LIBRARY

26 November 2018

To mark the international campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence (25 November – 10 December) LICADHO is highlighting women land campaigners and human rights defenders (HRDs) who face state violence in Cambodia.

At least a half a million Cambodians have lost their land and homes in forced evictions over the last two decades and women have been at the forefront of peaceful protests demanding justice and fair compensation. Their activism has often been met with violent attacks by security forces as well as judicial harassment and arbitrary detention.

Over the 16 days, we will publish short profiles of women who – despite many hardships – continue to speak out in solidarity with others to demand justice.

We start with Tep Vanny (38), who has been at the forefront of Boeung Kak Lake community’s fight against forced evictions in Phnom Penh as well as being a fervent defender of human rights.

1 October 2018

At least two communities have been prevented from celebrating the United Nations’ World Habitat Day by Cambodian authorities and others have cancelled events out of fear of reprisals.

More than 2,000 people in at least 30 communities nationwide have planned events to raise awareness of this year’s theme – “municipal solid waste management” – as well as the annual theme: the right to housing. Activities are taking place between 28 September and 5 October 2018, many of them in communities affected by land grabbing and forced evictions or threatened by new developments.

According to the UN, World Habitat Day (WHD) is an opportunity to “reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter”.

26 September 2018

Four staffers from the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association (ADHOC) and a National Election Committee (NEC) official were convicted today at Phnom Penh Municipal Court on bribery charges linked to a case against former opposition leader Kem Sokha.

The four ADHOC staffers – Lim Mony, Ny Sokha, Yi Soksan and Nay Vanda – and NEC official Ny Chakrya, were handed five year suspended sentences by a panel of three judges. The time already served by the five during their pre-trial detention was included in the sentencing and the remaining time was suspended, meaning they will not return to prison.

14 August 2018

Prominent land right activist Tep Vanny has been at the forefront of her community’s fight against forced evictions and rights violations in Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak Lake neighbourhood. Her dogged determination has made her a powerful advocate for justice, not only for the upheaval faced by her own community but for all Cambodians.

Cambodian authorities shut down Vanny’s activism two years ago and have kept her behind bars since then on a series of trumped-up charges and convictions in trials devoid of any credible evidence. She is serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence at Phnom Penh’s infamous Prey Sar prison, also known as Correctional Center 2 (CC2).

17 May 2018

Last week, LICADHO staff discovered a strange phenomenon when trying to access the Phnom Penh Post website. When going to the site, a malicious code impersonating Google (misspelled Gooogle) attempted to trick users into granting full access to their Gmail inboxes to an unknown third party called GTransfers.

LICADHO analysed the code which was hidden within a legitimate script file (theme.js) hosted on the Phnom Penh Post website and forwarded its findings to partners in the region. The tampering with the website was independently confirmed by cyber security experts - including industry leader FireEye - in an ABC article.

9 September 2017

Radio is a major source of public information for people living in rural parts of Cambodia where Internet access is less common.

In late August 2017, Cambodian authorities ordered the closure of 32 FM radio frequencies across 20 provinces.

The shutdown particularly hit stations relaying independent Khmer-language news: Radio Free Asia (RFA), Voice of America (VOA) and the Cambodian non-profit, Voice of Democracy (VOD) were all taken off the air.

8 June 2016

Prey Speu “Social Affairs” center has made the headlines again recently following the decision by the Phnom Penh Municipality to keep the detention facility open despite Prime Minister Hun Sen’s support for its closure (Cambodia Daily, “Officials Keep Prey Speu Open After PM’s Rebuke”, June 3, 2016).

12 June 2015

To commemorate June 12 World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL) 2015, LICADHO is publishing personal testimonies of five children and one adult who work in Cambodian brick factories.

These testimonies provide a glimpse into brick factory child labour, which is considered to be one of the worst forms of child labour, and demonstrate the negative effects of brick factory child labour on children.

