• Massive Police Presence as Housing Activists Gather in Capital​

    • Release Date: 21-Oct-2013

    More than 1,000 riot police were deployed to the heart of Phnom Penh on Monday, where demonstrators for housing rights gathered to demand resolutions to ongoing evictions and poor resettlement deals. Some 100 demonstrators had planned to march on City Hall, but riot police were able to contain them within the government-sanctioned assembly space of Freedom Park, nearby. The demonstration and the police reaction to it were preludes to a massive three-day demonstration planned by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, planned for later this week.

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  • Housing Activists Clash With Police

    • Release Date: 17-Oct-2013

    Some 100 demonstrators for housing rights clashed with police on Thursday, after they marched on Phnom Penh's City Hall on Thursday to call for a solution for evictees of the neighborhood of Borei Keila. No serious injuries were reported, after the group ran into some 100 riot police with batons and shields. Heavy rains have created illnesses at an eviction site outside the capital, where former residents of Borei Keila have been forced to live to make way for city developers. About 60 families have not received adequate housing after the eviction, representatives said.

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  • Death In The Jungle, But A Woman Journalist Fights On

    • Release Date: 17-Oct-2013

    A female Cambodian journalist Phorn Bopha is one of the three winners of the 2013 International Women's Media Award for Courage in Journalism, organized by the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF). Bopha got trapped in the middle of a murder case on an environmentalist Chhut Wuthy last year, and almost lost her life. However, the incident did not discourage her. She continues to report on corruption and illegal logging for the English-language Cambodia Daily newspaper.

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  • Activists March on City Hall for World Housing Rights Day

    • Release Date: 10-Oct-2013

    Housing rights activists and eviction victims marked World Habitat Day on Thursday, calling on the government to end forced evictions and address ongoing land disputes. Around 400 people gathered in front of the popular tourist site of Wat Phnom in Phnom Penh, then marched down the street to City Hall, where they submitted a petition to city administrators. Police tried to bar their way, but they pushed through barricades before passing the US Embassy en route to City Hall.

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  • Cambodian Human Rights and Land Activists Meet US Officials

    • Release Date: 07-Oct-2013

    Venerable Loun Sovath, a winner of 2012 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders and land rights activist Tep Vanny appealed to international community to pay more attention to local people's fight for rights and freedom. They also urged their countrymen to keep fighting against repressive government. VOA Khmer Khmer Men Kimseng interviewed both of them in Washington, DC, where they met with officials at State Department, and human rights watchdogs.

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  • Scapegoats' in Murder Have No Plan Against Wrongful Conviction

    • Release Date: 03-Oct-2013

    Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun widely seen as innocent in the 2004 killing of a Cambodian labor leader Chea Vichea have been released, following a case that saw them jailed for years. Walking out of prison on Thursday, the two men didn't think about file complaint for their unfair imprisonment but thanked prison officials, other than express their gratitudes to human rights workers.

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  • Garment Workers Protest For Wage Raise

    • Release Date: 27-Sep-2013

    Thousands of garment factory workers in Cambodia held demonstrations Friday to demand higher wages. The group of mostly women, marched from their factory to the Prime Minister's house in Phnom Pehn to present him with a petition. The workers want a higher salary- right now, they get the equivalent of about $80 U.S. dollars a month. They want $150 dollars a month. Garment factory workers in Bangladesh are also demanding higher wages.

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  • Land Activist Looks to International Community on Chronic Land Disputes

    • Release Date: 27-Sep-2013

    Vital Voice award winner and land activist Tep Vanny is in Washington DC to attend a World Bank meeting. International community, including World Bank, should pressure Cambodia to end widespread land grabbing and human rights abuses, she said. Tep Vanny told VOA Khmer Khmer Kimseng Men that her latest peaceful protest on Sunday was violently cracked down by police and government thugs.

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  • People Also, not Only Power, Mam Sonando Urges

    • Release Date: 26-Sep-2013

    Independent radio director Mam Sonando said any solution to Cambodia's current crisis should include concerns raised by voters on election irregularities. In an interview with VOA Khmer Khmer's Men Kimseng, Sonando said the best way out is to look at the root cause of the problem and not too much on power sharing. He said once opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party forgets their supporters' demand, it will be self-destruction like the royalist FUNCINPEC Party.

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  • Scapegoats' in Murder of Labor Leader Released

    • Release Date: 26-Sep-2013

    Two men widely seen as innocent in the 2004 killing of a Cambodian labor leader have been released, following a case that saw them jailed for years. Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun walked out of prison on Thursday, following a Supreme Court order on Wednesday. Both men were serving 20-year prison sentences for the killing of labor leader Chea Vichea, but their conviction was widely criticized for a lack of evidence.

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  • Opposition Leader Calls New Government Unconstitutional

    • Release Date: 25-Sep-2013

    Opposition leader Sam Rainsy on Wednesday told reporters that this week's National Assembly session, held by the ruling party without the participation of the opposition, was a "constitutional coup" that did not reflect the will of the people. "We will not cooperate in any manner with the present National Assembly and with the present government unless there are guarantees that there will be an investigation committee to investigate the election irregularities and to find justice for the voters, whose wills have been distorted, and provided also that there is a program of reforms that both parties can agree upon," he said. Sam Rainsy's remarks come a day after the ruling Cambodian People's Party voted in a block measure to install its own members into the Cambodian cabinet, despite the absence of the opposition. Meanwhile, in a separate speech to CPP leaders, Prime Minister Hun Sen said the party must be willing to change to reflect the country's new political environment and "to respond to the people's needs."

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  • Ruling Party Votes in Administration, Despite Opposition Boycott

    • Release Date: 24-Sep-2013

    The ruling Cambodian People's Party on Tuesday voted in a package measure to select the ranking members of the National Assembly, while reaffirming Hun Sen as prime minister. The vote, 68 to 0, took place under a National Assembly session that was boycotted by the opposition's 55 lawmakers elect. Hun Sen told reporters after the session he was considering legal action against the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party for its claims that the Assembly session was an abuse of the law unilaterally undertaken by the CPP without the consent of the opposition. He also said the door remains open for the opposition to join in the parliament. The vote comes following an election in July that the opposition says was tainted by irregularities and fraud. The CPP also appointed eight different ministers, including a replacement for Keat Chhon, the longstanding Minister of Finance, and Cham Prasidh, the former Minister of Commerce.

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