ដីធ្លី
Villagers take land title fight to Santuk District Hall
Villagers accused of illegally occupying state land in Kompong Thom province protested outside Santuk district hall yesterday to ask for land titles, residents and authorities said. Sue Nhaunh, a villager and representative of 160 families in Kraya commune, said that more than 100 residents had gathered ...
Villagers to block roads in protest
Hundreds of people whose land has been swallowed by a giant Chinese tourism project on the coast of Koh Kong province will attempt to demonstrate their grievances today by blocking national roads 4 and 48, villagers and human rights workers said Protesters have been resisting China’s ...
Railway impact reports nowhere to be seen
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has not made public the last two quarterly reports on the impact of resettling families who are being evicted for a $142 million railway rehabilitation project. The reports, which are required under an ADM loan agreement with the government, haven’t been ...
Fraud, forgery charges over rosewood logging
Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday charged a businessman with fraud and forgery stemming from a complaint made by the director of Win World Trading Co. Ltd. over a deal involving the selling of rosewood logged in Laos to Vietnam. The provincial military police detained Sann Dichham ...
Forestry department confiscated rosewood in Ratanakiri
The Ratanakiri provincial forestry department over the past week in Andong Meas district confiscated more than 600 pieces of the luxury rosewood species of timber, a forestry official said. Vong Sok Serie, Ratanakiri provincial administration chief, said his officers collected a total of 610 pieces of ...
In a call to find justice, Boeng Kak Lake villagers draw blood
Rounding off a week that included two violent clashes with police and the charging and release of four protesters, Boeng Kak lake villagers yesterday daubed paper sheets with their blood in a symbolic call to end what they consider judicial intimidation. About 50 villagers gathered at ...
Another logger shot dead along Thai border
Thailand has repatriated the body of an Oddar Meanchey man fatally shot Tuesday while illegally logging for rosewood in Thailand, border officials said yesterday. Torn Kimsann, 22, was among a group of four men from Samraong City’s O’Smach commune who had ventured about 1km into Thailand ...
Villagers locked in land dispute threaten arson
Police and military police stopped about 200 villagers from entering rice fields in Battambang province yesterday, saying they had no right to harvest in the 100-hectare area because it belonged to well-known businessman Song Thon, villagers said. Chhut Mao, a 64-year-old village representative of Lvea commune, ...
Six arrested in Cambodia for trying to log in Thailand
Six Oddar Meanchey villagers were arrested Monday afternoon while attempting to cross into Thailand to illegally log rosewood in the same area where three loggers were shot and killed by Thai authorities last week, officials said yesterday In a separate case, two loggers were reported missing ...
Four protesters charged as lake clashes persist
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday charged four female Boeng Kak lake residents with insulting police and obstructing public officials during a protest that turned violent on Monday. Earlier in the day, dozens of residents were blocked by riot police from leaving the lake area, ...
Rubber industry growth a priority
Cambodia aimed to become one of the region’s main rubber producers over the next few years despite the industry’s low international recognition, officials said during the second Global Rubber Conference, held in Phnom Penh on Friday. To that end, the Kingdom had encouraged companies and investors ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011112852994/Business/rubber-industry-growth-a-priority.html
Villagers salute Chea Dara
A mother whose family face eviction from their home at Boeung Kak lake was farewelled at a funeral on Saturday evening, hours after her body was found in the Mekong River. Chea Dara’s body was identified by family members on Saturday in Samraong Thum commune, Kien ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2011112853004/National-news/villagers-salute-chea-dara.html
Six missing after border shooting
Police and military officials were searching for six missing Cambodians yesterday who villagers believe were shot dead by Thai soldiers on Saturday night after entering the Khun Han district of Thailand’s Si Saket province in search of luxury timber. Neth Hing, who lives in Oddar Meanchey’s ...
Cambodia among most deforested countries
Cambodia has one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation, ranking ninth among 180 countries in terms of forest loss during the past decade, according to a new study, which said that economic land concessions and illegal logging were the primary cause for the demise ...
No consultation as government develops new urban planning policy
The Ministry of Land Management and Urban Planning announced yesterday that it will soon complete a new draft sub-decree that aims to guide and regulate urban development in towns and cities. Land and human rights groups, however, criticized the ministry for failing to consult them on ...
Land evictions hurt women most, rights group report says
Amnesty International yesterday launched a report on land evictions in Cambodia that details the impact that government-bestowed economic land concessions have had on women, and sets out recommendations for the government in light of those findings. The new report, titled ‘Eviction and Resistance in Cambodia: Five ...
Three more shot dead logging on border
Three Oddar Meanchey province villagers were shot to death on Monday while logging on the Thai-Cambodian border, officials said yesterday, bringing the total number of border killings so far this year to 14 and drawing concern from human rights groups over the continuing bloodshed around ...
Courts systematically used to ‘threaten’ villagers, NGOs say
The government failed to evaluate social and environmental impacts before granting economic land concessions to private companies, while officials and company staff used the courts to intimidate residents during land disputes, representatives of NGOs said at a conference in the capital yesterday. “The courts are not ...
Koh Kong families demand better eviction compensation
A group of about 30 families in Koh Kong province’s Botum Sakor district said yesterday that they would continue to resist attempts to evict them in order to make way for a Chinese mega-tourism project, unless authorities improve their compensation offer. Villager Prum Sann said the ...
After clashes, tentative agreement for Borei Keila
Following their fourth protest in as many weeks, residents of Phnom Penh’s displaced Borei Keila community yesterday reached a tentative housing agreement with development firm Phanimex, company and village representatives said yesterday. The meeting came after a protest yesterday morning in which more than 100 residents ...
Smuggled rosewood seized from soldiers
Forestry Administration officials yesterday said they confiscated 1.34 cubic meters of smuggled rosewood from RCAF soldiers even after a lieutenant colonel held a pistol to one of their heads in the hope of scaring them off. Tea Kimsoth, head of the administration’s Siem Reap cantonment, said ...
City Hall officials vow lake residents will get land
Phnom Penh municipal officials yesterday agreed to mark out a plot of land promised to Boeng Kak lake villagers by Prime Minister Hun Sen in order to put a stop to a string of recent protests ...
Land dispute villagers seek foreign aid
A group of about 100 villagers who have been embroiled in a long-running land dispute in Kandal province’s Kandal Stung and Takhmau districts gathered in Phnom Penh yesterday to file a petition with foreign donors seeking help in resolving the dispute. The villagers – part of ...
Kingdom's three-year land rush
The government has granted more than 7 million hectares of land to private companies through concessions since 2008, with 222 private companies claiming more than 2 million hectares alone in economic land concessions, rights group Adhoc said yesterday. Ouch Leng, head of Adhoc’s land program, said ...