13 March 2015

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2015 LICADHO, together with the Highlanders Association of Cambodia, organised a forum in Ban Lung, Ratanakiri for people affected by land grabbing. The forum was attended by over 100 representatives from eight different indigenous communities from within Ratanakiri and by land rights activists from other provinces around the country. The theme of the forum was the effect of land conflicts on women and the majority of the participants were women. The participants shared their experiences and ideas and many performed songs they had written telling the stories of their land disputes. We profile six of the women who attended the forum. Their stories illustrate the many hardships faced by women affected by land disputes as well as their remarkable spirit and resilience.

24 February 2015

The trial of 11 Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) members and supporters was due to be held yesterday at 8 am at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. Last Thursday, and at very short notice, lawyers for the 11 were informed that the hearing had been postponed. All have been charged with offences they are alleged to have committed during violence which took place at Freedom Park on July 15, 2014. This is the third time there has been a delay in hearing the criminal case against them. Five of the 11 - Meach Sovannara, Sum Puthy, Tep Narin, Ouk Pich Samnang, and Ke Khim - are among the group of ‘Free the 19’ detainees currently imprisoned in Prey Sar’s Correctional Center 1 and Correctional Center 2 .

28 January 2015

Ly Seav Minh is 23 years old and lives with her mother, father and brother in Toul Kork district, Phnom Penh. The family has lived on the land for 35 years and despite possessing evidence of their lengthy occupation of the land, they have been involved in a long-running land dispute with the municipality and the Khun Sea Company, to which the municipality sold the land in 2010. Originally six other families were involved in the dispute but all have now accepted compensation payments and moved away after facing consistent intimidation from the company.

21 March 2014

Elections aside, land remained the single most contentious issue in Cambodia in 2013, as it has been for at least the last 10 years. Over 2.2 million hectares of Cambodian land have been granted to large firms in the form of economic land concessions (ELCs).

20 March 2014

As the swelling protests were met with increased suppression, the judicial system remained true to form. 2013 saw a number of high-profile cases in court, with mixed results.

19 March 2014

If 2012 was the most violent year ever documented in terms of authorities using lethal force against individual human rights defenders (HRDs), 2013 saw the Cambodian authorities turn that force towards public protests.

18 March 2014

2013 was dominated by one event: the National Assembly elections.

Throughout the year, to shouts of “Change! Change!”, Phnom Penh saw some of its largest demonstrations in decades. Nine days before the elections, which fell on July 28, opposition leader Sam Rainsy returned from France to a crowd of more than 100,000 people and there was a mood of excitement and anticipation as voting day approached.

10 February 2014

Cambodians nationwide and people across the globe demonstrated unity today with the 23 workers and rights defenders arrested in last month’s violent clampdown on striking garment workers, where at least four died and 38 were hospitalized, 25 of which suffered from bullet wounds.

9 February 2014

LICADHO has compiled a timeline summarizing the series of event leading to and following the January 2-3-4, 2014, lethal clampdown on labour and political demonstrations in Cambodia's capital.

15 February 2013

The most shocking attack on freedom of expression in 2012 came in September, when muckraking journalist Hang Serei Oudom was murdered. His battered body, hacked at least six times with an axe, was found in the trunk of his car. Oudom’s work had focused on exposing illegal logging and forest crimes involving the local elite.

Meanwhile, as Cambodia’s ASEAN chairmanship unfolded and the 2012 commune election approached, the government demonstrated increased intolerance for peaceful assembly and expression.

14 February 2013

Authorities continue to resort to the judicial system to silence those who assert their rights or question entrenched interests. Throughout 2012, court summonses and the threat of arrest were increasingly used to intimidate human rights defenders.

13 February 2013

As the frequency of land grabs has grown, so has the sense of desperation for Cambodians faced with eviction. The perpetrators of land grabs – from business leaders to police to hired hands who carry out actual evictions – operate with near complete impunity. Recourse to the notoriously corrupt judiciary is not an option. For the average Cambodian, the only avenue that offers the prospect of success is civil disobedience, namely public protest and individual action.

The government has become increasingly aggressive in attempting to shut down this avenue as well, despite the fact the vast majority of citizen protests documented by LICADHO during 2012 have been peaceful. Violence is often the government’s tactic of choice.