News
On Labor Day, peaceful protests met with violence
A peaceful Labor Day demonstration of workers calling for better living conditions and independent courts was violently dispersed Thursday morning by district security guards, municipal police and men in plain clothes, who beat protesters, journalists and bystanders with batons, wooden sticks and crude metal poles. Shortly ...
The Cambodia Daily
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/on-labor-day-peaceful-protests-met-with-violence-57897/
Gov’t pins $275,000 in protest damage on CNRP
A government committee charged with assessing damage from the garment worker protests in December and January has put the value of the destruction at over $250,000. It places blame squarely on the opposition CNRP and a trio of union leaders. That committee’s report, released Thursday, ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt-pins-275000-in-protest-damage-on-cnrp-55123/
CNRP leaders lobby EU Parliamentarians over ‘Blood Sugar’
The opposition CNRP made another pitch for an end to free trade benefits for Cambodian sugar exports to the European Union at a meeting in Phnom Penh on Wednesday with visiting European Parliament members, blaming the benefits for effectively subsidizing companies that are evicting poor ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-leaders-lobby-eu-parliamentarians-over-blood-sugar-55002/
‘People’s congress’ to test ban
Opposition leaders yesterday announced plans to hold a thousands-strong “people’s congress” in the capital’s Freedom Park on Sunday, despite a ban on gatherings at the site. Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy and vice-president Kem Sokha, following their return from overseas trips to Australia, New ...
Meas Sokchea and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/%E2%80%98people%E2%80%99s-congress%E2%80%99-test-ban
Cambodian union activists banned from entering Freedom Park
Hundreds of opposition-aligned trade union activists and workers terminated their outlawed rally on Saturday after heavy security forces had been deployed in and around the capital’s Freedom Park to prevent them from entering the Park to hold a forum on the International Women’s Day. “Those activists ...
Authint Mail News Staff
https://www.authintmail.com/article/asia/cambodian-union-activists-banned-entering-freedom-park
CNRP looks for quieter plan of action as labor strike looms
When a group of six unions organized nationwide strikes in December demanding a $160 minimum wage, the opposition CNRP aggressively took up the cause. Opposition leaders rallied support outside factory gates around the country and tens of thousands of garment workers flooded into Phnom Penh’s Freedom ...
Colin Meyn and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-looks-for-quieter-plan-of-action-as-labor-strike-looms-53527/
Hun Sen warns against attempts to hold Cambodia ‘Hostage’
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday accused certain groups of trying to hold the nation “hostage,” saying his government was functioning normally despite opposition calls for him to resign and hold fresh elections following disputed polls. His administration has also drawn criticism over its heavy ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/warning-02102014190358.html
UN Envoy Asks Cambodia to Lift Demonstrations Ban
A U.N. rights envoy suggested Thursday that Cambodia lift a ban on public gatherings in the capital imposed amid a violent crackdown on demonstrators a month ago. Maina Kiai, the U.N.’s global Special Rapporteur for freedom of peaceful assembly and association, made the suggestion to Foreign ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/rapporteur-02062014181843.html
Thai Political Tension Has Effects in Cambodia, Analysts Say
Political tensions that remain unresolved in both Cambodia and Thailand could lead to more violence in both countries, analysts warn. Thailand is going through another spate of democratic reform, following demonstrations that forced Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down and call for new elections. Those elections ...
Sok Khemara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/thai-political-tensions-has-effects-in-cambodia-analysts-say/1844175.html
CNRP Distances Itself From Threatened Social Media Activist
The opposition CNRP’s deputy public affairs director, Kem Monovithya, posted a statement to her official Facebook account on Saturday distancing the party from Thy Sovantha, a 19-year-old opposition activist with a large social media following, announcing that Ms. Sovantha was “not involved” with the CNRP. Last ...
Hul Reaksmey and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-distances-itself-from-threatened-social-media-activist-51218/
Politics not quite all in the family
Kem Sokhon, the brother of Cambodia National Rescue Party deputy president Kem Sokha, is continuing to progress through government ranks. Sokhon – who has been openly critical of his brother’s policies since defecting from the opposition – told the Post yesterday he is now an adviser to senior ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/politics-not-quite-all-family
Rainsy eyes seat at UN rights review meeting
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy left for Europe yesterday evening to attend a UN Human Rights Council review on Cambodia in Geneva and to lobby European Union officials to take a stronger stance against the government, he said before departure. Rainsy plans on attending the Universal Periodic ...
