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CNRP ends boycott, makes quiet return to NA
Ending their almost two-month boycott of parliament, opposition lawmakers yesterday joined their ruling party counterparts at the National Assembly in unanimously passing three laws. The plenary session, attended by 68 Cambodian People’s Party parliamentarians and 34 from the opposition Cambodia Nation Rescue Party, was by and large routine, though one CNRP lawmaker complained about being warned by his leaders not to engage in debate to ensure a peaceful session.
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Adhoc Coordinator in Banteay Meanchey Summoned to Court
An Adhoc human rights activist based in Banteay Meanchey province was summoned to the provincial court to clarify his involvement in protests earlier this week. The court order, issued by provincial court judge Phann Van Roth, called Sum Chankea, provincial coordinator for local rights group Adhoc, to the court to discuss his role in “protests.” The summons fails to identify which protest, as there were multiple in the province last week.
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Unionists continue to seek overseas support
Independent unions continued to lobby for changes to a controversial trade union bill yesterday, while a promised government committee to “immediately” examine the law has yet to materialise. The independent union representatives held a meeting with US Embassy personnel yesterday to discuss their concerns about the law, which they say will give the Cambodian government too much authority to effectively blacklist independent unions.
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Ministry: Stop Mocking LGBT Community
The Ministry of Information has written to media outlets imploring presenters and artists alike to stop mocking members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community just to gain popularity. According to the letter sent out on Monday, certain presenters and artists have ridiculed the LGBT community in order to break into the entertainment industry, often taking what they consider “jokes” too far.
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Organiser Arrested over March
The organiser of a protest by community members who face eviction from their homes to make way for a railway project in Banteay Meanchey province was detained yesterday after demonstrators burned an effigy and dragged its decapitated body through the streets. About 50 protesters marched through the border town of Poipet dragging the dummy, which was painted in fake blood with the words “corrupt officials abuse citizens and create injustice”, said Vorn Vann, 36, one of the demonstrators.
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Cambodian’s Attitudes Toward LGBT Surveyed
The attitudes of Cambodians who claim to support lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people are often very similar to those who identify as opponents of LGBT rights, according to a new report released on Monday by the local NGO Rainbow Community Kampuchea. The report, conducted by social research agency TNS, is based on information gathered in eight focus groups as well as face-to-face interviews with 478 LGBT people and 1,085 straight people in Phnom Penh and 10 provinces.
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Unions Eye Draft Law Changes
A group of more than 20 independent union groups has released a revised version of the changes it wants made to the trade union law after the controversial draft legislation was finally released in full to the government last month. Until that point, unions had been in the dark about what the draft legislation actually contained.
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Human Rights Day Peaceful as Gov’t Talks Khmer Rouge
Citizens defied a ban from City Hall and marched through Phnom Penh on Thursday to mark International Human Rights Day, which passed with no violence as authorities peacefully shunted the demonstrators around the city.
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LGBT groups call for greater acceptance
The rights of LGBT people took centrestage at an event to celebrate Human Rights Day at the FCC mansion in Phnom Penh yesterday. Organised by NGO CamAsean, which advocates on behalf of marginalised people, the morning conference included a rap performance by lesbian and transgender teenagers, and an exhibition of photos and films featuring the lives and struggles of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people. “Today is all about marginalised people,” said CamAsean facilitator Kong Yara. “We have representatives here from LGBT communities, sex workers, drug users and people living with HIV.”
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Parties meet amid tension
Leaders from the CPP and CNRP yesterday met face-to-face for the first time since the eruption of Cambodia’s ongoing political crisis, agreeing on a four-point joint statement emphasising the so-called culture of dialogue. After weeks of strained tensions amid what has been labelled a state-sanctioned “crackdown” on the opposition party, Interior Minister and Cambodian People’s Party senior official Sar Kheng and Cambodia National Rescue Party acting president Kem Sokha met for about 40 minutes at the National Assembly.
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Draft Union Law Still Deeply Flawed: Report
The International Trade Union Confederation is “deeply concerned” about the latest draft of the Trade Union Law and vows to oppose it “vigorously” if approved as is, despite significant concessions the government has made to labor interests.
