News
Government slammed for arrests of NGO officers
Four senior officials of local rights group Adhoc and a National Election Committee (NEC) official were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) on Thursday night over allegations that they instructed an alleged mistress of deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha to deny their affair. ...
Khy Sovuthy and George Wright
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-slammed-for-arrests-of-ngo-officers-111973/
Rights group says Anti-Corruption Unit’s claims baseless
Adhoc president Thun Saray on Tuesday defended his rights group’s pro-bono legal representation of the alleged mistress of deputy opposition leader Kem Sokha, who last week rescinded her denials of the affair and accused Adhoc staff of convincing her to lie. ...
Ben Sokhean
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/rights-group-says-anti-corruption-units-claims-baseless-111795/
‘No land revolution’ coming: official
While vast tracts of Cambodia remain concentrated in the hands of a few and accusations of land grabbing remain rife, the broader distribution of land is more than equitable and could never lead to an uprising, the government official in charge of finding solutions to ...
Lay Samean and Jack Davies
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-land-revolution-coming-official
NGOs ask king not to sign NGO law
A group of 26 local NGOs submitted a letter to King Norodom Sihamoni on Thursday calling on him to refuse to sign off on a controversial law regulating non-governmental groups in the country. ...
Janelle Retka
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngos-ask-king-not-to-sign-ngo-law-90398/
New political environment should focus on land disputes, advocate says
Thun Saray, president of the rights group Adhoc, urged Cambodia’s leader to use their newfound political “culture of dialogue” to resolve the problem of chronic land disputes across the country. ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/new-political-environment-should-focus-on-land-disputes-advocate-says/2877037.html
No political prisoners here, says ruling party
As outrage still reverberates among opposition supporters over Tuesday’s conviction of 11 Cambodia National Rescue Party activists on “insurrection” charges, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party has warned that questioning the verdict will imperil the ongoing “culture of dialogue”. ...
Meas Sokchea
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-political-prisoners-here-says-ruling-party
Land disputes down in 2015 due to ELC freeze
Although the number of land disputes across the country decreased in the first six months of the year—largely due to a freeze on the granting of economic land concessions—little has been done to resolve existing disputes, according to a report released Wednesday by rights group ...
Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/land-disputes-down-in-2015-due-to-elc-freeze-89260/
Sao Sokha praises military police on anniversary
National Military Police Commander Sao Sokha on Tuesday painted a rosy picture of the country during a ceremony in Phnom Penh to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of a wing of the armed forces that has been routinely called upon to crush dissent. ...
Khuon Narim and Matt Blomberg
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/sao-sokha-praises-military-police-on-anniversary-88336/
In old enemy Hun Sen, Sam Rainsy sees hope
After years of bitter rhetoric and violence, a freshly pardoned opposition leader Sam Rainsy returned from exile in France to announce the end of Cambodia’s zero-sum political culture and a new start in his relationship with Prime Minister Hun Sen. ...
Alex Willemyns and Kuch Naren
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/in-old-enemy-hun-sen-sam-rainsy-sees-hope-82211/
NGOs to boycott election law workshop
Dozens of NGOs are planning to boycott a workshop Monday to discuss the new election law, saying that the CPP and CNRP have not given them enough time to review the draft and that they do not want to give the event a veneer of ...
Alex Willemyns and Hul Reaksmey
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/ngos-to-boycott-workshop-on-election-law-79285/
Mondolkiri villagers seek cancellation of rubber concession
Representatives of 273 ethnic Bunong families from Mondolkiri province submitted a petition on Thursday to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet in Phnom Penh, seeking the cancellation of an economic land concession they say has infringed on their ancestral lands. ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/mondolkiri-villagers-seek-cancellation-of-rubber-concession-71463/
Rights groups concerned over Australian refugee deal
Cambodian human rights organizations say they have major concerns over a deal with Australia that could send unwanted refugees to Cambodia. The Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee says Cambodia’s track record of human rights abuse and corruption make people “living on the margins” vulnerable to abuse. Australia ...
Heng Reaksmey
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/rights-groups-concerned-over-australian-refugee-deal/1929653.html
Lead-up to poll saw SLCs spike
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s 2012 ban on the allocation of economic land concessions was supposed to halt the unpopular practice of turning over large swaths of property to developers. And going by the numbers last year, it worked. But in the vacuum, according to local rights ...
May Titthara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lead-poll-saw-slcs-spike
‘Burst’ of land disputes sees dozens of Cambodians charged: rights group
Cambodian authorities have charged nearly half as many villagers in land dispute cases in the first three months of this year as they did in all of 2013, a local rights group said Thursday, adding that most of the rows stemmed from government-granted land concessions. Following ...
Radio Free Asia News Staff
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/land-05082014175124.html
B Meanchey Court chief moved to Phnom Penh
Ang Mealatey, the former president of Banteay Meanchey Provincial Court, was appointed president of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday, ending the eight-year tenure of Chiv Keng. Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana and Supreme Court President Dith Munty presided over the ceremony of around 100 ...
Eang Mengleng and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/b-meanchey-court-chief-moved-to-phnom-penh-56905/
11,000 families refile old land dispute complaints nationwide
Rights group Adhoc on Wednesday helped 105 communities locked in long-running land disputes across the country refile their complaints with local courts and other state agencies in a concerted effort to push the government to finally resolve their cases. Covering a broad cross-section of the country’s ...
Man charged for firing slingshot at protesters
Two days after uniformed security personnel were recorded on video in Phnom Penh chasing and beating demonstrators at will, a man police say admitted to using a slingshot at the scene to “inflame protesters’ anger towards police” was charged in court. After two hours of questioning ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/man-charged-firing-slingshot-protesters
Anti-trafficking laws under-enforced: NGO
Rem Vannak remains in poor health after enduring about two years of 21-hour days working for no pay on a fishing boat in Fiji, where he was beaten when he complained. Lin Yu Shin, who owns Giant Ocean – the company Vannak worked for that allegedly ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013070466659/National/anti-trafficking-laws-under-enforced-ngo.html
Tales of intimidation
When activists Mom Sakin and Sorn Siyan took a stand against illegal logging in Kratie province last month, they were allegedly threatened with violence and lawsuits from officials. “Powerful people who wanted to intimidate us shot their guns into the air to prevent us from going ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013050165357/National/tales-of-intimidation.html
Land dispute arrests soar 144 pct in 2012
The number of people arrested over land disputes jumped 144 percent from a year earlier to 232 in 2012, the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (Adhoc) said Thursday. Speaking at a news conference, he [Adhoc president Thun Saray] said Adhoc last year received 70 ...
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=13&token=Mjk2OWQyMTBhNWE
Cambodia Surges Full-Speed Ahead With Land Concessions
The government has already granted roughly 300,000 hectares in economic land concessions (ELC) so far this year, according to data released by a local rights group yesterday. The figure, which amounts to 40 percent of the total land concessions granted in all of 2011, has ...