ព័ត៌មាន
Sonando Jailed for 20 Years; Sentence Denounced
The Phnom Penh Municipal Court handed down a 20-year jail sentence to independent radio station owner Mam Sonando yesterday for his role in fomenting an alleged secessionist movement in a decision drawing condemnation from human rights groups and some of Cambodia’s main foreign donors. The court ...
Garment worker missing for nine days
On September 10, Thol Vin, 18, left for her job at a garment factory in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district, just like any other day. She had been working there for more than two years until she disappeared unexpectedly during her lunch break. On Friday, Thol and ...
Cambodian Activists Call for International Sugar Boycott
Human rights monitoring groups and Cambodian activists are calling for an international boycott of Tate & Lyle and Domino Sugar, who do business with sugar suppliers accused of participating in government-sanctioned land grabs and illegal evictions throughout rural Cambodia. According to the Cambodian League for the ...
Land Rights Talks Held With Japanese Envoy
Japanese Ambassador Kuroki Masafumi met with human rights workers on Friday to discuss land rights in Cambodia, particularly implementation of the law and the use of force in evictions, two of the participants at the meeting said. Adhoc President Thun Saray, Licadho President Pung Chhiv Kek and ...
Court Detains Two More Land Activists
Protesters from both neighborhoods gathered in front of the Phnom Penh Court on Wednesday to demand the release of the three. Phnom Penh Municipal Court is holding two more land protesters, following the detention of one woman on Tuesday. The two activists, from the Borei Keila neighborhood, ...
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/court-detain-two-more-land-activists/1502315.html
Gov't Reports $25M From Rents in Six Months
The government earned just over $25 million in rental fees from state land leased to private companies in the first six months of the year, according to new figures from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. While the data shows that earning have risen, critics say ...
Farmers Concerned That Draft Law Will Legalize Land Grabs
About 60 farmers met yesterday in Phnom Penh to rise their concerns about the law on the management of farmland that is currently being drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture, which critics say will legalize land grabbing. The latest public version of the draft law grants power ...
Trafficked fishermen released-for a price
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 ...
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 ...
Reported Cases of Land Grabbing Decrease
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 ...
PM Defends ELC Signings
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 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012062757048/National-news/pm-defends-elcs.html
Villagers, Soldiers Tussle Over Land
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 ...
Lawyer Asks to Participate in Shooting Probe
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 ...
New Bavet witnesses called
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, ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012061256740/National-news/new-bavet-witnesses-called.html
March calls for end to child labour
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 ...
Boeung Kak women kept away from NGO, reporters
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 ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012053056483/National-news/silent-treatment-at-prey-sar.html
New charge, same verdict for activist
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 new witnesses called in Chut Wutty case
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 ...
As Soldiers Leave Kratie Village, Problems Remain
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 ...
No Access to Kratie Village After Killing
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 Village Sealed After Girl’s Killing
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 ...
Koh Kong judge queries reporter in Wutty case
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 ...
Shooting Victims’ Lawyers Denied Site Visit
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 ...
Roadblock ends as protesters succumb to drivers' demands
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 ...