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Human rights in Cambodia
Amid the high-profile human rights violations and chaos that characterise the current political climate in Cambodia, it may seem somewhat bizarre that we observe a national holiday in honour of International Human Rights Day. The 67th commemoration of the adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, however, provides a fitting opportunity to reflect on the past, present and, most importantly, the future of human rights in the Kingdom.
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Activists call for change at Cambodia human rights rally
In a statement released Thursday, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights lamented what it said was a “deterioration of an already dire human rights situation in the country.” It cited the passage of “a number of repressive laws that violate international human rights standards,” including the NGO and telecommunications laws. “These laws serve to significantly restrict fundamental freedoms, such as freedoms of expression, association and assembly,” the organization said, adding that “human rights violations take place in Cambodia against a backdrop of complete impunity.”
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Meeting on Monk’s Defrocking Ends in Chaos
A meeting at Phnom Penh’s Wat Stung Meanchey over accusations that a monk at the pagoda threw Buddha statues into a garbage-filled pond descended into chaos on Monday afternoon as his interrogators attempted to stop his supporters from entering the main temple where the monks had gathered. On Saturday, senior monks at the pagoda in Meanchey district decided to defrock longtime resident Kim Seila, 52, following allegations from fellow monks that he had thrown about 10 artifacts, including Buddha statues, into the filthy pond.
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‘Door closed’ for Rainsy, says Namhong
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong said after a meeting with US Ambassador William Heidt yesterday that the “time was over” for opposition leader Sam Rainsy to retract comments that are the subject of an outstanding defamation sentence. “I had kept the door open for … Sam Rainsy to give him the ability to be free from punishment,” Namhong told reporters. “But I think that the time is over [for Rainsy] because of his insolent and twisted [words].” Rainsy was convicted in absentia of libel after he had alleged in 2008 that Namhong had committed crimes while jailed by the Khmer Rouge at the Boeung Trabek prison camp in the late 1970s.
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Rainsy says removal ‘insult’ to King
More than a month since he last stepped foot in Cambodia, opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Sunday once again took to Facebook, decrying the decision to strip his lawmaker status as “an insult to the King”. The Cambodia National Rescue Party president faces three separate legal cases, widely considered politically motivated, and has opted for self-imposed exile in Europe, despite an initial pledge to return.
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CNRP Lawyer Argues For Attempted Murder
A lawyer for CNRP lawmakers Nhay Chamroeun and Kong Saphea, who were severely beaten on October 26 in front of the National Assembly, filed a new complaint with the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday asking that those arrested for the crime be charged with attempted murder.
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Foreign Minister Defends Government to US Ambassador
Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong on Monday once again defended recent legal actions and political moves against the opposition CNRP, and admitted to personally pushing for the enforcement of a years-old defamation and incitement sentence against CNRP President Sam Rainsy. Speaking with reporters after his first meeting with the new U.S. ambassador, William Heidt, the minister said he told the envoy that there was nothing political about Mr. Rainsy’s 2011 conviction over claims he made that Mr. Namhong had been a Khmer Rouge collaborator.
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Victim recalls family’s murder in KRT testimony
The lone survivor of the execution of a Vietnamese family recounted his experiences at the Khmer Rouge tribunal yesterday as parties continued to probe the treatment of the ethnic minority under the Democratic Kampuchea regime. Civil party Choeng Yang Chat testified about events in Kampong Chhnang province where his family, who were ethnically Vietnamese, fled to after hearing that anyone who stayed in his home village would be killed. However, his and some 1,000 other families of Khmer and Vietnamese descent were again forcibly relocated by cadres to Tal village, where the 13-year-old was put to work clearing land
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Dozens Rally to Support Monk Threatened With Defrocking
Dozens of activist monks rallied on Sunday at Wat Stung Meanchey to protest the pagoda’s decision to defrock a fellow monk for allegedly throwing Buddha statues into a dirty pond, claiming that he was framed because he is Khmer Krom and is known for supporting land activists.
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