News
From Clearing Farmland in Preah Vihear
M’lou Prey II commune authorities, of Preah Vihear’s Chheb district, submitted documentation Tuesday to the district regarding alleged encroachment on land farmed by Indigenous Kuy people following a protest earlier this month. ...
Indigenous community finds 86 forest crimes in Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary
Indigenous community of Preah Vihear province continues to find nearly 86 forest crimes at Preah Roka Wildlife Sanctuary this September, while local officials denied the findings and asked the patrol community to cooperate with relevant officials to conserve those natural resources together. ...
Chea Sokny
https://www.postkhmer.com/national/2023-09-22-0930-254674.html
Environment Ministry asks Kraol indigenous people to apologize for burning down building
Two weeks after the Kraol indigenous community set fire to an Environment Ministry station in Kratie, the ministry invited local authorities and indigenous people to a meeting on Wednesday and requested that the indigenous community apologize. Only one indigenous person invited attended. ...
Seoung Nimol and Hel Komsan
https://cambojanews.com/environment-ministry-asks-kraol-indigenous-people-to-apologize-for-burning-down-building/
Burning of Environment Ministry station caps off years-long feud
The scorched remains of an Environment Ministry station still lay strewn about after more than 300 farmers burned it down two weeks ago. Even the outhouse was reduced to rubble in the culmination of a multi-year conflict between local communities and ministry officials. ...
Andrew Califf, Seoung Nimol, and Eung Sea
https://cambojanews.com/burning-of-environment-ministry-station-caps-off-years-long-feud/
Gun-wielding rubber firm workers clear more Jarai farms in Ratanakiri land dispute
Gun-toting workers acting on behalf of a well-connected rubber firm have continued to clear the farmlands of a Jarai community in Ratanakiri province’s Andong Meas district, videos shared with CamboJA show. ...
Indigenous peoples fear loss of lands after passage of new law
Bunong people in Mondulkiri’s Roya Leu community say they are gripped by the fear their customary lands will be taken from them. ...
Eung Sea
https://cambojanews.com/indigenous-peoples-fear-loss-of-lands-after-passage-of-new-law/
Indigenous communities urge action on collective land titles
Just 38 indigenous communities out of 455 have received communal land titles since the government first made them available in 2009, with indigenous activists and rights groups bemoaning the notoriously slow process. ...
Son Sarak
https://cambojanews.com/indigenous-communities-urge-action-on-collective-land-titles/
Ecotourism gives ethic community new hope
Ecotourism has turned a struggling community into one with higher incomes, an upgraded road and new school and health services. ...
Sok Haingkheang
https://cambodianess.com/article/ecotourism-gives-ethic-community-new-hope
Cambodia’s indigenous peoples struggle with digital literacy on eve of elections
Lek Karry has been using a smartphone for nearly two years but the grade 12 student admits she still struggles to distinguish between real and fake information online. ...
Indigenous community banned from farming over unclear zoning in Areng valley
Preav Hun cultivated bananas and mangos in the Areng valley of the Cardamom mountains for more than 25 years, but for the past six months Ministry of Environment officials have banned him and his indigenous Chorng neighbors from farming as the government rezones the protected ...
Seoung Nimol
https://cambojanews.com/indigenous-community-banned-from-farming-over-unclear-zoning-in-areng-valley/
Indigenous women voice collective concerns
A senior environment official called for calm after indigenous women’s communities urged relevant ministries and institutions to address their concerns by including their input into the draft amendments to the protected natural areas and forestry laws. ...
Long Kimmarita
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/indigenous-women-voice-collective-concerns
Indigenous groups warn: ‘we will be slaves on our land’
Communities are already facing lawsuits for traditional farming practices and seeing encroachment on ancestral lands as new draft laws are set to further erode protections, indigenous groups warned in a forum with government officials on Wednesday. ...
Keat Soriththeavy
https://vodenglish.news/indigenous-groups-warn-we-will-be-slaves-on-our-land/
Indigenous people in Mondulkiri province accuse an official and a tycoon of conspiring to take nearly 36 hectares of their land
On December 6, 2022, 10 indigenous people submitted their petitions to the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, and the Office of the Council of Ministers to seek the intervention to help resolve their land disputes. ...
Young indigenous women live in the society that lack of information
Young indigenous women and people working to support the development of indigenous women found that young indigenous women live in a situation where information is lacking due to social perspective and public service. ...
