LIBRARY

18 January 2009

On December 31, 2008, the Supreme Court announced the release on bail of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun after 1799 days of wrongful imprisonment, and ordered the Appeal Court to re-investigate their case. The two men were held at PJ prison for almost five years after being wrongly convicted of the assassination of Chea Vichea, leader of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC). Their provisional release signifies an important step towards the resolution of a case dogged by miscarriages of justice.

17 January 2009

LICADHO condemns the actions of military police officers who have committed violence, including shooting two people, while assisting a private company to unlawfully grab villagers' land in Kandal Stung district of Kandal province.

Over the past few days, police and military police have been deployed to help workers from the Heng Development Company to try to confiscate villagers' farmland - in violation of a 2006 court verdict which upheld the villagers' right to the land.

On Friday, January 16, two villagers were shot by military police during the community's attempts to prevent bulldozers owned by the company from encroaching on their land. According to a LICADHO doctor who saw the victims, one of the men was shot in the arm and also had bullet fragments removed from his stomach. The other suffered a deep wound from a bullet fragment which struck his waist. Both men, aged 23 and 28, remain hospitalized.

19 December 2008

The Borei Keila social land concession: the Government's commitment to housing Phnom Penh's urban poor - new apartments for families in exchange for land given to commercial developers. Borei Keila was the first of four social land concessions in Phnom Penh and was meant to be the model alternative to the eviction and off-site relocation of the city's urban poor. Now over 5 years later, only 3 out of 10 apartment buildings have been completed and only 30% of families have received their promised apartments while the remaining families continue to live in squalid conditions awaiting the construction and allocation of their apartments.

11 December 2008

In February 2007 the Municipality of Phnom Penh entered into a 99-year lease agreement for US$79 million for 133 hectares, including Boeung Kok lake and surrounding land, with a private developer, Shukaku Inc, owned by a ruling party senator. According to the government, the company will turn the area into "pleasant, trade, and service places for domestic and international tourists," including by filling in 90% of the lake.

On 26 August 2008 a company began filling the lake, which has worsened flooding and caused the destruction of some houses. The development will lead to the eviction of almost 4,000 families, despite many of the affected families having strong legal claims to the land under the Land Law.

10 December 2008

To commemorate International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2008 and the 60th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Right, LICADHO launched and released this Human Rights Day Booklet. The booklet explains three key human rights guaranteed by the Declaration of Human Rights and the Cambodian Constitution: “Freedom of Movement, Freedom of Expression and Speech and Freedom of Assembly and Association”. The booklet cites cases that occurred during 2008 when these rights have not been respected by the government and it also provides practical tips on what to do when the government attempts to restrict them.

10 December 2008

10 December 2008, marked International Human Rights Day and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To celebrate the day various events were held throughout the country under the theme "We All Need Freedom and Justice".

4 December 2008

Open Letter by International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International Regarding
the Forced Eviction of Residents of Boeung Kak Lake in the Phnom Penh Municipality.

We write to you to express our deep concerns about recent developments affecting residents of the
Boeung Kak Lake area in central Phnom Penh. Some residents near the lake have been forcibly evicted,
while others are facing eviction amid rising water levels, and threats and harassment.

18 November 2008

LICADHO calls for the immediate suspension of an ongoing violent eviction led by Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) soldiers in Kampot province which has seen numerous homes burned down and at least three people injured by beatings.

Since yesterday, armed soldiers from RCAF Infantry Brigade 31, along with police, military police and Forestry Administration officers, have been trying to evict approximately 300 families from land in Anlong Kraom village, Taken commune, Chhuk district of Kampot. They burned down about 130 wooden shacks belonging to the families yesterday, and most of the remaining 170 homes today. They have instructed all the families to leave the area by tonight.

The evicted families are not being offered any alternative land but simply being told to leave the area. The people whose houses were destroyed yesterday spent last night sleeping in the ashes of their burned homes.

18 November 2008

RCAF Brigade 31 led an armed group to forcefully evict 300 families in Ta Ken commune, Chhuk district, Kampot.

17 November 2008

We, representatives of Cambodian civil society, have grave concerns about the Cambodia-Thailand border dispute which has led to the fighting between the two countries, resulting in death and serious injury. This bloodshed is contrary to the principles of United Nations' human rights conventions which both countries have ratified.

9 November 2008

The Ministry of Social Affairs, in a statement dated November 4 and published in Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper on November 6, repeated its assertion that poor homeless people had stayed at the centers "on a voluntary basis" to receive vocational training and other services. The statement assured human rights and other civil society groups that there was no reason for concern about the centers.

On November 6, the day the statement was published, LICADHO staff were permitted to enter the Prey Speu center, in Phnom Penh's Chom Chao district, for the first time after months of being refused access. Inside, they found that center staff who have been implicated in grave abuses against detainees in the past - and whom LICADHO has asked the government to suspend pending a full investigation - continue to work there.

