Social development

Following the arrest of 11 activists on Tuesday as they attempted to deliver a petition to the U.S. and French embassies seeking the release of 23 jailed protesters, NGO representatives quietly delivered similar petitions to the Japanese Embassy and European Union headquarters Wednesday. The petitioners, representing ...

Three NGOs on Wednesday called on ANZ Royal Bank to help the hundreds of families who have lost farmland to a sugar plantation that the bank helped to finance in Kompong Speu province. The NGOs also made public a 2013 social and environmental impact assessment of ...

Unions aligned with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government issued a statement Wednesday calling on it to “take action” against union leaders who they accuse of inciting workers to hold strikes and violent demonstrations. “We would like to request [CPP Labor Minister] Ith Sam Heng to take ...

Several hundred civilian supporters of Prime Minister Hun Sen, backed up by an equal number of military police and provincial police armed with automatic rifles, batons and tear gas launchers, forced opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha to cancel a meeting with party followers ...

More than 1900 people were killed in 4300 cases of accidents in 2013, which showed higher figures than the year 2012. This requires urgent attention by commuters, and officers in charge. The figures were made known at a training course on 20-21 January 2014, which was ...

The government must amend legislation to stamp out hate crimes and discrimination against Cambodia’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens, rights activists said during a forum in the capital yesterday. During the second day of the first community dialogue dedicated to the advancement and discussion ...

Eleven political activists were pulled off the street by helmeted security guards Tuesday morning during a peaceful march to foreign embassies to deliver petitions calling for an end to government violence and the release of 23 imprisoned activists and strikers. The 11 protesters—10 land rights activists ...

Amid the continued arrest of activists who have defied a ban on public gatherings, a group of unions and associations yesterday revealed plans for a large demonstration in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Sunday. About 10,000 people are expected to attend the rally, according to a ...

Ten years after his assassination, friends and associates remember Chea Vichea, the founding president of the Free Trade Union, as a quiet man but a charismatic leader, passionate about labor issues and the right for workers to collectively bargain for higher wages and better conditions. ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen passed a sub-decree late last year to expand the scope of his government’s Cambodian Human Rights Committee (CHRC) by creating new departments and placing rights monitors in villages, according to a copy of the Royal Gazette dated December 31 and distributed ...

Phnom Penh police released union leader Sok Chhun Oeung from custody Monday, a day after dragging him off the street at a peaceful protest he had organized along Phnom Penh’s riverside against the detention of 23 men still in jail for participating in demonstrations over ...

Preliminary research in two provinces has found that a lack of implementation of the domestic violence law means that women continue to suffer abuse and more needs to be done to ensure that attitudes change and perpetrators are held accountable. Katherine Brickell, senior lecturer in Human ...

The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling on the bloc’s executive body to urgently act on an EU preferential trade scheme found to have carried high risks of human rights violations in Cambodia through land evictions for industrial sugar development. In a January 16 resolution, ...

Hundreds of civil society representatives, garment workers and community groups are expected to take to the streets this morning to deliver petitions to foreign embassies calling on the government to release the 23 people arrested during garment worker strikes earlier this month and find justice ...

District security guards this morning arrested 11 political activists taking part in a protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh against the imprisonment of 23 protesters who were beaten and arrested earlier this month. The protesters, including union leader Rong Chhun and prominent ...

More than 200 families filed a complaint with the Preah Vihear provincial court yesterday against two employees of logging tycoon Try Pheap who allegedly cleared 15 hectares of community forest late last year before being stopped by villagers. Huon Kino, 39, a representative of the 203 ...

Cambodian police broke up a rally in the capital on Tuesday and briefly detained 11 activists who were calling for international assistance to secure the release of protesters arrested in a recent crackdown. The detentions came as the country’s main opposition party called off a planned ...

Ahead of the 10-year anniversary on Wednesday of the assassination of Free Trade Union (FTU) President Chea Vichea, police said Monday that despite their inability to bring anyone to justice for the high-profile slaying, the case remains open. However, Chea Mony, the brother of Chea Vichea, ...

Cambodia reported about 17,533 dengue fever cases in 2013, down 59 percent from the 42,362 cases in a year earlier, a health official said Monday. The disease killed 59 children, representing a 69 percent decrease from the 189 deaths in a year earlier, said Char Meng ...

Hun Sen’s army of student land measurers may have marked ground for them in 2012, but representatives of about 20 ethnic families in Ratanakkiri province said yesterday that their combined 50 hectares of land has now been invaded by hordes of families digging for gems. Chhay ...

Speaking two weeks after crushing opposition party demonstrations demanding his resignation, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday called on supporters of his ruling CPP to prepare to stand up against any group aiming to overthrow his government. “All of you who voted for the CPP, be ...

Four of six men arrested on Thursday for allegedly clearing more than three hectares of protected forest within Mondulkiri’s Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area were charged on Saturday, court officials and rights monitors said yesterday. Sou Sovichea, provincial deputy prosecutor, confirmed yesterday that the four suspects charged ...

Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong on Friday visited evicted residents of the Borei Keila community, now living in a slum atop piles of garbage near their former homes, and promised, yet again, to build proper housing for the 150 families who refuse to move from ...

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association (CITA), said Friday that he feels the teachers’ movement is under threat after he received a notice from the Ministry of Interior, summoning him to explain his work on Monday. The letter, dated Thursday and signed by ...