Meas Sokchea and Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rainsy-eyes-seat-un-rights-review-meeting
Chea Vichea Remembered 10 Years After Slaying
Ten years ago Wednesday, union leader Chea Vichea walked to his favorite newsstand in front of Wat Lanka to read the day’s headlines: Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered spending cuts, health officials were trying to handle the first outbreak of bird flu in Southeast ...
Khy Sovuthy and Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chea-vichea-remembered-10-years-after-slaying-50962/
CNRP Cancels Meeting as CPP Supporters Turn Out in Force
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 ...
Phann Ana and Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/cnrp-cancels-meeting-as-cpp-supporters-turn-out-in-force-50938/
Cambodian police in new protest crackdown
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 ...
Channel News Asia News Staff
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/cambodian-police-in-new/962534.html
CNRP looks to UN, King
The opposition may be readying a formal request that the United Nations and King Norodom Sihamoni play a role in future negotiations between the Cambodia National Rescue Party and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party. On a trip to Takeo province on Saturday, CNRP deputy president Kem ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cnrp-looks-un-king
Hun Sen Asks UN Envoy to Help End Cambodia’s Political Crisis
Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has called on a U.N. special envoy to press the country’s opposition to rejoin parliament and negotiate an end to the country’s political stalemate since disputed July elections, an official said Wednesday. Hun Sen met with U.N. special envoy for human ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/intervention-01152014162154.html
Cambodia opposition leaders questioned in court
Cambodia’s opposition leaders were questioned in court Tuesday in connection with recent protests against strongman premier Hun Sen — a case they denounced as politically motivated. Prosecutors at Phnom Penh Municipal Court spent several hours grilling Sam Rainsy and his deputy Kem Sokha about unrest that ...
Channel News Asia Staff
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/cambodia-opposition/954294.html
Amnesty idea floated during talks: report
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy and Prime Minister Hun Sen discussed the possibility of offering amnesty to senior government officials in order to allow for “an honourable exit of the leaders”, Rainsy was quoted as saying to the French newspaper La Libération last week. Rainsy reportedly said in the ...
Stuart White
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/amnesty-idea-floated-during-talks-report
Opposition CNRP Leaders to Face Court Today
Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha are due to appear before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court as scheduled this morning after retaining the services of a new lawyer, a CNRP spokesman said Monday. Mr. Rainsy and Mr. Sokha, as well as union leaders Rong Chhun ...
Eang Mengleng and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/opposition-cnrp-leaders-to-face-court-today-50487/
CAMBODIA UN Envoy Meets Activists Calling For Release of Detained Cambodians
The U.N. special envoy for human rights in Cambodia on Monday met with about 100 activists in the capital Phnom Penh who sought his help to gain the release of nearly two dozen people arrested during recent violent government crackdowns on striking factory workers. Envoy Surya ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/envoy-01132014175223.html
UN envoy expected to arrive in Cambodia for human rights assessment
United Nations envoy is expected to arrived in Cambodia today, a week after the deadly crackdown by government forces against protesting workers on Veng Sreng street, which left five people dead. This is the first visit of Surya P. Subedi, UN Special Rapporteur on human ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=11&token=ZGYzMjE1Y2E4NWI
As Strikers Return to Work, Factories Sue Garment Unions
As garment workers continued to return to their factories Wednesday after several days of strikes that turned deadly last week, some of their employers have wasted no time in suing the unions behind the strikes, demanding compensation. Phnom Penh Municipal Court chief clerk Prak Savouth said ...
Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/as-strikers-return-to-work-factories-sue-garment-unions-50360/
Lawyer to Assess Whether Government Crimes Worthy of ICC
The opposition CNRP announced Tuesday that it had engaged lawyer Richard Rogers, former head of the Khmer Rouge tribunal’s Defense Support Section, to analyze evidence of alleged crimes committed by the CPP government and decide whether they justify filing a complaint with the International Criminal ...
Colin Meyn and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/lawyer-to-assess-whether-government-crimes-worthy-of-icc-50303/