Social development
Firm buying Boeng Kak land claims no knowledge of evictions
A Singapore-based firm whose subsidiary plans to buy land in Phnom Penh from which thousands of families have been forcibly evicted said Wednesday that the firm had no knowledge of the long-running land dispute. The firm, HLH Group, also denied any official or financial ties to ...
Zsombor Peter and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/firm-buying-boeng-kak-land-claims-no-knowledge-of-evictions-62463/
Ten commandments: Gov’t lays out food standards
Makers of food- and beverage-related products are for the first time facing mandatory health regulations, with the unveiling of 10 national standards by the Ministry of Industry and Handicraft. The announcement comes after the National Standard Council, a government-run committee, finally approved the standards in May ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/ten-commandments-gov%E2%80%99t-lays-out-food-standards
Torture, beating of detainees continue, report finds
Detainees and prisoners continue to be administered electric shocks, beaten unconscious and even smothered by plastic bags, with 49 new allegations of torture or abuse at the hands of authorities this year, according to rights group Licadho, which says in a report released Wednesday that ...
Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/torture-beating-of-detainees-continue-report-finds-62461/
Evictees abandon new land
About half the Koh Kong province villagers relocated to make way for a Union Development Group resort project have abandoned the new homes provided for them, citing poor conditions and an inconvenient location, a village representative said yesterday. More than 1,000 families living in the province’s ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/evictees-abandon-new-land
UN rights envoy Surya Subedi concerned by barricading of Cambodia's Freedom Park
The UN human rights envoy to Cambodia says the space for democracy has shrunk following a bloody crackdown on protesters earlier this year. Months of anti-government protests boiled over in January this year, when police open fired on striking workers and opposition supporters. The next day, as ...
Tom Maddocks
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-25/un-rights-envoy-concerned-by-closure-of-cambodia27s-freedom/5547916
Thai court agrees to hear lawsuit over controversial Xayaburi dam in Laos
A top court in Thailand agreed on Tuesday to hear a lawsuit brought by villagers against the country’s decision to purchase power from the planned Xayaburi mega dam in neighboring Laos, which green groups say could threaten the region’s environment and food security. Overruling a lower ...
Parameswaran Ponnudurai
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/lawsuit-06242014170128.html
HAGL filled in lakes: villagers
More than 100 families living in Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat district have filed a complaint with authorities, claiming a rubber giant – already accused of illegal logging – filled in two natural lakes, provincial officials said yesterday. Villagers, along with government officials, say Vietnamese company Hong Anh Gai ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hagl-filled-lakes-villagers
Union boss to appeal $25k bail
Union leader Ath Thorn has been granted an Appeal Court appearance on July 1, in which he will argue against conditions that required him to pay $25,000 bail over an ongoing court case. The Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) president is due to ...
Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/union-boss-appeal-25k-bail
Officials show Areng families relocation plan
Hundreds of families due to be displaced by the planned 108-MW Stung Chhay Areng dam were called to a meeting Tuesday with provincial authorities, who presented a plan for relocation and then distributed gifts of shrimp paste and MSG. Heng Samnang, a staffer for local NGO ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/officials-show-areng-families-relocation-plan-distribute-food-62348/
Feature: More Cambodian students seek degree in Chinese language
More and more Cambodian students have sought degree in Chinese literature as Cambodian- Chinese ties in economics, trade, investment, and tourism have been expanding rapidly in recent years. AEU is the only university in Cambodia providing Chinese language programs at degree levels since 2012 under ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140624/feature-more-cambodian-students-seek-degree-chinese-language
Reform needed with new appeal courts on the way
As part of a trio of long-awaited judicial laws passed last month by the National Assembly, the country’s judicial system is set to integrate a number of new provincial appeal courts, expanding access to the appeal process to people imprisoned outside Phnom Penh. But the only ...
Lauren Crothers and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/reform-needed-with-new-appeal-courts-on-the-way-62217/
Villagers block man’s burial wish
More than 100 villagers in Kompong Thom province blocked a funeral procession in Stung Sen City on Saturday to prevent the burial of a recently deceased ethnic Vietnamese man on land he owned in the vicinity of a local primary school, villagers and an officials ...
