News

The Kingdom is now capable of domestically producing up to 102,000 tonnes of white sugar per year from sugarcane grown at plantations in its southwestern provinces (Kampong Speu, Koh Kong), according to statistics released by Phnom Penh Sugar Co Ltd (PPSC) last week. ... ...

Nearly 700 people from different communities in Kampong Speu province protested in front of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction on Thursday, seeking a solution to their long-running land dispute with three sugar companies. ... ...

The victims of Ly Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar Company development project in Kampong Speu province’s Oral district said they are “happy” to hear that ANZ Bank had declared to the Australian Parliamentary Committee that it would consider compensating those affected by the project. ... ...

The Kampong Speu provincial authority said on Wednesday that its task force has completed registering thousands of families in Oral district who have been locked in a long-running land dispute with a sugar plantation owned by a well-connected tycoon. ... ...

The Interior Ministry has decided to allow land rights NGO Equitable Cambodia to operate in Cambodia after suspending its activities in September. The announcement was made after a meeting between Interior Minister Sar Kheng and EU ambassador George Edgar on Friday. ... ...

More than 200 families who have been locked in land disputes with sugar firms will have at least some of their land returned to them after the Ministry of Land Management approved their claims yesterday, though hundreds more families are still waiting for resolution. ... ...

Representatives for 15 families involved in a long-standing land dispute in Koh Kong province complained that authorities failed to find a resolution for them, despite providing compensation for 170 other families in the same area. ... ...

Following protests against land rights NGO Equitable Cambodia (EC) on Friday, several villagers in affected communities in Kampong Speu’s Oral district voiced concern yesterday that the protests might have been staged by the company that the communities stand in conflict with. ... ...

Representatives of evicted families and a sugarcane plantation owned by a prominent CPP senator announced an agreement on Thursday that provides compensation ranging from $500 to $5,000 to eligible villagers after a five-year battle over land. ... ...

More than 150 residents from Kampong Speu’s Oral district gathered at the Equitable Cambodia (EC) headquarters and the National Assembly on Friday to withdraw their complaints over land against the Phnom Penh Sugar Company, which is owned by magnate Ly Yong Phat. ... ...

More than 300 families in Kompong Speu province this week signed a deal with Senator Ly Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar Company aimed at ending their long-running land dispute, though several of the families have yet to agree on compensation. ...  ...

More than 200 villagers from Kampong Speu protested in front of ANZ Royal Bank’s headquarters in Phnom Penh yesterday, demanding the bank pay them compensation. ... ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s sister Hun Sinath has resigned from her job as a secretary of state over what she said was her colleagues’ fear of investigating a land dispute between villagers in Kampong Speu province and tycoon Ly Yong Phat. ... Sinath revealed her resignation ...

ANZ has ruled out helping hundreds of poor Cambodian families forcibly evicted from their land to make way for sugar-cane plantations that involved child labour and led to food shortages. Fairfax Media this year revealed confidential audits that disclosed that ANZ’s Cambodian subsidiary, ANZ Royal Bank, ...

About 100 villagers who lost land to a sugarcane plantation, which was until recently financed by ANZ Royal Bank, traveled to Phnom Penh to protest in front of the bank’s headquarters Thursday, but failed to convince the bank to help them. Several hundred families in Kompong ...

Environment Minister Say Sam Al on Wednesday lauded the country’s controversial sugar industry and the jobs it has created, saying that companies operating in the sector need to be defended against the widespread criticism they have been receiving. Rights groups and the opposition CNRP have undertaken ...

ANZ’s financing of ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat’s controversial sugar plantation has come under fire once again, this time in an investigation by NGO Oxfam into Australia’s big four banks and their links to rights abuses in developing countries. In a report titled "Banking on ...

Executives from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) and local partner Royal Group of Companies (RGC) both went into damage control yesterday after comments by ANZ chief executive officer Mike Smith suggesting the joint banking venture between the two was on the rocks. Royal ...

Hundreds of trucks hauling sugarcane queue up along the dusty roads that cut a path through a plantation in Kampong Speu province. Their destination: Cambodia’s most advanced sugar refinery. Its owners say the landmark project, run by the Phnom Penh Sugar Company and its president, ruling ...

Third-party auditors hired by The Coca-Cola Company are conducting an audit of Cambodian sugar suppliers, NGO and community representatives said yesterday. “Coke has commissioned them to conduct an assessment on their suppliers. They will talk to all parties, the community, NGOs and the company,” said Eang ...

Rights groups yesterday called on ANZ bank to help address alleged labour and environmental violations at Phnom Penh Sugar Company instead of walking away from the problem. A joint statement released yesterday by Equitable Cambodia and Inclusive Development International said it would be wrong for the ...

Shareholders will want answers from ANZ bank after it was revealed this week that the banking giant’s joint venture in Cambodia financed ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat’s controversial sugar plantation, the Responsible Investment Association Australia (RIAA) said yesterday. Environmental audit documents obtained by the Post on Tuesday ...

Villagers locked in a land dispute with ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat’s Phnom Penh Sugar Company have submitted a petition to the provincial court asking for a cessation of the court’s issuing of summonses and arrest warrants. The court has so far issued 37 summonses, ...

The extent of the devastation of Cambodia’s forests was brought into sharp relief as 2013 drew to a close, with a series of detailed maps and satellite data released by NGOs showing the drastic depletion of the Kingdom’s woodland ecosystems. Images released by Open Development Cambodia ...