Cambodia carve-up under the spotlight
PHNOM PENH -There were scenes of jubilation in Cambodia’s capital last month when a group of 13 imprisoned women – including a 72-year-old grandmother – was set free by an appeal court. The women were arrested in May during peaceful demonstrations against the forced eviction of thousands of families living around Boeung Kak Lake, an...
China’s Aid Emboldens Cambodia
Hun Sen aims at balancing US, Vietnamese and Chinese interests for Cambodia’s benefit
Annus horribilis for Cambodian rights
PHNOM PENH – On April 26, a prominent Cambodian anti-logging campaigner was shot and killed by military police in the Cardamom Mountains in the country’s southwest. Chut Wutty, the director of the Natural Resources Protection Group, was reportedly escorting two local journalists through a densely-forested part of Koh Kong province when his car was stopped...
The strings in Hun Sen’s rhetorical bow
PHNOM PENH – Between their anodyne pageantry and colorless mission statements about regional economic cooperation, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meetings are rarely known for their excitement. But on the last day of this month’s annual summit in Phnom Penh, the current chairman of the 10-country bloc, Cambodia’s long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen, did...
Cambodia: Cashing in on the Khmer Rouge
According to a government tourism plan, 14 Khmer Rouge sites are set for a makeover.
More managed democracy for Cambodia
PHNOM PENH – Cambodia’s senate elections, held on January 29 to select members of the country’s upper house, came and went largely unnoticed. The poll barely registered in the international media, and local critics dismissed it as an undemocratic charade for selecting members to an inert and largely powerless body. Voting for 57 of the...
Notorious Khmer Rouge jailer gets life sentence
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, and NEW DELHI – A court in Cambodia on Friday rejected an appeal by a notorious Khmer Rouge jailer and extended his prison sentence to life in a decision welcomed by many in the war-torn country. Kang Kek Ieu, known as Kaing Guek Eav in tribunal filings but more often referred to...
Cambodia: prison labor concerns
A new law legalizes the use of prison labor by private companies, putting Cambodia’s “sweatshop-free” reputation on the line.
Khmer Rouge No. 2 gives insight to his role in Cambodia’s ‘killing fields’
Nuon Chea, the deputy leader of the Khmer Rouge regime blamed for 1.7 million deaths in Cambodia’s ‘killing fields’ told the tribunal today that he carried out its policies to protect the country.
Khmer Rouge trial opens in Cambodia amid claims of interference
Critics say political interference and judicial misconduct are tarnishing the UN-backed Khmer Rouge trial, seen as key to justice more than 30 years after the brutal regime was ousted.
Cambodian NGOs under the gun
PHNOM PENH – These are tough times for Cambodia’s embattled non-governmental organizations (NGOs). As the government gears up to pass controversial legislation regulating the country’s estimated 2,000 civil society groups, it has drawn strong criticism for a coordinated crackdown on land rights groups working on a foreign donor-funded railway renovation project.
