ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012072457577/National-news/supporters-pray-for-sonando.html
Property rights threatened, NGOs claim
A draft agricultural land law threatens to eliminate property rights and effectively remove all limitations on the size of economic land concessions, a coalition of civil society groups said in a statement released. The draft of The Law on the Management and Use of Agricultural Land, ...
David Boyle and May Titthara, P. 1
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012072457586/National-news/property-rights-threatened-ngos-claim.html
Villagers No Longer Seen As Secessionists
Villagers locked in a land dispute in Pursat province’s Veal Veng district no longer pose a secessionist threat, and those remaining in the contested area will receive new plots of land on which to live, the district governor said yesterday. District governor Chhe Chhiv said that ...
Supporters Pray for Mam Sonando’s Release
More than a hundred supporters of imprisoned Beehive Radio owner Mam Sonando gathered at the Preah Ang Dang Keu Shrine in front of the Royal Palace yesterday morning to offer prayers for his release. Sporting shirts printed with photos of Mr. Sonando, the group lit candles ...
More confess to Kratie ‘secession’
Ministry of Interior officials announced yesterday that three more villagers accused of involvement in a “secessionist plot” in Kratie province turned themselves in and confessed their guilt on Saturday, taking advantage of the prime minister’s offer of immunity for those who agree to act as ...
No Plan to Shut Beehive Radio, Gov’t Says
As questions linger over the fate of the independent Beehive Radio station in the wake of its owner’s arrest, a government official yesterday insisted there were no plans to stop it from broadcasting, despite its often critical stance toward the ruling party. “No plan to shut ...
Eviction pain lingers in Phnom Penh
Three years after authorities demolished the last houses in Phnom Penh’s Group 78 community, evictees relocated to the outskirts of the capital are still struggling, the Housing Rights Task Force said yesterday. More than 200 members of the Group 78 community gathered close to the site ...
Poipet families told to make way for train
Families living along a planned national train route in Poipet town were told they have 10 days to vacate their properties or be forcibly evicted, residents and NGOs said yesterday. Eang Vuthy, Development Watch Program Manager of Equitable Cambodia, said an eviction notice from the Poipet ...
Sonando broadcast targeted PM
A day before Prime Minister Hun Sen publicly called for the arrest of Mam Sonando, the Beehive Radio station director hosted a fiery broadcast from The Hague, where lawyers were trying to launch a case against the premier in the International Criminal Court. Just under three ...
Alleged 'secessionist' faces 15 years
Beehive radio station director and accused “secessionist” Mam Sonando was sent to Prey Sar prison yesterday, where he will be detained until his trial on formal criminal charges including insurrection, a conviction that alone could result in up to 15 years behind bars. After two and ...
Mam Sonando Charged, Jailed Ahead of Trial
After two hours of questioning, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday sent independent radio station owner Mam Sonando to Prey Sar prison for pretrial detention, where he will await a hearing on allegations that he tried to foment a secessionist movement in Kratie province. As Mr. Sonando was being questioned, ...
Human Rights Watch Calls for Release of Beehive Radio Owner
The US-based Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called on the government to release Beehive Radio owner Mam Sonando and drop all secessionist charges against him. Mam Sonando, 70, was arrested Sunday in Phnom Penh and has been charged with crimes related to sedition, for allegedly running ...
Women's rights group troubled by ADHR draft
A “public morality” clause in the draft ASEAN Declaration on Human Rights threatens the most basic rights of women and sexual minorities and should be scrapped, a coalition of women’s groups said in a statement released yesterday. Civil society groups met with foreign ministers at the ...
Boeng Kak Women Meet US Ambassador for Women’s Affairs
Five women from the Boeng Kak lake community met with the U.S. ambassador-at-large for women’s affairs on Saturday in Siem Reap City, asking the U.S. to intervene in their case and put pressure on the Cambodian government to stop violence against women. Meeting on the sidelines ...
Mam Sonando Arrested for ‘Insurrection’
Mam Sonando, beleaguered owner of the independent Beehive Radio station, was arrested at his Phnom Penh home yesterday morning on a raft of charges relating to a so-called secessionist movement that authorities supposedly disbanded in Kratie earlier this year. More than a dozen plainclothes and uniformed ...
US hears Boeung Kak women
The US ambassador at large for Global Women’s Issues – an office in the US State Department – met with five of the Boeung Kak lake female activists on Saturday in a sidelines meeting of a Lower Mekong gender policy dialogue. “It was a full ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012071657436/National-news/us-hears-boeung-kak-women.html
Alleged Kratie 'secessionist' arrested
Police in the capital yesterday arrested the alleged leader of a “secessionist plot”, Beehive Radio station director Mam Sonando, who had already been abroad for two months when hundreds of security personnel stormed a Kratie province village in May. Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman for the Ministry ...
Boeng Kak Women Attempt to Meet US Official
Siem Reap City – Four women evicted from the Boeng Kak lake community and released from jail last month arrived here Friday in an attempt to meet Melanne Verveer, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for women’s affairs, who is part of a delegation visiting the country with ...
Land dispute hearing delayed
The Koh Kong Provincial Court yesterday postponed the first hearing in a long-running land dispute between dozens of villagers from Chikor Leu commune and sugar companies believed to be partly owned by ruling-party senator Ly Yong Phat. ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012071357394/National-news/land-dispute-hearing-delayed.html
Clinton visit sparks hope
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Phnom Penh today for diplomatic and business talks with China and ASEAN’s 10 member states, but rights groups and opposition parties are counting on the state of human rights in Cambodia to be a top priority as ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012071157348/National-news/clinton-visit-sparks-hope.html
Released Boeng Kak Women Back to Old Ways
Less than two weeks after being released from prison, the 13 women convicted in May for protesting evictions at Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak community staged their first public action yesterday. The women, joined by about as many neighbors, submitted petitions to the Australian, French, U.K. and ...
Borei Keila evictees turn to Clinton
As the ASEAN summit turns Phnom Penh into a buzz of diplomatic activity, the chance to send a well-timed message has not been lost on the local community. Fifteen representatives of the evicted families of Borei Keila yesterday filed a petition asking US Secretary of State ...
Asean to Release 'Elements' of Rights Accord
The Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday said Asean would not postpone its plans to approve a controversial human rights declaration for the region by November, and would publicize only “key provisions” of the draft beforehand. Disappointed by the lack of openness and concerned that the declaration will ...