Police Warn NGOs Over Workshops
Kompong Thom provincial authorities have threatened to shut down two NGOs who have been providing free legal education to poor villagers in the province, accusing the groups of fomenting rural unrest against private investors. The NGOs, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights and the Natural Resource Protection Group, said they would hold a workshop with villagers on Wednesday despite the threats by authorities who have branded their community legal eduation work “incitement.” The threats against the two groups, who are part of efforts to save the Prey Long forest from destruction, come amid concerns that the government is focused on reducing the operating space of civil society actors.