Chea Sokny
https://www.postkhmer.com/national/2022-12-06-1756-244406.html
Indigenous representatives in Mondulkiri seek Prime Minister's intervention to keep community land
Representatives of indigenous peoples in Mondulkiri province file a petition at the office of Prime Minister Hun Sen to keep more than 200 hectares of community land for residents and stop giving that land to a private company for development that will affect their livelihood. ...
Saut Sokprathna
https://www.vodkhmer.news/2022/11/26/indigenous-representatives-in-mondulkiri-seek-prime-ministers-intervention-to-save-community-land/
Pounong indigenous peoples ask Mondulkiri Provincial Authorities to take action against those clearing their faith mountain
Indigenous people in Laoka village, Sokdom commune, Sen Monorom city, Mondulkiri province, request the authorities to take action to prevent the clearing of the mountainous land, which is a place of worship and the extraction of non-timber forest products as they claim that the perpetrators ...
Meng Kroypunlok
https://www.vodkhmer.news/2022/11/15/punong-people-ask-the-authorities-to-take-action-against-those-who-cleared-the-mountain/
Indigenous people gather in front of Kampong Thom Provincial Court as a witness testifies in their land case
On Friday, more than 20 representatives of the Kuy indigenous group in Ngon commune, Sandan district, Kampong Thom province gathered in front of the Kampong Thom Provincial Court while an indigenous witness testifies to the case of their representative involved in a land dispute. ...
Civil society groups call on government to add more inputs on access to information law to reduce corruption
Civil society organizations and indigenous peoples’ representatives call on the government to disclose information to the public and include additional elements in the “Right to Information Law” to reduce corruption while they still face some challenges in obtaining sensitive information from government. ...
Nat Sopheap
https://www.vodkhmer.news/2022/09/28/civil-society-to-add-elements-to-information-law-to-reduce-corruption/
Communities ask government to enforce protection of Preah Rokar Wildlife Sanctuary as timber exports continue
Kuy community in Promeru commune, Tbeng Meanchey district, Preah Vihear province, has again requested the government, especially local authorities and relevant ministries to enforce forest protection at Preah Rokar Wildlife Sanctuary as they claim that the illegal transportation of timber from the forest continues to ...
Meng Kroypunlok
https://www.vodkhmer.news/2022/09/26/communities-ask-govt-to-increase-protection-of-preah-rokar-wildlife-sanctuary/
Kbal Romeas Community requests authorities to provide 3,000 hectares of communal land
The Kbal Romeas community requests the authorities to help protect their forests from the Chinese company Sivgex and expedite the establishment of another 3,000 hectares of their communal land. ...
Meng Kroypunlok
https://www.vodkhmer.news/2022/09/19/kbal-romeas-community-requests-authorities-to-create-3000-hectares-of-collective-land/
Communal titling ends in relief for some, anxiety for others
Indigenous communities attempting to register communal lands are often left in bureaucratic limbo and are at risk of losing this land, advocates said this week, even as the government handed more than 4,000 hectares to three communities in May. ...
ភិន រតនា
https://vodenglish.news/communal-titling-ends-in-relief-for-some-anxiety-for-others/
Brao, Kreung communities receive 4,000 hectares in Ratanakiri
Around 4,000 hectares of state forests have been transferred to collective ownership by indigenous groups in Ratanakiri, according to government decrees. ...
Mech Dara
https://vodenglish.news/brao-kreung-communities-receive-4000-hectares-in-ratanakiri/
Ratanakiri Land Dispute Escalates Amid Indigenous Frustration
Nine Tampoun villagers are facing an imminent court verdict over allegedly stealing wood from a Chinese concessionaire with which Ratanakiri communities have been locked in an escalating dispute. ...
Phin Rathana
https://vodenglish.news/ratanakiri-land-dispute-escalates-amid-indigenous-frustration/
Mondulkiri province’s indigenous farmers say they have no market for their avocados this year
Farmers from indigenous communities in Mondulkiri province say they are not able to sell their avocado crop right now to the point that some villagers have left their avocados on the ground instead of harvesting them. ...
Po Sophea and Sam Sopich
https://cambodianess.com/article/mondulkiri-provinces-indigenous-farmers-say-they-have-no-market-for-their-avocados-this-year