LIBRARY

25 November 2019

To mark the international campaign, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence (25 November - 10 December), LICADHO is highlighting pregnant women and mother and children incarcerated in Cambodian prisons. Over the 16 days, we will profile women who will share their stories of pregnancy, motherhood and of survival in the Cambodian prison system.

Life is extremely harsh for people incarcerated in Cambodia’s prisons. Violations of basic
human rights such as denial of access to food, clean water, time outside cells and legal
representation occur on a mass scale and the realities of prison life are such that if prisoners
do not have money to pay for these basic necessities, then they will go without.

19 August 2019

Farmers often take microfinance debt, but then struggle to repay it due to falling crop prices or crop failures. Selling their land is sometimes the only way they can repay their microfinance loans.

13 August 2019

Many Cambodians have had family members migrate to pay off microfinance debts. A report by the IOM in 2016 found that more than 40% of Cambodians who migrated abroad did so to pay debts. End debt-driven migration.

8 August 2019

The average size of a microloan in Cambodia is now the highest in the world. Many farmers are trapped in a cycle of debt, forced to get larger and larger loans to survive. Watch the video below to learn one man's story.

7 August 2019

More than 2 million Cambodians currently have a loan with a microfinance institution, or MFI. Levels of debt have skyrocketed in recent years, leading to a number of human rights abuses, including coerced land sales, child labour, debt-driven migration, and bonded labour, according to a joint report from the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT).

Collateral Damage: Land Losses and Abuses in Cambodia’s Microfinance Sector details the size and scope of Cambodia’s MFI sector and seeks to highlight the human rights abuses that researchers discovered. The research spans 10 communes in 4 provinces as well as Phnom Penh and features seven detailed case studies of abuses, chosen from the 28 MFI clients who suffered human rights abuses that were interviewed by researchers.

8 March 2019

Women activists continue to lead the struggle for human and environmental rights in Cambodia. To celebrate International Women's Rights Day, take a moment and listen to four Cambodian women describe their experiences as land, labour and environmental activists.

12 February 2019

Cambodia's human rights situation continued to deteriorate in 2018, with the ongoing closure of democratic and civil society space as well as the silencing of government critics and independent media.

26 January 2019

24 January 2019

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the brutal forced eviction of the Dey Krahorm community in central Phnom Penh. LICADHO shares this community-made video and continues to stand in solidarity with them in their calls for justice and an end to forced evictions.

On 24 January 2009, Dey Krahorm residents attempting to stop bulldozers destroying their homes were beaten back by 7NG construction workers and security guards, backed up by more than 300 riot police armed with electric cattle prods, batons, tear gas, water cannons and firearms. At least 18 were injured, some of them seriously.

10 December 2018

This video, part of the campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence, highlights the determination and resilience of Cambodia’s Women human rights defenders, who stand up to state violence aimed at silencing them.

5 December 2018

28 November 2018

1 November 2018

A former inmate speaks to LICADHO about the difficulties she faced looking after her baby behind bars.

LICADHO's “Early Years Behind Bars” project monitors and supports the rights and welfare of children and pregnant women in 18 prisons (out of a total of 28) across Cambodia.

15 August 2018

18 May 2018

29 March 2018

29 March 2018

Thousands of Cambodian children were adopted overseas between the late 1980s and 2009. During that time it emerged that many of the adopted children were not orphans but had parents who placed them in orphanages because of extreme poverty. Their parents placed them there on the understanding that they would return home at a later date. They did not consent to their children's adoption. Instead, orphanage directors, with the help of local authorities, created documents falsely stating that the children were orphans or had been abandoned.

2 January 2018

Borei Keila community in Phnom Penh marks the sixth anniversary of the violent destruction of their homes and forced eviction on 3 January 2012 to make way for a high rise housing development. The community is still seeking fair compensation and re-location on the site of their former homes.

23 February 2017

25 January 2017