News

A new report on land grabbing around the world highlights Cambodia as a prime example of the ill effect of the growing global appetite for farmland by industrial scale operations. Released Wednesday in Stockholm by three Swedish NGOs, The Race for Land offers Cambodia as one ...

Rights groups said they will continue to advocate in land grabbing and eviction cases, and villagers involved in such disputes said they will continue to turn to NGOs for help despite a warning by Prime Minister Hun Sen for civil society to stay clear of ...

Anti-eviction protesters set up camp in front of the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh for a second day yesterday, but ended their protest in the early evening when a petition to U.S. President Barack Obama was taken into the diplomatic mission by an embassy guard. “The ...

Six months after Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered a moratorium on the granting of economic land concessions (ELCs) and a legal review of the concessions that already exist, the Agriculture Ministry has yet to begin the review process due to rain, and the danger of ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen publicly castigated the Kampong Thom provincial governor in a speech on Saturday for allegedly claiming a large portion of land and saying it was needed for the local office of the Cambodian Red Cross, an agency lead by Hun Sen’s wife, Bun ...

The European Parliament, representing one of the country’s largest donors, on Friday called for a moratorium on forced evictions, an overhaul of elections and even went so far as to suggest to the European Union that it suspend tariff-free imports of agricultural goods linked to ...

After months spent surveying land for an ambitious land-titling project, thousands of student volunteers have been granted a short reprieve to return home over the Pchum Ben holiday, the prime minister announced yesterday. At a graduation ceremony in the capital yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said ...

Land governance policies in Asia, especially concessions made to private companies, are leaving the region’s poorest vulnerable to human rights abuses, experts say. “Land-grabbing by the rich and powerful continues,” Suson Bunsak, executive secretary of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, said at the recent Asia ...

About 60 farmers met yesterday in Phnom Penh to rise their concerns about the law on the management of farmland that is currently being drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture, which critics say will legalize land grabbing. The latest public version of the draft law grants power ...

After a brief détente, a fight over the Prey Trolach community forest in Battambang province that has its citizen guardians and the Forestry Administration pitted against the military is back on, those working to protect the area from illegal logging said yesterday. Since it was deemed ...

Commune authorities and 41 Oddar Meanchey families Chheu Krom village staged a forum yesterday, accusing Royal Forces border soldiers of unlawfully grabbing their land and banning the villagers from farming in their area. The dispute, ongoing since 2008, has recently reached fever pitch as RCAF soldiers ...

A law on the management of farmland currently being drafted by the Ministry of Agriculture is a threat to private landowners as it imposes criminal penalties for farmers who do not abide by new powers the government would have to demarcate land, a human rights ...

The Kompong Chhnang Provincial Court questioned four villagers among 12 summoned for questioning over a land dispute in Samakki Meanchey district, which has pitted some 80 local families against the owner of a private company they accuse of taking their land. While the dispute stems from alleged land grabbing, ...

The number of new land disputes reported in the first six months of this year decreased by 38 percent compared to the same period in 2011, according to data released by rights group Licadho last week. According to the figures, which represent 15 of the country’s ...

Just days ahead of Sunday’s commune elections, Prime Minister Hun Sen again broke his pledge to remain silent during his party’s campaign period and sought to ease the concerns of communities whose livelihoods have been threatened by land disputes. Speaking to villagers through a mobile telephone, ...

Hoping to end the cycle of violence in land disputes in Cambodia, and to garner public support for people who are the victims of land grabbing, five concerned citizens held a press conference Friday to announce the launch of their own online petition whose results ...

About 250 villagers who turned out in Preah Vihear province’s Srayong commune to protest against alleged land-grabbing by rubber firm Siladamich Company yesterday found themselves blocked by company security guards and police, though arrests threatened a day earlier failed to materialise, villagers said. Villager representative Meas ...

The government yesterday lashed out at a letter sent by opposition lawmakers to the World Bank that urged the bank to increase pressure on the government to end forced evictions, land grabbing and threats against community members involved in land disputes with well-connected companies. Council ...

KDC International, which is owned by Chea Kheng the wife of Industry Minister Suy Sem has been accused of grabbing 145 hectares of land in the Kampong Chhnang province. The villagers who claim the land have filed objects individually, after having been told to do ...

Two protestors of CPP Senator’s project to develop Boeng Kak Lake have been arrested after a breakdown in negotiations between city hall and the 1,500 lakeside families who were protesting. The negotiations were concerning the sort of onsite housing the families would receive as compensation ...

Rights groups have alleged that villagers are being pushed off their land to make way for sugar plantations by companies such as LYP Group, owned by Senator Ly Young Phat. The issue was raised with the Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomuoja and the Minister for ...