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International Children’s Day 2007: Child Abuse in Public and Behind Closed Doors
September 2006, ten girls aged between 14 and 17 year were persuaded by a fellow villager in Kompong Cham province to travel to Phnom Penh after they were promised jobs as domestic workers. However after arriving in Phnom Penh they were promptly taken to a local market where they were openly sold for 50.000 riel each. Fortunately this "auction" was witnessed by an LICADHO staff who obtained information from one of the vitims and proceeded to work with LICADHO colleagues and other NGOs to ensure that all girls were found and returned safely to their families in the provinces.
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Cambodia’s Family Trees
One does not need expertise in human rights to recognise that many policies of the government have subverted the essential principles of democracy and due process, deprived people of their economic resources and means of livelihood, and denied them their dignity.
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Expressing Deep Concern to UNHRC Regarding Situation of Human Rights in Cambodia
Despite the recommendations made by Mr. Yash Ghai, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights in Cambodia, in September 2006, before the UN Human Rights Council little progress has been made. The Cambodian government has ratified 13 human rights international instruments and the Constitution of the Royal Kingdom of Cambodia has incorporated the Universal Declaration of HR. However, Cambodians are increasingly subject to a wide range of human rights abuses – often committed by State personnel.
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Cambodia: New Code Must Protect Rights of Suspects in Police Custody to Prevent Torture and Secure Fair Trials
In 2005, the Phnom Penh Court convicted and sentenced two men -- Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun -- to 20 years in prison for the murder of renowned labour union leader Chea Vichea in 2004. In April 2007, the Court of Appeals upheld their sentences. Both judgments have been severely criticised as they were primarily based on the confession that Born Samnang had made to the police, prosecutor and investigating judge; a confession that Born Samnang emphatically retracted when interrogated for the second time by the same investigating judge, on the grounds it had been made under threats and promises during his initial interrogation by the police.
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Sihanoukville Land Eviction: 13 Arrested Should be Released and a Social Land Concession Given to Poor Families
The Cambodian League for Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) condemn the sudden violent eviction of 117 families in Commune 4, Mittapheap District, Sithanoukville. On the morning of April 20, 2007, some 150 military police and police officers armed with guns, eletric batons and tear gas, raided the disputed land, burning down 80 houses and demolishing the remaining 26 houses. The evicted families were not permitted to remove possessions from their houses before they were destroyed.
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Rule of Law is More Effective in Eradicating Land Grabbing
On March 3 2007 Prime Minister Hun Sen received from his party, the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), full power to eradicate the land grabbing that has been plaguing the country for many years. With this full support, Hun Sen set out to wage a war against land grabbers whom he has identified as "CPP officials" and people in power. Among these officials, he has singled out senior army officers as the main culprits, saying that land grabbing mostly involves military commanders, generals. He has urged all those powerful people to cease of land grabbing or he would strip them of all power, stressing that regardless of the persons rank and position, if they are directly involved or stand behind land grabbing, they must be punished.
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Unjust Verdict of Appeal Court on Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun Case
The Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee (CHRAC), a coalition of 23 NGO members, deeply regrets the Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold the Phnom Penh Municipal Courts verdict in the case of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, who were convicted of murdering Chea Vichea and sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay U$5000 each in compensation.
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