In addition, LICADHO found irrefutable evidence that people had been forcibly detained there. Scrawled on the walls of two rooms in one of the center’s buildings were messages written by former detainees, such as "Detained in a miserable prison" and "Pity me, help me". One detainee wrote of living "in terror [and] under oppression" there. Another etched the words "Hell life", in English, into a wall.

Click here to view photos of Prey Speu walls

8 November 2008

Walls that Talk, messages written by former detainees in Prey Speu Social Affairs Center. Photos taken by LICADHO on November 6, 2008.

1 November 2008

In the Cambodian context any NGO law - regardless of its particular content - poses a threat to the work of human rights defenders and other NGOs. While human rights defenders are most at risk because of their role in continually criticizing government actions, the objectives of all NGOs and development agents - both foreign and domestic - can be compromised. And government claims that NGO Laws are enacted to promote legitimate and effective civil societies are rarely borne out.

This briefing paper discusses experiences with NGO Laws in other countries and includes a power point presentation of the briefing paper.

29 October 2008

The filing of criminal charges against nine community representatives from around Cambodia in the past week highlight the widespread misuse of the law against communities who try to defend themselves in land disputes, LICADHO said today.

"Community representatives continue to be arrested, charged and imprisoned because of their efforts to assist fellow villagers to protect their land," said LICADHO president Kek Galabru. "Frequently, there is no justification whatsoever for the charges against them - the law is simply misused as a weapon to try to intimidate their communities into giving up land."

In the past week, nine community representatives from three provinces have been arrested and charged by the courts, and six of them sent to prison for pre-trial detention.

16 October 2008

LICADHO's video on Attacks & Threats Against Human Rights Defenders in Cambodia 2007.

15 October 2008

For Cambodia's police and armed forces, impunity is the rule of law. In recent months Phnom Penh has been witness to a spate of shootings perpetrated by police or Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) personnel. These individuals at the time of the shooting incidents were either off-duty or working second jobs as security guards, during which they were illegally carrying firearms. Following the shootings all these perpetrators escaped prosecution because they were protected by their high-level connections, paid out-of-court compensation to the victim to ensure a criminal complaint was not made, or were allowed to go into hiding.

8 October 2008

Tomorrow, in a mark of solidarity amongst all the communities that are faced with eviction, land alienation and ongoing harassment, community representatives from 11 provinces will publicly present their land complaints, after having formally delivered the complaints to the authorities in Phnom Penh.

“Not only is our land being given away, we are facing increasing intimidation and violence. The problem is getting worse. We have no choice but to gather together and have a combined voice”. Community representatives from across Cambodia, Mr Som Chaing (Preah Vihear province) Mr. Sarine Kait (Kratie province) Mr. Rajom Tweng (Ratanakiri province) Ms. Laon Ceevy (Pursat province)

"Systematic threats, violence and intimidation continue to be targeted against human rights defenders, especially those working on land issues. Only through genuine consultation and engagement of the affected communities will there be any resolution." Kek Galabru, President of the Cambodia League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights (LICADHO)

In June 2008, communities from 5 of the provinces that had filed complaints against land concessions and alleged land grabbings were subjected to harassment by local authorities, including restrictions on their movement and ability to hold meetings, and police threats preventing the delivery of complaints to authorities in Phnom Penh. There have also been reports of physical violence and other threats and intimidation targeting community representatives who organized the filing of complaints.

25 September 2008

September 23, 2008 marked the 1,700th day that Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun have spent in prison for a crime they did not commit.

Despite overwhelming evidence of their innocence, the two men continue to serve 20-year prison sentences for the murder of trade union leader Chea Vichea. They remain in Phnom Penh's PJ prison, where they have been since their arrests on January 28, 2004.

25 September 2008

LICADHO calls for Cambodian authorities to take concrete steps to redress he persecution of human rights defenders, including by bringing the killers of trade unionist Hy Vuthy to justice and ensuring that Khmer Kampuchea Krom activist monk Tim Sakhorn is able to return to Cambodia from Vietnam.

“Cambodia is a dangerous place for human rights defenders and this will not change until some real action is taken to prevent and punish attacks against them,” said LICADHO president Kek Galabru. “The authorities cannot continue to commit or ignore serious abuses against people who try to defend or promote human rights.”

A LICADHO briefing paper issued today, entitled Attacks and Threats Against Human Rights Defenders in Cambodia 2007, records more than 50 incidents of intimidation or violence against rights defenders last year. They include the February murder of Hy Vuthy and the arbitrary deportation of monk Tim Sakhorn to Vietnam in June.

25 September 2008

Cambodia is a dangerous place for human rights defenders. During 2007, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) recorded more cases than ever before of threats and attacks against activists attempting to peacefully defend the rights of others.

Throughout 2007, the patterns of threats and attacks against human rights defenders observed in previous years have continued and intensified. Representatives of communities engaged in disputes over land and housing were targeted with threats, unwarranted criminal charges, and in some cases imprisonment. Trade union leaders were assaulted, arrested and prosecuted for their legitimate union activity; one such leader was murdered. Human rights NGO workers continued to be threatened and obstructed in carrying out their work, whilst private citizens legitimately assisting asylum seekers were harassed and imprisoned.