Hay Pisey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kdc-families-want-compensation-deal-revoked-62215/
For villagers losing land, Hun Sen is last resort
Three separate communities from across the country were in Phnom Penh on Monday to petition Prime Minister Hun Sen to personally intervene to help settle their various land disputes. Communities affected by alleged land grabs in Phnom Penh and beyond often appeal directly to Mr. Hun ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/for-villagers-losing-land-hun-sen-is-last-resort-62200/
Committee says gender gap threatens development goals
Cambodian women continue to be poorly represented in government following commune elections in May, the Committee to Promote Women in Politics said yesterday. This reality, the committee said, is endangering the Kingdom’s chances of meeting its UN Millennium Development Goals. ...
Vong Sokheng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/committee-says-gender-gap-threatens-development-goals
Company defies order, continues dredging sand
A company ordered to cease its sand-dredging operation along the Sesan River in Ratanakkiri province after it was accused of illegally searching for gold is now defying the order, villagers claimed Monday. Discovery Power, a joint Chinese-Cambodian venture, was given a license to dredge sand for ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/company-defies-order-continues-dredging-sand-62212/
Without lawyer, Krom villagers face court trial
Arrest, detention and even an upcoming trial can’t sway 68 Khmer Krom families faced with eviction to give up a bitter land dispute over a bird sanctuary in Takeo province. After being charged in April with illegally occupying state land, three representatives from Sangkum Meanchey village ...
Laignee Barron and Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/without-lawyer-krom-villagers-face-court-trial
KDC families want compensation deal revoked
Twenty-two families who have been locked in a bitter, seven-year dispute over 145 hectares of land in Kompong Chhnang province with a company owned by the wife of Mines and Energy Minister Suy Sem claim they were illegally pressured into accepting compensation and filed a ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/kdc-families-want-compensation-deal-revoked-62215/
Army creates new platoon in Areng Valley
The army created a new platoon on Monday to guard an area near the Areng Valley in Koh Kong province, where hundreds of ethnic minority residents have fiercely resisted plans by a Chinese company to build a hydropower dam that would flood their ancestral lands. The ...
Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/army-creates-new-platoon-in-areng-valley-62198/
Hundreds plea for PM’s help
Hundreds of families descended on Phnom Penh yesterday to ask Prime Minister Hun Sen and the United Nations to intervene in three separate land disputes. More than 800 families from across the country gathered in front of Wat Botum at about 9am, where they submitted petitions ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hundreds-plea-pm%E2%80%99s-help
Questions raised over land sale at lakeside
Developer Shukaku has sold off close to 1.3 hectares of land at the capital’s controversial Boeung Kak lake site to a Singapore-listed HLH Group company, according to a statement from HLH. HLH subsidiary D’Lotus Development purchased the land at Boeung Kak in Daun Penh district for ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/questions-raised-over-land-sale-lakeside
Big queues for $4 passport
A sub-decree aimed at stemming the massive influx of mostly undocumented Cambodian migrant workers returning from Thailand with a drastically reduced passport fee already appears to be generating an overwhelming response. Yesterday, an estimated 200 workers lined up outside the Battambang provincial passport office to get ...
Chhay Channyda and Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/big-queues-4-passport
Defendants not informed of rights in cambodian appeal court cases: study
Judges in Cambodia’s Court of Appeal fail to inform defendants of their rights and a high number of hearings do not even have the defendants or their lawyers present, according to a study by a local rights group. In addition, the quality of evidence presented at ...
Richard Finney
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/rights-06232014173104.html
Wildlife trade endangering Cambodia’s fauna
In many restaurants in Phnom Penh, wild meat is readily available. Walk into one of these, and you’ll be able to order deer, wild pig or even monitor lizards. Some places sell even rarer meat, from endangered animals like the pangolin. Wildlife conservation officials say the ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/wildlife-trade-endangering-cambodias-fauna/1943063.html
No signs of H7N9 flu, MERS coronavirus identified in Cambodia: health official
Cambodia has not seen any case of H7N9 bird flu virus and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, a senior health official said Monday. Speaking at a seminar on the awareness of H7N9 and MERS coronavirus, Dr. Ly Sovann, director of the health ministry’s communicable ...
Xinhuanet News Staff
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/health/2014-06/23/c_133430670.htm